An extra unexpected blessing

Here is a note I received from one of our members who tells how her very first house sit provided a blessing that is still going on 3 years later

Hi!

Thought Id write as we have just said goodbye to a family we house sat for 3 years ago!

They had popped in for a cup of tea & to collect their daughter who had been staying!

Since we stayed at their home our daughters have become firm friends over social media! (She left a little note in her room).!

They have  been back & forth to stay with each other a few times, we have shared days out & our daughter was even invited to holiday abroad with the family!

What a delight has come from our 10 day house sit!

Thank you for your lovely ministry!!!

Take a moment to look at our website and see how you could also be blessed by joining our worldwide family of Christian House Sitters.

Remember registering as a home owner is FREE and registering as a Sitter is just £25 per year. All our income goes to support a Children’s Home in rural Kenya. Full details on the website

God bless you,

Ray

Christian House Sitters
is part of the registered charity
TLC Children’s Trust
UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

 

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A short video of the past 3 months

Here is a short slide showing just a few of the houses around the world that we have been able to offer rent-free during the past 3 months.

Do you know anyone who may benefit from this wonderful opportunity?

Have a look at our website and contact me if you have any questions. CLICK HERE

• Christian House Sitters is not a money making business but a ministry to support the work and people of God.
• Christian House Sitters started in order to provide rent-free vacations for Christians and reliable House Sitters for home owners who need someone they can trust to look after their home, pets and garden.
• House owners do not pay anything to have their property listed.
• House sitters are only charged £25 per year and in return for this many enjoy numerous rent-free vacations each year.
• 100% of the income is used to support vulnerable children at the Home of Peace Christian Children’s Home in rural Kenya
• We all enjoy travelling to new places but accommodation can be very expensive.
• God designed us to take time off occasionally.
• We all need a holiday
• Our spiritual, mental and physical health benefits from having a break.
• We become more efficient as Christians and in our home and work lives.

Christian House Sitters can help you do this.

Christian House Sitters helps you reduce the cost of your vacation by offering rent-free accommodation.

For Home Owners leaving your house empty carries many risks. Through a free registration with Christian House Sitters we can help you go away feeling safe and secure knowing that your home is being looked after and if necessary your pets are being cared for and loved in their own home.

God bless you,

Ray

 

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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Don’t be jealous. You too could experience this.

As I looked out of the bedroom window this morning I looked at the lovely garden. The picture only shows about a third of the garden. It is almost like having a private park. What a blessing.

Just looking at it helped me to unwind.

No, it is not my garden. We are house sitting while the home owners are away on a vacation.

Out of interest, I looked online a few minutes ago and a house like this, in this area and at this time would normally be rented out for around £180 ($230) per night. We will be here for 20 nights so if we were renting it would have cost us about  £3,600  ($4,660).

So how much are we paying?  Nothing at all!!!

What do we get for that? A 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom house with someone who comes once a week to look after the grounds and a team of cleaners who also come once a week.

What do we need to do in return for staying here? Put out food in the bird feeders for the wild birds, water a few indoor plants and keep the house safe by keeping it occupied.

Now, in all honesty, not all houses made available through Christian House Sitters are to this standard. Most don’t have a team of cleaners or a gardener. Many will expect you to look after pets BUT in return, you get to live in a house not a stuffy, noisy, impersonal hotel room and you get it rent – free.

We have houses available all over the world.

So how can you enjoy somewhere like this? Simply register as a house sitter. It only costs £25 per year (all of which goes to support vulnerable children in a Children’s Home in Kenya) That is your only expense apart from your food and transport.

Ahh, but what if you are the home owner needing someone to look after your home and possibly your pets. Great! Register with us free of charge and we will try to find you a suitable sitter.

All the details about being a house sitter and getting a sitter for your home are on our website.

So in summary:

Christian House Sitters offers rent-free vacation accommodation to our members all over the world and if you need someone to look after your home and pets while you are away we can help there as well by finding someone suitable who will do it free of charge.

Full details are on our website CLICK HERE

God bless you,

Ray

Christian House Sitters

is part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

 

 

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So what is it all about?

A lot of people seem to struggle to understand the concept of House Sitting so hopefully this will help.

It is taken from our website.

Turn on the sound.

 

 

For more information CLICK HERE

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

WordPress is adding adverts to blogs. They are not always shown but if there are adverts on this page please note they were not placed by me, not approved by me and do not imply my recommendation

Latest News Report

It is always lovely when someone else says nice things about you. 

