How we got here

GEORGE
For several years, long-term mission was something we occasionally talked about, but never really thought would become reality. Our first encounter with OM was in August 2007, when founder George Verwer visited Holland Road. We were very challenged by his message and his enthusiasm and decided to investigate. On the OM website there were vacancies near São Paulo in Brazil for an IT Administrator (suitable for Mike) and an Office Manager (suitable for Nélia). We requested more information, and received a quick response from OM UK. This sounded interesting, but were we really contemplating such a move? What about money? What about security? What about our house? What about church? What about schools? We were thinking that this might be something for us, but we weren’t really surrendering to God’s will – it was more of a “maybe some day”.


TEACHER
Nélia spent the end of 2008 and start of 2009 training to teach English to speakers of other languages (a TESOL course).  It was very intense, but God really blessed Nélia, and she attained an excellent grade. We prayed that she would be able to find a job, and God responded with two job offers within a week! She taught English for six months.  It was something we had really sought God’s will for, and we were soon to find out the other ways it fitted into God’s plans.

INVESTIGATE
During summer of 2008, OM contacted us again, asking whether we had had any more thoughts on mission work in Brazil. The truthful answer was “no”, but we felt that it still alive in our hearts. We decided to earnestly seek God’s will in this, and to put some effort into investigating the details. We noticed that the OM website now had a vacancy for a qualified English teacher. When Nélia and the children visited family in Brazil they also visited the OM Brazil base. Nélia felt a sense of belonging and peace there, and that serving God there, would be so worthwhile and fulfilling. She would be able to bless others with the gifts God had given to her. Meanwhile, back in Brighton, Mike started attending a Brazilian Portuguese evening course. We discussed our plans with David and Laura Treneer straight after the May 2009 Missions Gift Day evening service. With enthusiasm they urged us to continue praying, to gather more information, and to really seek God’s definite will.

LOGOS HOPE
 Then in June, we visited OM’s “Logos Hope” ship at Canary Wharf. We were touched by the sense of God’s peace and presence. We felt really welcome, and were given a tour of the ship by Gabriel from OM Brazil. It was amazing to see all those nationalities working together, and we felt like signing up there and then!



RETREAT
In October 2009, Mike went to spend a couple of days at Penhurst Christian Retreat. This was a most wonderful time. Mike immersed himself in God’s word spending time just chatting to God and resting in His presence. God really spoke through the Bible, and also through nature, and a sign of the cross in the sky. A week later, we all went to visit OMUK at the "Quinta", near Oswestry in Shropshire. We could feel the caring, loving nature of God’s Holy Spirit in the people there, and a sense of family. We felt relaxed and at peace with the enormity of the changes in our lives that we were contemplating. By now we knew God’s call was real.


GIG
In April 2010, Mike and Nélia travelled up to the Quinta again, this time for the “Getting into Gear” GiG weekend. The location is really beautiful, situated in the grounds of an old manor at the edge of a little village near the Welsh border. We didn’t have much time to enjoy the surroundings, though, as it was a fairly intensive three days of training, covering a range of topics related to being a missionary with OM. We met a great bunch of fellow OM’ers who had travelled from various places, with callings to various locations in the world. We felt God’s presence in so many aspects, working in the lives of everyone we met. It was a time both of challenges and of confirmation that God is at work in the world and He’s calling His children to do His will.  We left there blessed, but also aware that we still had lots of preparation ahead of us.


MISSION WEEK
Following this, in the middle of May was Mission Week at Holland Road Baptist Church, with a special Mission Night on the Wednesday. We had a great opportunity to talk to our friends at Holland Road, and to share more about our plans, and relate how God had been blessing us. 

GO CONFERENCE
At the end of August 2010, we all set off for the Global Orientation (GO) Conference in Holland. This was a gathering of around 300 new OM missionaries from all over the world, all about to embark on a trip to somewhere else in the world. There were ten days of teaching, training, exercises, praise, fun, tiredness, laughs, and so-on. It was great to meet up again with some of the friends we had made at GiG, and also to make some new friends, including some Brazilians. It was also good that Louissa and Joshua could get to know some other children, also about to start a new life in a new land.


GOOD-BYE
A few days after we returned from the GO Conference, it was time for Nélia, Louissa and Joshua to set off to Brazil. After a leaving party at Holland Road, they headed for the airport. The day had arrived at last!

TRAINING
Mike stayed behind in order to spend some time with the IT departments at OMUK and ICT in Carlisle, and also to attend the annual IT training at OM Belgium in Zaventum, Brussels. This was invaluable, allowing Mike not only to learn the IT set-up at OM, but also to get to know people and make contacts.

BACK TOGETHER
Finally on 24th October 2010, Mike arrived at Guarulhos airport in São Paulo to be reunited with the rest of the family.