Christmas 2025

Dear friends,

We wish you joy and peace this Christmas season. For those who wish to read about our year, our news is below.

Our big news this year is that Jamie has started at Sheffield University, studying International Relations and Politics. This is despite living all his life in Long Eaton, described in the Telegraph as ‘the most apolitical town you could imagine’. He has enjoyed getting involved with societies, and getting to know other students. He is in a self-catering hall of residence, so is learning to cook for himself. We found out just in time that he would have an induction hob, requiring special saucepans. We smiled when we heard about another student in the hall who sent a message to his Mum to ask, ‘Did you notice whether the oven in our kitchen is a pre-heated oven’. Presumably in response to reading about cooking times if using a pre-heated oven.

Our Ukrainian guest is still living with us, even after discovering that university students in Britain do not have to share dormitories. He has started studying Forensic Science at Derby University. His course includes analysing items of clothing to see if they have blood on, taking photos of pretend crime scenes, and visiting court, where he was puzzled by the wigs worn by judges and barristers.

Dave has continued working with asylum seekers and refugees locally. It is a blessing to get to know these friends, who contribute positively to our church and our town by volunteering to serve refreshments; maintain the community garden; serve in charity shops and help raise funds for charity at Christmas fairs, among other things. They were the first people to help when a friend of ours who has cerebral palsy fell over in the town, and the first we heard of who prayed for the people of Manchester when a synagogue was attacked there. We enjoy studying the Bible with a group of them in their hotel once a week, sometimes speaking ‘Frenglish’, and sometimes with people interpreting into Fasri and Amharic. When we put on a film about the life of Jesus at Easter time, one Muslim asylum seeker messaged 30 or so of his Christian and Muslim friends and told them it was very important for them to come and see it.

Using Google Translate for this work remains problematic. When one refugee's message translated that he “likes Al Qaeda” there was some concern, until Dave realised that could be translated that he likes “the base” i.e. his new home. And when a blind refugee asked whether his carer would act as “an escort” for him, he only wanted her to escort him to the shop, nothing more. And the refugee who asked to come and have a bath with Dave was actually wanting to be baptised. We think the refugee complaining about his housemate using whips meant he was vaping, but we're not quite sure.

We still work with missionaries and their families. This has included working with Palestinians and Israelis, and others in areas of conflict. We feel privileged as we meet wonderful people and share their journeys. Debbie’s mentor and friend (and Jamie’s ‘god-grandmother’) Marjory Foyle died this year aged 103. We are grateful for her inspiring life, and all she did for missionaries worldwide.

Although we are conscious how much more we could do, we continue to do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint, including distributing food that reaches its best before date through the Olio scheme. When the Climate and Nature (CAN) bill was being discussed in Parliament, Debbie was watching the debate on TV. She was able to watch our MP typing on his phone in the House of Commons while he was sending her messages over Facebook and replying to her comments.

Debbie won us a four-day stay in Paris via Eurostar, entering a competition asking for a 500 word response which turned out to mean 500 characters, with not less than 100 words that had to be inspirational and adventurous (that's 29 characters already in just 3 words).

Dave got back on stage, convincing even some of the cast that he was a policeman, in a play about a migrant who arrives in a foreign port after nearly being drowned at sea, and gains employment using a fake identity. Asylum seekers (as volunteers, we should add) helped build the set of Twelfth Night, which someone who protests regularly outside their accommodation sincerely billed as "absolutely brilliant." As Shakespeare wrote, "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."

Debbie has been up and down to Scotland more in recent months, helping her father prepare to move to a retirement flat near to her brother. Debbie’s brother has done most of the work as the journey by train has taken Debbie up to 11 hours each way. In November Dave and Jamie joined Debbie in a trip to Scotland, this time in our. 18-year-old car. The car decided the effort to get back south was all too much, and dramatically died in a beautiful spot on the A69. Having been forewarned of this possibility, Debbie and Jamie arrived safely home by train. After an adventurous 19 hour journey, during which time he learned that AA Relay actually means the AA taking you back in a relay using a series of breakdown trucks, Dave got home at 4.30am, six hours before the car. The car sat on the street for two weeks while Dave searched for a replacement, and extracted the other CD which had been stuck in the car CD player and preventing us playing anything except David Bowie's greatest hits for the last few years. The other CD? 100 Christmas Carols. The new (second hand) car? It's electric!

As some strive to put Christ back into Christmas, we recall that Christ never left Christmas, but did have to leave his birthplace.

We hope you have had a fulfilling year, and that you know peace in 2026.

Blessings,

Debbie, Dave & Jamie Hawker