Today Ali & I celebrate exactly 14 years of life in London since we arrived at Heathrow Airport on a breezy autumn morning of Sept 4th in 1993…

Its been an incredible adventure for us, from the humble beginnings of arriving at Heathrow knowing no-one and having never been here before (I guess God didnt think “spying/scouting out the land” was a good idea for us!).

Besides the 1000’s of amazing people who have been part of this journey with us, and all that God has done in their and our lives, here are a few other memories: 

• Paying up to £5 for 2 pages of fax at the local corner shop, and over 70 pence per minute phoning home to South Africa. (Can you believe that there were no mobile/cell phones or email/internet back then!!!!)
• Getting down to our last £20 and then having our (very) old car break down the same day, and getting Gods Word that He would provide, and finding our first ever gift cheque in the post that very day!
• Starting our second year of Bible School with very high expectations, and then having only two people arrive to enroll! (I made a huge decision that evening, which was to teach anyway, as if there were 200 people there – it was a most amazing evening which I believe has marked my own teaching gift ever since…) 
• Going on a “drive through Europe and camp wherever we find ourselves” holiday at the end of our first year in our 1000cc Fiat Uno, which broke down one hour after arriving in France! Then it got stuck in reverse while we were asking for directions in a mental assilum parking lot in Southern France, and after I managed to dislodge it we never put the car in reverse again on that trip – even during a few days in Paris! (Is there a spiritual truth in that?)
• God coming trhough for us in an incredible way to buy our first flat in London. Its a long story, but “miracle” is the appropriate word.
• There are so many more…

14 is a special number for me, and I identify with the Apostle Paul who writes in Galatians 2:1 that “after 14 years I went again to (London) Jerusalam…to see if I was not nor had run in vain…” I am as confident now as I ever was that we are not running “in vain,” and Ali & I look forward to the next chapter of the great God adventure which we are priviledged to be a part of here in London and Europe… Thank you to all who have in so many ways made it possible through praying, serving, giving, and going… THANK YOU!