Sismeys in Rostock

We are travelling back tomorrow (Tuesday), leaving Falkenstein at 7.30am and hopefully reaching Dunkirk at 7.15pm at the latest.  A 2 hour crossing to Dover will take it to 11pm local time, and then 2 hours to return to Milton Keynes (1am!), M25 permitting!  Please pray for us if you read this before we get home!

We’re presently in Germany enjoying a 10 day summer break, staying with Kristin’s parents in the eastern part of the country.  On Saturday 22 August we set off from Milton Keynes at 6.30am and arrived at Dover at 8.30am.  Our sailing was at 10am across to Dunkirk where we arrived at 1pm local time.  It takes about 4 hours to get to Aachen on the West German border (5pm) having driven through France, Belgium and Holland, and we eventually arrived at 11.45pm in Kristin’s home town (Falkenstein).  It’s a long journey with 2 children but flying is unthinkable with such a young baby and both girls did very well with the journey.  However, at 40 years of age it is taking me longer to recover after 16 hours of driving so I am just about there 2 days after we arrived!  We return to Milton Keynes on 1 September.  We used SKYPE to speak to our friends in MK and it works really well, something we will use a lot more once we are here permanently in Germany, so if you are thinking about getting SKYPE we’d certainly encourage you.  Actually, if you already have SKYPE please let us know as we can add you to our contacts. 

Lastly for this posting………if you click on the ECM link to the right of this page, you will be taken to the ECM website, choose the ECM Britain site and click on the June 2009 Edition of "Millions".  Inside you will be able to read an article about Rostock where we will be working.

The Sismeys

As most folk will know, we were originally planning to start our work church planting in Rostock, North Germany by the end of September, 2009.  We are extremely grateful for those who have committed to supporting us specifically in prayer and/or financially.  The birth of Emilia at the end of May meant that we have not been able to devote as much time to raising the profile of Rostock and our work as we had been previously but we have continued to be amazed and blessed with folk who have indicated that they would like to support us.
 
Our current level of funding commitment stands at about 35% which means, realistically, that we will not be able to go to Germany at the end of September as originally planned.  While disappointing, nevertheless we are acutely aware that the timeframe was always going to be tight and that God’s timing is rarely our timing.  Our next focus, therefore will be to leave for Germany as early as possible, this will only be once we have achieved 100% financial support.
 
There are a number of areas where we would appreciate your prayer support.  Firstly, for the team currently working in Rostock who have been praying for us, please pray that they would not be terribly disappointed that we are not coming at the time that they and we were hoping for.  

Secondly, please pray that we would be able to get Emeline into a suitable school from September until we are able to leave.  We had applied for her to attend a school in Broughton but we heard that they are full so we are having to look elsewhere and will probably not know about arrangements until the start of term.
 
Clearly we are still looking for additional funding so if you are able or would like to support us on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly or yearly), from as little as £5,  please contact us or complete one of the forms which we can also send to you by email.
 
Again, we are grateful for your interest and we are extremely privileged to have so many friends interested in the call on our lives to the church planting work in North Germany.
 
Justin, Kristin, Emeline and Emilia