I was therefore delighted to receive a copy of the following article written by Rev Dr Ali Green and published in the Holy Trinity Church. Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. March 2017 news.

Here is a copy:

Home of Peace

Each time I go on holiday I have a house sitter to care for pets and plants – and the sitter gets a holiday, too, in lovely Bradford on Avon. A modest amount of money is generated from this scheme by the organizing charity, Christian House Sitters, run by Ray and Marilyn White. All the funds raised go to a very special family in Kenya.

A Caring Home

This is the Home of Peace, an interdenominational children’s home in which a dedicated team looks after 53 children. The staff of 14 includes the Manager, the Administrator and a Qualified Social Worker. They are overseen by Marilyn on a daily basis. Ray and Marilyn are responsible for all the financial needs of the Home of Peace and oversee the work, monitoring where every penny is spent, under the UK Registered Charity TLC Children’s Trust, and are closely monitored by the Trustees.

Many of the youngsters’ parents have died from AIDS, typhoid, malaria or other diseases and as a result they were left homeless and to had fend for themselves because their home village was too poor to take on an extra hungry child. Some children, as young as three or four years old, were taken from their tiny villages in the bush and dumped in the town of Siaya because the family could no longer look after them. Once in Siaya they were simply left and had to beg or steal to survive.

Thanks to the Home of Peace these children now have a home, medical care and clothing, and they attend a local school. The manager recently purchased two sewing machines and employed a qualified seamstress to make all the children’s play clothes, church clothes, school uniforms and the staff uniforms. She also repairs any damaged clothing – a big longterm money-saver.

Following a major storm last year the home had to undertake a major building project. This resulted in two new boys’ dormitories, two staff bedrooms, a laundry, additional toilets and washing facilities, a new water storage tank and the conversion of a temporary dining room into a permanent structure.

Happy Feet: The children show off their new Christmas shoes

Last Christmas the Home of Peace sent out an appeal to all members of Christian House Sitters and their response allowed the children to get new shoes and underwear and to celebrate Christmas with a special meal. Residents invited local boys and girls to join them for Christmas dinner. These were children who would otherwise not have had a special meal at Christmas.

Help for a Needy Family

A few weeks ago the Home of Peace Social Worker reported coming across a local household that captured her attention. She took a picture of their house and wrote: “It is a nuclear family with five children. Both parents are alive but are living from hand to mouth. My concern was the fourth born girl, ten years old. I was shocked. The mother said she has not been going to school because of lack of food. She seems weak and febrile.

Their homestead is a one-roomed thatched house with a small table sketchily structured at the centre of the room. Nothing to sit on, a papyrus mat spread at the corner as the family bed. They are indeed in abject poverty.”

Home of Peace arranged some emergency food for the family and contacted Children’s Services to see what else could be done.

Shortly after Christmas I received a message from Ray: “I am delighted to say that we have managed to sort out all the red tape and this young girl is now living safely at Home of Peace, getting nutritious meals, having good health care, getting an education and is happy. Her parents are also thrilled.”

You can find out more about the Home of Peace and Christian House Sitters at www.christianhousesitters.com

Rev Dr Ali Green

Our sincere thanks to Rev Dr Green for the article.

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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Visiting Medieval English Towns

I posted this article in my blog a few years ago but felt an urge to re-post it as we now have so many new readers.

I love it when our members take the iniative and write about their experiences. This is an extract from an article that was written by a Canadian house sitter who visited England and was printed in Cathedral Connections.  St Peter’s London Ontario

A UNIQUE ADVENTURE – HOUSESITTING IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
By Joyce Hilton

At some point we all think about a dream vacation, especially one that costs little and allows you to enhance your love of Christianity and its history and architecture.

My dream vacation and journey began when I stumbled across a website that promised just that. It was called Christian House Sitters, an Internet based service that brought Christian home owners and Christian house sitters together.

Christians home owners who wanted to take a holiday and needed some one to look after their home and! or their pets while away could apply. The other side of the service accommodated persons who could not afford a holiday but would now be enabled to take a break and see other countries. Their only expense would be the cost of travel and their food.

It was totally Christian based and required everyone involved to have a reference from their church.
The registration cost was twenty dollars Canadian for the year which allowed me access to information about various properties in different countries that required a house sitter.

