ok, so i'm behind, as far as being up-to-date with my trip goes, but here is a long-winded report on my Tuesday... just tuesday? gosh - read at your peril. :) It's now Saturday, and we've done more each day. i'll catch up with the other days later :)

Jessica, i hope everything went well on Friday, and i can't wait to hear about it.

Lastly, i'd like to explain, some. i have spotty time to type stuff up, and even when i do, i'm either tired or rushed. i also have to be careful about what i write, as i don't want to jeopardize anything that P&L, etc., are doing here. Not that i expect my blog to get heavy traffic, but with my luck(?), my little bits of information would get picked up upon, and be the very unraveling of someone else...

Tuesday

Mom, I got back to Slough ok last night. I know that’s your primary concern! :P My roommate, Terry, and Jayne, were mad at me for going by myself. But I had checked it out with P&L for safety, and they were all nonchalant about me going. And to be fair to Terry and Jayne, this whole time P, L, A, J &K have warned us not to go anywhere alone, and yet, P&L were fine with it. I also left a contact number for Kristin with Terry.

Also, I met a couple of nice people going to and from S last night. On my way into London, I caught a packed, rush-hour express train, and was bewildered as to what to do (there seemed to be not enough room to stand even, much less turn around in the middle of a packed train, when I was sporting my backpack (with that guy, it’s like I’m 2-3 people, and we all know I’m a little “chubby” to begin with). But with profuse apologies, people were very patient and very nice. Even the rough looking guys I came face to face with in the middle of the train car. I made it to the back, and stood, and got into a lovely conversation with a woman named Helen. She had just moved to S with her husband because the housing prices were more manageable. She was also just coming off her 7-month maternity leave, with her little boy. She was/is a New Zealander, living in London, and she was go great, so helpful and so, just, lovely. There she was, trying to help me think of free things to do in London (I’m going for the cheap, here, people!). Just so nice.

And then, on the way home, later that night, I was trying to figure out from which platform my train was leaving. I couldn’t find it (turns out that they list the next, like, 7 trains, but only the first 3 trains to leave were listed with platform numbers), so I approached the woman next to me, and she pointed it out, and was also soooo very nice. She was taking the same train (and then onward to Oxford), so we rode together and chatted the whole way to S. Turns out her mom lives in DC, and she had gone to Hopkins undergrad (class of ’84). Small small world. And even on Sunday, on the Tube, I had heard a woman talking with her friend, and I recognized an American accent from both of them, though I couldn’t hear well enough to discern the origin. Until I heard her talking about Lake Pontchartrain. And we all know (ok, those of us from Louisiana (the REAL L.A.)) that no one talks about Lake Pontchartrain unless they are from Louisiana. So, sho ‘nuff, the two women were from New Orleans, on work assignments with KBR. Again, small world.

But, onto Tuesday.

The weather has been cool Monday and today. It’s also been a little overcast, off and on, but still no rain. I’m sure that since I’ve now bragged about no rain, it will rain all day tomorrow (our “day off” or our “tourist” day).

Today, we got up bright and early (we meet for breakfast at 7:45, 2 minutes away from our Travelodge), shared our experiences from the day before and then headed out to our groups’ assignments (there are just the 4 assignments, but we rotate through them as groups).

Today, my group was assigned to Whitechapel. This meant that we headed out to East London took a walking tour of the area, and met in an Islamic Center with 3 Muslim women. It was very interesting. Evidently, East London, Whitechapel specifically, if I understood correctly, is the docks area of London, and prior to the airport, was the first stop for immigrants to London. Kind of like New York City was for immigrants coming through Ellis Island, or even, as “new” immigrants always tend to be more populous on the coasts than anywhere else, until they are at least somewhat integrated into the culture and feel comfortable moving away from others like them.

