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Issue 47
All Saints’ Church, Thorpe Acre with Dishley
Wednesday
Cell Canal
Trip
Mountsorrel here we come! The day
promised to be sunshine and
showers and this proved to be true.
About 10.00am we all set off on the
‘Symphony’ in very high spirit,
sunshine in our hearts but clouds in
the sky. Most of us were pleased to
see the lift there instead of the
awkward steps and this encourage a
few jokes and a lot of smiles. We
were joined on the trip by some of
our friends who reside at Hanover
Court, also full of the joys of spring
or should we say summer, autumn
or even winter!!!
July 2011
Our journey commenced at the
Peter Le Marchant Trust in
Loughborough, following the canal
through peaceful countryside to
Pilling’s Lock where the
River Soar takes a wide
loop around the back of
Loughborough to rejoin the
Loughborough navigation
for the final nine miles to
the River Trent. We
passed through water
meadows where cattle and
sheep come down to drink
under bridges about
250years old and very low
– no standing on the deck
– sighting animals and
water birds and their young
including a whole two or three
families of swans. Just before
Pilling’s Lock is a large new marina
with several boats moored and light
refreshments are available. We
rejoined the River Soar and yet more
animals including some lovely
horses and passed some lovely
riverside houses, through Barrow
and on to Mountsorrel.
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20p
Inside this issue:
Canal Trip
1– 2
Thank you
3
Testimony from 4-5
Matthew Parry
Puppet training 6
News from
Magda
7
Next issue will be
for September 2011
Please send any
articles to
admin@astad.org
Once we passed all the locks we
were entertained by Ron, ‘The Music
Man’, who played both guitar and
mouth organ – at the same time-
“God’s love to all: Experiencing, Sharing, Demonstrating!”
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Three cheers for all the people who poured God’s
blessing on this trip.
Hazel Craigie
The Waterside Inn was very efficient in serving so
many of us with different fare and the food was
enjoyed by all – we had ordered in advance due
to the efficiency and hard work of Audrey and
Trevor. Jenni was very good at taking care of us
all and we are going to miss her lots. Just as we
finished eating and were ready to leave
unfortunately there was a real ‘rainstorm’. It
came down in sheets so, there we were, stranded
in the Inn (a good place to be!) until it passed.
Photos by Trevor Cole
“I thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing day out on the
Canal boat trip to the Waterside Inn at
Mountsorrel with the Wednesday Cell group. The
food was excellent and it was the best day out I
have had in a long time”
Jena Taylor (resident at Hanover Court)
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Half an hour later we were able to board and
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as the outward – including music while we sang!!
or listened.
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and also some old favourites, country and
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and early pop songs. We had quite a
‘sing-along’! There was much clapping, laughter
and repartee and flash photography!! Very, very
enjoyable. About midday we reached
Mountsorrel and the Waterside Inn managing to
dodge a few light showers and enjoying the
sunshine in between.
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To everyone at Thorpe Acre we would like to
say a huge “Thank You”. The love that was
poured out on us as we prepared to leave and
said goodbye to you all was humbling; we know
many of you well and others less so; we have
been part of the family here for a long time and
we knew it would be a wrench to leave but we
had not realised just how much we were loved.
Thorpe Acre has been a big part of our lives
and it has not been easy to leave.
We have started our new life in Sweden now;
we are settling in and beginning to make
friends. The church we are attending (Fishers
Creek International Church) is small with about
40 on a typical Sunday – if there is one. As a
church of expats there is a high turnover of
people; on our first Sunday 2 families left and
we know of others who will do so soon whilst
others are here for fixed contracts or
assignments. There are a few people who
have been here longer but 9 years seems to
the longest from the couple who founded the
congregation.
Life in Sweden is broadly similar to the UK but
there are differences. For those who have
access to the internet I (Matthew) am writing a
blog describing some experiences at : http://
adventureinsweden.wordpress.com/; feel free
to read it if you are interested.
We hope that we will be back to visit before too
long. Meg is retaining her links with CYFA and
will be at Soul Survivor this summer.
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Praying for
each other and
our friends.
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THANK YOU
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We have two ways of
requesting prayers for
ourselves and our families
and friends in addition to
prayers in church on Sundays.
There is a small list of people who will pray
for you as a result of a telephone request.
There is a larger group of church members
(39), who receive requests for prayer by
email.
If you would like to request prayer or to join
either of the lists of people willing to pray,
then please contact me, Heather Elliman, on
01509 504500.
You can request prayer by email by sending
your request to both Eileen Garner (evoxmezzo@12freeukisp.co.uk) and myself
(heather@mhelliman.co.uk). We like you to
send email requests to both of us so that we
can automatically cover for any absence.
It is a great privilege to be able to share each
other's concerns and to ask God to intervene
in our lives. Here we have an opportunity to
practice our faith in God's care and to share
God's love with others.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine, according to
his power that is at work within us, to him be
glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Amen"
Taken from Paul's letter to the Ephesians,
chapter 3 vv 20 & 21.
Matthew, Noreen and Meg Perry
Page 3
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Mothering Sunday was too painful to attend
church.
