Still traveling

Yes, these last few months have kept me busy.  Since July, I have been South Australia, Darwin Australia, Indonesia, and I just returned from England.  Don't get me wrong; I love traveling.  But.....whoo! is it tiring.  

What has happened since my last update? 

I guess the biggest update is that I'm leaving YWAM Perth.  God is moving me on.  

What will I do?  

First, I'm heading to the States to reconnect with family and church for 6 months.  Then, next year, I will be moving to South East Asia to start my 3 year stay with a village.  There, my team and I will be learning the national language, translating stories, learning the local language, and community development.  That's as much as I can say.  Because of security reasons, I can't go into too much detail online.  But, if you are interested, connect with me when I get home and we'll talk :)

When does all of this happen?  

In 2 weeks.  I just returned from England yesterday and I have 2 weeks to close up my affairs here, pack, and leave.  Pray for me!

Now, onto my England trip!

This is was quite the exciting trip for me as I have wanted to go to London for 15 years.  Now, I finally got to go.  Once I arrived, I hit the ground running!

I went to help with a mission conference for the Church of England.  During the 6 days, we learned how London has impacted world missions throughout history.  We learned how important the church of England is for world missions today.  One day was a day of thanksgiving, so everyone went out to the city just to thank people for doing what they do (sweepers, bus drivers, police officers, etc).  Another day, we went out to just tell people about Jesus straight-up.  As usual, we got a lot of aggressive rejections but some were really encouraged to hear and to be prayed for.  There were several instant healings and several salvations.  

I was proud to be able to serve the people of England through this conference.  Because I was so busy, I didn't get many pictures of the conference itself.  But here is one I did take. 

We have an island dance team on our base.  Here they are dancing a "thank you" dance to honour the people of England (whom you can see sitting on the floor in front).  

The reaction of those who came were amazing.  Many of them have never heard of the rich history their country had in world missions.  Also, many of them had never went out to the streets to do direct evangelism.  Many of them said their lives were changed.  

Now, since I had not taken a proper vacation in 2 years, I decided it was as good a time as any to take a few days in the country since I have wanted to go for so long.  So, here are my pictures from my days off

I got to eat fish and chips at the Tower Bridge

NOTE: many of us call it the "London Bridge" when in fact this famous bridge is the "Tower Bridge" and the "London Bridge" is a much more boring looking bridge down the river.  

INTERESTING FACT: there are 3 versions of the london bridge.  the second version is actually in the United States......in Arizona (who knew?)

Here is a typical street in London.  Yes, those cute little red phone booths are everywhere. 

Westminster Abbey

HIGHLIGHT:

some of us went to an evening mass there.  When we went in, they usured us right to the front row.  Below is a shot from where I was sitting.  This is the table from where the bishop gave his address.  

Buckingham Palace

Didn't get to see the changing of the guards

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...." 

Literally

Big Ben

INTERESTING FACT

the name "big ben" actually refers to the bell within the tower; not the tower itself

the London Eye

the tallest observation point in London

I forget the name of this building but it's being built to be the new tallest observation point in London

St. Paul's Cathedral

I mean.....wow!

this is me making a fool of myself (surprise, surprise)

I've heard it said that a slang term for the police in England is "bobbies".  Here, I'm asking the cop if that were true.  He looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head.  They were nice guys and I later found out that they are indeed called "bobbies"......he was pulling my chain

The Tower of London

Many famous people were imprisoned here 

2 of Henry VIII wives

William Wallace (the guy in Braveheart)

Sir Walter Raleigh

Queen Elizabeth (for a few months)

Above pic is that of carvings of some of the prisoners.  

The gate many prisoners walked through before execution

The British Museum

The mummy of Cleopatra

My friend got to see the Rosetta Stone; somehow i missed it

This may look like a boring photo for most of you but remember, I haven't seen fall colours like this in 4 years.  We don't really have Fall in Perth....not like this

After London, I was able to find a real cheap train ticket to go visit my friends in the country area.  They took me several places for a good British experience.  One of those place was the birthplace/writing place of Shakespeare. 

We found a cute little Italian coffee place.  These three cups had heavy cream, expresso, and hot dark chocolate

I couldn't get all the chocolate out

A very common scene in the country

One more experience: 

I got to try Haggis.  

Yes, that's haggis above.  

What is it?  

Sheep kidney, heart, and lungs mixed with oats and fat parts.  All cooked in a sheep stomach (which, thankfully, you don't eat).  

How was it???

I LOVED it!!!!!  

Don't knock it until you've tried it

That's it for this post.  Most likely, the next post will occur when I am state-side.  Hope to see you all and please let me know if you want to visit and catch up. 

Bless you all and thanks for reading!