So, for Whitechapel, this meant that the French Huguenots had settled there long ago (if my church history class hadn’t covered 2000 years in 4 weeks, I’d know when. But I don’t.), and then moved on when they climbed out of poverty. The same with the Irish Potato Famine immigrants, and then the Polish Jews. Now, though, it is those from Bangladesh, mostly Muslims, which is so odd. Not that they are Muslims from Bangladesh, per se, but rather that they are replacing Jews. Thus, there are Christian-cathedrals-turned-synagogues-turned-mosques. Just that Jewish/Muslim juxtaposition strikes me time and again. I even have a picture of a huge mosque built right next to the last-standing-synagogue in Whitechapel. Just odd.

We met in the Islamic Center with 3 Muslim women, as I said before. One was a 2^nd generation British Muslim, Hasema, (I think?), striving to help carve out a British Muslim identity that would take precedence over the international issues taken on by Muslims the world over. That is, though those issues might be important, they were not the defining issues of British Muslims. I kept thinking of it in terms of parallels with churches and missions and church-planting in other cultures. How does a daughter church separate her identity from that of the mother church, especially in an entirely different land and country? A church established in China by Americans probably doesn’t need to follow every turn of American culture and denominational development as much as it needs to respond to Chinese cultural shifts and forge out a new path there. Am I making any sense?

Another of the women was a white Englishwoman, Sarah Joseph, who had converted to Islam 18 years ago. She looked about 35ish?. She wore a white hijab (sp? – the headcovering Muslim women wear. Not the kind that covers the face, though), but a long, modern skirt and a longsleeved shirt. Her mother had been a modeling agent, and so when Sarah converted to Islam, Sarah took on the hijab as a feminist act in which she felt able to be judged on what she said and did, rather than being held to beauty standards, first. However, she shared that ironically, where she had sought to be judged on her words and deeds first, and appearance second, she was now being judged by appearance first (as a Muslim), and then on what she said or did second. Regardless, Sarah is now the editor of “emel” (pronounced “M-L”), a magazine about modern Muslim life and living, I believe (I’ll have to peruse my copies closer). Her husband is a Bangledeshi man who has public stature, owns “Q” magazine, and makes appearances on British TV.

Finally, the 3^rd woman, Binga(? Shoot, now I can’t remember!) was a younger, single woman, dressed in the black hijab and a long black dress, though not a modern dress, but more like the black flowing robes we see on TV. She works for the Muslim Human Rights Coalition, and had some pretty strong opinions and defenses as well.

They were chosen by A in order to give us a different perspective than the stereotypes we in America are frequently spoon-fed of Muslim women (i.e. submissive, meek, subjugated, abused, having no voice, etc). Because each of these women are strong and opinionated and consider themselves, and are considered by others, activists. That is, they are willing to get involved in issues of all kinds, shapes and sizes from the perspective of Muslim women. And while we were assured that these women were speaking from a moderate Muslim position in a moderate mosque, you still can’t dismiss them easily.

They, again, were lovely.

After that, came the tour of Whitechapel which was just fascinating. There were several buildings that A pointed out were older than America (though not older than our Spanish land grant, Mom! I didn’t say that, though Mom, since I’m sure he could just turn around and point out another building that WAS older!)

After that, we dispersed, each to his/her own. I headed to Kristin’s neck of the woods to get a haircut, and had a nice time looking around. I did get my hair cut, and it looks ok-to-good. However, I think I want it a little shorter. I am thinking I’ll take Jayne there tomorrow to get a haircut, too, and see if I can’t get them to trim it, some. We’ll see.

Regardless, I’m sporting some sizable blisters on my toes, from my new sandals. The red flipflops, (Shani and Judie, you know the ones) hurt my calves and arches for long periods of time, and the super-new black sandals I got (Super and Jude, you haven’t seen them, I don’t think – oh wait, Super might have) rub the tops of my toes. But, except to y’all, my faithful readers, I’m trying not to complain. We’ll see tomorrow when I get blisters on my blisters!

The World Cup is huge here these last couple of weeks, as kristin has mentioned on her blog. England played Sweden tonight and tied (after a 2-1 lead, England). There are English flags EVERYWHERE (they are the white flags, divided into equal quadrants by a red cross, not the Union Jack, which I’ve learned is British, not English).