A couple in Norwich, England advertised for a sitter for three months. I was born in England and wanted to experience the atmosphere of its medieval history and churches. Norwich seemed like a perfect fit! It is a church enthusiast’s paradise. It possesses more medieval churches than any other English City. There is an old saying in Norwich that there are 52 churches for every week of the year and 365 pubs for every day of the day. (My interest was in the former.)

In addition to its great cathedral and the ruins of three other buildings, there are thirty-one other parishes in Norwich that have survived.

I arrived in England in early January of this year and met my awesome hosts who were leaving in the next few days for New Zealand.

Before they left, they drove me to Great Yarmouth, a city on the east coast of England situated about fifty miles away. Along the way, we stopped to look at the ruins of a thirteenth century Augustinian Priory. Even though the walls had eroded to half their size and roofs had long disappeared, you sensed that this was once a holy place and the likely home of earlier saints.

It was the first step in my quest to visit ancient holy places.  I left realizing that I was a part of a much larger faith community, one that transcends countries and history.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

So if you are thinking of going on vacation let me briefly remind you how we can help you. Remember we operate worldwide. So wherever you are this applies to you.

You can register as a Home Owner and that means we will make your house details known to our large list of sitters all over the world and they will then be able to contact you and offer to look after your house and your pets free of charge. Registration as a home owner is free. There are no charges.

You can register with us as a House Sitter. That will mean that you get access to all the houses that are made available, all over the world, for 12 months. If you like what you see you can contact the owner and apply for the house. All houses are rent free. registration as a Sitter will cost £25 per year. All the money will go through our registered Charity to support needy children at Home of Peace Children’s Home in Kenya. For details about the home CLICK HERE. Note 100% of income goes to the Children’s Home Marilyn and I personally cover the cost of running Christian House Sitters.

You can register as both a Sitter and as a Owner.

TO REGISTER VISIT OUR WEBSITE: CLICK HERE  (www.Christian-Housesitters.com)

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

http://www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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Please help us. It will not cost you anything.

As regular readers of this blog will know Christian House Sitters has two aims.

Naturally we exist as a ministry to help people all over the world enjoy rent-free vacations.

But we are also part of T.L.C. Children’s Trust who run a home, called Home of Peace, for 55 vulnerable children in rural Kenya.

This is a very simple request and it will not cost you anything!

Home of Peace has just launched a Facebook page and we would love to spread the word far and wide. The more people who know about this fantastic ministry the more people who will join us in praying and some may even be guided by God to help us with the costs of running the home. Either by sponsoring a child or by making a donation. 100% of all money received goes to the home in Kenya and Marilyn, my wife, is in a position to monitor exactly where every penny is spent. She is Chair of their board of trustees and on the management team of the home and is in daily contact.

So how can you help?

Easy! Visit the Facebook page, Like the page and share it with your friends. It is as simple as that.

To visit the Facebook page CLICK HERE

To find out more about Christian House Sitters go to www.christian-housesitters.com

God bless you,

Ray

Christian House Sitters is part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

8 Important Questions

I get asked a lot of questions about House Sitting as it is a very new concept to many people (Although it has actually been available for many years) so I decided to devote this blog post to answering some common questions.

 

WHAT IS IT?

In essence it is very simple. A House Sitter moves into your home while you are away on vacation. They look after your home and pets for you and in return they receive a rent free vacation in your home.
The house owner saves money by not having to pay anyone to look after their home and pets. They have the security of knowing that their home and pets are being looked after by a responsible Christian.
The House Sitter gets to travel and stay in lovely homes rather than an expensive and often characterless hotel room.

WHAT HAPPENS?
When you register as an owner we list your house details (without the specific address) on the restricted section of our website that can only be viewed by registered sitters. We also email all registered sitters drawing their attention to the listing.
Sitters then decide which houses they are interested in and click an enquiry button. That automatically sends the owners their details and their profile info. Then it is over to the owner to make contact and decide which application they like best, check references and arrange the sit.

IS IT SAFE?
Naturally one has to take precautions. We strongly advise all home owners to get two references before entering into any agreement. As this is a Christian site and all members must list their church connection we suggest one of the reference should be obtained from their church leaders. We also include a general outline of an agreement for both parties to sign.

WHO CAN JOIN?
Any Christian who belongs to a recognised Christian Church. People can register as a House Sitters, a Home Owners or as Both.

