June to July - ' Strange Weather & Car Boot Sales ' - Just as per last year - the summer seems to have gone before the summer holidays and there has been lots of Rain! We have had the odd sunny day where we got to go spend some time at the beach which the kids love. Last saturday (5th June) as part of one of our local Projects for the Hope Worldwide Charity we gathered up alot of our "Stuff" and had a car boot sale. After a very early morning start , we got in and in drizzly conditions set up. straight away we had a few sales with the Bargain Hunters who were quite litterally climbing into our cars to get a look at our things. The weather was wet and quickly getting wetter which meant there were considerably less people than usuall but in the hour before we almost got blown and away and had to pack up, we got to sell a few more things and raise some more money. Thanks to everyone who helped out setting up ,selling ,encouraging and to everone who donated some belongings. We now have alot of things and are looking forward to the next one! Busy April and May! - 'Lots of Visits' - The past two months has been very busy - and we have been very encouraged with lots of people coming to visit. We had Adrian and Maureen Hill stay for the weekend as well as Tommy and Kim Clohterty all from London. Lots of fellowship (delicious dinner on Sat night -thanks Jane) and sharing over the weekend was great. On Sunday Tommy give us an update about the work of Hope Worldwide in London including helping the homeless, Drug & Alcohol recovery and mentoring programmes. Tommy while he was here also ran the Belfast marathan to raise some money! (It was a very hot day - a great achievment.) Adrian Hill encouraged and challanged us with his lesson on sunday from 1 Cor 16:13-14. We also had Andy Fleming visit and give some great lessons, advice , encouragemet to us all. Andy has spent the majority of his life serving as a missionary all around the Globe from the UK to Sweeden to Ukraine, Russia and the US (including bringing up a young family through this work). Just last weekend we had Daniel and Mary Allison drop in as they back to Afghanistan, were they are working for Hope Worldwide there. We have been supporting some projects in Afghanistan for the past few years and it was great to hear how the work in some of the projects is now complete how the schools / health centres are really helping the people there. The continental market that visits Belfast every so often was here this wekend so it was great to get a walk around with Dan and Mary and spend some time chatting on the grass in front of the city hall while enjoying the Belfast sunshine.(Thanks for the helpfull advice with the children Mary!) 30th Mar 08 - 'Joint Service with Dublin Church' - On sunday - we were all off to Dundalk to hold a joint service with some of our brothers and sisters from south of the border. We spent a few hours together having a time of worship and a time of fellowship and building our relationship... lots of catching up! The Singing was excellent and very encouraging - closing the service with "Jesus is Lord". A special thanks to all who looked after lots and lots of the chilldren. - Charlie Hynes gave a very encouraging lesson from Revelation Chapter 2, talking about the importance for Christians to remember your first love. 16th Mar 08 - 'First Meeting in New Venue'! - On Sunday 16th we held our first meeting at our new venue. A few small 'teething' issues to sort out - but overall it should be a great job - and we didnt have to rush out by 1 O'Clock! Thanks to all the helpers for all the time & effort they were able to give. - Barry Lamb came to visit from East London and spent some time over dinner with some of the parents on saturday night. It was great to get some input from Barry from his own expericances as a parent as well as being a Kids ministry co-ordinator. Barry also preached a great lesson on the sunday morning, giving some insightfull help and encouragment from the interaction the Caananite women had with Jesus. Mar 08 - 'New Meeting Place is almost Ready'! - We are in the process of 'doing up' a new meeting place in Belfast City Centre - Less than 2 mins walk from Castlecourt. We will have seperate rooms that will be customised for the toddlers and kids classes. We hope to move there mid to end of march. - Early this month we had a wednesday visit from Malcolm Cox who gave an incredibly encouraging Lesson from the Book of Acts at our midweek meeting. It was great to have Malcolm visit us again, and hear some encouraging news from some of our brothers and sisters outside of our small country. Before and After: Feb 08 - 'Belfast Church Winter Retreat'! - We went to Portaferry again for our (hopefully now annual!) winter retreat. Almost all of the Congregation were able to be there and it was great to spend some un-distracted time together with each other and with God. The focus was on "Gods will and the care he has for his people". This was encouraging and challenging. We look forward to serving God this year with the encouragment we got from the weekend. (Thanks to Danny for putting so much effort into the lessons).