Citizenship

On March 2 Joanie and I attended our citizenship ceremony to be sworn in as British citizens. The girls had already received theirs. The government does not require minors to take an oath.

We waited some time at the registrar’s office in Richmond until the start of the ceremony. Then we were ushered into a room large enough for us to sit in the front and guests to sit behind us. The official doing the ceremony had those taking the oath swear, then those who didn’t take an oath made an affirmation. The difference was the oath was sworn by Almighty God, the affirmation was a solemn declaration.

During the meeting we met an Iranian man who was a former journalist, who had to flee the country. We wanted to stay in touch with him but in the confusion after the ceremony he left and we couldn’t find him. We know that he lives where we used to live. So we will try to see if we can find him if we ever get some time. I got off a quick pic (above) so we could recognize him again.

Dave Visits

I’m still trying to catch up with life since returning to England in February. I gave up trying to post the whole US trip here. I put the pics with a little commentary on my Facebook page. So let's move on with some February news.

One of the things that made it easier to return was knowing my brother Dave was going to visit us soon after. He had a trade show in Barcelona to attend. After that his youngest son Matthew would be coming and they would go somewhere special. Normandy was the front runner. I was jealous of France. I wished they could stay with us.

Careful what you wish for, they say. Dave came back from Barcelona to say that his wallet was stolen while at the trade show. He could get his credit cards replaced, and Matthew ended up bringing them with him. But Dave couldn’t get his driver’s license replaced without personally being there. So he couldn’t rent a car to drive to France.

So Matthew was limited to seeing London. And our family went with them, seeing places we never go because we live here. Like Abbey Road, in the picture above. We're standing in front of the recording studio. The actual crosswalk the Beatles walked across is so ordinary you would miss it if you didn’t know what it was. But we walked across it, along with dozens of people from all over the world, while local traffic sighed or cursed at the never-ending obstruction.

When I took Dave and Matt to Heathrow to see them off, I felt desolate. It was hard to see them go. But he gets to travel more often. He’ll be coming in May for another visit. I’m looking forward to taking him to a good curry place.

Trip to US part 3 Happy Birthday, Ma

When we got in to Seattle, we went to my parents' house. Christmas is also my mother's birthday. Two years ago we tried to arrive early enough to actually see Mom on Christmas day. This time we made it. 

She was in good spirits and so-so health. During the January visit she was in the hospital three times. But she keeps plugging. She is fragile on one hand and resilient on the other.

She is the best teacher I ever had. She taught me all the books of the Bible and the names of the bones in the body. Believe me when I say I still keep learning from her.

Trip to US part 2 Some Place Ya Got Here

Bellevue is the city of my youth. I can tell you it never looked like this when I was a kid. Our first time to drive through town revealed several buildings serving Microsoft and a Neiman Marcus next to the Louis Vuitton store. "Upscale" is kind of a weak word for it. Not that we shopped there.

But we did get some things while we were in town. Part of a missionary visit is shopping for things that you can get for way less in this country: clothes, home school books, hard-to-get items, and so on. While shopping you have to remember it all has to fit into a suitcase with tight airline weight restrictions.

Trip to US part 1 Snow Does Not Stop Us.

We're going to catch up on things in December, January, February, and also March. The week before we left for Seattle in December we had a snow that shut down Heathrow Airport for several days. There was some question of whether we would fly, but December 25 came, and we flew on schedule. We were even upgraded to business class, a nice Christmas present from British Airlines.

Here a lone passenger waits for the train to leave in the gathering snow.

Nothing Visible Happening

One reason I haven't written is there is nothing visible going on.

I have been marriage counseling, visiting terminal patients, and teaching guys to read, pray, study, meditate on Friday and Sunday nights. I'm getting people ready to take the church while I'm gone in January. It's just nothing you can take a picture of and say, "See? This is what's happening."

Just me at the local Tesco supermarket having my quiet time before the café opens. I read, I meditate, I pray. It's an isolated place. There's nothing to distract me. When the café opens I go home and work. I wrote on Facebook the other day, "All I have to do to really do my work is die to myself." This is where it happens.

I wish there were more things happening. They will happen, because I am praying and thanking God and asking for favors. 

Andrea

Joanie and I met Andrea Kölsch in 1989 as we were doing outreach with Robert Case Band to help start Calvary Chapel Siegen. She was a student in a high school. When we moved to Germany in 1990 we found she was part of the Bible study group. When I started teaching the midweek study, she was one of nine young people listening.

She was musical even then, and was already playing the guitar. As we tried to develop the music ministry at Siegen we got her into translating English worship songs into German and writing new songs.

Now she has gone full time into ministry, leading worship on a circuit in German Calvaries that don't have a full time worship leader, playing tours in Germany and the US, working on raising up new leaders, writing songs and making CDs.

She visited London and stayed with us as she played in the Calvaries in our area. We were discussing having her stay with us longer, but we knew our landlord wouldn't go for that. He only wants our family to be in the house, no one else.

But I figured that was no problem. We could always adopt Andrea as our daughter. Not so far fetched. We are already family.