CAN YOU GUARANTEE US A SUITABLE HOUSE SIT?
Sadly not. The list of available properties is constantly changing. New houses are added and existing properties find sitters. We are facilitators and have no idea what houses or sitters are going to become available in the future. We never know from one day to the next what is coming and what is going to be removed. For example we had a message from someone asking about a house in Florida. We wrote back saying that we did not have any. The very next day we got a house 5 minutes from Disney World available for 2 months. God is in control. We trust that He will provide the right match between owners and sitters.

WHY DON’T YOU HAVE MORE HOUSES LIKE SOME SECULAR SITES?
There are a couple of reasons. Firstly our pool of potential members is naturally smaller as we only accept people who are members of a recognised Christian church.
But that is not the only reason. I have been doing some research. In fact in order to do the research I ended up having to join a few secular sites. I discovered that most of the houses shown on their sites are not actually available. This is because many of these sites do not remove any listing until the end of the available period. We on the other hand ask our members to inform us as soon as a house is taken and we then immediately remove the listing. his saves our sitters the frustration of applying for houses that are no longer available. To be honest occasionally owners do forget to inform us. But as soon as a sitter lets us know that they are not getting a reply from an owner or that the owner has replied saying the house has been taken we investigate and if the house has been taken we remove that listing.
Finally our houses are made available for vacations purposes. Through my research into some of the secular sites I was astounded to see that a lot are not vacation offers but simply a way of trying to get free labour.
Here are some real examples “Someone with building experience to help with renovation of the house. ” Another said ” Nightwatch the hotel do some gardening, some cleaning, sometimes making breakfast, welcoming clients. Check in clients. In spring and summer we have our own staff which you will be ‘ working’ with. In winter you will be alone, working with us.”
To my way of thinking these are not vacations. They are job opportunities and for jobs with no wages.
Our listings are for a genuine vacation!

WHY DO YOU CHARGE and WHAT DOES IT COST?
In addition to providing Free Holidays we also seek to support the work of Home of Peace Children’s Home in Kenya. 100% of all our income goes to this Christian Children’s Home.
Registration as an owner is free.
Registration as a sitter is only £25 per year. All of which goes to supporting a Christian Children’s Home in Kenya. The cost of running the service is covered by my wife and I as a service.

HOW DO I JOIN?
Visit our website Click Here and click on Register then follow the simple on screen instructions.

 

If you have any  other questions that are not answered on the website please use the contact page and I will do my best to answer you promptly.

Is this for you?

Have a look at our website www.Christian-housesitters.com

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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Helpful tip that could stop you making a costly mistake.

Over the last few months I have noticed a lot of news reports about companies who offer package holidays (vacations for our US readers) going under.

Some leave their customers stranded.

Today the UK news is covering a company called LowCostHolidays who have now closed and according to a report on the BBC it has left 27,000 people already abroad and 110,000 with bookings for the future that they have already paid for. Money now lost for the majority.

The report goes on to say that the majority will only get £7.78 back as compensation.

A spokesperson for the administrators, Smith and Williamson, said: “It is only once claims are finalised that a specific figure for compensation will become evident. However, it does seem that the amount of compensation for holidaymakers will, very unfortunately, prove to be negligible – around 1 or 2%.”

Those already abroad will have to pay for the rest of their hotel accommodation and may also have to pay for another air ticket to get back home.

They quote Simon Holt, from Skipton in Yorkshire, who had to pay an extra £1,000 so that his daughter and her friend could stay in their hotel in Portugal.

So let me get this clear in my mind. Looking at just this one company we have close on 140,000 people who are going to be hundreds , if not thousands, of pounds out-of-pocket.

They, in good faith, saved their money and then used it to pay for their vacation. Now they have had it ruined and they have the extra financial burden.

This is just one company. If you read the news you will know another that specialises in vacations in Turkey closed last week and over the past months there have been a steady stream.

Do not be caught out! 
Instead of paying a company loads of money to pack you like sardines onto one of their charter flights to an over populated resort, then being ‘organised’ by their rep throughout your stay in a small hotel room take the DIY approach.

Stay rent-free in a private house with all the home comforts.

Plan your own itinerary.

Go home having rested, enjoyed your time away and having saved a lot of money.

How? Use the worldwide services of Christian House Sitters.

You could be enjoying a rent-free vacation in one of the many other houses that we get all over the world.

Also if you need someone honest, reliable and with references to look after your home and if necessary your pets while you are away. Even if you are not in one of our houses. We will help you find someone free-of-charge.

