Hiya from the London Land!!!

Hiya! (That is British slang for Hello!)

I apologize for the lack of updates since I have been abroad. I fully intend to rectify that situation right now!

My last weekend at home was spent with family and friends. I want to thank everyone who was able to come to my going away party and I cherish the memories that were made. I also thank those that I was able to spend my weekend; it meant more to me than I can fully express. My family was wonderful, and my last meal at home consisted of my favorite food, shrimp salad, mashed potatoes and pineapple upside down cake!

My flight here was quite uneventful. I flew from Tampa to Chicago and had a nice layover where I was able to meet up with 2 girls from my team, and others with the Hands on Program. From there, we flew to London Heathrow. Thankfully, I was able to sleep for about 6 hours of the flight. I credit that to getting about an hour of sleep the night before, and my on-flight TV did not work so I could not get distracted by watching it instead of sleeping.

Once we had landed it was on to face the monster known as the Customs agent/Boarder Control. While standing in line I was going over in my head what to say, and making sure I had all my papers in order. The line went fairly quickly and before I knew it, it was my turn to face the Customs agent. My teammate Lakan and I were the last ones from the Hands on Group to get to the agents. Our other teammate, Hillary, was ahead of us facing her agent. Lakan and I each step forward, and a tense 20 minutes later, stamped passports in hand, were allowed to enter the UK! Unfortunately, our third teammate, Hillary, was unable to enter the country and was sent back to the States. Right now, she is working on getting her visa and then will join Lakan and I in London. Pray that her visa process goes smoothly and that she can join us as soon as possible.

Once we had all gathered our luggage we were off to the church where our orientation would take place. We were able to change clothes, wash our faces and then were off to sightsee! No sleep for us, so we could start the fight against jet lag. It was here that I was grateful for those 6 hours of sleep on the flight over. We were able to go and see Big Ben and Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, The London Eye, The Tower of London Bridge, Camden Market, and Buckingham Palace. To be at the places that have been on my screen saver these last few months was a bit overwhelming, but completely rewarding.

Orientation Week was packed full of information. We learned how we are going to succeed these next few months. The entire Hands on Western Europe team bonded well and we look forward to seeing each other again in December. There are teams going to Cardiff Wales (a team of 9, 2 boys, 7 girls); a Paris team made up of 3 girls; a Spain team made up of 1 girl and 1 boy; a Malta team made up of 2 girls; and then there was Team London, made up of myself and another girl, Lakan Britt. She hails from the mighty land of Missouri and over these past few weeks, I am learning how different Florida and Missouri really are. For instance, did you know that you can catfish with LIVE goldfish? I didn’t either, but it’s just one of these new facts I am learning from Lakan. She and I get along quite well and I she loves to cook! We make a great team, she cooks, and I clean the dishes. But besides her domesticity, she and I compliment each other well and I look forward to the months ahead of working with her. I know that when Hillary gets here, she will fit in quite nicely to Team London.

On Sunday after orientation we were able to move into our flat (apartment in the states). We hopped on the tube (the underground) and 2 stops later we were here! We live in South Acton, right across from the Acton Town Tube entrance. We live on the 2^nd floor (the UK calls it the 1^st floor, the American first floor being the ground floor) and we have a BLUE door!!! Our flat is VERY nice. We have 4 bedrooms (our team originally was going to be larger) so my snoring will keep no one else awake! My bedroom is on the 2^nd floor of our flat, facing the street. I have a double bed with a blue bedspread, a desk, drawers, and a wardrobe! (Have no fear, I already tried to go to Narnia, but Aslan hasn’t called me there yet ;-). ) My bedroom is larger than I was expecting and I have managed to decorate quite nicely with all my pictures of family and friends. The other rooms are comparable in size and we have a living room and an adorable kitchen with a washing machine so we can do our laundry here and not have to go elsewhere. I feel like I am living in the lap of luxury because I was not expecting lodging this wonderful.

Lakan and I have become quite adept at taking the public transport. We have our oyster cards and we have managed to not get too lost around London. I have ridden on a double decker bus, and the tube quite a few times and each time it is very exciting!!! We were able to go and see the New Harry Potter movie here and were quite excited because we had been in the very part of London that is in the beginning of the film!

Last week we hit the ground running with exploring our surrounding areas. We have been able to go out and meet quite a few people, get acclimated to the area and get everything a bit sorted as to what our time in London will be spent doing. We were able to meet a nice young man named Dave. I am very encouraged about him. He is interested with meeting with Lakan and I in our time here about once a week and we will be open and honest with him in sharing the gospel and building a relationship with him that will have lasting impact. I ask that you pray for him, that with our time with him will be full of vulnerability, and that we can in our time here be able to show him Christ. I am encouraged because he does not like to drink, and is very interested in why we are doing detached youth work here.

This week we are prayer walking Acton and gearing up for our first event, Photography club! I am excited about that and hopefully we can begin to build lasting relationships with the teens here.

Random side note, the reason pictures have not been forthcoming (I know many of you have been asking) is that I forgot my camera cable in the States. I now have the task of finding one here and once that is accomplished, you shall see what I am seeing in the London Land!

I end this post with a few prayer requests:

1. For Lakan and I to be bold in approaching teens. Pray that we can connect well with them and that they can see that we are genuine.

2. For Hillary, that the visa process will go smoothly and that she can be joining us soon.

3. For Lakan and I to continue to get along. Pray that we will have good team communication and that we can be focused on the task at hand.

4. For me to get acclimated to the weather. Being from Florida has ill prepared me for the chilly weather ahead and I’m already wearing long sleeve shirts and my fleece jacket at night! Pray that I can stay warm and that I do not get sick from the weather.

I thank you for reading this VERY long post and I promise that it won’t be another 3 weeks till my next one.

I love you all and miss you, but I know that God has me here for a purpose. I see the work that needs to be done, and I am thankful and honored to be apart of the team here in London.