What a blast we had in England visiting my family and churches for 2 weeks after six long years away.  My sister Emily collected us from Heathrow airport.  I have only seen her with her kids one time in the last 6 years for only an hour during a flight stopover.  She lives only 40 minutes North of Heathrow and 20 minutes from the center of London on the train, so we were very well situated for our visiting and site seeing.

One thing I needed to do was renew mine and Hannah’s UK passports, so Emily had arranged for us to do that in one day during a trip to London.  So much easier than flying from Sudan to Kenya where they send the application to Pretoria, SA and it takes up to 6 weeks!!

One of the joys of serving on the mission field is the other missionaries we meet and the churches that want to hear about our work.  Both weekends while we were in UK we shared our ministry with churches. 

10 years ago when I was pregnant with Hannah we attended Mildenhall Baptist Church.  During that time we were only there a few months but the congregation loved on us and prayed over us making us feel so special.  We have so many fond memories of our time fellowshipping there.  Going back and seeing old friends was wonderful and refreshing.  Thank you especially to Jessica who hosted us and cared for the kids while I tried to get over the remnants of my malaria.  We thoroughly enjoyed her spoiling us with fabulous home cooked food.

I also got to visit a couple of friends I went to school with, one I’ve known since I was 12!  It was a bit odd not having my Mum there as she moved to Florida 5 years ago. 

My dear Auntie Pat was a fabulous ‘mum’ substitute though, hosting our family so we could catch up with family, cousins and celebrate my birthday.  We walked along Southend promenade, a favorite spot when we were kids, ate icecream and proper English Fish and Chips!!  My dad traveled from the The Isle of Man to spend a few days with us, it really was the perfect birthday for me after being gone for six years.  My kids got to try all my British favorite treats.

Believe it or not we also have a Legoland in UK, which we have in California.  My sister treated us to a family day of fun and Jed was elated as Lego is his favorite toy.  The weather cooperated, we had high 20’s for most of our time in UK, which was the warmest September since 1865!  It was great to have Hannah and Jed spend quality time with their cousins Dylan and Harry.

Another church that we shared with is a Calvary Chapel church plant called Servants Church.  It was planted by US missionaries John and Sarah Brown.  My cousins that live close to the church came and heard us share, it was a brilliant weekend catching up with family and friends.  We had a wonderful time fellowshipping and praying with Pastor John and Sarah and seeing how the Lord is leading their ministry.  They blessed us with a Bed and Breakfast to unwind and relax in, it was fabulous.  We hope to host a team from their church in Sudan next year.

We had the perfect end to a perfect trip by taking the kids to London for 2 days to experience some English culture.  First day we visited the museums, which were free and something our kids never do and eating dinner at the Rainforest Café in Piccadilly Circus!  What a treat.  The second day we went for more touristy stuff: Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (made me cry), walked to Westminster Abbey and saw where prince William and Princess Catherine got married (which really impressed Hannah), saw Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (the one thing on Jed’s to-do list) took a boat trip down the River Thames to the Tower of London, saw Tower bridge actually open and let a massive boat through (apparently it only happens about 5 times a month), visited a beefeater at the Tower of London, rode the underground and saw a west end musical for half price. It was brilliant – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Wizard of Oz starring Michael Crawford!!  The kids were mesmerized; it truly was a memorable and fantastic time.  We ended our day in London having dinner with friends from Kenya, David and Monica Hill. 

So that was our holiday in a nutshell. The hardest part was saying goodbye to daddy (Sabet) at the airport as he went to the USA for the prayer walk and we went back to Kenya to get Agum and return to Sudan.