Day 1&2- London

Welcome to my blog! You'll have to deal with the lack of customizing on this page, as I doubt I will have that much time to make it look cool...what with stealing internet from random free places and houses in the city and such. :)

The reason for this blog is to talk about my travels this summer and hopefully for the rest of my life! Currently I am on a mission trip with 13 other students and one professor from Concordia University in Irvine, California. Our plan is to go to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda to help the people there. To show Christ. To be Christ. And to get a greater worldview of Christs mission for the church.

There are so many of you who want to know what I'm up too and how all of us on the team are doing, so I decided I would keep a blog for you and for myself as well. I haven't decided exactly what kind of blog this will be-- informational, ranting, depressing, happy...etc.-- but I'm sure we will figure it out together!

Yesterday we arrived in London where we will be staying until Tuesday morning! It's crazy to think that I am in a city that literally has a history of well over 2000 years! We went to a local pub last night and mingled with the locals. Andrew and I tried to figure out how to get to a pub in London to watch the Lakers game at 2am London time with Matt and Chris by our side, but it was to no avail- so instead we walked on the train tracks for a bit. :)

This morning the group went to Oxford to go see the place where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien would have met and sat around talking about life and books. :) Although that would have been cool to see-- Andrew and I decided to go off to London by ourselves to get a small taste of the city before we all go together on Monday. We rode the train in from Petts Wood (the city of the church we are staying) and traveled all day. We saw the art gallery and actually stumbled upon a Christian rap concert in the park. "When I say Jesus, you say Christ." ...yup, that's right. :)

Andrew and I decided to go see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre this afternoon. It was pretty sweet! London musicals out here are on the same caliber as Broadway in the states, but it was funny to hear everyone speaking in their normal British accent...we had a wonderful time!

It's been amazing to see the people of London interact with one another. There are some folks that are really happy to talk to us and help us figure directions and places to go--but there are many others who seem to either hate the fact that I exist, or hate their own lives. :)

I have never understood why people would waste their life living in such a terrible state. Why must the world always be seen from a "half empty" point of view? Jesus Christ has given us the only reason to celebrate and live truly full of joy. Now joy isn't always being happy, but there is a confidence that we can have in putting our joy in Christ and His salvation for the whole world--including us.

I am stoked to be going into this trip with a group of friends who are not very close to me. It will give me practice at loving people. I am also excited to be free. Free to do whatever Jesus would tell me to do. Free to be disciplined by His love. Free to free others. Free.

I am hoping to lose a lot of my freedoms that I have attained as a priviledged American in order to gain Christ's true freedom. I see often the chains of this world on my life and on my time--things that I have allowed to enslave me in the disguise of fast, easy, and more accessible. Perhaps I will encourage others to do the same.

Anyway, this is day one and two!!! :)

Peaches.