Its nearly March! Whats been happening!

Hi everyone!

Its been a while, thanks for popping by again. I haven't written for a while, as I am very busy and important ..... being a temp in some of the most mundane jobs in the world :) lol

Work n stuff
I worked 1 week at South African Tourism answering phones etc and a few days in at some council borough, which reminded me of 'the office'. But more specifically the room of accountants in the office, I think he calls them the number crunchers or numbots. Hmm anyway, if you know the show you know what I am trying to allude to without saying it! Interesting characters.

I have put in a few other job applications this week.. one of which cost £10 pounds to fax. You do the math’s into Aussie dollars! Hmm, better get it! Actually God was good that day, coz the fax was to cost £10 but then the guy said 'oh we are having a half price sale on our internet and services today, so that will be £5'. Awesome coz that is all I had in me little purse!'

So still awaiting the right job and believing my heavenly father knows what he is doing! I have been encouraged, though coz I met some people a social worker and PR person, both qualified professional, who also struggled to find work when they arrived here. It took them about 2 months to find work so its not just me!

So a few highlights maybe? Anyone interested?
I find it easier to do highlights, otherwise I just write a rambling mess.

A new flat mate!
God has blessed us with a new house mate, to help share the cost of our very expensive home. Her name is Jane and she is from South Africa. It was a real answer to prayer for her, as she was being kicked out of her place where 9 people lived on Saturday and had no where to go. She wanted a Christian flat share, and her own bathroom (makes sense after sharing with 9 people!) and she wanted to live in Putney near her church! So God is good, He answered her prayers and ours! I now share a room with my original flat mate Susannah and we ordered a bed in the sky for her! Its not a bunk, coz it’s a stand alone bed high up on stilts and it sits above another bed or a computer desk or whatever underneath. My brother Ryan had one in his room, so you might know what I am talking about. Anyway that comes on Wednesday, so we wont have to share a bed for too long!

The Love Actually Church
I attended church with Jane and her friends this Sunday gone, to a Vineyard Church in Putney. It was a lovely service with friendly people and a really nice time of worship. I have always known vineyard Church's to be very deep and Christ centered in their worship and this was true of this church. I enjoyed it very much. The worship leader used to sing with Matt Redman, so you can imagine the lovely songs and guitar sounds.

And in fact ….this was exciting for me being a Love Actually fan ... the actual building that the service is held in is the same School Hall that is used in the movie, in the scene of the children's nativity play at the end of the film, where Hugh Grant and that chick (Natalie?) kiss behind the blue curtains :).

Of course the other highlight of being at church was that the Lord was there! I think I will go back their next week, however I am still attending Holy Trinity Brompton at night also.

Happy things in the family
It was my mums bday on the 22nd so Happy Bday to her. And my clever Dad had his graduation service for completing his CA qualifications, so well done Daddy! My sister and bro in packing down their life in Japan to return home soon, so I am sure they and the family is pretty happy about that! My brothers Bradley and Ryan are working very hard on their apprenticeship and pre- apprenticeship courses, growing to be very clever skilled young men I am sure!

Well I do hope to hear from you all! I was very happy to receive an email from my Auntie Debbie, Uncle Paul and the kids, as well as one from my Grandma and Grandpa Staer. Also a big parcel of goodies from Matt and Jess in Japan (yay my hairdryer!). Thanks guys! Thanks also to all my lovely friends who call, sms or write to remind me of my lovely life back home :)

You're all in my thoughts and prayers

Love Melissa

The monoply board

Hi yall,

A few pics here from last week (when I had a very bad hair day) and Dave and I attempted to go on the London eye, but were scared off by the bizzililions of people who were also planning to go on! We were given some tickets as Chrissy presents from Dave's Mum and Dad which was great! But we want to use them on a special day when we don't have to be squashed in with so many others!

So, we changed plans and wondered around the monopoly board on London! We went to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Walked down Strand, Oxford Street and Bond Street. There are some seriously wealthy places around Bond Street and New Bond Street. We saw 3 Ferrari's parked up in a line outside some huge jewelery shop dripping with chandeliers and sparkles!

Being Chinese New Year there was a celebration throughChina town and these was lots of lanterns and buzz.

