19 September 2011

last day in leatherhead.. already?!

thanks for praying for me though i've been sporadic with the updates!
i'm currently in leatherhead, england, staying at matt and dianna kottman's home.
i got to lead worship yesterday at CC Leatherhead, which was a huge blessing, and spent all day hanging out with people from the church. everyone is so sweet. they've all been praying for me so faithfully over this past year. i am blessed and humbled, and enjoying every bit.
today i got to help teach school to the kottman kids, and had coffee with a friend-i'd-never-yet-met! we had a great time sharing our stories of God's faithfulness and lessons He's teaching us. it was encouraging. we have a mutual friend, suzie, who introduced us when she heard i may be moving to england. otherwise it's been so lovely just hanging around with the kottmans and seeing a bit more of the english life.
tonight we had proper scones with clotted cream and jam. did you know they toast their scones here before they smother them in goodness? um, starbucks, you really have nothing on england with your scones. these were incredible. add some tea with milk and life is goooooood.
tomorrow i'll be taking off for the airport about 11am- flying from gatwick to cork, ireland! a lady from the church is willing to bring me to the airport, which is such a kind blessing. pray that my bags aren't overweight.. my typical prayer when flying. i really only bought a few small things but you never know with ryanair.. they like to cause trouble..! it's a short flight and i'll be in cork by 3pm.
it seems like this weekend flew by. i left bristol friday night with katja after a busy sightseeing day. we got to twickenham station a little after 10pm, joanie picked us up, and we went home and crashed. saturday we slept in a bit, had a nice leisurely breakfast and then headed to a boot sale [a boot is the trunk of a car, fyi- i'm learning a whole new english vocabulary! it's proper good!], and after perusing the rows of interesting items, joanie brought katja and i to hampton court palace. we explored the gardens and saw the biggest/oldest grapevine in the world [quite impressive!]. pictures are up on facebook. google it. it's crazy gorgeous. afterwards we took a bus into kingston to explore the shops and have a nice coffee whilst the rain came down and the floods came up outside. actually, for being in england 2 weeks already, i've not seen half of the rain i expected. we bought cheap umbrellas at the mall. in other news, primark is my new favorite store. after we searched it high and low for exquisite finds, and purchased just a few, we headed back to joanie's, met up with eleanor, who got us on the right train towards london. i hopped off at clapham junction to catch the train for leatherhead and they headed into town. got here safe and sound, no problems at all, and have been having fun ever since!
i'll try to update again soon from ireland. i'll be catching up with aan-sofie, preparing kids ministry stuff with her for this weekend's conference in dublin, leading worship at calvary cork on wednesday, then heading to the conference on thursday with aan-sofie to get things set up. i hear tell that siegen friends will be in attendance as well..! we'll spend all weekend in dublin, then back to cork for some relaxing and sightseeing till thursday. after that, you'll just have to check the blog. hint: it starts with lon and ends with don.
life is one grand adventure! thanks again for your prayers. i came out to be a blessing but i've been blessed so abundantly all the way along. please continue to pray that i'll be a blessing and encouragement, and that God alone will be my strength and song. to Him be the glory.
ps isn't His family incredible? i feel so loved. beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God..
xoxo

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