Solemn Summer Day in London
Just a quick note to keep you all informed of our progress as we slowly head home. Our last post was from Mozambique, where our travels continued to be adventurous! We never did manage to get a hold of any Mozambiquan currency, and so we had to leave after 4 days. It nearly killed me to be around so many great craft markets with such cheap and beautiful art and not have a cent to spend. But, we had heard that people will take old clothes in exchange for items, so we decided to try it. It was hilarious to see Dan holding up his pants (not the ones he was wearing!) and attracting a crowd of enthusiastic vendors who wanted to trade with him. Truthfully, they even asked for the shorts he was wearing, but I thought it might be nice if he did not trade away ALL his clothes!
We were detained at the Mozambiquan border for a while and experienced some stressful moments when the border control threatened to seize our rental car. We were apparently missing an important document that should have been issued to us when we first crossed into the country. After threatening to take the car, we were told that they could possibly make an exception if we agreed to pay a "fine" for our error. It took some time to convince them that we really, truly had NO money of any kind, and that Dan's clothing supplies were running low as well!
But, here we are in London, so we obviously managed to escape Mozambiquan prison and flee the country. We drove back to South Africa through Swaziland, and spent our remaining 2 days in St. Lucia. This is a beautiful little town on the North Coast of SA in the middle of a wildlife reserve. Dan and the girls did some snorkelling, and I took some beautiful long walks. The tropical birds, monkeys, hippos, and crocs were well represented in this area. These days were bitter-sweet, as we enjoyed the beauty around us. We will all miss the flora and fauna of SA.
After one last night in our little cottage at the farm, we took the night flight to London and arrived here early this morning. We all got a few hours of sleep on the plane, but arrived slightly exhausted at just after 6am to fight the crowds at Heathrow. In some ways, we wished we were flying straight home, as now that we have said our goodbyes in Africa, our homesickness has only increased. However, we've got a few days here, and want to see the sights. We stored most of our luggage at the airport, and navigated the London Underground (subway system) to our accomodations. We are staying at a wonderful "hotel" especially for foreign volunteers and those in full-time Christian ministry (see http://www.thehighburycentre.org). It has been running since the 1890's, but still has everything we need for a great stay in London, including our first reasonable high-speed internet connection in many months!
As we look back on our holiday time over the past few weeks, we are amazed at how blessed we have been. We have often been in stressful or dangerous circumstances, but we have experienced safety and health. God has protected us in amazing ways, and has led us to experience amazing things. There have been so many times when we've stopped to ask for His help in situations, and His faithfulness has blown us away. All four of us have experienced answered prayer again and again, even though I'm sure we have kept our guardian angels very busy!
One more wild experience today...as we were speeding along in the London Underground early this morning, Dan picked up a newspaper and realized that today is the first anniversary of the bombings that targeted the transit system of this city. We were at the stations that were targeted, and even rode a bus on the same line that was hit by one of the bombs. It was sobering to see the whole city stop in remembrance, and to realize that the 52 victims of that day were people just like us.
We were detained at the Mozambiquan border for a while and experienced some stressful moments when the border control threatened to seize our rental car. We were apparently missing an important document that should have been issued to us when we first crossed into the country. After threatening to take the car, we were told that they could possibly make an exception if we agreed to pay a "fine" for our error. It took some time to convince them that we really, truly had NO money of any kind, and that Dan's clothing supplies were running low as well!
But, here we are in London, so we obviously managed to escape Mozambiquan prison and flee the country. We drove back to South Africa through Swaziland, and spent our remaining 2 days in St. Lucia. This is a beautiful little town on the North Coast of SA in the middle of a wildlife reserve. Dan and the girls did some snorkelling, and I took some beautiful long walks. The tropical birds, monkeys, hippos, and crocs were well represented in this area. These days were bitter-sweet, as we enjoyed the beauty around us. We will all miss the flora and fauna of SA.
After one last night in our little cottage at the farm, we took the night flight to London and arrived here early this morning. We all got a few hours of sleep on the plane, but arrived slightly exhausted at just after 6am to fight the crowds at Heathrow. In some ways, we wished we were flying straight home, as now that we have said our goodbyes in Africa, our homesickness has only increased. However, we've got a few days here, and want to see the sights. We stored most of our luggage at the airport, and navigated the London Underground (subway system) to our accomodations. We are staying at a wonderful "hotel" especially for foreign volunteers and those in full-time Christian ministry (see http://www.thehighburycentre.org). It has been running since the 1890's, but still has everything we need for a great stay in London, including our first reasonable high-speed internet connection in many months!
As we look back on our holiday time over the past few weeks, we are amazed at how blessed we have been. We have often been in stressful or dangerous circumstances, but we have experienced safety and health. God has protected us in amazing ways, and has led us to experience amazing things. There have been so many times when we've stopped to ask for His help in situations, and His faithfulness has blown us away. All four of us have experienced answered prayer again and again, even though I'm sure we have kept our guardian angels very busy!
One more wild experience today...as we were speeding along in the London Underground early this morning, Dan picked up a newspaper and realized that today is the first anniversary of the bombings that targeted the transit system of this city. We were at the stations that were targeted, and even rode a bus on the same line that was hit by one of the bombs. It was sobering to see the whole city stop in remembrance, and to realize that the 52 victims of that day were people just like us.
posted by Stay Well at
3:49 p.m.
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