More news, more prayers required!
Here's the latest for you all:

1. I contacted my employer to ask for a day off for an interview in Cornwall, because obviously the situation I was in was quite fragile and I had no idea when they would pull the plug. They said no need and firmed up this arrangement until at least the end of the year. Praise God!

2. We're going to look at a couple of places on Saturday and we're really hopeful about one of them. In fact, on paper, we really like it (despite the fact it has no parking). Pray that it will be good and that we can take it!

3. Lucy should have a job, although it is being advertised elsewhere, so we need to get down there asap to make sure she secures it.

We're really excited and hopeful about the flat and if we can get it, it solves an awful lot of problems. Please pray really hard, particularly on Saturday!!

Soon we'll be able to get on with what God has called us to do!

Yours in the battle,

Dave
One step closer... prayers please!
Another update for our supporters...

I'm still working from home and this appears to be going well, my employer is happy. Praise God for this! We pray that this will continue for some time!

Lucy now has the potential promise of a job, so long as we can get down to Looe before September :-S
Praise God for the job, it would be ideal. It would help Lucy get into the community, and help us to afford a decent home. Pray that the job opportunity doesn't disappear!

Finally, as you can tell, we now want to get down there before this opportunity disappears for Lucy. It's the first job offer she's had in 8 months, so we want to grasp it! Pray that the right house comes up soon! Be good to get down there soon!
Launch +1? I'm afraid not...
So things have not gone according to plan.

The van only went in to a garage on Wednesday after lots and lots of phonecalls going round and round the varying companies all contracted to do the work of the insurer. The underwriter knows nothing about courtesy cars, the insurer explains that they have redefined the word "accident" to suit them - we only get a courtesy car in the case of third party fault. Apparently the fact that I didn't start the fire doesn't count...

So we have no vehicle (and possibly more importantly, nowhere to live).

Eventually, after much thought, we decide that the best bet is to stay with Lucy's parents in Bristol and for me to start work and save the holiday until we actually move. This way we can save up some money and get ourselves sorted - i.e. find a house etc.

This isn't how we planned it, but we're sure God will bring glory to it. Perhaps this is a case of in his time rather than in ours.

On a secondary note, the lorry that we had booked for our move didn't arrive. Thankfully I'd phoned the hire company on Friday just to make sure everything was ok and was told that not only was our confirmed booking not going to result in a Lorry, but also that they had phoned me to tell me... strange that I can't remember that phonecall...

Eventually, though, my parents managed to book a Lorry cheaper than I had managed which gave us enough to put our stuff in storage. It'll make the next stage of the move easier, and it will also free up some room here.

Keep praying! This is just a small delay! Looe... we're still coming!!
Emergency at T-4
Prayer Needed Urgently!

As if to confirm that we are definitely stepping onto the right patch, the devil has hit us hard - not so hard that we will be put off, though!

As you may recall, we are about to move out of our existing home but don't yet have a home to go to. We were planning on living in Lucy's Dad's camper for a couple of weeks whilst we sorted out accommodation.

Unfortunately as I drove it home from work yesterday a small fire erupted on the leads coming from the leisure battery under my seat!

Luckily my brain kept working and I soon had a fire extinguisher working on the fire. The fire brigade were called and managed to extinguish the fire completely and be happy the vehicle was safe. Since the motor battery was not affected, we thought it may be safe to drive home. Just to be safe a fireman started the engine and immediately smoked poured forth from every gap imaginable.

The fire brigade then set about putting out the second battery fire and disconnected the main battery.

Eventually, after a wait, the breakdown people took me home.

So, although the camper isn't burnt out (praise God!!), we are without transport and home.

We're praying "Jehovah Jireh" prophetically and praise-fully (not that it's even a word). We trust that God will provide for us! Please pray that He will perform miracles with the insurance company and get stuff sorted quickly!!
Mission Needs (T-5)
Launch isn't very far away and Lucy and I have been thinking very much about what we're going there to do. Lucy watched a program about some girls who have totally missed out on what life should be (The Trouble With Girls - BBC) and how they just need some help. I replied to her e-mail with the following. It all kinda just poured out of me and I suddenly realised how true it is:
Exactly. It is what they need. It’s exactly what James is talking about when he says (and I paraphrase) “It’s no good saying, yeah I believe, and then just sitting on your bum. If your mate comes up to you and says ‘I’ve got some problems’ don’t just say ‘Oh, well, God bless then’ and walk off. What good is that? You can’t have faith without actions, and actions without faith are lost. You gotta have both!”

That’s what the Army was all about. And sadly, at some point, the “social work” got divorced from the “church” and we became exactly like the Churches William Booth fought against. He saved men and women and then sent them to Churches who wouldn’t even let these people in. That’s the only reason that the Christian Mission ever became a Church, simply because no other Church would take the people he was saving.

Look at how far we’ve come from our calling... incredibly really! So that’s what we’re going into: saving souls and serving suffering humanity!

I can see us spending a lot of time out at night with the young’uns, with bottles of water and those mini bibles that Andrew gave us. We’ll just be chatting to people, helping them out, telling them there’s another way.

That’s also why I want us to have a bigger place, because we’re gonna have people round for food all the time and we may even have people staying with us occasionally. B&B but without getting paid for it, lol.
At the moment, without Lucy working and with debt that we've built up whilst we've been living beyond our means in Reading, we'll only be able to afford about £400/month. Even in Looe we're only looking at a 1 bedroom flat for that. Basically, we both feel that our mission and our creation of community down there is going to require a bit more space.

More space means more rent, more rent needs more income, more income needs a job. Our most outstanding prayer need right now? That Lucy find a job and we find the perfect home and base of operations.

If God can, by some miracle, give us the home first, then fair enough. But if we have to do this the worldly way, we're going to need Lucy to find a job. Please cover this issue with as much prayer as you can!!
T-6 days and some good news!
It's hard to believe we're this close now. God, being the provider that He is, has fixed it for me to keep working for my present employer from home on a limited contract. This means I have an income (as long as I can get myself connected to the Internet) but work can pull the plug with only a weeks notice.
It means we have breathing space and time to get ourselves settled. Work have agreed to one weeks paid holiday (a few days more unpaid if I need them) which I will need to use to find a suitable wifi connection!
We actually don't have our accommodation sorted out yet, but will start off camping just outside of Looe whilst our stuff get's stored at Lucy's parent's house. All being well we'll have all our stuff back out of their house before they come back from holiday...
Your prayers regarding a job for Lucy (and a more long-term job for me) would be great and also for a suitable home somewhere in Looe. Finally, we still don't fully understand our purpose, so your prayers for that would be great too!
God is good! We will not go hungry!