What’s also funny is that people pause and look at me funny when I talk. I’ve even had a couple of people not understand me. I had a moment, today, when I realized that my experience is what British people experience every day in America when they are not understood (try not to laugh too hard, Marie!). I’m not sure if I am incomprehensible, due to my accent (mom, don’t tell dad. You know he’ll just say that I mumble, and it’s not the accent! Just kidding, mom. Tell him. And then tell me how he reacts), or if they are expecting me to speak with a British accent, from the way I look, and are thrown off when it isn’t British (I’m thinking the reverse of that story you told me, Unchin, when that security guard (?) couldn’t understand y’all because she couldn’t seem to come to terms with the fact that you could possibly speak clear American English.)

I’m also trying not to be the loud, brash American, so I find myself speaking more softly, I think. Not that I am trying to be someone else, but rather, just reading the situation before I let loose. Especially when I am on my own.

hey folks,
i'll probably post more later today. But i'm on someone else's computer and haven't had a chance to transfer it via USB. regardless, i do have some prayer requests.

One of my group trips this week (Friday i think), we go to a mosque. one group had a great trip, and another group had a too-long discussion with what sounds like a radical muslim guy who talked about killing people and stuffs. Even before that incident, i was thinking about it, and thinking about the potential spiritual arfare and possible spiritual attack that might come with a mosque visit. So please pray for our spiritual protection.

Also, pray for our team dynamics. we are still getting along well, but several of us have gotten tired or frustrated with little incidents. My feet do hurt, even though i'm otherwise loving all of our walking. i'm really enjoying it. maybe it's the challenge, but it's been good. (so pray for my feet! :P)

other than that, it's overall good, and i'll post more later!

Fri/Sat

Well, we have arrived, and safely. Our flight left and landed in good time – about a 6.5 hour flight. However, we had a good bit of turbulence. Eddie, a seat in front of me, and across the aisle) kept clutching the arms of his seat, holding on for dear life. I don’t mean to be faux-blasé, but I really didn’t think it was that bad. But then, turbulence has never really bothered me much. I felt like they fed us a lot on the flight: snack crackers, beverage, dinner (beef lasagna or chicken-and-rice-stir-fry; tabbouleh; tiramisu; and a dinner roll), beverage, (lights out), breakfast (Dannon peach yogurt, orange juice, coffee-cake muffin), and then tea. All of it was pretty tasty.

However, most people didn’t get enough sleep, due to all the turbulence. I always seem to be able to sleep, so I did catch some Z’s here and there. But still, I was tired, and many more were even more tired than I. so we collected our luggage, walked right through customs and out.

We were met by an older American couple, R and S, who lived here for about 5 years, several years ago. They had traveled out to London a day ahead of us, so as to be ready to meet and take care of us. They work stateside with the organization with which we are going, WT. We took the shuttle from Heathrow to a bus, and that bus took us near to our hotel. We then walked over, checked in, and then walked to the home of some of WT’s London Team (P and L). By this point, my classmate, Jayne, had several times described all the walking as, “I feel like we’re on Survivor!” It was quite a bit more walking than pretty much all of us are used to. It’s also been unseasonably warm here this past week, even according to the locals. I don’t think that we were prepared for that. Most of us were dressed too warmly, and I easily broke a sweat on the way to their house. We all heartily agreed that the walking would be much better if it were cooler. But never mind that.

P and L had come from the US about 20 years ago to begin church plants and ministry to Muslims in London. They have a lovely home in S., with a yet lovelier garden in the back. I don’t know if it was/is a proper English garden, but lovely nonetheless. They fed us hamburgers and chicken, and then filled us in on some/most of their team, and most of what we will be doing day to day. I have to say that there was much apprehension amongst my classmates about whether we would just be in classes/lectures or out doing things. I am pleased to announce that it seems like we will be doing a fair amount of things from day-to-day, and I’m pretty excited about that.

