Apologies
to all our followers out there for not updating our blog. It's been
about a month since we have been in England. Each week we've settle in
our home a bit more and are finding our way around Leicester.
Although
it's only been a few weeks since we've become residents in the UK, we
can already see glimpses why the Lord has brought us here. Both Ryan and
I have the extraordinary task of sharing the Gospel with many
unbelievers in Leicester. We are both extremely humbled and privileged
at the opportunities that God has given us to share the Gospel through
the game of basketball.
Each
week Ryan and I have responsibilities to go to schools and teach
basketball to students. Along with several of his teammates, Ryan
attends a number of different schools each week to teach the game of
basketball and lessons that involve fitness and health. He continually
meets new faces of children who are enamored with his status as a
professional basketball player. Ryan sees this as a great opportunity
to set an example of a Godly young man for the kids to look up to. I on
the other hand only have one lesson a week at the same school with a
group of 15-20 girls. Leicester is a heavily populated Muslim community
and the school that I teach basketball at is filled with Muslim
students. I am eager to get to know the girls over my 10 weeks of
coaching them. My daily prayer is that I am faithful and bold in showing
them the love of Christ.
Another
huge part of our time over the last month has been trying to find a
home church to worship at for the next 7-8 months. Through a friend
that Ryan met at Master's, who happens to be familiar with the UK, we
were directed to a church in Rugby, a town just 30 minutes outside of
Leicester. Consequently, Ryan and I made our way down to Rugby on
Sunday 10th of October. This church was of particular interest to us
because we had heard that the Pastor is a graduate of The Master's
Seminary. We worshipped with them on their 43rd anniversary service and
had great fellowship with the people there and really enjoyed our time
meeting with Pastor Tom McConnell and his wife over a traditional
English lunch after the service. Tom referenced us to a bunch of great
churches right in Leicester and since then we have been visiting them
one by one. We still plan on building a relationship with Tom and his
wife, as we see them as a great couple we can learn from in our time
here.
There
are some definite advantages about being in the UK over some other great
places we could have ended up this year. One bonus is that we have
some friends close by that we can visit every now and again. Two weeks
ago after one of Ryan's games we met up with Craig and Amanda Owen.
Amanda is a friend of Ryan's from First Baptist Church in Perkasie, PA,
Ryan's home town. It was nice to see a familiar face and fellowship with
another Christian couple... I'm sure we will see plenty of them in our
time here.
Another
great thing about living in the UK is that everything is generally in
close proximity to one another. Ryan and I made our first day trip to
Stamford, a historical town only an hour east of Leicester. Being in
this town made us feel for the first time we were truly in England. The
streets were made of cobblestone, old stone buildings were covered in
ivy, churches were on every corner with their steeples soaring above the
rest of the shops and each had tombstones smothered in moss that were
so old you were unable to read the names on it. As we made our way into
the village, we stopped at the Burghley House. The Burghley House is
England's greatest Elizabethan house. It was built in 1555 by William
Cecil, Lord High Treasurer of Queen Elizabeth I. We were in awe at how
magnificent this place was. Each room was so ornate in detail and filled
with bright colors. We only have pictures of the outside because no
photos were aloud inside, but hopefully you can see how extravagant this
place was from the pictures.
We
expect this is only one of the many wonderful sites in the UK so we plan
to make day trips as often as our schedules allow. The history and
landscapes continues to blow our minds here in England and we will
continue to put of more pictures of all the sites we see in the future!
Hope
things are going well back in the states! We will try to stay up to date
in updating our blog! Hope you enjoy the pictures especially of our new
addition, Zulu! She is our new kitten:) Very playful and cuddly!
