Heaven in Manchester?

Observant readers of this blog will have noticed that our posts seem to be getting shorter and more sporadic than when we first arrived in Manchester, and some will probably have made the deduction that we have more to do now and therefore struggle to find the time to blog.

If you have made the above mentioned observation and deduction, then you are not far away from the truth – work is slowly creeping up on us. In one way it is not overwhelmingly much, but because it is all new, because you often have to spend time reading background material, and because you still, although to a less degree, have not grasped what you are supposed to do, then thing just takes longer to do.

But since we cannot and will not let all the masses of people, who's lives are seriously impoverished, should they not be able to read news from the Andersens, suffer too much, we will spare no effort in an attempt to get you all up to date with what his happening in our little family so here goes:

Friday last week we drove to Leeds, (90 km from Stockport) , a drive which took us over some serious hills (for Danes with a bit of Latvian background it seemed like huge mountains!). At one time we passed a sign telling us we 370 metres above sea level. We went to Leeds to meet with 3 other officer couples, who are doing the same job as us in 3 other divisions. Two of the couples had been in their positions more than 5 years, so there was a lot of experience. It was really good to be together – they were a lot of fun. We, that is, they shared about some of the experiences they had done and I shared about......well, try and guess! (they did accuse me of receiving commission from a certain German!). We have planned to meet 3-4 times a year and decided to invite the DDE from Belfast to join the group – I suspect so that we get an excuse for going to Northern Ireland for one of the meetings!

Saturday we had originally planned to work around the house, but Lukas let us understand he thought it was time we did something together! He had to go and have his hair cut in the morning (worst possible combination for Lukas: Hair cut and morning!), and after that we set of for Manchester and spent most of the day walking around the centre. There are a couple of big Christmas markets with stalls from “the continent”, mainly Germany, Holland and that area. Some of the stuff they sold was very similar to Danish food, so we decided we have to come back closer to Christmas and secure real salami and other things the English apparently do not appreciate enough to sell in their shops.

We ended up in ILVA, a Danish furniture chain, which had just opened their 3rd shop in the UK,close to the centre of Manchester. We walked around looking at furniture, looking for a sofa bed, and suddenly we thought we had gone to heaven – a bright light surrounded us and words like Smørrebrød, Flæskesteg, Frikadeller, Piratos, Carlsberg appeared before our eyes. Suddenly we heard a voice, speaking in a strange tongue, but almost as a miracle we found we could understand it – it was Danish (with an accent, but still Danish). We looked at each other and exclaimed: It is good for us to be here – let us build three huts! Suddenly we were pulled out of this state of bliss as our eyes fell upon what a sign said should be Danish pastry, but the creation on the plate had definitely never been touched by a Danish baker, it had as little to do with Denmark, as all the other pastries in England or the US, which they for some strange reason calls “Danish”. (Actually it was better than most things called Danish, but why spoil a good story with facts!).

As we slowly regained our consciousness and returned to this world, we realised we were standing in a Danish café in the furniture store – and most of the stuff they sold were actually Danish! We even found lovely, strong liquorice. It probably will not the last time we will visit that shop! (I am sure there is a church growth lesson somewhere in this experience, maybe someone can find it?)

Sunday we set out on our “church sightseeing”, as Lukas has named it. The corps we went to was the closest to where we live of those we have visited so far. When we arrived we certainly were made welcome – seemed like half the congregation came over and said hello. The worship was quite traditional and the congregation is somewhat ageing – but as mentioned very friendly.
In the evening, after having spent the time between the meetings working on the house, we went to what is the largest corps in the Division. Once a month they have a special evening, primarily aimed at Christians, with a lot of worship etc. People come from other corps to participate in these evenings. The corps has a worship group, which is almost professional in their music playing and they led the music. The Divisional Youth Chorus also participated and Chick Yuill was preaching. This was probably the meeting where we have felt most at home so far, at least when it comes to the worship style. One thing I was looking forward to in going to England, was to worship in a language where I fully could understand what I am singing – but strangely I now find, that even though I know the tunes, I do not know the English words, so if I really want to get lost in worship, not concentrating on looking at a screen, then I sing in Latvian (not the whole song, my memory is not that good!).

Monday we continued our pastoral visiting with Jack (our Divisional Commander). First we went to a small corps in a town outside Manchester. We thought this was a place, where not much is happening, but we came away surprised and encouraged. There has been a corps for many years, but apparently the corps just died out. Now there is a Lieutenant in charge and she told us there is no Sunday worship, because there is no congregation. That confirmed our expectations. But then she told us about all the relationships she is building with families in the area, about mums and toddlers coming into the building, about arraninging a Harvest Service a morning for the mums and toddlers, and instead of 15, 50 turned up – the fathers in their suits and everything, having taken time of from work to come. Basically we found our selves in a church plant. The Lieutenant told us she had no training in planting – but she was doing all the right things- will be exciting to see how this develops.

We continued to another plant. It is in the middle of an estate with many social problems. Three years ago a team of committed Christians moved on to the estate with the intention of planting a church. They do not have a building, just a couple of rooms where they run a youth club. On Sunday they rent an Anglican church and have their services, which are very different. 30-50 people come, mostly young people and teenagers. People have been saved and discipled and are now volunteers in the church. It was just so encouraging and challenging to be there. Wonder if we would have the commitment to leave our nice house in Stockport and move to such an area to not just share the gospel, but sharalso our lives (as Paul says in 1. Thes.)?

Tuesday, as you might remember, is designated “hell day”. We left home with the expectation of 2 board meetings: Strategy Council and Business Board. We were mistaken – it was 3 meetings! In between the two mentioned there was a Director's meeting. A total of around 5 hours spent in meetings that day! The strategy council was really great. Jack outlined his understanding of what strategy is and how he would suggest we should approach it. It was great and he knew what he was talking about. Enjoyed sitting listening and not having to lead it! When we got home we were close to brain dead – but relaxed by doing odd jobs around the house. Were too tired to think about cooking, so decided to explore our local pizzeria. Turned out it was really good – much better than Chili Pica round the corner in Riga (does not take much!). Not too expensive either, so probably not the last time for that either. (Sure there is a church growth lesson somewhere in this!)

Yesterday we had what is called an officer's retreat day – something similar to our leader's days in Latvia. The leaders from corps and institutions got together for a day of worship, prayer and Bible study. It gave us a chance to meet some of the officers, we had not met yet. The day reminded us a bit of Latvia............ 3-4 years ago!

And thus, by sacrificing sleep, food and visits to the toilet (I know, you did not really need that last piece of information) we brought you all up to date with what is happening in the Andersen family.