France Team Update

So much has happened since our last update! It’s been a real boost to the team to have Ali and Vicky back from Montgenevre and meeting with the team regularly again. They’re a valuable part of the team and we really missed them while they were away. They’ve written a short update below.

From a practical point of view we are getting organized for moving. It’s not too long until we leave now. We’ll be leaving Loughborough on 31st July and travelling the 750 miles to our new house in France. We have sorted out a lorry for transporting all our furniture and belongings, which we will drive to Annecy ourselves. We’ll have fun and games trying to fit the contents of our house into a small truck!

Recently we have had confirmation of Jonah and Levi’s places in the local primary school just up the road from our house. They will both start school together in September.

Georgie and Aaron get married on 3rd July and will be moving around the same date as us. They’ll be packing up their stuff into a van and driving down from Manchester when the get back from their honeymoon in Wales.  They are close to sorting out a studio flat that they will rent in Annecy.

We’ll be having a leaving party the evening of Saturday 23rd July at 64 Beacon Road, so please come and say goodbye to us! The following day we’ll be commissioned and sent in the Sunday gathering. Linda Harding (World Outreach & Kairos) will be speaking on mission so it will be a great opportunity to be encouraged and challenged.

Finally, Yannick has decided to return home to Annecy at the completion of his DNA year at the end of August. He has been a fantastic help to us as a team over the last year as we have been planning and preparing. It will be great to have him as part of the team there and I’m sure he will continue to be valuable help as we all settle down and get stuck into developing our French language skills.

Thanks for all your prayer and support. If you would like to support any of us financially, please contact me on mcknight247@gmail.com

Pete

Update from Ali & Vicky

Vicky and I recently came back from spending six months in Montgenevre, France. We worked for a fantastic couple, James and Julie, who run a holiday business as a support for their ministry into the area. Their heart is to establish a relevant church to reach locals as well as holiday makers. It was great to see church and business integrate to see the kingdom advance.

It was great to be in France after five years of praying and dreaming. Because of my involvement with Staywimi (a new business venture I started in my final year) I was often travelling back to England. This lifestyle ended up putting quite a lot of strain on our relationships with each other and with the Go-Montgenevre team.  As we thought about the move to Annecy we felt that if this way of life continued, it had the potential to be damaging for us and the France team.

It was great to come back to Loughborough and feel the love of this great community. Our marriage was definitely stronger from the experiences we’d been through.

I’m currently navigating a lot of change in my work and feel it would be wise to commit to being a part of this great community for a while as we seek God on the future of my work and the nature of our involvement with the France team.

During this time, we remain committed to the France team and along with Chris Ford, we’ll be establishing the Annecy support team.

Ali

Update from James & Anna

France has always held a special place in my heart, after I spent nearly 3 years living there whilst pursuing a career in professional cycling. Anna and I have been part of the France team for the last couple of years. Since then, we’ve been searching for ways to make the move to Annecy possible. Anna negotiated with her lecturers so that she could complete her three year degree in two years, with aim of us being free to move out to France sooner. Meanwhile, whilst working for Fusion, I’ve been searching for jobs, either in the Annecy area, or that would enable me to work remotely.

We're committed to finding a way to move to Annecy, however, God’s timing is not the same as our timing! I haven’t been able to find a job and, since the birth of Max (our first child) we need more ‘resources’ in place to be able to make the move. However, I’ve been given the opportunity to set up a bike store business with the aim of providing a route back into the bike industry and hopefully more opportunities to find employment (or make our own employment!) in Annecy in the future.

At the end of August, I’ll be moving on from my job with Fusion and starting this new bike store venture. Whilst this means that Anna, Max and I will have to move to the London area to set up the project, we’re still completely committed to the France team and their vision and will continue to support them with the aim of getting out to live there as soon as we can!

James & Anna x

Posted by: Pete McKnight on Friday Jul 1st, 2011

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