Today, we’re marking two anniversaries. Some of you may know that today Kyla and I celebrate 18 years of marriage. We’re also celebrating 6 months in England. Six months ago today, we stumbled out of Gatwick airport exhausted, homeless, one of us jobless, with only 2 grumpy kids and 8 suitcases between us.

This past week, we’ve mostly been on leave from work and it’s been a fantastic week. We’ve relaxed, been to the cinema (Detective Pikachu), took a day trip with Kyla to London, and today, went to preach at another new church.

My love for the Tower of London, and really, for England in general, can be summed up by this innocuous sign at the entrance to the White Tower:

Circa 1080…..nearly 1000 years of recorded history has happened on this spot. Little things like loves and heartbreaks right up to events that literally shaped world history. All have taken place on this spot. We spent the entire afternoon at the Tower, just wandering around. We’ve been there before, but we’ll go back as often as we can, just to be in that place with so much history.

One of the more interesting tidbits regarding the Tower have to do with these ravens that wander around the grounds. There’s an old superstition that says “if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it”. Naturally, they keep the ravens wings mostly clipped now to keep them from flying too far.

Today, we went to Buckinghamshire, to a town called Marlow, to preach. It was another extremely friendly and welcoming church. We’re not sure how old the building was, but it was beautiful.

After church we walked down the High Street and had lunch at a little cafe. We then went into a church where Christians have been worshipping for 1,000 years. It also had the coolest pulpit I have ever seen.

Marlow sits on the Thames, upriver from London, and is a popular boating spot. We walked to the river then to a playground before heading home.

Now we get to wait to see what the next six months offers.

Sorry for the delay everyone. I promise to do a better job from now on. Let me try to catch you up. I think the last time I wrote, the in-laws were just leaving from their visit.

Not long after they left, our car started making a funny noise, so I took it to the shop for a servicing and to check that out. They called a few hours later telling me that they couldn’t tell me what was making that noise as there was too much wrong with the car. He also told me that he wouldn’t even try to give a quote to fix anything because the car “wasn’t worth putting any more money into”. Every car in the UK has to undergo an annual road-worthiness test. Our was due around that time and there was no way the car was going to pass. Although I knew that we’d have to get a newer car eventually, I’d hoped to make it a few more months. Fortunately, we stumbled into the perfect car for us. It’s a 2007 Ford Focus. I’d driven a Ford Fiesta in the states, so this was basically like driving its big brother…with the steering wheel on the wrong side. It only had 70k miles on it and was in immaculate condition for under £2000. Or course, we immediately had to add a TARDIS sticker.

The girls are continuing to do well at school. Lizzy just finished SATs, a standardized test that’s taken at the end of Year 6. She stressed about them for weeks beforehand, so we were glad to see the end of them. Molly continues to smile her way through each and every day.

Kyla continues to love her job. As I’ve mentioned before, nursing is very different here than in the states, but she’s thriving in the differences.

My job is fine. While I don’t see myself doing it forever, I’m at least connecting with people and doing what I can to be a good friend.

I’ve gotten to preach a couple of times. Once at London Street (our home church) and then today, for the first time, at another church. This one is in Tadley, a small town just north of Basingstoke. It’s shares our minister in a manner similar to what is call a “dual-charge” in the Methodist church. Except, instead of doing both churches every Sunday, she does 3 weeks at London Street and then one at Tadley each month. That leaves Tadley to fill the pulpit for the other three weeks. Our minister has asked me to fill one of those weeks each month.

It’s a small church, but the people were wonderful. The building itself dates to the 1600’s. I’m looking forward to having a continuing ministry with them.

On the way back, we stopped to eat at a pub called the Queen’s College Arms. It has an Oxford college theme (not really sure why), but the pub dates back to the late 1700’s.

Speaking of Oxford, I get to preach there! I’ve been invited to fill the pulpit at a number of churches throughout the synod. So many, in fact, that I had to start putting a limit on it each month to make sure that we still get time to worship at our home church.

