When I last wrote on February 23rd, I left with you with these words:

“In the meantime, the coming Spring means more traveling and exploring the country, so look for more frequent blog posts in the months to come!”

Well….that aged like milk, huh?

The COVID pandemic and resulting lockdown have naturally prevented us from traveling and sightseeing like we planned. Since mid-March, we have largely been staying at home, with just daily walks around the neighborhood. The girls have been attending school through e-learning, Molly having three 1-hour Zoom sessions with her teacher a day, Lizzy primarily through homework and assignments. Kyla has been going to work, naturally, while I’ve been mostly working from home. Now that I’m working for the church, I do slip up there a couple of times a week. Shhh….don’t tell Boris.

Finally, this past week, we were given permission to “drive to exercise”, which frees us up to a little more exploring. Naturally, busy tourist sites are still closed, but there’s a wealth of small “unmanned” sites throughout this country that have historical significance, but are mostly just used by the locals as walking paths.

For instance, today we discovered a place called, variously, Odiham Castle or King John’s Castle. It was built by King John (yes, the Robin Hood villain) around 1207. Apparently it was where he was staying when was forced to leave for Runnymeade to sign the Magna Carta. Only a 10 minute drive from our house.

Hi, all. Long time, no see. Contrary to what the last few months would indicate, I have not abandoned this blog. There really just hasn’t been that much to report. Winter has brought a lot of colds, working during the week, and staying home on weekends.

We have had a few significant “wins” this winter, though. Primarily, Kyla and I are now fully licensed drivers in the U.K.! The law here allows for up to one year of driving on an international license, but after that you have to take both the theory and practical exams to get your U.K. license. We took the theory exam back in December, after a few months of studying hard. We both passed it easily, but it was the practical exam that had us worried. We were advised to take driving lessons, even though we’ve been driving for 20+ years. We signed up for an instructor to give us a few sessions with constructive criticism. We then had to drive with an evaluator who, thankfully, passed us both.

In other news, back at the end of December I achieved recognition of my credentials in the United Reformed Church. This month, I started the search process. In the URC, this is kind of a weird hybrid between the appointment system in the Methodist Church and the call system used by congregational churches.

At the beginning of February, I met with two of the moderators (Methodist friends, think “District Superintendent”) of the URC. The moderator of the area we live in already had spoken to me at length, so they made sure there were at least 3 people who “knew” me would be able to speak on my behalf. They learned all about my theological leanings, my preferred worship style, what kind of church I was looking for, etc. Then, at their monthly meeting, they looked at the churches that are currently searching for ministers and sent me four profiles to look at. I then chose one that I want to talk to, and politely said “no, thank you” to the rest. Whenever I give the “go-ahead”, they will then send my Profile to the church and see if they want to have an introduction. If so, we’ll set up a weekend for us to visit the church, see their programs and facilities, and Preach With a View, basically preaching their Sunday service, but as an audition. The church will then vote, I’ll hear the exact results of the vote, and if both parties are happy, the match is made.

My situation has been complicated a bit by the fact that we’ve been going around for my fill-in duties. We’ve had a few churches ask me to consider them, but, for various reasons, I wasn’t able to receive the profile of one of them in February, so I’m waiting until after the March meeting (first week of the month) and then I’ll make proceed from there. My hope would be to be in a church this Fall or Winter.

In the meantime, the coming Spring means more traveling and exploring the country, so look for more frequent blog posts in the months to come!

This past Saturday, we wanted to do something “Christmas-y”. We looked around and found out that Reading does quite a few cool things. We took a train up there for Molly to write a letter and deliver it to Santa, to eat roasted chestnuts (a first for me), and to eat at the only Chick-Fil-A in England. 

Not, you know, the university, but I attended church in Oxford.

I have to admit that this was one of the Sunday services I was really looking forward to. No, it wasn’t at the University. I didn’t preach in Christ’s Church Cathedral or anything like that, but for a guy from Boonville, Indiana to be able to say “I preached at Oxford.”…that’s pretty cool stuff. It at least sounds impressive.

And it was a great day. The United Reformed Church, called St. Columba’s (whom I admit I had to look up), is tucked into a little side street just off the High Street. For the Methodist nerds, it sits almost exactly halfway between Christ Church Oxford and Lincoln College Oxford, John Wesley’s two alma maters. The church is easy to miss on the outside, but very pretty on the inside. It’s a relatively newer church, having been built around World War I as a chapel for university students. At some point it was then spun off into it’s own church. I also got to fulfill a dream of preaching from an old-fashioned raised pulpit. It was only raised a few feet, but someday….

