I'm now in Stourbridge after 5 days of living in London. The difference between the two atmospheres is astounding.
London is so full of people rushing about at 20 mph (which is fast for walking) trying to get the tube to wherever and back again. The tube was a very tight space during rush hour times. Your face would inevitably be in someones' armpit and you'd have a hand accidentally touching some part of your body at all times. We fast-walked about 7-14 miles every day we were there. Only some of the fancier places have air conditioning over here, because this is summer but there's generally not a need for it, so we were quite sweaty pretty much all day when we were in London. The city is so beautiful, though. We went onto the Eye and saw the view from up high. We went through King's Cross Station and saw the clock tower that housed Big Ben. There were a lot of things that we saw and I took a lot of pictures. The people there were so nice, too, even having been so rushed to get places. London culture seems to be a big mash-up of Spanish, French, Middle-Eastern, Irish and tons of other cultures. The beautiful thing about it, though, is that they're very much still expressive of their own individual culture while still being in London. There's tons of amazing food here that'd be hard to get back in the States. As far as missions they've found that it's a great place to be a missionary because you don't have to go to all of these different places to show them Christ and to talk about Christ with them. You can just talk to people that are new, 1st or 2nd generation Londoners, instead, and they would talk about it with their families back home.Stourbridge is about an hour and a half or so away from London. It's somewhat small, though there are houses everywhere. We haven't been here very long. I'm staying in a flat with Rachel (a girl from Virginia Beach) and Deanna (a girl from Las Cruces, NM). We just went grocery shopping today at an Aldi's. Fruits and veggies are a lot cheaper here than at home so we got a ton of those. There's a place called Lye (not sure if it's a street in Stourbridge or it's a town right outside) but it's got a huge Muslim population. If you would please pray for them and that the men here would be willing to create friendships with them. As it stands, I think, there's worry here about going down there because it's a bad neighborhood, too, and that's where Christ is needed most, you know? In the midst of the hurting and people that are in need of love. There aren't a lot of Christians here to begin with so there's still a need here, in Stourbridge. It's interesting that there's also worship going on in schools here (public and private) - specifically Christian worship - but so many aren't Christian and don't know anything about Christianity despite this and some schools will have songs that aren't overtly Christian.
Anyway we're right next to the church we'll be helping with and right above a convenient store so I think we're good on food! Thought the groceries would be more expensive than what they were. I'm counting the fact that the American dollar is worth half what the English pound is. There are turn-abouts in England, too, which make riding in a car in England very interesting!
I will say, also, that two of the interns that were supposed to stay couldn't and had to go back home. Their information card to get through border control (yes, I'm saying it right, "border control") had different days they were going back and so they detained their passports, they got held for about 17 hours or so and then were released but only for the training week (until Sunday). They were going to go to Kosovo, instead, but can't do that now so they're back home and can't come back without a visa for a year. Also, one of the girls here can't get her debit card she got (and we all got) specifically for this trip to work since she didn't fill out all the necessary paperwork and they didn't tell her they needed it before she left so it just kept getting declined. I got sick with some sort of viral thing and my ear started hurting so went to see the doctor and that took 3 hours because the first doctor we saw was full and then we found our way to a walk-in next to a hospital. They didn't give me anything, of course, because it's a virus but they recommended some over-the-counter pain meds and stuff to help. It was crazy to see the difference in American health care and European health care. Didn't pay anything and waited about as long as I'd wait in an American hospital. Especially praying through whether or not I should be a nurse it was a good experience so I'm very grateful I got sick. God showed me a lot through it. Plus I went on a little trip with Darci, one of the leaders there, and it was nice to be able to chat with her a bit. There was just a lot of stuff, major and minor, that kept happening and God was good through all of it!
I'm happy that we're able to rest now in Stourbridge and tomorrow seems a bit crazy. I'll be off for now. Sleep well, you guys! Thanks for reading all my ramblings :-)
- Sara
