Dear friends,

On the moment that we write this letter we are already about 10 weeks in the England. De time has gone fast! In the next part of this letter we will tell you briefly how our the last months were.

Saturday the 3^th of September we moved to England. Early in the morning we travelled from of our old house to the ferry at Hoek van Holland in order to arrive the next day in England. It was a fine and pleasant trip. The long preparation and help of you all have certainly helped.

On this moment we are still adjusting. We not only need to get used to the new culture, but especially to the fact that many know situations and people who are dear to us stayed behind. Particular with the coming of the holidays this is not always easy. The place where we live is surrounded by hills and because of that the sun is going under very fast. This means that we spend many hours inside the house. A big relieve for the children is the fact that Sinterklaas (a Dutch tradition around the 5^th of December) found his way to our house in Aston Eyre.

Fortunately, we enjoy the most of our new situation. Everything is all about learning: Jurgen is studying, the children are learning and Katja teaches. So we learn and study together! We are also grateful for the place where we live. It is a beautiful hiking area, and the kids have plenty of room to play outside. Meanwhile, we get to know more and more people in and around the village, the church and the swimming club.

End of September Jurgen started his bible school. Up to Christmas there are two courses on the menu: 'Study of the Old Testament' and 'Church and Spirit in a mission context'. For both modules Jurgen wrote essays for which figures are not yet known. For those who like to read the essays, you can go to our website, and find them on the homepage under 'The first essay'.

We are very happy with the choice of the Trinity School of Theology. The school is small and the supervision of students is good. The contact with other students and staff of the school is warm. Jurgen goes every week from Monday to Tuesday to school, where he is staying with a fellow student. The rest of the week Jurgen needs to study at home.

The classroom with teacher 'mammy' is also doing well. We enjoy being together and learn how to read and write at the same time. It is a challenge for to get all the subjects (English and Dutch) done and in the same time giving all the children the attention they need, but it's getting better. Frequently there is time for fun trips, where we also learn a lot of new things.

We are grateful for every sign of sympathy in the recent period. We are delighted to learn that we do not stand alone in this adventure. We are very pleased with all the mail which we received!

A special word of thanks goes to those who support us financially.

Please continue to pray for us in the dark, short days of autumn and winter!