woohoo! almost done with London trip posts! :)

Sunday, June 25th:
We attended church again, this time switching groups from the last week. St. Paul’s was a lovely Anglican church, with lovely people. That was where our MBU was held later that afternoon.

However, our MBU was strained. About 100-110 people came. The local Muslim politician did more than secure a Muslim speaker. He also invited a Sikh speaker, a Hindu speaker, and a Jewish speaker. And he didn’t warn anyone of this. Probably because he and P had discussed it all before and P had to get him to agree not to do this, so that it could remain a focused event. The vicar of St. Paul’s was offended at his rudeness in inviting other speakers and vocalized this during the questions time. The politician had also invited the local news to take pictures, etc. It felt more like a political maneuver than anything else.

So the Sikh, the Hindu, and the Jewish guys spoke for 5 minutes each, and then J gave the Christian side (20 minutes), and the imam gave the Muslim side (20 minutes). J did very well, and, to be honest, the imam was a little vague and not-so-helpful. I had a difficult time following all of it, if for no other reason than I was the KeyMaster. :) This meant that I had the key to the sanctuary where the Intercessory Team was praying before and during the event. It was to be kept locked in the event that there was trouble (minor vandalism, disruptions, etc.), which had happened at MBU’s before, whether held at churches or mosques, I think. So I was also the runner, going back and forth from the meeting to the pray-ers, to keep them abreast of things. This allowed them to fine-tune their prayers, covering J as he spoke, praying for peace in the midst of the switch-ups by the politician, and for fruitful conversations after the speakers were done. Kind of fun for me.

It also didn’t help that the politician guy then opened the floor for questions, completely bypassing the “submit your questions in writing via a moderator” system that had been agreed upon. So, during Q&A, we got an upset vicar (rightfully, I think), another white Brit (probably Christian) who angrily called the politician rude to do this, a preaching Muslim man, and a political Muslim instigator. P and the politician acted as moderators, and it took a bit to get all those guys to settle down, and stick to questions about the topic. Finally, though they did, and the discussion was able to finish well.

A halal Asian meal was served and we all ate together.

Several of my classmates had great conversations with Muslims who had attended. As a woman, it was very difficult to find an opportunity to engage with people. There were very few women in attendance, especially from the Muslim side. I don’t know if it was because they were tending to families, or they were not interested in theological debates, or they did not feel welcome, or they feared repercussions, or whatever. I don’t know. So, as a woman, I did not feel comfortable approaching a table that had only men at it. To be clear, it was not that I personally felt uncomfortable. Rather, it was that I didn’t know how these Muslim men would receive such an action. Since my role there was not to provoke, but to seek understanding between the two cultures, I didn’t want to cause unnecessary tension for them.

So I sat with Gloria (my classmate), and talked with a Christian woman from the West Indies, who was very lovely. And that was it. We cleaned up and headed over to J&K’s house to debrief and unwind. We reflected on the MBU, and on our time in S and London. We gave feedback to the missionaries, on both the trip in London (great!) and the process leading up to it (poor, at best). We learned that the missionaries had sent all kinds of information for us prior to the trip, and we had received none of it (frustrating to hear that).

We shared things that we had learned, both intellectually and personally/spiritually. I was touched at how God had worked in several people’s lives over the course of the trip.

Frankly, I think I could live there and do ministry there. :) (a future, perhaps?) we’ll see. :)

Monday, June 26th:
This was to be our last proper day in England, and so we concentrated on things “English”. The pastor of the Baptist church we had attended gave a little talk on “what is an Englishman?”, namely talking about the change that is occurring in “British Identity”.

Then, we went to Windsor. We got our first rainy day of the trip, but even that wasn’t bad. We looked around, saw the castle (the day of?after? the Queen's official birthday) and shopped and bought our little souvenirs. We had a “proper” English meal, of all sorts of roasted meat (delicious) and Yorkshire pudding, and veggies and all that. Very good. All the missionaries were in attendance, and Ad spoke further on how God was showing him more and more about prayer. Again, Very Encouraging. Ad has such a clear and transparent heart for God and also for Muslims. And even though Ad sounded very “spiritual”, I didn’t feel like he was over-doing it, or being flighty, or anything. Very grounded, and yet very reliant on God and the Holy Spirit. Awesome! :)

Tuesday, June 27th:
We packed it all up and were out the door by 6am. Off to Heathrow for our flight home. Nowhere near as bumpy as on the flight over, I was again grateful for the aisle seat (thank you, Jesus!). I did move and sit with Chrissy for a while, packing in 3½ movies (Nanny McPhee, last 20 min of Brokeback (I figured that half would be safe), Rumor Has It, and Tristan & Isolde, snacking on crumpets and chocolate spread (like Nutella, only without the hazelnut flavor). We landed fine, and I was glad that Mr. Vare picked us up and I was able to nap both in his car, and in Brian and Chrissy’s on the way to their house. I napped even more at their house till they threw me out (“Uh, Kristi, it’s 7pm. We’ve unpacked. It’s time for you to go home.”), and made it home just fine.

in short, London was great! :)