I think that brings everyone up to date. We’re all on a bit of annual leave this week, so I’ll have a few pics to share later on in the week. In the meantime, I’ll close with a picture of Molly looking cute in her new school dress.

Well, we survived the Invasion of the in-laws. Just kidding, it was a great visit, one of the best we’ve ever had with them actually. I think it helped them to see that we’re not living in poverty and that we’re happy, settled, and adjusted.

Last blog post, I told you about our trip to Edinburgh. I really didn’t expect us to take any more sightseeing trips while they were in, but last Saturday we decided to go see Stonehenge. Now, Stonehenge is one of those places that seems to be much more appreciated by outsiders than it is by natives. Most of my coworkers response was along the lines of, “Well, I’ve driven BY Stonehenge and slowed down a bit to look at it.” Honestly, it wasn’t on my list of “must sees” either, but I’m glad we went. As we told the girls, it’s literally the oldest structure we’ll ever look at. Nearly 5,000 years ago a bunch of humans decided that, for some unknown reason, they were going to move these 25 ton rocks 150 miles because…..well, because they could. They were human and that’s the kind of stuff we do just because we can. It was a beautiful day, and it was easy to feel the weight of history while we just stood and looked at what those people did with the most rudimentary of tools. I’m sharing a bunch of pictures in a montage below (and you can click on them to view larger versions), but there’s one picture that I’m separating out. The image of a small child against the contrast of those enormous stones, 7 years-old looking at 5,000 years of history, taking a picture of ancient ruins with a modern smartphone. More than anything else, this picture summed up the feeling of the day for me.

Afterwards we stopped at Salisbury Cathedral, but didn’t stay long. We went to see the oldest surviving copy of the Magna Carta, but unfortunately the exhibit was closed for Easter Weekend. We still got a few fun pictures, though, and on the way back crossed over, and walked along, the Avon River, as in the Stratford-Upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born.

The next day was Easter and I heard the best Easter message I’ve ever heard. It was nearly perfect and the only reason I say “nearly” is because when I inevitably steal it, I’m going to have to give credit to Rev. Kay for coming up with it first. It was a message that captivated child and adult alike.

After that, the magic of Easter Weekend was over and it was back to work. I can’t really say that I love my job, or even really like it most days, but it’s a living and I definitely don’t hate it.

In even better news, though, my name has been distributed through the Synod as someone who can fill a pulpit, and apparently there’s definitely a need. I’ve got at least two weekends a month booked between now and the end of the year, and that was just the first week of my name being out there. Pretty soon I’m going to have to start turning them down so I can worship at our home church and not always be on the road on Sundays.

So, all in all, it’s been a pretty good few weeks.

This past week, we’ve tested the limits of our tiny house: the in-laws are visiting. Oh, we’ve had them stay with us before. We’ve had lots more people stay at one time, actually, but never in a house this small. Kerry and Lana are in Lizzy’s room, one of them on mattresses on the floor. Lizzy is in Molly’s bed and Molly is on a mattress on the floor in her own room. We can barely open and close the door with it there, but it fits.

Last Saturday we took a train in to Heathrow to “pick them up” and escort them back to Basingstoke. Lizzy and Molly were thrilled to see them come up the ramp from the Arrivals area. Molly spent the entire train ride back with her head resting on Pappaw’s belly.

On Sunday we took them to church with us and showed them a little bit of town, but mostly let them rest up from the trip. On Monday, while I worked, Kyla and the girls took Kerry and Lana into London for some sightseeing. I have to say that I’m really proud that our girls, while certainly don’t know their way around London, are familiar enough to know how to use the tube and buses, and can help get around the city. At 11 years old, I knew my way around Boonville.

Wednesday was the trip I’d been waiting for: Edinburgh, Scotland. We took the train up, took 4 hours from London, but was a relatively easy journey. Edinburgh is gorgeous. The city is built around Castle Rock, the remains of a volcano upon which sits Edinburgh Castle. I don’t think it’s officially a mountain, but to call it a hill is definitely a disservice. From the castle at the top, you can see for miles around, land and sea.