After church, we went to a pub that I’d been looking forward to for months. It’s called the Eagle and Child and it’s famous in literary circles. In the 1940’s and 50’s, a group of authors that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to frequent the pub for a weekly writers meeting. Early ideas that would become The Lord of the Rings would have been discussed here. The early draft of the The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was distributed to the authors in this pub.

I’ll admit that it was a little underwhelming. It was kind of a typical cramped, dark pub. We were shoved into a corner, despite booking months in advance. I’m still glad we went.

After lunch, we walked back down to Christ Church college. It was founded as a school at Oxford back in the 1500’s by Thomas Wolsey, Henry VII’s friend (you know, before he had him killed.) While famous for many reasons, it’s most recently known for being a filming location for Harry Potter.

The steps above lead into the Great Hall, a dining room that was used as the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies.

Unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed for services as it was the First Sunday of Advent, so I couldn’t see the place where John Wesley was ordained.

It was a bit of a cold and dreary day. We’ve been invited back to preach next summer, so we hope to see a bit more of the city and get some better pictures then.

So, December 2nd marked our one year anniversary of being expatriates. It was one year ago that we stumbled off the plane, exhausted, excited, and ignorant, ready for a new adventure. I thought this would be a good time to take an honest look back at what we’ve learned from the past year. So, get comfy, this might take a while….

Looking back, that first month was mostly one of blind panic. From the trip to Manchester for Kyla’s classes, the living in hotels and AirBnbs, finding a place to live, getting the kids signed up for school….I look back now and wonder where the strength came from. I’m exhausted just remembering it all. We’ve moved before, obviously, (being a minister means lots of practice at relocation), but we’ve never done so “blindly” like we did this time, without even the assurance of a roof over our heads. Kyla and I learned to lean on each other during that time as we really didn’t have anyone else to lean on.

Christmas was a bit lonely last year. I won’t lie about that. Thankfully it was around that time that we were truly finding our church home at London Street URC. So many of the people there made us feel welcomed and appreciated. I’ve received “worse” welcomes in some churches I’ve pastored, and this was simply them welcoming us as parishioners, not as a clergy family. Their love and support was truly a lifesaver over the holiday.

After Christmas, the girls started school. This was a dark time as I was still looking for a job and was feeling particularly useless. The bills were starting to pile up and Kyla’s income alone wasn’t going to be able to cover them. Thankfully a recruiting service in town managed to hook me up with my current employer by the end of January.

The next few months passed by in a bit of a blur as we settled into making a life here in England. We got to travel around the area, getting to know the town we live in, seeing stuff that we never dreamed of. We had our first visitors (Kyla’s parents) and our first Easter in the country.

Summer brought INCREDIBLY long days, a bit higher temperatures than what I was hoping for, and more visitors (my mom and aunt). We got to see Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

The Fall was about back to school and a new job for me as a Dispatcher. It brought a good friend to visit and good news about a promotion for Kyla.

As we come full circle to another Christmas, I’ve been given a glimpse of hope for ministry for myself (more on that when the details are in).

Overall, it’s been a year of extreme highs and lows. We’ve seen and experienced things I never would have dreamed we’d see. It’s also brought home how much I took for granted my friends and family.

Without getting too sappy, I’ll finish up with a few things I do miss about the States:

• Mexican food. Seriously, I’d trade Kyla for a burrito right now.
• Free parking lots.
• Fast, if expensive, internet access.
• More than 2 flavors of Pop Tarts.
• Honey Mustard salad dressing.
• Stores being open past 6pm.

This isn’t a food blog, but we had a unique experience today that I thought I’d share.

We’ve only been to a Chinese restaurant once since we’ve been in the country, and it was a fairly familiar experience: all you can eat buffet, decent food under heat lamps, you know the drill. Much like any place in America except more expensive and with a few unfamiliar dishes. Today, we decided to go back, but the place was closed for today “due to unforeseen circumstances”. Yikes. So, we decided to try another place just across the street.

We walked in and were informed that it was a Sunday buffet, but we’re looking around and not seeing any food at all. We were seated and handed menus and asked what we would like. “Well, the buffet….I thought that’s all you had today.” “Yes, but what would you like off the buffet?”

