Spectacular Sunday!

Well...today didn't start out spectacular by any means, but it ended up so great!!

My original plan was to go into London yesterday afternoon with my roommates to celebrate one of their birthdays. However, at the last minute, I decided not to go for a few reasons. One of which, was because I was having a pretty emotional day and found myself crying over every little thing that went semi-wrong. Homesickness sank in again, and I was definitely not on my A game. Therefore, I had NO desire to spend the evening in the London party crowd.

After about a 3 hour trip to England's Walmart equivalent, I spent the evening watching movies on cable. It was just what the doctor ordered!!!


This morning I woke up excited to start my day.

However, while I was getting ready for church, someone knocked on my door. Slightly confused at who would be knocking at my door so early in the morning, I cracked the door open to a middle age woman dressed in work-out attire. After I said hello, she asked whose car was parked at the end of the drive way. I said mine. And, she preceded to raise her voice as she yelled at me asking why I thought it was appropriate to park my car over the 'pavement'. Kicking my British translator into gear, I realized she wanted to know why my car was parked over the 'sidewalk' in American English terms. You see, my car was parked behind another housemate's car at the end of the driveway blocking a straight path on the sidewalk. I apologized, and told her I didn't even think about the fact that my car was covering the sidewalk when I parked it. Sadly, apology NOT accepted. She spent the next 2 minutes yelling my direction about why I would be so inconsiderate to park that way, and did I know she had to walk her blind dog into the road to get around my car, and she couldn't believe my car didn't get vandalized last night for a parking job like that, and finally, if she ever saw my car parked like that again she would first call the police, then call the city council, and then call my landlord. With her frustration vented, she turned around and stormed off, as I apologized again. I noticed she walked to the house across the street....what a great way to meet my neighbor! Still being in the slightly emotional state I was in the day before, the tears came a streaming....I didn't understand why a simple parking job would frustrate someone so much to spend 5 minutes yelling at me. UGH....

After that less than ideal start to the day, I returned to the Baptist church I visited last week. I was greeted at the door by a man I had met the week before who remembered my name! When I entered, the 2 old ladies that oohed and aahed over me being American the week before shot me quick waves and smiles across the pews. I actually really liked the sermon that was preached today, so that was good. After church, a woman named Ester, that I met last week stopped me to say that she had tried to call me last week to invite me to dinner, but the number she had for me did not work. We exchanged numbers again, and she invited me to dinner this Thursday night and to their house group after dinner. I gladly accepted! Ester than took me to meet people 'more my age'. I was introduced to about 4 girls that are in a similar life stage as me, who invited me to a picnic in the park.

By the time we actually left the church, the group multiplied to about 8 and we went to the grocery store to grab food. We ended up in the Westgate park near the cute little river where the riverboats -- or gondolas-- float by and little duckies and swans play. We sat outside for hours soaking up the sun and enjoying each others company.

I learned a lot about some of the other churches in town, because apparently "all the Christians decided to have a picnic at the park today". One of the girls pointed out 3 other church groups represented in the park. By the end of the afternoon, the groups collided and played a game of ultimate frisbee and a game of soccer.

When I went home, I decided I wanted to catch the night service of The City Church Canterbury, which I had visited twice before (it was represented at the park today too) because I thought that I should give it a third chance to see if I'd like it better. When I arrived, no one was there, so I am guessing they cancelled service tonight....which is probable since the universities are still on holiday. As I sat in the parking lot, I googled the two other churches that were at the park to see if either of them had night services. Barton Church did, so I drove to a new area of Canterbury to randomly try it out.

When I arrived, I was greeted at the door by a guy named Eric. He immediately noticed I wasn't from Canterbury, and asked me about myself. I told him a little and then he told me he was the pastor of the church. He asked me what kind of church I was looking for, and I .... well, laid it out really honestly and frank. He smiled and told me a little more about the church. At this point, I had this feeling that I would really like the church. Eric apologized a few times throughout our conversation because he said that the night service doesn't usually have many people and I should visit the morning service which is a lot bigger.

During the service, something just told me that this could be the church for me. After the service three girls sitting around me stopped to talk. By the time I left, I had the names, numbers, and invitations to random things from each of them. (One is in the upcoming production of Oklahoma!!! in Canterbury--what a site to see a bunch of British singing in American accents!)

I think I may really like this church! Even though I could really tell the pastor was nervous that I wouldn't like it because there were only about 25 people at the service. He stopped me at the end and told me again to come back to a morning service to get a better idea of the church. I will for sure! I think I am going to the women's bible study on Tuesday night. Sadly, I have to skip a house group I was invited to on Thursday because I had already made plans with Ester from the Baptist church.

Things are looking up around here. I have this idea that I may have a friend or two soon! :)