Well, as you can see from the last post, it happened: we have moved. We left behind the village in the valleys outside Caerphilly and swapped it for a council estate in one of the less desirable corners of Barry. And do you know what? It's the best thing, spiritually, that we've done in the past three years, without question. As hard and sad as it was to wave goodbye to our first cosy, gorgeous home together - and the life we had there over the past two and half years or so - we could not be more certain that God has led us to the new house which we are slowly shaping into a home, and the significantly different life which we will be leading here.
The move has meant a fairly big geographical change but, much more than that, it was always clear that the biggest change would be a cultural one. That might sound strange, living in the UK; surely British culture is British culture and the same whichever part of the country you're in? Not so. The village we have moved from was hardly an affluent area so it isn't just a change because of varying financial situations; the culture we now find ourselves living amongst is one which stems from generations and generations of downtrodden and sometimes deprived people, many of whom have come through the care system as kids, most of whom rely heavily on benefits and may never have worked and a large percentage of whom are dependent on various substances, both (supposedly) soft and more hardcore.
The estate itself has improved hugely over the past few years, with many people having told us only this week that until only a few years ago, it was a place feared by the rest of the town and other surrounding estates. There was literally gang warfare going on between people from our estate and the neighbouring one, and you couldn't turn a corner without seeing yet another burnt out car. People from Barry would take a much longer round-trip just to avoid crossing the boundaries of this estate. So in very many respects, it has improved dramatically. Even in the month we've lived here though, I can see that many of the problems have simply been pushed underground and they have evolved into different problems, issues and criminal behaviours - no less serious but much more subtle to anyone passing through.
It's clear from the ways that God has been moving through the church on the estate, and the individual lives which have been touched by that, that He wants to do something new here. It's incredibly exciting to be even a tiny part of that and for the most part, I am just so excited about the possibilities. However, anyone who knows me will know that I'm not the boldest or bravest of girls and so facing up to some of the things that go on right on our doorstep now has been a real challenge the past few weeks, and I'm sure it will continue to be. I feel like I'm on a bit of a rollercoaster and for now, it's just a case of holding on til I get more used to the rhythm of life here.
We've had some fantastic opportunities to get to know our neighbours, particularly on the one side, and various kids from our street and the next road along have come and introduced themselves - mostly out of curiosity about us, the strange, new people moving in! One little scamp has made himself known but not said hello to us yet, through pinching parts of our car! Fortunately, none of those parts have so far been essential to keeping it running!
There is so much I want to share even just from our first three and a half weeks here but there is plenty of time for all that. So for now, thank you for any and all prayers and for all the support we've been given in these early days, we are so grateful. God bless :)
The move has meant a fairly big geographical change but, much more than that, it was always clear that the biggest change would be a cultural one. That might sound strange, living in the UK; surely British culture is British culture and the same whichever part of the country you're in? Not so. The village we have moved from was hardly an affluent area so it isn't just a change because of varying financial situations; the culture we now find ourselves living amongst is one which stems from generations and generations of downtrodden and sometimes deprived people, many of whom have come through the care system as kids, most of whom rely heavily on benefits and may never have worked and a large percentage of whom are dependent on various substances, both (supposedly) soft and more hardcore.
The estate itself has improved hugely over the past few years, with many people having told us only this week that until only a few years ago, it was a place feared by the rest of the town and other surrounding estates. There was literally gang warfare going on between people from our estate and the neighbouring one, and you couldn't turn a corner without seeing yet another burnt out car. People from Barry would take a much longer round-trip just to avoid crossing the boundaries of this estate. So in very many respects, it has improved dramatically. Even in the month we've lived here though, I can see that many of the problems have simply been pushed underground and they have evolved into different problems, issues and criminal behaviours - no less serious but much more subtle to anyone passing through.
It's clear from the ways that God has been moving through the church on the estate, and the individual lives which have been touched by that, that He wants to do something new here. It's incredibly exciting to be even a tiny part of that and for the most part, I am just so excited about the possibilities. However, anyone who knows me will know that I'm not the boldest or bravest of girls and so facing up to some of the things that go on right on our doorstep now has been a real challenge the past few weeks, and I'm sure it will continue to be. I feel like I'm on a bit of a rollercoaster and for now, it's just a case of holding on til I get more used to the rhythm of life here.
We've had some fantastic opportunities to get to know our neighbours, particularly on the one side, and various kids from our street and the next road along have come and introduced themselves - mostly out of curiosity about us, the strange, new people moving in! One little scamp has made himself known but not said hello to us yet, through pinching parts of our car! Fortunately, none of those parts have so far been essential to keeping it running!
There is so much I want to share even just from our first three and a half weeks here but there is plenty of time for all that. So for now, thank you for any and all prayers and for all the support we've been given in these early days, we are so grateful. God bless :)
1 comment:
Interesting times!!
Thanks for your support for my Psalms
Ivor x
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