Author: Carol Purves

Something special to pray for.  Today the 22nd November a group from the Algecerias church will to going up to Medina Sidonia to make contact with those they were able to speak to on their last trip up there.  This was when the group from England joined them.

Do pray that they will be able to build on the contacts and reach new people.  It is a town with no Christian witness at present.  We pray that might change and soon.

Carol,

Then the work on this mission trip started.  It was planned to have an English afternoon tea for the ladies of the church and others.  Afternoon tea is little known in Spain.

Nearly 40 ladies attended – church members, non-Christians, Muslim ladies and friends.  We had provided a tremendous amount of food which disappeared quickly and some took plates of food home for their families.  I imagine the ladies were actually hungry, a reflection of conditions in this port town of Spain.

Meanwhile our young people were entertaining the children of the ladies elsewhere.  About 30 children with hardly a common language!!  I think we had the easier job.

Carol, provider of afternoon tea.

Hello, I’m back.  I think the title of this blog explains my absence.  I’ve  just had ten days of really hard work.  A group of twelve of us from our church here in England went to help a church in Spain.  Friends of ours, Mhairi and Peter, not forgetting five year old Isla are in Algecerias as missionaries.

This a very poor Mediterranean port , firstly two of us went to Gibraltar sight-seeing.  I found this more British than Britain but visited the favourite tourists spots, the Rock, seeing the caves, the tunnels and of course the apes.  We explored the main street, had three bus rides and visited Morrisons, honestly.

The true work starts in the next blog.

Carol, in Europe.

The Cumbrian sky can be so stunningly beautiful.  One evening last week I drove to the coast to give a talk.  On the return journey there was a terrific storm with the sky being lit up in a most spectacular way.  I knew the road was liable to flood but was told it only flooded in the dips.  How was I supposed to see the dips in the dark?

Then yesterday I drove to the peaceful villages of High and Low Lorton and returned via the Whinlatter Pass.  In the afternoon sun the hills were clothed in the most striking autumn colours and the sky was a vivid deep blue with fluffy clouds looking like sheep in the sky.

Only a divine hand could have devised such beauty.

Carol, with her head in the clouds.

Our writing group had a most difficult subject to write about – Detection.  I even had to work out exactly what it meant.  One member wrote about garden planters which were stolen.  The culprit was never found.  Another used the story of Solomon who had to decide which baby was which.  You remember, the tale where he threatened to cut the baby in half.

One person who travels by train did some detection work about her fellow passengers and wove it into a clever poem.  We all laughed at the story where  a truth brooch caused people to say exactly what they were thinking.  It all came to a head when it was pinned to the preacher’s cassock!  I’ll leave you to guess the results.

Carol, in detective mode

One of the advantages of being a public speaker is that I get to visit some delightful places.  I was due to give a talk at Lazonby so took the chance to visit the village beforehand.

I found it to be charming with the main road running down towards the River Eden.  It is situated in the Lower Eden Valley, 8 miles NE of Penrith and only 24 miles from the Scottish Border.

It seemed to be thriving with a few small shops, a church, chapel, two pubs, school, retained fire station and is a stop along the picturesque Carlisle/Settle Railway Line.

With its historic buildings surrounded by gently sloping fields and views of the Lake District hills it appears to be a genuine picture-postcard English village.

Carol, wandering around again

I realise that during the last few weeks I’ve received ‘hits’ from a wide number of countries.  When I listed them out I was amazed.  Some people have sent me messages and I’m always happy to hear from others.

The countries which have logged into my website recently are –

Brazil, Colombia, United States, Ireland, France, Spain, Morocco, Italy, South Africa, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Chile.

The most hits have been received from the United Kingdom, of course, but many visits have been made by people from Brazil!

Please keep visiting me and maybe buy my books as well.

Carol, internationally known!

Use them or lose them!  Unfortunately we do not have any in Carlisle.  What a miss Wesley Owen and S.P.C.K. are.  Whitehaven and Kendal still have their shops and it was my great pleasure to visit both of them during this last week.

The excuse was to give  copies of my books on a sale or return basis.  The manageresses were a pleasure to meet but they have a uphill fight in this present climate.  They need your footfall.  The shops are stocked with many exciting books (including mine) and gifts, which need to be bought by you, for yourself or as presents.

Christmas is coming.  These shops hold the answer to your Christmas present list.  I really urge you to visit and see what they have for sale.  If you haven’t been lately then you’re in for a pleasant surprise.

Carol, a lover of Christian bookshops.

Just returned from the Keswick Convention attended by thousands of people who endured periods of very hot weather and of course a little rain.  It was really remarkable in this day and age to see the crowds streaming into the various venues round the town and later to see them streaming out.

I was there the whole of the third week where for the first time the emphasis was on the ‘not yet Christian.’  This was very sensitively done and it was a joy to know of many who dedicated their lives to Jesus for the first time and others who offered themselves for full-time service.  Also how could the musical side not be good with Stuart Townend at the helm? (or should that be guitar)

Carol, the convention goer.

Many years ago I spent a morning working on an archeological dig.  It wasn’t my thing.  But I’ve grown up since then.  Last week had a brief visit to the dig at Maryport where right next to Holme Cultram. some wonderful artefacts are being dug up. 

The activities of the Cistercian monks five hundred years ago are now being revealed.  In the area which must have been the refectory a chess piece  has been found (monks were human after all)  Coins, stained glass, ceramics, decorated tiles and human bones have also been found in the area.

It is likely that the settlement which had grown up around the abbey was disbanded in 1538 during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry V, though the site dates back to 1150.

Carol, in search of the old.