Antonye calls his bank in the U.S. after they freeze his account for unusual and suspicious activity. Somebody was using his card in London, England, of all places. It didn't help that he told them what he was doing before he did it. You can't beat a modern bank for service.
For two weeks I have been helping Antonye Holyde, his family, and his team get established in Hampstead, a northern part of London. They are wanting to start a church in Camden Town, a little south of Hampstead. Antonye is married to Suzanne, with daughters Chanté and Ruthie. Team members are David and Trista, Luke and Frieda, Landon, and Toby.
The plan was to use a van as much as we could for the day, to get household furniture and appliances. Since no one had a car or could drive, for that matter, somebody needed to be the chauffeur. That was me.
I rented a Ford Transit and packed all the luggage that Antonye had parked in my garage. It was about 12 pieces, along with the four instruments and other luggage brought on his previous trip to London, plus a couple of mattresses we were giving them, some bedding, pillows and an air mattress. I was thankful I was given a GPS (they call them satnavs here) as I drove it into Camden Town.
When I met Antonye, I also picked up his team's luggage. It packed out the Transit from front to back, top to bottom. We drove to Hampstead.
Hampstead is one of those classic London neighborhoods that is row housing and no off-street parking, so the streets are always parked with cars, and it is resident-only parking. There is no place for visitors to park. Parking police walk slowly but surely. I parked in a 20-minute loading zone. We ran the stuff across a busy street, where others took the bags down the street to the house. Then I found a spot to park about half a mile away, and came back for lunch at a pub on the corner of the street.
After lunch we went to see a used furniture place to find a desk for Antonye. After that it was Ikea, to buy mattresses, bed frames, shelves, chairs, and whatever else could be obtained. Team members also trained there and shopped. We loaded it all in the van, filling it about two-thirds.
We were the last ones out of Ikea. It must have been about 10 p.m. We got back to Hampstead and unloaded the furniture. I got home about midnight. I had missed my prayer meeting that night.
I rented the van again this Wednesday and did it all again. Ikea first, because it's fun the first visit, okay the second, a migraine the third, and deadly the fourth. Then over to an electronics store to get a refrigerator, a microwave, and a toaster. Then we went to Highbury to check out a desk for Antonye. It was not quite what he was looking for, so we went back to Hampstead and unloaded the van. I drove home in time to get a little dinner and teach my Bible study.
What I can't describe is how slow all this is, because we have to get around through London traffic. A lot of driving here is actually crawling slowly. The only ones who go fast are police and ambulances, and even then they get bogged down regularly. We did have the time for great fellowship.
Even after two trips the house is barely furnished. We could probably do it again next week. It's challenging getting set up from scratch in London. But it means getting a new church started, and that's what I enjoy.
