This has been a difficult day. We were delighted to simply get on Mull, as the day before a storm on the sea had made it impossible to sail to and from the island. When we arrived there, we discovered that the same storm had taken down a few tress and some massive branches that fell on the roof of the church and seriously damaged it.
It was beautiful (in a painful way) to celebrate the Liturgy and be able to see the sky from the Altar! God was good and gentle, as always, and there wasn’t a drop of rain in sight while we were there. However, it did pain me and made me understand more clear than ever how badly Kilninian needs a permanent resident to care for it and keep it alive.
For the first time, I saw the good of having the church insured. I do sympathise deeply with those who were saddened that we had to close the church until the end of next May, but it had to be done in order to insure the place. I didn’t think we’d actually need the insurance, but God clearly knew better.
I attach a few photos. Please pray for this church and for myself – I’ve started my mad fund-raising touring in order to buy a piece of land close to the monastery (I’ll tell you more in a different post), and my bones (my spine especially) are starting to protest against the endless travelling.
Praying that the roof can be made weather-tight for the winter, and that permanent repairs can be completed in 2014.
Thank you so much, dear David. Keep praying, please; we’ve received some news today from the insurer – they don’t want to do all the repair work, but they seem to at least accept replacing the tiles and repairing the basic frame of the roof. The problem is inside, because of all the water that got in the church and affected the wood… But God will take care. When they make up their minds about the work they’ll do, I’ll make sure to post in on the blog. Thank you, again, for your prayers.