Visitors, and shoe boxes.

[curiouswombat]

We've just had visitors - fenchurche and rackham came for dinner - all the way from Seattle!

Well O.K. - we are one of their last stops on their holiday in Britain, and it was lovely to see them. We had dinner, and a good gossip, and sent them off with a tourist board map and instructions of how to reach their B&B for the next two nights, before they head back to the UK, and then back home.

Aren't our modern electronics wonderful - Fen and Rackham were able to track themselves by GPS whilst on the boat between Heysham and Douglas, and were then able to sort out their hotel room for their last night near Heathrow whilst sitting on our settee. Before they came I had been able to update our Church website (http://www.standrewsurcdouglas.org) with a picture of the big pile of shoeboxes filled with love that we had collected in Church today, and D-d in York was able to look at it (along with anyone else) within hours of the Service. I love the electronic age!

For those who are interested, info about the shoeboxes, and a copy of the picture, are

This morning we had our annual Shoebox Service at Church. Alison and Steve from the Drop-In Ministry, who will take our boxes all the way to the Chernobyl area of Belorussia in November ready for distibution before Christmas, were there to tell us a little about their most recent trip out there, where they are organising improvements to the local maternity hospital, and to collect our boxes. This year we had filled 128 boxes - 8 more than last year! That means that 128 children and young people living in poor circumstances, often in orphanages, in this contaminated area of Belorussia, will get a gift from us - nothing posh - but basics like toothbrush, soap, knickers, maybe a scarf and gloves, some chocolate, but gifts sent with love. All together Alison and Steve take about 1,000 boxes from our little island.

There is a point in the service where we get the children to collect in all the boxes from the congregation - this picture shows most of the collectors, and all the boxes -

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is really good fun - it's amazing how much stuff you can fit in.