Dave took me to see his old workplace from when he was in London last, Selfridges. Very fancy, has everything you
could ever want, but not my cup of tea. London, is a very consumer orientated place and it kind of does my head in!

We wondered around till it was dark, then we caught a bus home which is so much nicer than having to get the tube! We even past Harrods, light up in all its glory, so that was nice.

So that is my story!

TTFN, Ta Ta for now!

Melissa

2 Weeks Highlights in 1 Post!

Hi everyone

This week it is a double update, as I failed to get last weeks up on time!. Its my one month anniversary here in London on Wednesday! Crazy!

Sorry that its been a lot of words and not many pictures of late (however I have back dated some previous posts if you want to look). Its just I am using lots of internet café computers and they are the dodgiest machines ever! Cant seem to figure out how to make them consistently do what I ask them too! So bare with me .. and enjoy lots and lots of words in their place!

(Monday 29 Jan – Sunday 4 Feb)

The Park (Sun 4 Feb)
Sunny days were around this week in London, so there was lots of peeps out on the town. A highlight for me is always getting out of the house! Dave and I took a stroll on Sunday down to the Park near our house. It was so lovely to be outside, looking over the large expanse of greenery with midst in the distance and deer meandering around. There was a cute little lake that we sat near watching the swans and ducks (But I am weary of swans though, as one bit me when I was little! (Nasty thing!). Moving on from my repressed childhood memoires … the park was very nice and now that I know it is there I may visit it more often!

Parker Party (Fri 2 Feb)
My best friends husband Craig turned 27 on Saturday (on ya Criag!) and he is from London. His family love him so much that they threw him a party here in is honour with a b’day cake and everything. The whole lot of them, called him on Skype and sung happy birthday to him. I met the Parker family during the time they were in Oz for Dav and Craig’s wedding, and they were kind enough to invite us along to celebrate Craig. We had an amazing time with this wonderful family. Dave is best friends with Craig’s cousin Terry so there is lots of memories and laughs that go long back, and I worked with Darren who is Terry’s brother. So we are all connected in around about way! Its lots of fun!

We enjoyed the most amazing meal (I am talking about food again but this stuff is just too good!) with many varieties of curry. My favourite was the prawn and pumkin one! There was so many of us, it took 2 sittings around the table! It was truly amazing. We are so thankful to the Parkers for their kindness and hospitality!

Alpha & A Girls Night In (Sun 4 Feb)
I visited the real life Alpha church with Dishan and Leonie on Sunday. It was a really nice service, in a lovely old church. I have just loved being in the house of God while I have been away. It’s like a sanctuary, it feels like home in a place where everything is so not home! I love that God is universal. He is for all of us no matter who we are or where we are. The service talked about perseverance and faith, something I am aiming to keep hold of during this time of unsureness about what is happening for me here in London. I felt God encouraging me that His word is true and his promises are real. It is not a lie, that he has good plans for me life and that he has created me in Christ Jesus with work he planned for me to do in advance. So this is a time of faith and perseverance for me, to trust believe and wait for what God has for me here.

The night was topped off brilliantly with a girl’s night in (the boys went off to watch some band or something). Leonie, Dishans wife, is a lover of old films, and showed us her favourite ‘Sabrina’. We sipped champagne with strawberries and ate amazing Harrods truffles (each was a little work of art!) Yay for girl’s nights! It was so relaxing, Just what I needed. I have been missing them!

Other Stuff
Now I know it might seem like I am not doing any job hunting, but a lot goes on on the side ok?! Sadly didn’t get the Tearfund job I was hoping for, but that means that God has something else. I have registered with 3 agencies at this point, 2 of which can hopefully get me some temp work this week. The other one is a youth work agency. I will continue to search for youth work jobs independently. A few applications are going in this week. Applications here are quite an exhaustive process. They can take 2 – 4 hours to do! If nothing pops up by Friday, I will hit the streets with my hospitality resume and see if I can pick up anything at all - need to earn the pounders!

Just want to say thanks for all your love and prayers so far, and if you would, please continue to stand with me in prayer for direction in the job arena! Please also continue to keep my family in mind as my dad and aunty recover and the rest of them as they do life together. Please also keep Dave in your prayers as he tackles the very competitive arts market here.

