ENGLAND….a piece of our heart has been left behind after visiting this beautiful country. Such history…ancient history…with castles, cathedrals & ruins amongst the rolling countryside makes us realize how young Canada truly is. During our 2 week stay, all 6 of our gracious hosts who have been to the Dominican on missions previously, not only provided a place to rest at the end of the day, but took the opportunity between our meetings & events to show us the very best gems in their corner of England.
John, Jon and Andy attended a professional football match (soccer game) on our first night in town and learned many new songs and words in the championship match between Luton and Wexford, a team from Wales. The next day, on a personalized walking tour of London with Jon & Debbie, we learned that all the major sites (Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Tower Bridge which the nursery rhyme is named after, the House of Parliament, the National Art Gallery, etc. etc.) were all located within one square mile and walking distance. High tea taken with Andy & Julie at the Luton Hoo, a small luxury hotel and former manor house was one of my favorite things to do. Scones with clotted cream and jam…our discussion centered on what really goes on first…the jam or the cream? Opinions were evenly split between the guys and the girls but when checking this important fact on the internet….the girls answer was correct……first jam and then cream. Unless you do as our friend Claire suggests…cream, jam and then more cream….mmm…..delicious. A town birthday party and a visit to the public high school in Bewdley raised almost 2,000 GBP of support for the Nest of Love School here in the Dominican Republic. Visiting the Roman bath museum in the town ironically called Bath, and the famous university towns of Cambridge and Oxford (birthplace of Alice in Wonderland), along with numerous abbeys, cathedrals were just a small portion of the history that we encountered and enjoyed very much. Historic steam trains, diesel trains, the tube (London underground), buses and planes…all modes of transportation were used in our travels and we thank God granting us safety through them all.
One of our main focuses for this trip was to attend at the Mission Direct orientation day for all their volunteers who will be coming on various trips to the Dominican Republic this year. John spoke about the Dominican Republic and the mission of the Samaritan Foundation and the Lord blessed our time together. We enjoyed meeting over 70 volunteers who will soon be crossing the “pond” in ministry partnership. John also presented 2 cheques to Nigel at the Mission Direct office for donations given from the fundraising events held in Bewdley. Thank you Nigel & Susan, Tim & Pam, Jon & Debbie, Andy & Julie, David & Sheila & Esther for the generous hospitality you graciously showed us while visiting. We enjoyed the Indian curries so much we are now hooked on it.