The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

 

Fond greetings from cold Switzerland.  I am back from Scotland, where it was warmer.  The purpose of the trip was to speak at a Navigators' Weekend Away.  My last contact with the Navigators was in 1963 when they were mostly a work among High School students in America.  The Navigator work in Scotland today is only among University students.  There are some very fine people doing some very fine work there.  The first evening I was a guest personality at "Thinkers Corner" at a local cafe/student hangout.  The idea was to get Christians into the local society and make contentful contact.  There was a subject to the evening; "Can Truth be Found?"  and we just had open discussions at various tables about the question.  At our table there were an American woman working with Navigators, an English philosophy student, a young Israeli woman now living in Australia and 2 arts students from England and Ireland.  The discussion was wide ranging with lots of speculative thinking and supposing.  Occasionally someone said "I believe...." in a very heartfelt way as if speaking out the foundations of their life.  After a question or 2 about their belief, they tended to say "Oh, well, I guess I don't believe that after all."  The Christians present could encourage these people in the possibility of stable beliefs that really do form a foundation for life.  Thinkers Corner is a great program, taking a lot of energy and courage to carry out.  In England there are Christians having such conversations in pubs called "Pints of View".  This is really grass roots, Acts 17 activity, which I hope can become regular in many places.

 

80 students and some staff came to the weekend near the English border in a rural conference center.  The students were studying medicine, philosophy, art, engineering and education mainly and were very bright.  They asked a lot of questions and kept me awake.  It was a joy to be with them and I look forward to further possibility of working with the Navigators in various places.  Several students and staff wrote encouraging thank you notes at the end of the weekend.  To give you some idea of the kind of work I do and its effect, I will put a few quotes here:  "We had many dreams for this weekend and we imagined many possibilities.  We're so grateful for you exceeding, challenging, stretching and expanding these dreams and possibilities.  Thank you for blessing us so richly with your words that urge us toward a new and whole Christian life and apologetic lifestyle.  The answers have been a great help but, of course, the questions even more so."  "I don't think I've found a weekend more interesting" (from a young non-Christian Indian woman).  "thanks for helping us think outside our boxes."  "I study philosophy and this weekend has really reached me."  "Lots of things now seem to make more sense than I thought they could."  "Thank you for showing the value of art for Christians.  I study Art History and it was a real encouragement to me to hear from a Christian point of view that it's not pointless as so many say!"   Perhaps you can tell from these snippets why I love doing what I do.

 

Today I will go to Bratislava for 5 days.  The main event is curriculum and methodology discussions for the teaching program of SEN.  There will also be many meetings for discussion, mentoring, encouraging.  I hope to be a blessing there.  The next week I will be teaching the staff at a Youth With a Mission base here in Switzerland.  In February I will preach at our favorite Church in Lausanne and for the Brethren Assembly here in Basel where we have many friends.  I am working through I Peter.

 

Please pray about a commitment I have made to teach in a large Church conference in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 6-11 March.  There is a lot of instability in the country and I am hoping for clarity about the situation and the finances of this trip.  Thanks.

 

Our finances remain above the water line, thanks to God and all of you who participate. 

 

Mary has the flu, but is generally fine and gets around with her walker, even over the ice!  My umbilical hernia surgery is healing nicely and it is wonderful to be able to move around more easily and vigorously (causing a bit of needed weight loss). 

 

May the Lord bless and keep you.

 

Yours in Christ,

 

Ellis