We arrived late afternoon on Wednesday and just wandered a little before getting supper and going back to the AirBNB.

Thursday morning we got up to explore the castle. We meandered there, cutting through Princes Street Garden and letting the girls play a little.

We then went to St. Giles Cathedral, the birthplace of Protestantism in Scotland. Not as grand as Westminster or Winchester, but still beautiful. (For my URC and Presbyterian friends, notice the statue of John Knox, who literally stole the church from the Catholics and preached there.)

Then we walked up the hill to the Castle. As I said, absolutely gorgeous views for miles around. You can see immediately why it was so important to the Scots and English through the centuries. One of the pictures I’ve included below is a panorama. If you can, look at it on a computer screen to get the full effect.

We flew home, which was cheaper and quicker then the train, although a bit of a pain due to security. Friday was for recuperation and today was doing a bit of shopping at top of town in Basingstoke. We’ve had a good visit with family, but there’s also 10 more days to go. 🙂

Yesterday I drove out of Basingstoke for the first time. That may sound dumb, but it was actually borderline terrifying. Worth it, though. We drove up to Reading, about 40 minutes away, to have lunch with a friend from my work. We went to what they call a “carvery”. It kind of looks like a buffet, where they will slice you fresh meat (turkey, roast, pork, or ham). You then get to dish up your own vegetables, which is all you can eat. The food is fantastic, as was the company. After lunch, we went to a park there in town where the girls could play with my friend’s daughter, who is the same age as Molly. We had a great time getting to know some great people.

We then went back to our church in Basingstoke for “Messy Church”, a kind of craft time for the kids, followed by a short kid-friendly service, then a meal.

Today, I GOT TO PREACH! It wasn’t for a great reason, as I was filling in for our pastor whose mother-in-law is ill, but I have to admit that I loved every minute of it. Before we left the states, I thought that I was ready for a break from ministry. I was feeling burnt out and tired. I even questioned whether that’s what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. The last few months have taught me that it is. Ministry is still where I belong, what I was made for. I can’t wait to preach again.

One of, if not THE most frequently asked question I get from over here is “Why?” Why did we move to England? Why Basingstoke, in southern England? When we tell them that we’ve always wanted to live in England, they get this look like you’d have to be out of your mind to want to live here. And I suppose part of that is the idea that everyone harbours that their home town/country/region is boring and that no one with any sense would voluntarily move there. But for us, it really comes down to one thing.

Nearly everything we’ve ever loved…..the songs, the history, the culture, the TV…they’ve all come from this ridiculous little isle that’s had such a disproportionate effect on the world. From James Bond to Austin Powers, Monty Python to Harry Potter, The Beatles to Queen, Highlander to just the history of the place. So much of what has influened and entertained us has started right here.

In being here, you experience things that you just can’t imagine watching it on tv. As we visited London last weekend, we went to the Museum of London, which talked about the fact that the city has been continuiously inhabited for over 2000 years. As we walked through St. Pancras square, I couldn’t help but imagine who else had walked there. Henry VIII? John Lennon? Arthur Conan Doyle? The weight of the history can practically be felt.

These are the things I love about this country and why we’re here.

The past week has been pretty uneventful. At work, even though I’ve techincally been promoted, I’ve still been doing the old customer contact job. It’s been at my new pay rate, so at least that’s somthing, but I still really don’t like it. New duties start Monday and I’m hoping that it’s a bit more my speed. Kyla had her first night shift, which she didn’t know she’d have to do until a few weeks ago. She survived and I got the whole bed to myself. The girls are plugging along at school and seem to be enjoying it.

Today, though, we did a bit of celebration for Lizzy’s birthday. It’s actually next Sunday, the 10th, but Kyla works next Saturday so we decided to give Lizzy a treat today. One of the things she’s been wanting to do since we got in country was go to King’s Cross Station to see Platform 9 3/4. They’ve got a Harry Potter store there that is simply amazing.

King’s Cross, get it?

