The Parkers
In June of this year, we sent our dear friends Ben, Mikka and Jasper to be part of Plant Nijmegen, in Nijmegen Holland. Plant Nijmegen is part of the Relational Mission family of Churches of which we are part.
It’s such a privilege to send some of our key members to support and strengthen other Churches and something we feel we have been called to as a Church.
Recently Mikka sent us an update letting us know how things are going and how we could support them in prayer.
It’s November, autumn season - we’re enjoying the beautiful coloured leaves on or off the trees, long walks in the woods (covering short distances with a toddler), lots of homemade soups and fruit crumbles. Life can be busy and hectic but we’re still trying to give ourselves quite a lot of grace and space as we continue to settle in and adjust to Dutch life, whilst also anticipating another big change that takes us from a family of three to four!
Just to recap about our chaotic, multi-step move (it’s not necessarily how most people would choose to move!) - Ben and I both started our jobs in the Netherlands remotely on 1st June. We left Colchester, our home for the last 7 years at the end of June 2022. We jumped on the overnight ferry from Harwich and arrived the following morning with just a carload of our stuff. We stayed in two airbnbs - one right by Nijmegen Centrum, the other in Loosbroek, on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
In mid-July we finally got to our house (miraculous provision during the Dutch housing crisis) but with hardly anything - it was like camping. I found this week the hardest so far, Ben was drowning in admin, particularly the stressful customs paperwork. On 22nd July we celebrated Ben’s 30th birthday with friends at the Vierdaagsefeesten (Google it) in town think festival vibes with 40 music stages and food trucks all over the city. The following night he went back to the UK to fill up a van with our stuff with the help of friends and then he drove back via Calais with the legend that is James Mulholland.
“Be encouraged, he can meet your every need and he is with you too!”
We’re so thankful to so many people who helped us get here - we honestly couldn’t have done it without them. From people housing us, to helping pack up and clean our old house, to going to our Colchester house and helping arrange stuff with our new tenant as well as a wonderful send off from Redeemer Church Colchester. There were also very generous financial gifts - it cost about £10,000 to move and we definitely didn’t have that in our savings so we’re very grateful for the help to set up home here and deal with all the initial upfront costs. We’re so thankful to God for getting us here and the evidence we’ve seen and experienced of his grace and provision for us - I’m reminded of how he’s been with us every step of the way! Be encouraged, he can meet your every need and he is with you too!
So now we’re here - fast forward and I can’t believe it’s November! Ben is doing well in his job at the Eindhoven University of Technology, enjoying commuting twice a week, Dutch language lessons as well as additional European travel for work. He’s done super well and already passed his first Dutch exam with a great result! Jasper is enjoying what we call ‘Kindy-Nursery-House’ for 2 ½ days a week - it’s just over the road so super convenient and nice that he gets to be with other kids, his Dutch is coming along too - he has the essential toddler words ‘nee’ (no), ‘ijsje’ (ice cream) and ‘meer kaas’ (more cheese).
I’m working for a Christian charity called ‘Navigators’, particularly looking out for International
Students here in the city - it’s a self-funded role so I’m currently doing Ministry Partner Development (MPD) to raise my salary and build a team of partners to pray and support me in this work. At times, I’ve found it hard to be motivated but relationally it’s been a very rich time for me - I’ve loved all of my conversations with potential partners and getting to share my story and the stories of others, that they might catch the vision and join in this ministry with us. It’s been such a joy to know that they believe in and see such value in investing in the lives of these international students.
We’re feeling a bit more settled here in our home and in the city - we love living a 2, 4 and 10 minute bike ride from the other families in the church plant team and are enjoying getting to know each other better. We meet every other week as a team on Zoom so all 8 of us can be there as well as gathering a wider group of people who are interested in joining us. We’ve done a mixture of socials and prayer/ worship times together - we’re a real mix of Dutch/ Internationals/ you’ll often hear at least 3 different languages! We’re looking at starting to meet on Sundays from February/ March 2023 so watch this space.
Highlights: Holiday with friends in Zeeland, NL // Family time and exploring the city // Core Church Plant Team Family weekend away // Visits from friends & family from the UK
Challenges: Admin for life in NL and navigating that with our level of Dutch // Inconsistent capacity and energy levels // Missing people
Prayer points: Safe delivery of baby #2 // Continued progress with Dutch language // Wisdom for us as a church plant team as we continue to gather people and work towards Sunday morning meetings