Wach out Switzterland...the Batemans have landed!!!

Well, what a week! We were all packed and ready to go late on Monday night, we had to call in a few favours from people (thanks to the Barbers for lending us their roof box, without which none of my clothes would have been able to travel with us!) there seriously was not an inch spare anywhere in that car (thank you mum and dad Bateman for lending us your voiture!)

We woke up early on Tuesday and I know that people must have been praying for us as I felt such a peace about the fact that our lives were transitioning that day!






We set off on time with a prayerful and tearful goodbye to Ma and Pa Clarke and travelled down the A1 to meet the Slack family (The pastor, Martin, his wife, Sue and ther four girls; Naomi, Lydia, Hannah and Katie) I know I have mentioned this in a previous post but it was totally God's provision that they happened to be in Harrogate for a wedding that weekend and could accompany us on our journey to Switzerland.

We arrived early for our scheduled 18:15 ferry and managed to get an earlier crossing, this is a picture of 3 out of the 4 girls waiting in the front of our car to get on the ferry!


We arrived in France and found our hotel (all without once showing our brand new, especially purchased passports!!) and then drove into a nearby town for something to eat. I just want to praise God for the smootheness of the journey, I didn't feel sick at all on the ferry crossing, and there were no problems in customs, in fact, they pretty much ignored us! We had a good night's sleep in our hotel ready for the second and final leg of the journey.

The next day was our trek through France, a bit different to our 'Tour de France' last year as we sailed down the toll road motorways which meant that we covered more gruond in less time. After a few wee stops and a lunch break Switzerland was fast approaching...I was beginning to get a little nervous about crossing the border and wondering whether they would want to search the car which would mean unpacking then packing it back up again. However, we sailed through the borders and they even gave us a smile on our way through! God has been clearly speaking to me about trusting Him recently, I was meditating on Isaiah 40 v 28-31 the day before we went and it was almost like God was asking me to just trust Him, on the same day our friends Sam and Hannah brought us round a leaving gift that had Proverbs 3 v 5 on it "trust in the LORD with all your heart". I love when that happens!

At about 5 o'clock we arrived at our hosts' house The Bottimore family. They are a family of four from Phoenix, Arizona and I can honestly say we have been extremely spoiled by them since our arrival! We are staying in their guest quarters and are being fed like royalty! They have made us feel so welcome here already. We will stay with them until we can move into our appartment on the 1st (God willing!)



This is us preparing our own pizzas in the Bottimore's kitchen, yummy!


So, since our arrival on Wednesday things have been mostly about finding our feet and atempting to get things sorted here. It is quite difficult to do the practical things (like mobile phones, bank accounts, etc) without having our work permits and address/rental contract. So those things are on hold for the moment. We have officially started our rolls out here though. Mark has been shown his office and begun his work, and we'll both be in the worship band on Sunday morning.

On friday morning I met with the lady from Edukids (the preschool/English teaching school) and she handed aload of materials to me and asked me to start on Monday! So that's what I'll be doing Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm quite excited about the opportunity to be honest, I know it will be a challenge but I also think it'll be fun to work with kids younger than those I'm used to working with. (In fact, the first minute I walked in the place a little boy walked up to me expressionless and proceeded to smell me, which happened to be about my tummy button region-his nose height, then walked away. This happened several times which I presume is a good sign-he must have thought I smelt nice!) The preschool also gives me another opportunity to trust God!

After all that we were exhausted, it has been a surreal yet challenging week. And what we really needed was a sunny Saturday off...and guess what....today has been blazing! (For those who are struggling with covetousness I will leave this post by saying...this is where we live and this is Mark enjoying our new homeland!)



For those of you who still love us (!?) and want to pray for us, here is how you can:

Praise God for our safe journey
Praise God for the opportunity to be out here, we both keep having moments where we look at each other as if to say "is this really happening?"
Pray for a shower of blessings on the Slack family who are being so gracious with us and the Bottimores who are looking after us.
Pray for Mark as he officially starts work this week
This week's joblist is pretty long, pray that we prioritise well and get stuff done
Pray for my new job starting Monday
Pray for the young people and others in the congregation at Westlake church Lausanne!

Thank you, we love you and would love to hear from you! x