At this point, our American brains kind of broke and required rebooting. Turns out the way they do a buffet is the menu just turns into all you can eat of whatever you want. So, we ordered some vegetable spring rolls. I think the waitress then took some pity on us and tried to get us our money’s worth by talking me into trying the duck pancakes with hoisin sauce. They then proceeded to bring us most of a duck…for a starter. Kyla had some hot and sour soup, with the emphasis on “hot”, so spicy she couldn’t eat it.

We were then asked about our main dish. Again, we could pick whatever we wanted and they’d just fix it fresh and bring it to us. The girls got chicken with pineapple, Kyla got beef with vegetables, and I got beef with mushrooms along with a bowl of fried rice for the table. The portion sizes were a bit modest, but we could have asked for seconds, or even thirds.

It was a bit expensive (£14.95 a person, half price for Molly), but I think if we’d known what we were getting into, we’d have eaten a lot more. Even as it was we didn’t feel ripped off.

I don’t know if this kind of buffet is common over here or this place is completely unique, but it was definitely different for us, so I thought it was worth sharing.

Today Kyla and I got to see one of the places on her bucket list: Hampton Court Palace. This royal building has an interesting history. It was originally built in 1515 by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a friend and advisor to King Henry VIII. Wolsey was tasked with convincing the Pope to allow Henry to divorce his first wife. When Wolsey was unable to accomplish this, he quickly fell out of favor with Henry. In order to try to get back in the King’s good graces, Wolsey gave his new palace to the King.

Most of the palace today are the buildings that Wolsey “gifted” the king. More was added in the 1700’s under King George I. It has acres upon acres of beautiful gardens, ornately decorated rooms, and a ton of historic majesty. We spent most of the day just wandering.

 

Last Sunday was a big day for us. First of all, we joined our local church here in Basingstoke. They’ve been amazing to us since the first day we walked in and we’re extremely proud to be part of such an active, progressive congregation over here. While I am looking forward to getting back into ministry, in the meantime, I’m glad we’ve found such a great church home.

That afternoon, the church did it’s annual narrow boat trip. A narrow boat is a uniquely English thing, designed to navigate the canals of England. This particular trip was at the canal at Newbury. While the canals used to be important for commerce and travel, they’re now mostly recreational. We journeyed up the canal a couple of miles and got to enjoy the scenery. This isn’t something that people outside England are particularly familiar with, but definitely worth doing if you visit.

Right after we returned from Dublin, Lizzy started school. This year she goes to what’s called Secondary School, which runs from age 11 to 16. Fortunately most of her friends from Primary school are going to the same place, so she’s not “starting over” on friends like she was when we got here at the beginning of the year. She seems to be adjusting extremely well.

At the end of the week, Molly started Year 3 of Primary School. We were kind of worried how Molly would handle being at school for the first time “alone”, meaning with Lizzy not in the building. She was a little hesitant walking up to the door the first day, but otherwise she hasn’t mentioned it.

Being back in school has slowed us down a little in our adventures, but I still have a few more posts to share before I catch up.

One thing that takes some getting used to over here is the fact that you can visit other countries as often as some Americans visit other states. The last weekend of August, we visited Ireland (and yes, it is a separate country), specifically Dublin.

We flew out of Heathrow Airport on a Friday evening. The first thing we saw after going through airport security was an official Harry Potter Store. Lizzy was in love.

After supper in a surprisingly good airport pub, we took the short hop across the Irish Sea. Did you know there’s actually an Irish language?

We stayed in a nice Air B&B with a pretty cool view.

The next morning we set out to explore. First stop? Cheap souvenir shop, of course. As we wondered through the aisles, Molly had a wise observation: “They sure do like that St. Leprechaun Day over here.” She then proceeded to show me her “Leprechaun Dance”.

After that important stop was out of the way, we took a bus tour to Malahide Castle, just out side Dublin. The castle dates back to the 12th century and was occupied by the same family, the Talbots from 1185 to 1976.

After the castle, the bus took us up to a beautiful seaside town called Howth. We had lunch there and walked along the ocean.

Before turning in that night, we found a cool little pub where I could have my first Irish Guinness. I swear it tasted better there.

We had to take a midday flight back to London, but we spent our final morning at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is so Irish that even the organ bench is a keg of Guinness. It was a gorgeous building, and we got to spend some time in the gardens outside as well, watching people walk their dogs on a Sunday morning. A short flight and we’d gone from Ireland to back in a weekend. Can’t do that from southern Indiana