Thanks to all the Church family for a great send off this morning. your prayers and support are a great blessing and encouragement – and some of you are even reading the blog!!

It just hit me that in a weeks time we will have already checked in at Heathrow and be passing a couple of hours in the departure area… Suddenly it feels like there is an awful lot to do in the time that is left!

Had an email from Reuben yesterday with an updated itinerary. I think we have agreed to travel from Lungi to Freetown on the ferry. It has also been arranged that Francis who helps the Friends of Sierra Leone with their building projects will be our driver when needed. It will be good to finally meet him. I shall try and post the updated itinerary later.

Every year we send shoebags filled with gifts to be distributed around the children in our churches in Sierra Leone. The contents include toys, underwear, toiletries, stationary etc. and are keenly anticipated! We have just received the following photos of them being distributed at Jerusalem Avenue, Ebenezer Manalo and St. John’s Goderich.

In an earlier post (Sierra Leone Travel Guide) I mentioned the Bradt travel guide to Sierra Leone. They have very generously allowed us to reproduce some information from the guide in our Voice magazine and have offered all readers of Voice to receive 25% off this guide and others that they make.  The site can be found here: www.bradtguides.com and the code to enter to receive the discount is ‘Voice’. A big thank you to them for this!

Rain in Sierra Leone

In an idle moment last night I hit the red button on my T.V. and looked up the weather in Freetown. Much to my surprise it predicted heavy rain over the first half of the week! This caught me by surprise as this is the dry season. the weather in Sierra Leone comes in two varieties – hot and dry and hot and wet. I have a sneaky feeling that global warming is beginning to affect this, with the seasons shifting.

If you want to check out the weather forecast, you can see it here:

BBC Weather 5-Day Forecast for Freetown, Sierra Leone

And to discover more about the climate and seasons go here:

Average Conditions in Freetown, Sierra Leone (BBC)

For some reason I don’t know, and can only speculate, the airport is 8 miles north of Freetown, the capital, across the river. There are three main choices for getting from one to the other, the ferry, the hovercraft and the helicopter. We’re currently trying to decide which. The ferry is slowest but cheapest by far. The helicopter and hovercraft are much faster, but cost a lot more. All three have various horror stories connected to them…

The first time I came to Sierra Leone we chose the ferry. It took me 6 hours to fly from Gatwick to Lungi Airport, and then 6 1/2 hours to travel the remaining 8 miles! One ferry had broken down and the next never arrived…

I’ve got a tube of suncream, some insect repellant and quite a few people have said they will pray for us – what more could we possibly need?????

If the boasts of the Family Kingdom are to be believed, we shall have Wifi in our accommodation. This has provoked me into installing Skype on the home PC so that I can contact the family easily, and freely. No idea if it will work – not expecting it – but you never know…

Much to my surprise I had some emails this week warning me that I was about to exceed the sites maximum bandwidth. In order to prevent being cut off I decided to change which service this site uses. We’re now on unlimited bandwidth, but only one database allowed – hence having to re build the site so it all runs on WordPress rather than just the blog. Pleased with the results though – hope you like it.

Elder Clinton Jackson

It is with sadness that I received the following email from Reuben this week:

This is the inform you that Elder C.B. Jackson passed away to be with the Lord today Tuesday 19th January 2010 at 12;00 Noon.

Date for his burial will be announced later.

May His soul Rest In Peace.

For many years Clinton was one of our agents, playing a significant role in the construction of many of our churches and schools in Sierra Leone – many of you will remember him from his visit to the UK some years ago. He was a well educated, friendly and committed man who brought laughter wherever he went. On the occasions that I have visited Sierra Leone he always made me extremely welcome – even though he was an Arsenal fan and I Liverpool. All of us who knew him will miss him greatly. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time.