However, many of us were still so exhausted that we nodded off during their presentation. I was one of them. We were just too tired to sit in the warm sun with full bellies and remain awake. And I had gotten some sleep!

Ok, back to the warm. I thought I could leave it, but no. We were out in the sun enough that first day that many got sunburned. You will be proud to note that I was too paranoid, per usual, to forego the sunscreen from the moment we left the hotel for P&L’s, and at least got my face. So, while most of my group are sporting bright pink pates, only my left upper arm is slightly pink. And, cloudy or nor, I refuse to return from England with a sunburn! (so slather it I will.)

Sunday

We met for breakfast, provided by the WT people here, and prepared for our day. We are divided into 4 groups: A, B, C, and D. A is my group, with John and Lisa Hanner, Kevin, Bill, Robert, and Dean.

So groups A and B went to S. Baptist Church, while C and D went to St. Paul’s in S. (we’ll switch next Sunday). It was a nice little service. There were about 150 people, with LOTS of kids. P said that it is one of the largest churches in S. (usually they get 300, he said.)

Then all 4 groups headed off to London to see Hyde Park, and specifically Speaker’s Corner (or is it Speakers’ Corner?), where anyone can climb a box or, in today’s case, little step ladders, and speak about whatever you want. Evidently, the rules are: no amplification, no touching, and no speaking against the Queen. For the no touching, it’s more that you can’t physically assault the speaker, or hecklers, I believe. Because, boy do they heckle and argue and yell! There were several Muslim speakers and lots of people in the crowd who were well-versed in pro-Islamic/anti-Christian rhetoric. Just as there was a group we joined in a pro-Christian training at a nearby church prior to our actually going into the park.

We were all very surprised at how vehement the Islamic hecklers were, and how their logic was/is completely different from our logic and how we view Scripture, how we interpret scripture and what things are important to them versus us, as Christians. For them, every little detail is so crucial, whereas, our view of scripture is to take it as a whole, and we in the LEAD MDiv have been encouraged and allowed to hold so many things in tension.

It’s a very different approach.

It was crowded and packed right around each of the speakers, but then the park was wide open and very lovely.

After that, about 16 of us headed to St. Mary’s, not far from Hyde Park, to catch a “younger” service (that’s one of the adjectives that church used to describe the service, not our word). We happened upon it just perfectly, since that night, the Bishop of London was speaking at the service. Evidently St. Mary’s is Anglican, but also Charismatic. There were lots of songs that we knew. :) It was praise and worship style, and I talked to the guy sitting next to me. He said that some nights they just move all the chairs and go full out ministry time. YES! Haha! We might return on Wednesday to check out an “open Jam Session” they hold. We’ll see.

We headed back after that, to an early night. But we all know me, right? I can’t go to bed early! So me and 3 other classmates headed over to a pub for coffee and dessert (most everything else closes by 6pm!!!). We were able to drag it out to at least 11-11:30pm, and then I got back to the room to stay up till 2am. I am back in my groove, people!!!

I always sleep well. Always. London does not disappoint thus far, either. Even though the sun is up much earlier here (I never realized that it was so far further up north), I’m still sleeping well. Praise God!

Monday

So today, we split up again, and my group stayed in S.. We got a tour by P around the little city, just showing us the diversity that has moved in here. There are lots of Muslims, Hindi and Sikhs there, from all over, and the neighborhood reflects that: in their stores, in their advertisements and everything. Even some of their graffiti is Islamic propaganda. After our little tour, we headed back to their house, where we were joined for lunch by a moderate Muslim, well-known in the community, a friend of P&L. He has lived in England for over 20-30 years and is glad to be at least friendly with people of many different faiths. We asked him all sorts of questions, and he answered them, both sides as open as both could be, I guess. We noted lots of things, like how he was very diplomatic and moderate until we touched the realm of politics, namely the Middle East. Touchy touchy! But it was a good and interesting time for all of us.

Afterward, P&L shared their testimony and I have to say, it was very moving. Man, I kept tearing up, but it was so evident of God’s faithfulness!

