Simple Life

In the life of the house, there are trips and journeys which are necessary -  for example,  when assistants travel back to their home country to get a new visa or to see family. Recently, our house leader and one assistant took a holiday like this. At the same time, an assistant returning from holiday suddenly found they couldn’t get back for personal reasons and, at the same time, we had a number of new assistants who were just learning their roles. Suddenly we were short of assistants. So from one day to another we had to change all our weekly plans, the daily routines of the house, outings and everything else. We laboured harder, longer and progressively became more and more tired and exhausted. Then, we asked for help from the Community.

We just hoped for a little bit support to help with busy times in the house, but we got so many offers of help, even from assistants from other houses who didn't know our house routines. They came to help late in the evening, early in the morning, at the weekends and some stayed overnight for several nights to help us. It was amazing to feel so greatly supported - to feel and to see that the Community come alive and take so much care of us and wanted really help us was unbelievable and overwhelming.
These tricky times generated new friendships, made old friendships stronger and deeper, introduced new friends to the house and helped us learn more and more about each other. In this time, the Bible stories I’d read as a child made a new kind of sense to me - humanity and amity growing alongside each other to overcome obstacles as a true community. It felt as though God was giving us a the chance to test and prove the strength of the bonds between us. And we did a great job! So, to all who helped or cared for us, THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR YOUR GREAT SUPPORT!!

Jacqueline Tkocz
Little Ewell
L'Arche Kent

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