Dear Family and Friends
Happy New Year!!! I wanted to say a quick hello as I am still on my sabbatical for one more month here in Marseille.
I pray that you had a wonderful time celebrating our Saviour’s birth with family and friends. My time here in Marseille has been filled with lots of forced rest so far. I’d really appreciate your prayers for my last month here. I say “forced rest” because in my second week here, I came down with shingles which caused severe pain on the upper left side of my body as well as a terrible rash. After a few weeks of rest and medications, the symptoms subsided in time for Christmas. I spent a lovely Christmas Eve with our Marseille church staff but unfortunately a few days later – one by one everyone tested positive for Covid. I thought that my myself and my pastor friend that I am staying with had escaped getting sick, but last weekend we also both tested positive. We have both been feeling rough this week but are slowly feeling better praise God.
Will you please pray that the rest of my time here is healthy? I really want to get everything out of this sabbatical that God wants me to. On Monday, our Every Nation Churches around the world will start a global week of fasting for this year and I’m expectant for what God has in store for me in this new season and excited about what He is going to do in this next week and the weeks to come.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and continual support to reach the nations through Europe.
Loads of Love
Traci
Dear Family and Friends
Can you believe 2021 is almost over? This past week my iPhone did an update and one of the first things that popped up after it restarted was a review of the photos I had taken throughout the year. It’s hard to believe how so much has happened in a year where we still had Covid restrictions and faced so many challenges. I couldn’t believe how many special moments happened over the past 11 months.
One of my big highlights from this year is my move to Slough. After being in our West Kensington Congregation for 17 years, it was a huge move for me emotionally and physically. I have developed so many amazing friendships and family relationships in West Ken, so saying goodbye was very difficult, BUT our Slough congregation has been so welcoming and has immediately embraced me as family in such a very short time. I’ve been preaching on Sundays, teaching at our Follow Courses, leading and mentoring youth, overseeing our Connect Groups and so much more, so it actually feels like I’ve been in Slough for years instead of months! God has done such a quick work in making me feel at home.
On the downside, at the beginning of the year our Slough congregation lost a few family members to Covid and to cancer. I also experienced a personal loss of my 'Tio' passing away in April. In many ways you could say it’s been a year of incredible highs but also a year of mourning by not only losing loved ones but also moving to Slough. It’s interesting how change can bring up so many emotions isn’t it? I love how in God’s perfect timing, that our 3 congregations all recently went through a series on Well-being. The series spoke to us about our physical bodies, our emotions, our relationships and so much more. It ministered to so many of us in every area of our lives.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this series also set me up for the next few months. Here in the UK, we have a policy that our Every Nation staff take a time of sabbatical every 7 years. My next sabbatical is actually supposed to take place in 2022, but because Slough’s current pastors will be planting a new church in Cardiff next year, we decided a few weeks ago that I should actually take my sabbatical now so I could be around to help with any transitions needed in Slough in the new year.
It was a very quick decision, but we all felt like it was God’s timing for me to take a time of rest now to get ready for all that He has for me in 2022! A perfect time to focus even more on my own well-being. So, a few days ago, I hopped on a plane to Marseille where I have been blessed to be able to stay with a friend over the next 2 months to take sabbatical.
I know the timing of my sabbatical will come as a surprise to you as much as it did for me – but I also pray that you will be excited for me as I am now, to be able to take this time to rest, have some fun and take in everything God has for me to get ready for this next season!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and your financial support in 2021 – I could NOT have got through this year without you. You have not only been a blessing to me but to so many here in Europe and beyond as you have enabled me to do ministry here.
Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Blessings
Traci
Dear Family and Friends
A lot has happened over the past 6 weeks! At the beginning of October I taught on our last session of our Follow One Course on God’s Gifts of Grace. It’s been such a blessing getting to know more people in Slough as they’ve grown on this 4 week course on the Father Heart of God.
Our Every Nation Slough congregation was planted over 10 years ago from our West Kensington congregation and since then, EN Slough has been sowing into other areas of the UK and also the world. The original church planters for Slough now pastor our EN church in Gent, Belgium. Also, EN Slough has been a significant part in a recent church plant in Kampala, Uganda. In recent years there have been 2 outreaches developing in other areas of the UK from people who have been connected to our congregation. One is in Swindon and it’s surrounding areas. I recently took a trip there to encourage a small group that has started meeting there on a regular basis. We are waiting to see what God’s plans are for this outreach.
The following weekend I went to visit another outreach that is turning into a church plant! Huntingdon is located just outside of Cambridge and they will soon be moving into their first venue in January. I spent the weekend with a group of 9 leaders training them to become small group leaders. Unfortunately we were so focused on the training and spending time together that we forgot to take a picture. Stay tuned for pictures in the coming year as I am sure I will be visiting again.
For the past few months our London churches have been doing a series on Well Being. I think it’s such a significant time for the world to really look at how we are REALLY doing in every area of our lives. On 17 October, I had the privilege of preaching on the topic of Relational Well Being. You can check out the sermon here on our YouTube channel.
At the end of October I headed to France for a much needed 2 week holiday with one of the Europe ladies that I have mentioned to you about in my previous letters. (Fiona, one of the pastors in our EN Marseille church) With everything that has been happening over the past 2 years, I must say God blessed me with the most relaxing holiday ever. He is so good.
From France, I took the train to Gent, Belgium to join our Evangelism Summit where 17 nations took part in a week of training and activation on evangelism. I also got to spend some time with two other ladies I meet with in Europe. Cece is the Executive Pastor in our EN Gent church and Aoife is a pastor in our EN Dublin church. Love walking with these ladies and others across Europe!
The Evangelism Summit was an incredible time of seeing people stirred up to reach their cities across Europe. We went onto some of the university campuses in Gent and it was the first time some of the people attending the summit ever talked to someone about Jesus. It was like starting a fire for many of them and we are already hearing stories of people sharing their faith and leading others to Christ just in the past few days since they have left the conference! Here are a few pictures from the week.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers. You have no idea how much they are helping me. Thank you for all that you do!
Blessings
Traci