After even that, I braved it out to London, solo (don’t worry mom!) to meet up with Kristin!! Woohoo! We met at Covent Gardens, had dinner and now she’s showed me her apartment and is letting me use her internet! (Thanks, Kristin!).

I’ll write more on that later, but I gotta go post it before it gets too late! I’m fine, Mom!

Please pray for the people we've met, and the city of S.
Pray for our team, that we would still get along!

Or, because nothing can be normal at the pastry shop

Well, folks, let me take a break from my uplifting and potentially (or not) encouraging and hopeful tales of missions prep to vent a little bit.

Many of y’all have heard my fabulous and endearing tales of the pastry shop. Of the petty and strange goings ons. Of the tall tales, the bickering, the backbiting, and the lack of “thinking it through”. And then, the all out, just “crazy”.

For those of you who don’t know, who haven’t heard, that’s what it’s like where I work, making pastry, sometimes, but mostly just human resources management. We seem to get all kinds of people there. People with lots of personal drama, people who bring their drama into the shop.

But then, then there are the people for whom, to whom, you can’t even think of a reasonable response. There are times, when “dumbfounded” doesn’t even begin to describe a response. The only questions I am often left asking myself are, “Am I taking crazy pills? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!” or “Am I on crack? Are you on crack?”

Today was a good one, I have to say. We have been getting busier at the shop and we’ve recently hired several new people. Actually, all women, but not by design. We hired two swell ones, who are working out great. But the third, M, who started yesterday, I have to say that I have reservations about. She’s older than our usual hires, but that doesn’t have to mean anything. The problem is that she is slow. S-L-O-W. She moves slowly, is easily distracted, and seems to need a lot of instruction. Very nice, but it’s frustrating to have to hustle, knowing that she can’t, and will in fact probably slow everyone else down.

So today, M got locked in the fridge.

The only problem is, the fridge doesn’t lock.

To get out, all you have to do is push on the door. There isn’t even a latch or a handle on the inside. Because you don’t need one.

And she got locked in.

I’m standing at the table near the fridge, and M takes something into the fridge. I watch her go in, and then I hear a knock. I look around, thinking “did I hear something?” I wait, looking around, seeing if anyone else heard. And then I hear it again, and I begin to panic. Because now, I’m thinking she’s slipped and fallen in the fridge, and knocking for help. So I run over, and open the door. And there she is, three inches from my face, looking for the way out of the fridge, saying that she couldn’t find the latch to get out. It took everything in me not to lose it right there.

Crazy pills.

In other news, thanks for all y’all’s prayers. Newest request: I had a scratchy throat last night. Please pray that I don’t get sick, and that I stay healthy on my trip! Thanks, everyone, and Bless y’all!

Well folks, I’m plugging away at things. I am still behind in some of my classwork, but it will all get done. If they give me enough time! :P

I leave for London in 10 days, and I’ve almost gotten myself close to the point of getting ready. Funny, huh? Close, but not quite ready. :P Really, it’s more that I still have a lot of things to do before I can even concentrate on trip-prep. We (my cohort) have taken a couple of classes in prep for missions, but it has been frustrating in that the class has been essentially a rehash of the cross-culture-ministry classes. But one of my assignments for that class is to write a quick paper about our expectations of the trip. So, perhaps, I’ll share it here for y’all! J

In many ways, I’m approaching this trip as I approach most trips: I don’t often set up many expectations. I acknowledge that part of that is a deep-seated (or is it deep-seeded?) aversion to disappointment. But to a greater degree, it is rooted in an air of expectation. That is, I’m willing and open to whatever happens.

As free and easy-going as I can be, I have an acutely tight need to control. I often find myself wanting to change this or tweak that. I think I get that from my dad. (Mom, I know you’re gonna read this, so don’t rat me out to Dad. Unless, of course you think he’ll laugh.) And while I chafed under his control as a kid/teen, I find myself doing the same thing. I continually struggle with the tension of not being controlling, and yet doing things as best as I can. I can’t always tell where one ends and the other begins.

