Wow, what a whirlwind of encouragement these past few weeks! I suspect this will be a long post, so thank you if you read to the end. If you don't, I'll understand too. Either way I won't know the difference so there you go.... LOL
So I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm writing this from London, UK! I got off the plane and it's been in the 70's, sunny and glorious! My heart is happy and full! I'm incredibly encouraged that I get to call this place home for the next four months or so!
Back in January of this year, I was watching a sermon by Michael Williamson, who leads the London ICC church and he had mentioned that our movement would be sending out a mission team to Berlin, Germany. I was so excited because back in 2017 I was being considered for the mission team, but it didn't end up going out at that time. Unfortunately, at that time it was becoming clear that mom was needing more help. Either way, I wouldn't have been able to go out at that time.
So in January of this year, I contacted Michael to let him know that I would be interested in being on the team. A couple of months later I was contacted by the brother in another city who is leading the team that I was being considered! We had a interview and he said that he would love to have me on the team. To say that I was thrilled would be a gross understatement! Was my kingdom dream really coming true???? Be still my heart!
I loved my job and this was one of the biggest struggles I have had in the last several months. I have to be honest, I was getting super burned out on customer service. I have been there for over six years and the last few months have been BRUTALLY busy. On top of dealing with a hurting public who have been savagely brutalized by the past few years, political turmoil and only God knows what other craziness goes on in people's lives, it was becoming increasingly difficult to help people and since I'm an empath, I always feel peoples' pain personally and deeply. And taking on the burdens of 100s of people every week was more than I could handle any more.
My company was the best I have ever worked for. They helped me so much when I was taking care of my mom and gave me time when both she and my father passed. They had the best managers I have ever had. But in the end, they had me on a "plan" since December and at the end of March, I was told that I would be let go after May 1st if I didn't meet my goals (I was either meeting them or missing them by the slightest possible margins every month).
My manager ended up taking a job in another area and my new manager, who I've known for the whole time I've worked there, told me after two very emotional calls (crying, not yelling) and I finally told her that I was going to need to submit my resignation effective immediately because the job was starting to affect my health. I was beyond burned out.
So that gave me the time to start moving toward leaving Seattle for Europe!!
But as I was starting to make preparations, I realized that we still hadn't had a memorial service for mom. So I got ahold of her good friend Sandy and she helped coordinated all aspects of the service. Jake was there and so was my friend Roger. It was so beautiful and I believed it honored her memory. I miss her so much and even though she passed away in February of 2020, pandemic lockdowns made it impossible to have an in-person memorial.
But so many people shared their stories about her, and people brought quilts and other items mom made for them, so it was great to see her handiwork. I brought the small VW bug quilt she made for me, but was unable to bring the big quilt because apparently the suitcase it was being stored in got some moisture in it and it was very musty.
So once that was over, I only had nine days before I left. During that week, I asked to I've the sermon at the men's midweek service. My first full sermon in over 29 years in the kingdom! And I got good feedback too! Here's the link if you'd like to listen to the audio-only sermon. (8) 2022 Midweek | Faith & Other Things | Tim Morse - YouTube
I also agreed to do the communion message at church the day before I flew out. I was very emotional (once again, crying) and I had a lot of encouragement from people on that as well. By the way, Michael Williamson asked me today if I would do communion this coming Sunday and I agreed. What was I thinking??? LOL. JK, but I think I'll do the same one as last week. Another emotional Sunday! LOL It'll be great, but it will help me to do the same one again....
But I digress...
So then it was GO TIME. Even though I ad been working hard to get rid of stuff, it was not enough. At the end I was just stuffing things into my suitcases, hoping they were the things I was going to need. In 30 years of renting and owing places to live, I've never left one that bad before. And it was bad. So I'm asking some brothers in Seattle to help set up some cleaning and I'll pay them. I also was not able to sell my car. These two things are kind of still bugging me. That car has been pretty reliable the past few months, but it's also become a royal pain the my backside, too. Anyway, I remind myself that God is in control of all of this anyway so I really should not worry.
But the good news was that once I locked up the door, I was on my way to the airport! My stepmom came over from Yakima to take me and we had a good, but unfortunately, short time to catch up. But I had just gone to visit her Monday and Tuesday of last week, so we did have lots of time to catch up then. I love her, she's been such a great stepmom to me, and wife to my dad.
Then came a pretty long flight. Thankfully I decided for my own health (and sanity) to take a direct flight from Seattle to Heathrow. It's only an 8 1/2 hour flight and when I got to London, 5 brothers came to meet me: Tosin, Jurij, Aaron, Pablo, and I forgot the other brother's name already. Hey, I was jet lagged and exhausted from packing for the last few weeks! Anyway, they sang "We Love You With The Love of the Lord" as I came out of baggage claim. I was SOOOO encouraged to see them!
And the only real kind of negative/inconvenient thing since I got her was the rail strike, so no "Tube" in a city of like 12 million people. Taking the bus is normally not a bad way to travel, but when EVERYONE is trying to take them, it's a bit messy. Also, at the airport we had to wait an hour for our Uber driver as there was so much demand, the backup of cars trying to get to the airport literally went for miles... Our poor driver was having a bad day with all of that...
But I got to the brother's house where I'll be staying for the next four months or so and I'm living with a bunch of campus guys and I'm super impressed by them, I had great talks with almost all of them my first night here.
This morning was a morning of firsts for me. Joining a campus household, check! Getting up at 4:30 a.m. to sing happy birthday to a brother, check! Eating a piece of cake at 4:45 a.m., check!
Then at 6:30 am, we all went out to pray together and along the way, we were singing. I was having trouble singing AND walking at the same time. Now even though God has helped me TREMENDOUSLY in my abilities to be more active, I was struggling with both. But the weather was beautiful, clear and crisp morning and I couldn't imagine a more perfect morning!
Now I want to talk a little bit about my health. My health has not been good in the last few years. A year ago, I could only walk a block or two before I was out of breath and my back started hurting so much that it would literally take my breath away. Fast forward one year and I've had many days in a row over 8000 steps, today at about 9500. I am so grateful that God has allowed me to grow so much and that I'm still over 40 pounds down from my highest weight.
I'm able to do shopping trips without the electric scooter carts finally for the first time in over two years and I'm so much more mobile than even a few months ago! But as much as I have grown, I'm feeling a bit challenged here still. After the morning walking worship time and a long journey across the city (including a grocery trip), I got home and I was exhausted. And my body was starting to shut down. So much so that I didn't make it to midweek which I hated, because I really wanted to be there, it was supposed to be my first meeting of the body in London. Well, the good news is that I'll be getting together with brothers tomorrow, Friday and on Saturday will be a Singles' event. And of course, church on Sunday.
But after just a day and a half, and despite my exhaustion, I couldn't be happier. I'm still having a hard time believing I'm here and that in just over a month I'll be taking an intensive course on teaching English as a second language. Please pray for me because I haven't been in school in 32 years! And I literally feel like the most blessed person on earth!
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