Settling in ...

Well we've been here 4 and a half days and we've been to the pool 6 times. What a great blessing for the boys to have that to look forward to each day! The boys are doing really well though they have both had moments of sadness. Fortunately skype has meant that Samuel has already 'seen' and spoken to his best friend! Currently we are going with the flow although Cobb Springs Primary School opens it's doors next Wednesday which means that our days will have more structure.  Once up and running Jo is hoping to get involved with some other activities which fit around Alec's responsibilities.

We've nearly made our flat into a home. Just a few pictures to put up and we'll be there. It was so beautifully prepared for us ahead of time and we are so thankful to the people here for an amazing welcome.

On our arrival we were asked to be 'house parents' in one of the houses here at Shing Mun Springs.This was an unexpected responsibility, but it's temporary! The current 'parents' had to head back to the UK for 3 weeks. But we are getting into the swing of things. We had 2 new brothers come into the house on the second day we were here, and another will arrive on Thursday. These are guys who want to get off drugs. There really is an amazing testimony of people coming off hard drugs in a pain free manner and we're seeing that as we pray for these ones too. Logistics is a tad problematic as normally the houses are fuller than ours right now and the new boys need one on one care 24/7 for the first 10 days. We are therefore a little stretched so some members of the congregation are coming to cover the lack.

I (Alec) was privileged to pray with one of the new boys earlier and to see him released not just from the drugs but also from deep seated loneliness and feelings of being inadequate.

We are on a steep learning curve in so many areas, but are excited to be out of our comfort zones.

Please pray for:

• Jo and the boys as they start homeschooling
• The new boys - that the Lord would meet their emotional and physical needs
• Ah Kai - the house leader 
• A miracle in our ability to learn Cantonese quickly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!