12 November

Dear Friends, 

It’s been a wonderful treat for my wife and I to be in Amsterdam again, and to rejoin the ERC community. It felt sometimes that we had never been away as you embraced us and included us. That’s a wonderful feature of the community in the ERC and a delight for us to share again. We have also caught up with old neighbours and tried to polish up our rusty Dutch conversational skills.

We will travel home next week with many happy memories of friendships renewed, as well as the determination to return again. We will say farewell at the Remembrance Sunday service on Sunday again knowing that the congregation is in good heart, to use the formal phrase used in Scotland about congregations but it is so true in Amsterdam. I know you have challenges ahead, as there have been many in the past, and we are certain that the Spirit of God will continue to inspire the worship that continues and the lives of everyone touched by the congregation’s welcome and support. 

With warmest thanks and greetings,

John & Gillian Cowie