Will this work for you?

Have a look at our website www.Christian-housesitters.com

God bless you,

Ray

 

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

WordPress are adding adverts to blogs. They are not always shown but if there are adverts on this page please note they were not placed by me, not approved by me and do not imply my recommendation

Featured in Sight Magazine

The following is an article that appeared in SIGHT MAGAZINE AUSTRALIA on the 6th of July 2016

MY MISSION: A CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE TO FINDING A HOME AWAY FROM HOME (AND SUPPORTING CHILDREN IN KENYA AS YOU DO SO)

6th July, 2016

DAVID ADAMS

Sight Magazine Australia

Ray and Marilyn White, former owners of a Christian counseling centre in the UK, didn’t have the money to go on expensive holidays when they retired, meaning they had to find a way to do so – without paying full price.

Hearing about a house-sitting organisation which offered people the chance to look after someone’s else’s home while they were away, they registered and ended up living in a property in France for three months. While Dr White says it was a “wonderful experience”, they did have times of loneliness and couldn’t find a church. There were also some statues and other things left around the house which he says, as Christians, made them feel uncomfortable.

“Marilyn said that next time we should use a Christian organisation,” the South-African born 69-year-old recalls. “So we searched and could not find one anywhere. Marilyn therefore suggested we start one, which we did, and the result is Christian House Sitters.”

The organisation, which is based out of their home in Somerset, aims to bring together Christian home-owners and house-sitters by providing a website and email service which they can use to find each other.

“If you register as a home-owner, we help you find a house-sitter to move into your home while you are away on vacation,” says Dr White, who has previously worked in business, for Youth For Christ and as a pastor, and who still, as well as writing books, runs an “active preaching ministry” and takes seminars on subjects such as stress management for church groups.

“(The house-sitter) will look after your home and pets for you free-of-charge and in return they receive a rent-free vacation in your home. So, as an owner you save money by not having to pay anyone to look after your home and pets. You also have the security of knowing that your home and pets are being looked after by a responsible Christian.”
The benefits for those who register as house-sitters is also somewhat obvious – they “get to travel and stay rent-free in lovely homes all over the world rather than in expensive and, often characterless, hotel rooms”.
People wanting to advertise their house will have its details, excluding the exact address, listed on a protected area of the organisation’s website where registered would-be house-sitters can find them. All registered sitters are also emailed about the listing. Sitters can then register their interest with a particular property and their details are sent on to the home-owner. It’s then up to the home-owner to make contact, check references and arrange the ‘sit’ (a draft agreement is provided on the website).

Dr White says he and his wife insist that all who apply must be a member of a Christian church.

“We then email the pastor of their church and say that they have registered with us and given him as a reference,” he says. “We tell him that he can expect to be contacted by home-owners seeking a reference from him about these people. If he indicates that this is all satisfactory we register them. If they can’t supply these details or if the pastor is not willing to vouch for them, membership is refused.”

Properties listed range from apartments to large family houses with the length of time they are available anywhere from a week to a year, although between two to four weeks is more typical.

The profile of the house-sitters varies widely.

“We have families with children, single people, missionaries on furlough, ministers wanting a holiday that they can afford, retired people,” Dr White says.

More than 1,000 people have registered on the site since it commenced and current members live in 15 countries, mostly in Europe but also including Australia and New Zealand, the US and Canada.

While home-owners pay no fee to register on the site, sitters pay £25 (or equivalent) a year. All of this money is used to support a Christian children’s home in Kenya – The Home of Peace Children’s Home – which Mrs White took over the responsibility for raising funds for in 2010 after the UK church which had supported the organisation decided they could no longer continue to do so.

The Whites have since set up a registered charity – the TLC Children’s Trust – to raise funds for the home which is officially registered with the Kenyan Government.

Asked what they love most about running Christian House Sitters, Dr White says it’s the connections they make all across the globe.

“We love getting email from people all over the world telling us how God has used Christian House Sitters to enable them to have a holiday that they really needed but could not afford. Knowing we have made a real difference gives us a thrill.”

 

~ www.christian-housesitters.com

~ www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

 

End of the article.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: CLICK HERE  (www.Christian-Housesitters.com)
God bless you,
Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

http://www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

WordPress are adding adverts to blogs. They are not always shown but if there are adverts on this page please note they were not placed by me, not approved by me and do not imply my recommendation