Dear Friends of Eastern Europe Renewal:

The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

It has been 3 months since I wrote. It seems like a year because of all that has been going on. I hope you are all well and would love to hear from you.

I am also well and have the strength to continue a lot of travelling and speaking in different cultures with translations into different languages.

The retreat for scientists in Southern Poland in August was excellent. They were mostly Catholic and mostly committed Christians. We did a lot of work together on epistemology. I hope to have more contact with this group.

The Lausanne Church had an all-day retreat, which went very well. Everyone would like to repeat it soon. We are an amazingly diverse group, which is so stimulating to thoughtfulness and wider awareness of what the Kingdom of God involves and looks like. I am always looking for opportunities to be with these people more. The preaching class students are making amazing progress. Several of them are really ready to start preaching. 

Twice I was at Swiss L'Abri for 3 days. This was a nostalgic time and very active and happy for me. The students this term are much more conservative and a little older than in recent years. One never knows what the community will be like when living by faith and trusting God to make the arrangements. One evening I stayed up until midnight talking with students about life and various issues. 

The biggest trip in the last quarter was the 2+ weeks in Australia. We didn't go to New Zealand in the end but went to Melbourne from Sydney and had a very fine all day conference there with 40 people. 2 evening lectures in a downtown Church and a country Church each drew over 100 people each and ended with lively discussions. 2 all day conferences at L'Abri in Sydney were attended by familiar and new faces. Heather Stootman organized meals and teas for 40 people without a snag that I could see. I could preach 4 times; once the first Sunday and 3 times the second Sunday. Tim and Meg Matthews had an evening in their beautiful home for 40 people in Jamberoo. They were students with me at Swiss L'Abri over 30 years ago. We all look just the same. On the last Saturday Jon Stootman, son of Frank and Heather, who studies piano at the Conservatory of Sydney, and I gave a concert of recorder and piano music. We didn't have a lot of rehearsal time but I think we made some music. I could use some of the things I'm learning from my new recorder teacher. 

The trip and time in Norway was profitable but very tiring, somehow. 

This evening (27 Oct.) I will go to England for a week at L'Abri and a lecture in Cambridge.

November is the month for Romania and December for Bulgaria. Please pray for all the teaching, conversations and contacts in these countries. Thanks. After the time in Bulgaria I will be HOME for the second half of December. 

Mary continues well at 82. She has been managing her own finances until now but has decided it is time to consolodate our accounts and for me to manage them. This will probably be a good change as the finances have been increasingly stressful for her. A few years ago there was a miscalculation with the Swiss government and we had to pay several thousand francs back. There has been another one and we will find out in November what will happen. Hopefully this will be the last one. Thank you for praying. God manages our finances and we are thankful but sometimes stressed.

God bless and keep you all.

Love in Christ,

Ellis & Mary Potter

Lausanne by Train

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Copyright © 2010 Ellis Potter.