The Montifiore Manse

Dear family and friends,

The high-speed internet is up and running, praise the Lord! With some time, prayer, and the technical expertise of some people from the church, DSL Internet has been connected to the Manse. I apologize for the two-week news delay but (Lord willing) we'll have some more regular updates for you.

The latest bit of news to pass on is that Martha has gone back to New Jersey. She left on January 15 6:10am Taz time* and landed in New Jersey some time later that same day, even though she was in the air or on lay overs for likely 24 hours or more**. She has not been gone that long, but I miss her already. In fact, we were missing each other even before she left.

We were able to spend more time together than we ever had before and the Lord further showed His mercy and grace in calling us together. We got to sort things out at our new home together; we daydreamed about the future; and we saw more sin in one another, but more of the grace Christ in each other, too. I can hardly wait until she can return and we can serve the Lord together here as man and wife.

The first two weeks here have been a time of getting established. Trying to get used to the new home (which has been quite easy), get banking organized, the phone organized, and the Internet organized. Now I hope and pray I will be able to focus more fully on the work at hand here.

My elders have given me the wise counsel of "Go slow, mate." I am focusing on preparing sermons and getting to know the congregation. There is an amazing number of ministry opportunities here and a field that is ripe for harvest but I need to start at the beginning.

I hope to continue a series focusing on Christ and His church from Psalm 45 in the morning. The Lord has laid this Psalm on my heart for a while now (I began thinking and praying about it the last time I was in Taz), and there is no better place to start than in focusing on the work of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In the evening, I am preaching the texts the Lord lays on my heart during the week. Part of me would like to start another series, but the Lord will make all things clear in His own time.

I had hoped to put up some pictures of some of the things we have been doing over the past few weeks, but I packed my digital camera software with my books, which are currently at sea and should becoming in a few months - so sadly, I have no way to post pictures. I will try and get some up as soon as I can, but it may be a while.

In closing, let me say that I miss you all terribly but at the same time I know that Launceston is my home, and that Martha and I both know without a doubt that this is where the Lord would have us be.

Thank you all very much for your cards, gifts, and prayers. The Lord willing, I will be in better touch now that the high speed internet is working and once I purchase a calling card tomorrow.

Love through Christ,
terry (& Martha)

*Actually, I left about 9:50am or so. The plane I was supposed to go on was grounded because of a fuel blockage or something and there was a hectic mess at the little Launceston airport. Happily, I was able to catch my international connections in time anyway!

**It was a total of 39 hours and 37 minutes of travel time door to door. I left the Connors 5am Tassie time and got home a little after midnight Eastern U.S. time. It was - needless to say - the longest day of my life!!