Thank you to everyone who sponsored an AV block Calendar to be sent overseas this year. We were able to send over 50 calendars out to the Philippines and have received a lovely letter from Pastor Ballonado in Bocaue to say they have been safely received. May they richly bless all who receive them.
The nights are drawing in and some people are beginning to think about Christmas! If you need Christmas cards, we have plenty in stock and are selling some in aid of Savannah Education Trust and Oak Tree Homes Trust this year. Take a look at the range by clicking on the picture below:
We are once again offering the opportunity to sponsor calendars for free distribution overseas. This year we are intending to send calendars to some reliable contacts in the Philippines. If you are interested in sponsoring a calendar, please click below...
Usually at this time of the year we enjoy travelling around the country to supply bookstalls to conferences and charity events. It is always a great opportunity to catch up face to face with our mail-order customers. Sadly most events and conferences this year have been cancelled and we will miss seeing you all! Please keep in touch by subscribing to our regular email newsletter - see the sign up box on our homepage... https://christianbookshopossett.co.uk/
You can also keep in touch on our social media channels:
It has been a great relief to us to hear from Duwen Musaka, our contact in Zambia, at last. We were concerned to have some feedback to learn how our AV calendars had been received, on behalf of those who had so generously sponsored them.
It’s 1675 and 12 year old Stefan has found himself aboard the ‘Sea Dragon’ whaling ship. Sailing is in his blood! Stefan’s father, Otto Derksen had departed Harlingen, the Netherlands, in 1671, as 1st mate on the ‘North Star’ whaling ship. Otto never returned. And Stefan’s mother refuses to hear any more about his sailing desires. Instead she accepts an apparently cordial offer from a distant cousin to teach Stefan the shoemaking trade.
And yet as providence would have it, Stefan’s time with his cruel cobbler uncle leads him to run away, and Stefan navigates his way to Amsterdam. Mercifully, he bumps into an old acquaintance of his fathers who secures him board on the ‘Sea Dragon’. Stefan is a fast learner and shows promise of becoming an accomplished sailor. However life on board a whaling ship is full of hard, back-breaking work and fraught with dangers - not least the ever-changing elements. Stefan lurches from one adventure to another as they encounter storms, and calms; icebergs and polar bear attacks.
As the small whaling boats are sent from the mother ship in order to undertake the dangerous task of snaring whales, the boat Stefan is in becomes lost in the fog. Stefan and the five other sailors with him now face the hardest challenge of their lives. Survival! Survival in the treacherous, remote, unforgiving sea off the east coast of Greenland. Stefan’s feats are breath-taking, including swimming in the freezing ocean to pull his fellow ship-wrecked sailors to land. They are stranded on an ice floe!
The men have to rely on their instincts to survive, hunting seals to assuage their gnawing hunger, finding shelter and ingenious ways to keep warm. All this in the face of Greenland’s approaching winter.
This truly is a fascinating and compelling read. Stefan and his sailor friends continue to pray and trust that the Lord will bring them through, even in the face of extreme adversity. They sing psalms to lift their spirits, and are finally brought to praise God for his remarkable deliverance.
We had another
distribution during Easter. Three of our branch churches gathered in one
place to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They had invited another church to join them. This brought the total number of
churches gathered together to four. These are rural churches in central Zambia.
We drove for 32 km in a village road to get to this place where they had
gathered. After the
service on the Lord’s Day, 16th April 2017, all the leaders and
pastors gathered to receive the calendars. I took one calendar, assembled it to
show them how it is done. I showed them that this is a scriptural calendar is
giving us verses to read each day. I encouraged those who read local language
Bibles to do the same in their own language. They were very pleased to receive such calendars
which could help them read the Word of God daily. Others were asking about
Bibles both in English and local languages. It was a joyous moment for them
returning home from Easter celebration with a present from the United Kingdom.
Follow these links to browse our Christmas cards & Calendars...
 |
| Showing both sides of the calendar back (these are NOT two separate calendars) |
If it's Robins & Postboxes you like we still have plenty of the packs of 12 with 3 designs in...
2012 calendars are also disappearing fast. The only appointment calendar left is Words of Jesus which is a really nice contemporary style for £3.99. We have plenty of the AV Block Calendar
Our own AV Block Calendar is selling well with over 300 gone already. Lots of people have commented on the quality of the pictures. These have been kindly provided by a customer who deserves some recognition. To see more of her beautiful photography, just check her website http://www.elainehagget.co.uk/ .
For those that don't know, our AV block calendar is the only daily tear-off calendar in publication which purely has a Scripture quote from the Authorised (KJV) Version with no other verse or meditation. That may sound a pretty bold statement, but we believe it to be true. In fact if it wasn't we wouldn't produce it! It is really a labour of love (especially when the traditional KJV Bible is becoming less and less popular), but we know from many testimonies that it is spiritually profitable, and has been over many years. So, every year someone amongst our circle of family/friends is asked to choose 365 scripture portions for the calendar and they have often commented on how good it is for them to do this.
The other unique thing about our calendar is that it is doublesided - you don't have to choose which picture you prefer because you will get both! Perfect for indecisive people because you can simply turn the calendar around halfway through the year and you get to enjoy both pictures for 6 months each!
It is also worth mentioning that if you buy the 2009 calendar for yourself or as a gift for anyone, you are really getting value for money. As you tear off each text throughout the year you will come across Loyalty Vouchers and other hidden treasures qualifying you for extra discounts on books from the shop. Search for yourself - it's a gift at only £6.95!
Lorna
Okay, so we're only just past the middle of the year, but I'm afraid I am already up to my ears in Christmas cards and 2009 Calendars. Most of my Christmas cards have now arrived plus we have just taken delivery of next year's AV Block Calendar. I enjoy looking through everything and reminding myself of what I ordered back in January/February, but I don't want to wish time away so they probably won't get anywhere near the shop floor until October. Having said that, I have already had one customer ask to see Christmas Cards, plus we have received our first order for 2009 calendars! It's an up-side-down year in the retail world!