First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a store where people line up to get inside, but it’s that popular. We waited in a line about 10 minutes just to get the privilege of buying stuff. I will admit, though, it’s pretty cool. We went when we were over on holiday a couple years ago, but it’s even better to see it though the eyes of the girls. They were wide eyed at every display table. We saw magic flying snitches. Olivander’s wall of wands, from which Lizzy got herself a Luna wand, and all kinds of other stuff we didn’t even know we needed.

I won’t say how much money we spent, but Lizzy got a wand and a pair of Luna’s signature glasses, while Molly got a stuffed Hedwig, which she promptly renamed “Snow”.

After that we walked around the St. Pancras area for a bit and found a place advertising “California burritos”. It was basically a Qdoba or Chipotles, but oh, my stars and garters, did it hit the spot. I’m still wanting a Los Bravos style burrito, but this definitely helped scratch the itch a bit.

Outside of King’s Cross. It’s a giant bird cage with a swing in in. No, I don’t know why.

After that we took the underground to go see the Museum of London. As we were approaching the building, I realized we were on Aldersgate Street, the street where John Wesley had his “heart warming experience” that began the Methodist movement. After a detour of trying to find the place, we stumbled upon it, right outside the Museum. I’ll admit that I got a little emotional standing in that spot, both realizing what happened there and how it played such a huge part in my family’s history, and bookending that with what happened in St. Louis this past week. Although I saw the writing on the wall a few years ago when I left the Methodist Church, I still got choked up thinking about how much good it’s done, and how many people it hurt at General Conference.

The actual spot of John Wesley’s heartwarming experience.

Not the actual spot, but an older memorial nearby.

A TARDIS with a really small door.

St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The muesum was good, but we were feeling a bit tired by the time we got through. We caught a bus back to Waterloo Station and headed for home.

I’m looking forward to church in the morning. A chance to worship and refresh sounds great. However, I’m hurting and praying for all my UMC clergy friends that are facing tough services tomorrow. While I beleive that General Conference 2019 marked the beginnign of the end for the United Methodist Church as I’ve known it, I hope that something better comes out of it. Whether it’s a new denomination or just an influx of progressive Christians into the UCC or Presbyterians, or whatever, I pray that too much damage has NOT been done to American Christianity this week.

Ah well, I’ve been sitting at the pub enjoying a Guiness while I wrote this and apparently it made me a bit maudlin. Enough of that. Next Saturday, while Kyla’s at work, the girls and I get to go to a Skittles Evening at church, which apparently does not involve rainbow colored candy. Unless something interesting happens this week, my next post will tell you all about it.

-Adam

On Sunday, we decided to explore an area of Basingstoke that we’d just heard of. A friend of mine sent me a video about a famous cemetery here in town and the ruins that were on the site. It was even more interesting than we thought.

There are two church ruins on the site, one dating from the 13th century, the second started on a charter by Henry VIII. There was a school there, and a few years later in 1674, students walking through the graveyard heard about a noise from a grave where a woman had been buried alive.

It’s a beautiful site to walk around on.

In other news, I was promoted at work today. I’ve accepted a position in administration. It will be a lot more reports and such, but no more calling customers all day! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Not a lot exciting going on right now. Kyla and the girls have completely settled in to job and school. I…am starting to settle.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve taken a temp position at Hemmersbach, a global IT company. Basically we fulfill the on site tech support and repairs for a couple of large computer manufacturers (who must remain nameless). My job right now is to call the day before an engineer will visit and confirm the appointment. It’s either mindless and boring, or you’re getting griped at by people.

I’ll be more honest here than I have been so far: I had a harder time finding a job than I thought I would. I like to pretend it’s because I’m overqualified, but I think it has more to do with the fact that nobody really knows what to do with me. I knew that the UK wasn’t nearly as religious as the US, but I’m shocked by the number of people who don’t know what a pastor/minister/vicar is. Even those that do don’t have the slightest idea what the job entails. My current position is entry-level and could be done by anyone with a high school education that can be friendly on the phone. Three other temps were hired at the same time, and they were just sent straight from the agency without interview. I had to go have a meeting with the head of administration. He flat-out said that they didn’t understand my resume and needed to make sure I could hold a conversation.

