There were an unusual amount of very strong southerly winds this winter which for us was great as the cove in which we anchor the “Encounter” has great protection from the south, however not so great for some others.  See this video of one of the ferries trying to get passengers and vehicles off in a Force 9, March 25th.  http://wp.me/pJ3Pd-3F9  It gets interesting about halfway through.

In a few days 4 volunteers from Austria and Canada will arrive to help with maintenance on the boat.  We’ve a lot of fibreglass work to do, sanding and painting, varnishing, oiling as well as the usual plumbing and mechanical work.  We’ve extended the maintenance period an extra month so as we can get it all done.

This meant that Impact Training was pushed back and is to be run in two parts of 4 weeks each,  Spring course starting mid May and a Summer course offered in July.  Of course this means fewer Sailaways are to be offered this summer.  These are two programs in August with the bible teaching in German and a third in the last week of August through to the first week of September in English.  We hope our Summer Impact course will attract what would have been Sailaway guests.

Further two mini bible weeks will be offered for participants over 24 years of age in August 10 – 17 & 17 – 24.  You could participate in either week or both as each week will have a different theme.  These weeks will include all the elements of our Sailaway retreats however with added bible teaching sessions, ie two sessions in the morning and two in the evening.

Some of the building team

Thanks to those that donated money, time and expertise, today Sandra and I have been able to move in and for the first time in almost 30 years of missionary service we have a place to call home.

We’ve still to install a kitchen and furniture, but hope over the summer to save what is needed to be able to buy the remaining things to make it a comfortable place for us and those that would visit.

Sandra meanwhile has been recovering well after her surgery now two months ago.  She still suffers with her swollen leg from which her vein was removed for the bypasses.  The bottom line is she needs to rest more.  Thankfully a cook has been found that will replace her on the boat this season.

We’re now in the midst of preparing the boat for the summer season and our main concern has been regarding our main engine which has had water get into the oil, and our generator that keeps cutting out.  Minimum cost for the a bove work so far has been around 4,000 euro.  Next week we should know the extent of the damage in the engine and see then if we’ll need to haul it out to fix or even replace.  With the approaching Impact Training course, the pressure is on!  

who wouldn't want to be out of the water?

Preparations are being made for a final push to finish our home at least to the point of being able to move in.  A team of builders from Tauernhof will be here end of February for about 10 days to install all external doors and windows, heating system, do the plumbing, electrics, plaster and tile the floors.  Rather ambitious it would seem, but the guys in Austria seem quite confident it could be done.  Eberhard from Germany has offered to truck everything we need so things might go as smoothly as possible.

Then it’s up to Sandra and I to install kitchen and in general furnish the place which we’ll do as funds come available.

We are delighted to announce that Torchbearers is hosting a series of conferences across the USA and Canada during 2012.

Sandra outside our temporary winter home

We sailed back to Skopelos beginning of November with 3 volunteers, (Daniel, Ben and Tani)  to help prepare for our winter at the property.   The local contractors had finished up with building the shell of our home.  The rest of our olive trees where pruned and the grounds cleaned up thanks to Steffen and Tanja and the first vegetable gardens where prepared.

Our Sailaways this year were mostly attended by German speakers.  Three of them where exclusively run in German language with the help of German speaking leaders.  However Sandra and I (Theo), as well as Matt and Dezi (crew) where far from understanding them, some groups though made every effort to include us by speaking English as much as possible which was rather nice.

Meanwhile the house building project continued throughout the summer.  Every time we were in Skopelos I’d check on the progress as well as receive updates from Stephen and Tanja who camped on the property for the whole summer as ground keepers.  They pruned the olive trees and worked hard to remove thorn bushes as well as helped us with shopping and laundry every time we sailed in to Skopelos.

Port of Skopelos

All our Sailaway programs are now full and this season we look forward to exploring further the outer remote islands of the Sporades group and possibly Skiros to the south.

Our guest speakers this summer are Gerhard Groumer  (pastor from Schladming), Richard Welsh (missionary in Albania), Chris Thomas (Torchbearers exec. Director).

Meanwhile the building project continues with a finish date of all the exterior work around September.  Stephan and Tanja are tenting on site and are presently helping with keeping the grounds, building stone retaining walls and will later help with electrical and other odd jobs on the house interior.

Our house viewed from the back

They intend to stay for the whole summer with a view to consider staying on long term.  We’re very glad to have them and they are already a great support to us whenever we sail into Skopelos, as they help with shopping and laundry too.

We hope some skilled volunteers will join us from November onward a month or so to finish up inside the house so as we can occupy it this winter.

Be quick to secure your place for this once in a life time training opportunity!