Dear Family and Friends
Over the past few weeks, we have felt a sharp shift in the weather and the amazing weather we had over the Summer (which is unusual!) has turned quickly into Autumn temperatures. The leaves have started changing and warmer clothes and jackets have come out of hiding. Autumn is our Spring in many ways here in the UK and Europe. It’s when we see a new season of small groups, courses and school and university terms starting up which means growth for us! New life springs up in all areas of our church and ministries which is exciting!
I’ve been getting reports from our campuses all across Europe about outreaches that have been happening on their university campuses inviting students to events as they begin to build relationships and share Jesus with new incoming students. Here in London our churches did outreaches at Freshers (Freshman) Days on 3 different campuses – Queen Mary University, Kingston University and Imperial College.
Last week I returned from leading a Campus Mission to our Every Nation Church in Dublin, Ireland. Our small team consisted of people from our London, Dublin and Boston (USA) churches. This mission was in many ways ground-breaking because they had not been actively on the campuses for many years, so we were discovering the spiritual and cultural atmosphere as we went through the week. We were able to have well over 100 attempts at conversations with students in 5 days on 3 campuses trying to engage with them about life on campus as well as faith.
With every good conversation, we would invite them to our nations game night at the end of the mission. As I said, this mission was ground-breaking, and the ground was HARD. On 2 of the campuses, we found that interest in faith was very low so engaging in conversations that went deep was very difficult. On another campus with predominantly international students who were Muslim, Hindu and Buddhists, we found people more open to speak about faith and who were actually interested in wanting community, as they were new to the country and already finding it difficult. At our games evening, we weren’t sure if anyone would come but praise God, we ended up having 10 guests with 7 of them not being Christian! We had a great evening of fun, and our hope is that many of the students we engaged with will get curious about the Dublin ENC group as they continue to have more events to build relationships with them. One of them has already visited on a Sunday!
A quick update on my mum – she will be getting a pacemaker this month on the 16th of October so we are trusting she will feel so much better afterwards. Your generosity on my last visit is allowing me to go back for Thanksgiving for a week so thank you so much. Thank you for continuing to pray for her memory. Me being able to spend time with her is a huge blessing.
Could I also ask you to keep my niece Trinity in prayer? She was in a serious car accident this past weekend and sustained a broken back, ribs, collapsed lung, tissue damage to her ankle and severe gashes in her legs as well as other cuts throughout her body. She is truly a miracle and can move all limbs! Please pray for complete healing.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support! You are a part of everything God is doing in and through me!
Blessings,
Traci
Dear Family and Friends
This past month has gone by so quickly! I have continued preparation for our Dublin Mission coming up in a few weeks as well as working on a mission that we have planned for next February!
The biggest thing that took place in August was me making a quick trip to Georgia to be with my mum who has not been well lately.
Last April when I was in America to raise my support I spent just over a week up in Georgia with my parents doing Zoom calls with people who I hadn’t been able to see in the weeks before.
When I arrived, it was apparent that my mum’s memory was not good. My stepdad had noticed it for a while, but my visit confirmed it for him. After I left, she proceeded to have doctor’s appointments that confirmed early dementia but also possible heart problems. It was determined that she might need a stent and a pacemaker and that having these done could also improve some of the memory issues because of a lack of oxygen to the brain.
After many appointments they landed on a procedure date to explore whether she needed a stent. This date happened to be on her 78th birthday! My stepdad had been driving numerous hours for weeks to these appointments (sometimes a total of 6 hours a day!) so I knew he was exhausted and could do with some help, so I prayed and took a step of faith to fly in a few days before my mum’s birthday.
During the procedure they found my mum’s right coronary artery was 90% blocked! She came through the procedure well praise God! Before the procedure her heart rate was in the 30’s and 40’s, which is quite low. They already suspected she would need a pacemaker but wanted to see what improvement would take place after the stent. Her heart rate has increased into the 50’s and for the next few weeks she will wear a heart monitor to determine when she will get the pacemaker.
I was there for just over a week and arrived back in London on Friday. Thank you SO MUCH for all your prayers and generosity towards this trip! I have been overwhelmed by your love and care. Me being there brought so much relief to both of my parents and allowed me to help them so much – even with the smallest things.
I’m praying that the pacemaker will go in rather sooner than later so please continue praying for my mum. So far it hasn’t brought any change to her memory issues so please also pray for my parents as they consider next steps. Here’s a picture of me and my beautiful mum!
As I said, I’m back in London and hit the ground running! Last night there was a Dublin Mission Training session and tonight I am doing some training for a mission to Bournemouth in the south of England that is happening next month.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support! I have felt so loved!
Blessings,
Traci
Dear Family and Friends
I hope you are enjoying your Summer so far. We are having pretty good weather here in London, so this Florida girl is happy.
This month was the start of preparation for our mission to Dublin in September. We had our first online training, minus one team member to get to know each other and to also set the tone for the mission. This is a small team, but we will be joined by some of our Dublin church members to go onto different university campuses in the city. We are trusting that this team will have favour on every campus and connect with enough students to give a boost to the Dublin ENC ministry. Here is our mighty team!
You might be wondering what exactly is ENC? It stands for Every Nation Campus. The vision is to reach the whole world through the university campus. We meet students where they are on campus with the gospel, help them build strong biblical foundations, equip them to minister to others, and empower them to lead.
Every Nation Campus is reaching over 1,300 universities in over 80 countries around the world—each one connected to a local church. Part of my job is having the privilege of being on the leadership team that supports campus missionaries and churches across Europe to reach the universities in their cities. Another part of my job is leading and helping missions happen across Europe and in September I get to combine these two passions on the Dublin mission!
In my last newsletter I shared about our ENC Leaders Camp. Here is a recap video from that camp
Thank you as always for all of your prayers and financial support. I really couldn’t do what I do without you.
Please let me know if I can pray for anything!
Blessings
Traci