I admit that I’ve been more than a little depressed and discouraged. That’s starting to get better. After the first week, they offered me a permanent position as a dispatcher, but I had to turn it down. The hours I would have to work were impossible for our childcare restrictions. Plus, it was actually for less pay than I’m getting as a temp and involved a LOT more stress and responsibility. It would have given me some job security, but my temp position will still be needed for quite a while, so I just had to pass.

However, since then I’ve had two different team leaders and managers unofficially approach me asking if I’d be interested in working for them. Both said the positions would fit into my existing work hours. So, while I can’t say yet whether I’m happy at the company, I certainly feel welcomed and wanted.

I’ve also made an appointment with the synod chair of the United Reformed Church in our area. I don’t know what the process will look like, how long it will take, or if there will be any ministry positions in the area when I’m done, but at least I’ll be beginning the process. I don’t know if Hemmersbach will “replace” ministry for me, but at least I’ll know that it’s my decision and not that I’m “defaulting” into one because I failed at the other.

The only other news in the area was the snow we got last weekend. It was about 4-6 inches, depending on where you were, but even that shuts this town down. Not exaggerating. Traffic was backed up for hours getting out of the business parks and on the ring road around the city. Eventually people were just abandoning their cars on the side of the road and walking home. Hundreds of cars around the city. It was like something out of a disaster movie.  I was fortunate enough that I got off early and got home before it got too bad. Kyla and the girls were out shopping when the buses were cancelled. Fortunately, it wasn’t a long walk home. Molly wanted to play in it, so here’s a couple of pics taken in our back garden.

Hope everything is going well at home. I’ll update again soon….ish.

This week brought a few job interviews for me. The first was at Sharp’s, a company that builds custom wardrobes and closets (yes, this is apparently a genuine need). Another was for a bank teller. Finally, I interviewed for an IT company where I’d be fielding tech support calls and routing them to the people who can actually fix it. I was offered that job and start Monday. I’ll probably get fired for it, but I’ll hate myself forever if I don’t answer at least one call with:

It’s not the most interesting job I can think of, but it works for now. Both the United Reformed Church and the Methodist Church of Great Britain have told me to talk to them when I’m ready to go back into ministry. I’ve considered it, but really felt burnt out the past few years. If I go back into the pulpit, I want it to be because I want to, not because I feel like I have to in order to feed my family. This job at least gives me the time to work through that.

Anyway, on to happier stuff. After last week’s trip to Windsor Castle, we decided to stay a little closer to home, so we went to the seat of Hampshire (our county), Winchester. It’s an OLD city, even in a country where everything is old. It was the first capital, before London, dating back to 519 A.D. and kept that status until William the Conqueror in 1066.

View coming out of the train station.

Hey, they have Baptists here, too!

We got there right at lunchtime and found a great pub called The Old Gaolhouse, which is exactly what it says. The pub part was apparently the warden’s lodgings. It was full of pictures and info of the city’s history. We got to sit by a rather interesting character. The girls didn’t like him:

We also found a “United Church” which is a joint church of the United Reformed and the Methodists. This would obviously be perfect for me.

The High Street of Winchester is gorgeous. Full of people, shops, musicians, pubs, and pop-up stores (tents).

Finally, we headed for our original destination: the Cathedral of Winchester. This place is huge and fascinating. The current building dates back to 1079, but different parts were renovated and replaced in different stages. So, the nave is Gothic, the north aisle is older, dating back to the Norman Conquest, the east end is Romanesque, etc. It’s like walking back in time just as you progress through the different parts of the building. The scale of the place is what really strikes you, though. I recorded a video from the very west end (I was trying to whisper, so you might need to adjust the volume to hear what I’m saying.)

We took a guided tour, which told us about the history and the architecture. I should have taken more pictures, but I was honestly just too fascinated with what I was seeing to remember. Check out what I did take below and I’ll try to post in a couple of days and let you know how the job is going.