So, that puts me back at openness. Considering that I am responsible for next-to-nothing on this trip (details, logistics, etc), I can control very little. So I’m willing to go with whatever God wants to do.

I am expecting that we will learn a lot about what it means for a missions team to operate, function, grow and learn. I am expecting to learn ways to build meaningful relationships with a people group very different from me. I know very few Muslims, and neither have I interacted with many on a deeper level. I’m not really sure how much we will get to interact with the Muslims in London. For a people group that are relational, I can’t see a group of 25-30 American Christians sitting in on an “afternoon tea” with a missionary wife and a Muslim woman. I don’t know how much good we would do, anyways, with only 10 short days.

I’m thinking that we will probably get a chance to interact more with Muslim-converts-to-Christianity. I would love to hear about how God worked in their lives, in their relationships with Christians, to bring them to Him. I want to hear what things in their mindsets and worldviews changed, for them to “see the Light” that is Jesus Christ. Don’t hear me saying that I’m looking for the “magic bullet” that will change all Muslims into Christians. No. Rather, I’m hoping to see if there is an overall pattern, a matrix of ideas, that will give me insight into their lives, their culture, and their concept of God.

We recently had a school retreat at which our speaker was/is an expert in Islam and the growth of Islam in the US. What I found so frustrating, was his seemingly mocking tone and attitude towards the beliefs of Muslims. I felt that the overarching message was, “Muslims believe this. Can you believe how stupid they are? Morons!” I will admit that I have had my own moments regarding Scientology, Mormonism, etc. But let me assert right here and now, that even as dismissive as I have been (Tom Cruise comments?), and as much as I disagree with them, that I still believe that they are people, just like me. Broken. Fallen. But valuable. Precious. There are points of contact. There are needs that they have that Christ can meet. That Christianity can meet.

And that is what I needed, wanted, to hear from our speaker at that retreat. And since I got none of that, I am expecting to learn some of that in London.

I have some very practical expectations. I expect that we, as a cohort, will get very frustrated with each other. (Any ideas on how soon others will get frustrated with me? How soon till they start asking me if I’ve taken my meds? I vote 2 days.) I’m thinking that I will have to control myself to keep from rolling my eyes at one or the other of us. I think we are going to need a lot of prayer to remain as good of friends as we already are. Our cohort, overall, really enjoys each other. I hope that we are capable of maintaining that. Even with the humming.

I am expecting to be surprised by London. Surprised at how God does things without me (tongue-in-cheek, I promise!). At how He dresses His Bride in England; at how he woos people to Him in a culture that is so similar and yet so drastically different.

So i've started a few blogs before, but with no real intent to post regularly. they were just random things.

But, at last it has become necessary. :) i am about to finish seminary, and my 2nd-to-last (is that penultimate?) class is a missions trip to London.

We leave Friday, 16 June, out of Newark, and we go as an entire cohort (and some of their spouses (yeah!)), for 12 days. By the grace of God, we've raised enough money as a team for our trip, and personally i've raised enough money to help cover my two-weeks-away-from-work (as wage, not salary, i get no paid leave from work).

In case you don't know this about me, i'm usually good with an initial push, but have a difficult time maintaining things (in any arena). So, what's that got to do with my missions trip and this blog?

well, i'd like to show my appreciation to all of y'all who have supported or are supporting me, whether with hugs-and-encouragement, PRAYER, financially, encouraging notes, or PRAYER, by keeping in touch with what is going on with my trip, and then beyond.

But so far, i've been pretty bad about keeping in touch with any of y'all since my support letters went out, and i've felt awful about it. :(

Soooooooo, starting now, i'll be blogging and posting and whatnot with updates and prayer requests, rather than sending out lots of emails (both in preparation for, during, and then after the trip). And on that note, I plan to use this after the trip to keep you all updated on my life.

So, please comment, or write me emails, or whatever. I'd LOOOOOOOVE to hear from you!

love,
kristi