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Leon & Chrysti's 5 Quick Takes

(& a Tribute to George Verwer)

April 2023 Newsletter


Dear Friend,
Asher and Leon hiked up Snowdon, one of the tallest peaks in the UK at 1,085 m (3,560 ft)
Iris, Eva Joy & Ellis with a steam engine just like Thomas the Tank Engine
We thought we'd include five highlights from the past month.

1. ILM

In March, I (Leon) attended OM's International Leadership Meeting (ILM) in North Cyprus. The family coped really well and Chrysti took on the brunt of facilitating The Marriage Course while I was away while also single parenting all our children. She is a star!

I always enjoy the fellowship, worship and meetings that happen at the ILM. The conference is always a very busy time with the potential for constant busyness. I try to make time to get at least 30 minutes of quiet while also having 12-hour days.

A highlight for me from the conference was discussing OM's new 5 core values with other participants. I also had breakthroughs in a couple of other topics just by being in person with the others involved in the discussion. I had some really wonderful discussions on Working Genius and how we have found it so useful for the IT team.

The worship with others is always incredible. Singing with hundreds of others from dozens of other languages and cultures gives me a picture of what heaven will be like as we worship our King.

2. The Azure migration is finally complete!

This migration from OVH to Azure for our services fell mostly onto my shoulders. We had a great deal to learn when we looked at the two hosting providers and saw that although they both came up with the same solutions, their methods of doing so were quite different. I had way too many 15-hour days, but by the end of March, we got all the important services migrated to Azure. We do still have some tidying operations to complete, but the time pressure is over.

When we reached the end of March, I was so ready for a break from the busy time away in Cyprus and doing the server migration. The team I work with has been very busy with the server migration and all the problems that surfaced while doing it.

Look closely, our children really are on that bridge somewhere...

3. Llyn Peninsula Holiday

We spent last week on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. We needed the time of rest after the busy season Leon had with work. Our holiday accommodation was right on the seaside, and we woke up to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks! At the weekend, we saw a lot of sailboats going by, which was far more entertaining than anything on the TV.

A highlight of the trip was visiting a slate quarry, where we learned about the slate industry in the area. The day after, we had the opportunity to visit an incredible estate and castle, the building of which was financed by a family who owned a great number of slate quarries in the vicinity.

4. Virtual IT town hall

We try to gather all the IT staff across OM, either in person or virtually a couple of times each year. Because of COVID, we have still not met in person for a couple of years. Early this month, we had one of our best attended virtual IT conferences with about 40 people attending.

We always start with a long list of announcements. We had quite a lot of discussion on security with a slant in phishing in breakout rooms and ended with a presentation on how to develop IT Training for OM.

I was most encouraged by the level of engagement and the number of attendees at the session. We are still processing feedback.

Ellis with the National Slate Quarry Museum and the mountains of Snowdonia in the background

5. In Memory of OM's founder, George Verwer

OM's founder, George Verwer, passed away at 84 years old on 14 April 2023. We had the privilege of meeting George a few times in our years serving with OM, and he always remembered our names. His life was an inspiration, and he was always a massive part of OM and their ministry. His legacy will live on in the work that OM continues to do across the world.
om.org/George

Porthor, North Wales is renowned for its distinctive whistling sound that is heard when you take a stroll along the sandy beach.

Prayer Points

  • Praise God that the Azure migration is done with only tidying operations to complete.
  • Praise God The Marriage Course is now done having blessed many couples.
  • Wisdom for knowing what ministry opportunities to take up this summer as a family.
God Bless,
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