In January we said farewell to Nick as he left for a three month visit to China. There he lived and worked with one of our iNet families who is involved in a drug rehabilitation program.  He threw himself into the daily routine, praying for and supporting the recovering drug addicts, making friends, helping in a ministry-related cafe, and learning more than a smattering of Mandarin. Part of his “gap” year, this was the longest he had been away from home. We missed him, but it was exciting to follow his experiences and enjoy his cross-cultural journey.  He returned at Easter but he loved it and wants to go back when he finishes his university course which he started last September.  Nick turned 20 in September and got ready to start his university career at Brunel, West London. He's doing an anthropology degree, loves his course and plans to visit the South Pacific in the near future.

 

John celebrated turning 50 this year with a birthday extravaganza.  About seventy-five friends came in fancy dress – the theme: characters of the past from literature or history.John started the evening as a newly converted Viking monk, but then changed into something more suited to regaling everyone with a version of Frank Sinatra’s ‘That’s Life’.  Lynne organized it all – complete with full hog roast, great venue and lots of trimmings.  Nick put a fantastic band together and Chloe and her friends pitched in serving drinks and nibbles.  Among the guests: Mahatma Gandhi, Charles Darwin and Robin Hood. A good time was had by all, and nothing was left of the hog!

 

In April, John and Lynne spent a week in the Lake District with old friends.  July brought the annual missions conference we have been involved in for the last ten years or so. It's always so inspiring to hear what has been happening in and through the lives of the people we support. Following the conference, it was holiday time for us and we flew off to Corfu for a week of sunshine and relived some of our early family holidays. Earlier in the month Chloe graduated in History from Bristol with a 2:1

 

Chloe turned 22 in November!  She is working at Church Urban Fund as a graduate intern in the role of marketing and fundraising. Nick’s China tales were so inspirational that Chloe is now making plans for a similar escapade. Meanwhile, in her role at the Church Urban Fund she had the opportunity to be in a church service with the Archbishop of Canterbury and speak with him personally. Later in the year she hopes to travel to China and even visit other friends in iNet.  It is exciting to see our children growing and developing in their faith. 

 

London is a melting pot of the nations of the world. People come from all over to learn English, or as refugees, or to work, or for

any number of reasons. John and Lynne work with a church in central London which owns ministry premises in the red-light

district. We have been involved there with a team running regular Alpha meetings in simple English. Over the year people from

more than twenty different countries have taken part.  Various topics are presented, followed by group discussions. These are

often lively and thought provoking exchanges. On Saturdays there are English classes and on Tuesdays there is a lunch time

discipleship group once a week. On Sunday mornings during the preaching, foreigners are invited to gather for a special sermon

in simple English. 

 

John and Lynne continue their involvement in iNet, a church-based missions agency with some 30 adults working in about fifteen countries from Brazil to China. Lynne is part of the leadership team and supervises various missionaries, while John has been involved with teaching, training and video production. A large part of iNet’s work is in offering ongoing support to the missionaries, and John and Lynne have enjoyed this aspect of the work, including the summer conference in July. The iNet model is of interest to other church networks and there is a desire to expand to new regions. 

 

John continues to write his PhD on the subject of immigration, identity, conversion and conflict in early-tenth-century Britain.

His missionary background is often a topic of conversation with the academics he meets. “Were you a converting missionary’,

one professor asked. When he replied, “Yes,” she said, ‘Can you convert me?” 

 

Email the Quanruds at: theQs@pobox.com