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Noreen’s health has not always been good; she
As I leave Thorpe Acre I offer this testimony of
has suffered from depression and Chronic
what God has been doing in my life over the 22
Fatigue. There was a long period when Noreen
years that we have been part of the fellowship.
did not attend church at all; even now she finds
singing hard (you may have noticed her coming
in late). Everyone was very solicitous about
Noreen and I arrived in Loughborough on
Noreen’s health – but I found it hard when for
Sunday 9th October 1988. We had visited the
town once before when I was interviewed. The months there was no progress to report. Slowly
first place we visited, even before checking into there has been progress, but even now Noreen
is easily tired and emotionally vulnerable.
the hotel Fisons had booked for us, was to
Things that helped Noreen were being part of
attend evening service here. We had noticed
the group that lead Encounter and joining Oasis
the church from the church services
Cell.
advertisements in the Echo. Before I started
work a week later we had been to a house
group (as they were then called) on Braddon
Spiritual life is not easy and we have had
Road. We did visit one other church but very
struggles there too. I have had times of doubt
quickly were sure that Thorpe Acre was right for
and times when everything seemed very hard
us.
work. There have also been ups and
challenges as I explored possible ordination
Our time in Loughborough has been full of the about 10 years ago. Things that helped me
have been the love of the church family (by
ups and downs of everyday life. Notable ups
which I learned of the love of God) and the
include the births of our two daughters,
discipline of attending even when I did not feel
celebrated in 2 wonderful baptism services. It
has been a great joy to see our girls grow up in like worship. I’m not sure how many of you
remember a family service that Jema Ball lead
the faith within the children’s ministry of the
church – certainly something we have much to a few years back where she talked about prayer
using the “Temple Model” based on the book by
be grateful for.
Mark Stibbe (Drawing Near to God: The Temple
Model of Prayer). For me that service and
buying the book later have been really helpful.
I find it easier to think of downs than ups;
perhaps because so much of our time has been
up that the downs stand out more. For several
years at the beginning of our time here we
struggled with infertility and Noreen had several
rounds of treatment before Beth was conceived.
In retrospect the time seems short (2 years); at
the time it seemed forever and was very painful.
Early in our time here Noreen and I lead a
home group; it was whilst we were struggling
with infertility and the church had internal
problems.
Cont over page
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We have been able to discover and use our
gifts here; Noreen got heavily involved with
encounter and learnt much from that. I have
discovered teaching gifts; initially with family
services under Keith Pentelow, then with
Explorers (even if I did not always get the level
right – sorry kids!) and latterly in sermons.
I believe that we have seen the faithfulness of
God in our time here; prayers have been
answered, not all as we wanted and not many
in the timeframe we wanted but answered
nonetheless. We have been greatly blessed.
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Donald Rumsfeld famously spoke of “unknown
unknowns”; as we go to Sweden we have
many unknowns, both known and probably
unknown but we have a greater known – God,
the faithful and true. With him who needs to
know more?
Matthew Perry
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We are going to something, somewhat
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unknown in Sweden – though nowhere near as
unknown as things God has called others to –
think of Abraham, Moses and many other
“heroes of faith”. It is sad to be leaving – but
that is because we have been happy here, we
have friends, we have been loved. As Noreen
and I stayed with Freda just before we left she
shared with us the words from Ecclesiastes 3
v1-8 – there is a time for everything; for us the
time has come to leave.
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aspects. More recently I have struggled
with cell groups and for two periods stopped
attending despite a strong belief that small
groups are the right way for church to go.
Latterly in Oasis Cell I have relaxed and felt
able to take on the leadership which I found
enabled me to discover gifts I did not know I
had.
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The evening was organised by
Eva Leaf and the pictures are
courtesy of Derek Leaf
Issue 47
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News from Magda
Magda greets you in the name of Christ. She
thanks everybody for their continued faithful
support in giving and in prayer. She reminds us
that it is a great God whom we serve and he is
worthy of praise and thanksgiving. No matter what
happens God is there at all times, even though
the Arab world is so unstable at this time and is
going through many difficulties
immigration authorities wouldn't let them in and
they had to return to America. It is now
complicated to come to Britain to do Christian
work, if you are outside the EU.
Let us all lift Magda up to the Lord, and give
thanks for the work she is doing for him, and for
those she cares for. Particularly we should pray
that Christians should be able to work globally
The Open Door Friendship centre has done very without restrictions. Scripture tells us that we
well this year .The Lord has provided and enabled should go into all the world, and preach the
Gospel.
work to continue through the school year by
providing opportunities for ministry, and
Dorothy Barnes.
volunteers to help. September will soon be here
and they will need long term staff. Magda says
she is trusting in the Lord to provide people to
come and work for them. We also must add our
prayers, along with Magda, that the Lord will
work in people’s hearts to call them to work for
him at the centre. Activities have now finished for
the summer, but Magda would like to say a
special thank you to Sara, an American teacher.
She has shown her love for God in a real way.
Arab World ministries have now joined with the
Pioneers. Magda recently attended the pioneers’
workers European Conference in Croatia. It was
good to meet other teams working in Europe, and
to hear what the Lord is doing in these countries.
She says her eyes were opened to the need of
the lost, but she missed seeing her North African
and Middle East colleagues. The Pioneers have a
summer programme called the 'Edge', three
American girls came to work with the group but
unfortunately when they arrived at Heathrow, the
Issue 47
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Baptisms
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Welcome into the church family
1st May
Alfie Micheal HINTON
Charlie Connor MEADOWS
Abbie Mae YATES
Jessica Rose YATES
3rd July
Eton Jake PALMER
Senior Minister
Keith Elliott
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Church Administrator
Chris Milner
236789
admin@astad.org
Office open Monday to Friday
10.00am to 12 noon
Weddings
Congratulations to
14th May
Children and Family Worker
Mary Green
Interns
560237
Jason John GILBOURNE to Rachel OSBORNE
2nd July
Jenni Sparkes
Steven Anthony ONIONS to Hayley Jane CRIPPS
Emily Duck
9th July
Peter Andrew BULL to Catherine Frances BALLARD
23rdJuly
Matthew Richard WELSH to Gemma Rita MOORE
Issue 47
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All Saints', Thorpe Acre
Tel: 01509 236789
Email: admin@astad.org
www.astad.org
Registered Charity No: 1135035
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