Arriving

Today was tremendous… we left Atlanta last night a little after midnight (after a snafoo over Paul’s bag getting picked up by someone else at the security checkpoint!), but I don’t think either Adria or I got more than 4 hours sleep on the overnight flight, and I would be surprised if either of us had gotten as much as 2! Joe and Braelyn of course slept the whole way! But except for no sleep, the flight over went very well.

From Heathrow it was the Underground tube to King’s Cross for a train to Birmingham… or at least that’s what we thought! After becoming thoroughly turned around by a case of “how do we get there from here,” we backtracked another tube station and ended up catching our train (all 12 of us running to the VERY LAST CAR Home Alone style) with literally :33 seconds to spare. So you can see it was perfect.

Clint told us at our second team meeting the word of the trip is FLEXIBLE, and I think he kept his word with how the travel went! There were hitches along the way (one trip memory will be Adria getting stopped going through one Underground “turnstile” when the doors trapped her by the backpack! Poor little turtle looked completely taken by surprise!), but no real problems.

The train ride was smooth and actually much more comfortable than the plane, and then we 12, all with our backpacks and rolly carry-on luggage, clattered through Birmingham to get to our hotel. Birmingham: which appears different from London from the very first glance. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I expect I will be able to by the end of the week. It WAS the start of a Saturday night out in England’s second city, so navigating streets crowded with all different kinds of people, most of whom looking at us suspiciously as we crossed Black Sabbath Bridge and passed through the nightlife district to get to our hotel, didn’t seem that out of place. 

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, exhaustion caught up with me, but I couldn’t go to bed tonight without sharing the recap of the day here. We met our host for the week, Dan, representing one of several churches working together in a collective dedicated to serving and loving their B’ham neighbors. And we wrapped up the day at a raucous and delightful burger and shake spot that made us all think of home. Well, it was raucous once we arrived. 

We are actually settled in now, and I’d be stuck in Eastern Standard time feeling 5 hours behind the zone here except for the total lack of sleep last night. I’m still too disgruntled to acknowledge anything good about this tired, but I could see how that might come. Tomorrow morning we are starting off with devotionals and breakfast before splitting up to visit 2 of the collective churches. The Oikos group has planned an after church luncheon, and a refugee soccer tournament tomorrow afternoon (perfect for our HS Varsity soccer player, Raleigh), and I think we will finish the day up with a home cooked meal and prayer walking to really get a feel for the group’s mission field. 

I am praying for our family that we each encounter one person we feel a connection to in ministry each day, who is put in our paths by God for just what each of us has to offer, and for us to be able to focus on sharing God’s love with them. Would you pray that with me for our team, and for rest, unity, and stamina? For tonight, it’s time for prayers and sleep, so goodnight from Birmingham!