Dan Alcantara: Back to school, back to work

Dear Prayer Partners

It's September which means that we have been back in the UK for a year! Here's this month's look back at August and ahead to the coming weeks.

A look back at August at home

August was, indeed, as busy as we had expected it to be when we last wrote. It was an incredible blessing to have one more week away just before the kids began school. One thing we've had trouble managing is making family time special over the summer because we're together most of the time, with me often working from home. Being able to take some time to just be, without thinking about work or ministry or school, was a good break and it was in a really beautiful part of the country.

As we got back, school started up and the kids are doing incredibly well. Owen is loving being at "Liam's school" and has done a great job of adjusting to his new schedule. Chloe and Liam are enjoying being back as well, Chloe particularly, as she really missed her friends over the summer. Sophie has also done an amazing job with her move up to secondary school (high school). A struggle she has had while we've moved around between cities (and countries!) is being able to build friendships. We're so grateful that our neighbour's daughter is the same age and started at the school at the same time. Now, she's starting to build up a circle of friends and it is a joy to see her grow in them.

September

Looking ahead, two big things have come our way for September. Tracy has been working at the local cafe for a few months now and it has been a huge help. Along the way, she had also started to do some casual work at Gowanbank, the Scripture Union centre where we stayed when we moved to Scotland. Then, in mid-August, a position opened up with AT-3 for Tracy to help out with admin, visa compliance (she used to work in the visa department for the British Consulate in Chicago) and charity compliance.

Yesterday morning (as I write this), that meant that we were going into September with Tracy holding down three jobs. That's too many jobs, but in the afternoon she got a call from one of the managers at Gowanbank offering her a permanent position! Plus, that job offer covers the hours she was working at the cafe while also being more flexible and able to concentrate on work during school hours instead of the weekends! Praise God because this is a massive answer to prayer! We've not been able to have a real family day each week since Tracy started at the cafe and this will enable us to get our weekends back.

In ministry, things are continuing to tick along. While there was good growth in attendance, a rise in local Covid numbers has caused attendance to go back down to around 40. Pray that we, as a church, would be caring for the vulnerable and that we would fear God rather than the virus as restrictions continue to ease. An experience that I wasn't expecting to get while here was to be a part of a working group of church members as they seek to set the church up for a leadership transition when David, the current pastor, comes to retire in a few years. Be praying for these talks as there is great diversity of church background among those in the working group (everything from Brethren to Baptist to former-Church of Scotland).

We are continuing to work at building the youth work and have gone from having only one young person involved from SEC to now having three joining in with Avendale Church (a local and evangelical Church of Scotland congregation here in Strathaven) Sunday evening meetings. Coming up, we're hoping to host a monthly BIG Questions evening that's focused on giving the students an opportunity to ask anything. There is much confusion in what they are learning in school as Scotland is possibly the most socially progressive nation represented in the United Kingdom. Pray for wisdom for myself and Matthew, the youth leader from Avendale, as we work together to build this ministry for Strathaven's young people.

Prayer requests

Praise God that my dad is home from hospital and was actually able to have an earlier procedure reversed! It had brought a lot of complications and now that the doctors were able to reverse it, we are hopeful that my dad will continue to heal and get well.

We've continued to be blown away by the way that God provides; from Tracy's work situation to another significant one-time donation coming in just before the end of August which will continue to help our budget deficit. Pray that more would consider making a one-time gift as we approach the end of 2021 (I can't believe we're already on this side of 2021 😭 )

Pray for me as my training course starts up again on the 15th September. I'm looking forward to getting back to the city a couple days a week but it does mean fitting in ministry work, visits and sermon prep into a smaller chunk of the week.

With Tracy's work stabilising and us working through my taxes here in the UK, pray that we would be able to approach our visa consultant about applying for the family visa by either the year's end or the start of 2022. As with anything, we have hopes and dreams of continuing in ministry in the UK permanently but missions always brings the obstacle of visas and immigration. Pray that God would grant us favour again with the Home Office and that we would be granted the visa when it comes time to apply.