You’re all brilliant, thanks for keeping up with my long posts! Miss you heaps! Write soon

Love Melissa x


(Monday 5 Feb - Sunday 11 Feb)

Job Hunting
Job hunting has been the main focus of the week gone. One of the temp agencies came off for me this week, and I start a little reception job on Monday. So thank God I will have some money soon!

Snow (again!) and The Natural History Museum (Thurs 8 Feb)
I try to do one touristy thing a week, being here in London you know! Once I am earning more, maybe some extended travel but for now just the freebies!

It seems to be a pattern now that whenever Dave and I want to do a tour, it snows! We should do touristy things more often! We woke again to snow this week, but this time it kept snowing all morning until 10am! That was so exciting this time to have it falling on us! After it stopped we ventured out for our day on the town.

Dave and I visited the natural history museum which was fantastic (I thought so anyway). Just walking into the building was breathtaking. It was a huge, beautiful historical building. The museum holds a vast array of exhibitions; we only got through one wing of the 4 wings and 2 floors! We saw the dinosaur exhibition and the human body one. I just love things like that, where you look, touch, see and learn something new. I need to visit again, to do the rest of it. Just next door is where the Kylie Exhibition is being held. A tribute to her career showing her gowns, videos etc, us girls are really keen to go! Maybe this week!

Rory B’day (Fri 9 Feb)
Dave’s brother in law Rory turned 30 this week! With our three flat house arrangement, the 2 down stairs flats were open for the party Friday night, with mine and Susannah’s top flat operating as the food prep area. It was a great night, and I think Rory had a good one!

He was lucky enough the next day to have to get up nice and early … but it was ok because he and Dave travelled to Manchester to see Man United! They sat right near the pitch and next to the player’s seats. I think it would have been like a dream come true for him and dave!

Not must else at this stage. I think I can say I am finally settling in. Missing my family muchly, lots of love to you Mum, Dad, Ryan, Brad, Matt and Jess.

And of course lots of love to you, who made it to the bottom of this gigantic post! Well done!

Mel x

A trip to the seaside

Hi yall,

Hope your enjoying the sunshine and beach in oz! Well, im not jealous at all coz I went to the beach the other day too! Brighton beach infact lol.

Terry and his girlfriend Becca were kind enough to take Dave and I on a little road trip to the sea side. Not like the sea back home at all, but fun all the same. Its so nice just to get out of the house!

The beach has a pier decked out with all rides and entertainment and stuff. Alot was closed this day as it is winter time, but we got a few rounds of daytona in anyway (yes dave beat me!). The beach is, as everyone says, truly ALL pebbles, no sand! And not small ones either. It is like walking on rocks. It was nice all the same to get down to the coast .. couldn't see much as it was very misty ... but I liked it.

Lunch was greatly anticipated by all, a feed of famous english fish and chips! Good stuff. Finished off with hot doughnuts, great on a cold day!

We ended our little day trip with a hot coffee looking over the marina. It was a real nice relaxing day. After our long drive home, we popped into Terry's Nan and Grandad. They welcomed us in and were so kind, sitting us down to a traditional Burmese dish called ... (mohinga?), hmm I cant remember now. It was a seafood, noodle soup with and egg and corriander. Very yummy! Kind of a mix of indian and thai falvours. As we finished, the rest of the family slowly rocked up bit by bit. Daz, then Cherry and Jeff (Criags parents), then Noleen, Chase, Jen and Nev was cooking in the kitchen. I couldn't believe nan had cooked up that much, she was just like 'eat,eat!'

It was such a nice time to see them all again after meeting them over the Craig and Davinia's wedding. They are so welcoming and kind and it was a nice to be around a family again (as I am missing mine alot!). We chatted, shared a few drinks and then Uncle Nev let us taste the master piece dessert he had been cooking! It was divine! A fench tart with plums and a creamy custard cheescake like topping. So lovely.

So we had a really special day and feel very blessed (so thanks for sharing your family craig :) and happy bday for this weekend!)

Lots of love

Melissa