London

10 Days with 70 Americans serving in 8 different parts of London is priceless. It was such a joy to work along side of my husband serving God in a country where it is dead spiritually. Most people know of God, but do not believe in God. Josh and I worked with a team from Louisiana in Kingston doing backyard Bible club in the estates. It was such a joy to work with these children who were underprivileged and show them the love of Christ. From 1:00-3:00 every day the children would come to a community building that a local church had where we would feed them snacks, do crafts, play games, and have a short Bible lesson. The first day we did the backyard Bible club, Josh taught the Bible story about the Lost Sheep. In the middle of his lesson, Josh began to cry and it really got the kids attention. The children asked many questions after the lesson as to why Josh cried which lead to deeper conversations about Christ.

This is the group Josh and I worked with during our time in London.

We painted the girl's fingernails on the first day. They all loved it! This little girl has never had her nails painted, so we painted her nails every day and in return she painted ours.

Josh teaching the parable of The Lost Sheep.

Looking over the wall to hear the Bible story.

Picture frames we made with the children.

These kids taught us so much about their culture. Here is a small list of differences...

1. Cookies are called biscuits in England.
2. Popsicles are called Ice Lollies.
3. French fries are called chips and chips are called crisps.
4. In school, the cafeteria can only serve processed meat once every two weeks.
5. Everything is much smaller in England - cars, homes, roads, etc.
6. The English drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver’s side is on the opposite side of the car.
7. The English do not have mailboxes. They have a slot in their door where the mail is delivered.
8. Everything closes down around 5:00-6:00 (even the stores). MOST restaurants stay open, but not all of them do.
9. The English prefer tea over coffee.
10. What Americans would call “the projects”, the English call “the estates”.

On our time off, we were able to tour the sites of London. What a fun experience it was! We saw London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Abbey Road (where the Beatles recorded), Downing Street (where the Prime Minister Lives), Tafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Hyde Park, St. James Park, London Eye, Big Ben, and Covent Gardens.

London Bridge

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abby

Abbey Road

Trafalgar Square

Hyde Park - This place was absolutely gorgeous. It was more gorgeous than any botanical garden I've ever been in.

London Eye

Parlament and Big Ben

Covet Garden

This is a trip that would go down on my list as one of my favorites. Not only did Josh and I get to minister together as a married couple, but we also got to see beautiful London. I was reminded of how easy it is to go to another country and do missions, but how hard it is to do it in our own backyard.