After convincing myself I had to go, I began the process of fundraising for my trip. Yuck! I begged from my usual sources (family) and God was faithful through their generosity. Within a matter of weeks I was boarding a plane for, what would be a first of many trips overseas. This was a real adventure. I am 6'4" and rather lanky, so flying always presents some concessions on my part. If you have never been seated in the middle of five seats on a 747 for nine hours, you have never really lived.
Upon arriving in London, and regaining feeling in my legs, I had a brand new nervousness awaiting me. I had never had to go through a border check point before, and at 6:30 in the morning, I'm not sure I was ready. Anxiously I approached the attendant and promptly said the biggest fopaux you could've said. "Why are you here?" asked the attendant. "I'm here to do mission work." Pardon? Do work? Thankfully my pastor spoke up and said we were meeting a friend who was a local missionary to do some spiritual exploration, or something like that. Whew! we're in. Lesson learned for me, but how do we keep our integrity if we only tell half truths?
"A fool's lips walk into a fight,and his mouth invites a beating." Proverbs 18:6
Needless to say, we collected our luggage and were on board my favorite mode of transportation, the London Underground or the Tube.
We had about a 45 minute ride to our stop, and I was geeking out. My eyes were roaming all around the train, listening to the buzz of the morning rush. I tried to fit in like a local, but I believe my stack of luggage gave way to me being another American tourist that was just let out.
We arrived at the Highbury/Islington station and wandered in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes until we realized our missteps. After being kindly redirected by some local folks, we finally arrived at our destination. We had a short rest and then we were off again.
We met a friend at King's Cross station who would be our tour guide for the week, little did I know how this friend would shape my life. Having never met him before, I had know idea what I was in for.
While I was walking and eyes-wide-open looking around, I couldn't help but hum a few songs from Mary Poppins. This place was simply magical. I had never had a place or a people impact me this way. It was if I had stumbled into the living room on Christmas morning and discovered all of my favorite things. Could it get any better?
One of my first anxiety attacks came when we had decided on lunch. Upon walking into a small Italian cafe, I discovered there weren't any prices to be found. I am a trained monkey who eats at McDonald's. Where are the value meals? Where is the Dollar menu? Not only was this stressful, but I had scraped together enough money just get to England, let alone spend any money. This was my first taste of what was to come. No worries(a phrase I picked up), God's got this.
"If He leads you to it, He will lead you through it." Phil 1:6
I spent most of the day asking questions about what it was we were doing, why the mission was so important, and where are we going. I was taking notes all day. It was almost as if I had stepped into a mobile lecture hall.
I'm told that if you stay up all day and go to bed with the people of the current country you are in, you will avoid jet lag. That would have worked, but after my first day I was so excited I couldn't fall asleep.
Loads of meetings and conversations took place the first day, and I was alone in my room trying to process all that I had seen and heard. Finally after doing some recap journaling, I was able to rest. It was almost as if I had to pull it out of my brain and write it done, so I could fill it back up the next day.
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