A Note from Thatcham

The following note was offered to several relatives and friends and expresses a brief update about our life in England thus far:

Dear Friends,

Now that we must keep up from quite a distance, we are checking in and hoping that all is well! We want to offer a brief update about our experiences thus far, and we would love to hear back from you too!

We have now had four full weeks in England after our morning arrival on August 7th. We were kindly met at the airport by representatives from each of our church circuits, and they drove us directly to Newbury (about an hour southwest of London). The manse in Thatcham was being vacated and prepared when we first arrived, so we stayed in Newbury while we were getting over jetlag and enjoying some sightseeing.

My mother-in-law joined us during these initial two weeks while Newbury was our temporary "home base," and we enjoyed many day trips to visit and re-visit different areas of the south (Oxford, the New Forest, Stonehenge and Salisbury, south Wales, and London). After a week and a half we traveled north to Sheffield for our Induction Course for The Methodist Church. We spent three full days in this orientation, and we are grateful for the official introduction to The Methodist Church and its Circuit system. While we remained in Sheffield, my mother-in-law bravely ventured off on her own to London to await her morning flight back to NC. We returned to Newbury for one more night before we moved into the manse in Thatcham on Friday, August 22nd.

We were so pleased to have our daughter in her new home, and she has settled very well with her new room and her new bed. She will begin at her nursery next week and will most regularly attend four days a week. We are so pleased with it and feel very confident in the care and instruction that will be offered. We have been working diligently to unpack and organize in Thatcham, and thanks to my parents who arrived on August 26th we have made tremendous progress. The manse is a lovely home, and we are thankful to be so comfortable in it already.

Along with the help in the house, we have also been able to show my parents around as well. We have explored a lot locally and have ventured to Stonehenge with them and also to Eton and Windsor. We were able to access the private campus of Eton College (William and Harry's high school stomping grounds) with a dear friend (and temporary tour guide), who teaches theology at the college. We spent yesterday in London with my mom's oldest niece and her family (my cousins) for a family reunion of sorts.

We officially started our work with the churches and circuits on Monday, September 1st. This has been a week more or less to ease into the ministry duties and the new settings; although, my husband has already been a part of one funeral and has another one plus a wedding on the schedule for this month. We have been welcomed very graciously, as the two circuits hosted a dinner for us Friday night with the circuit leadership. Also, The Methodist Church has a formal practice of welcoming new ministers into a circuit, so there will be a joint welcome service for us this afternoon. (In addition to welcome services, they also formally do farewell services, both of which are excellent practices for churches in the itinerancy.)

This is a short version of our first four weeks in England. We will try to offer updates regularly. We are excited about the challenges that come with new life and new ministry, and we are hopeful in the possibilities that await! Please do keep in touch and let us know how you are these days!

Much love from us all!