Where to begin? I guess the best place to start is at the beginning!
On my travel date I was so nervous. For several reasons- first, I had never flown across the ocean before and if something did happen, I would be in the ocean. Second, I didn't know what kind of people I would be working with. Third, I didn't know the procedure of how we were going tdistribute the scriptures. I met Bro. Allen and the group he had with him at the time. We got through security. I despise security ! :) We grabbed a bite to eat in the food court before we got on the plane. One of the ladies going with us met us there. A couple of guys were waiting for us at the gate. When I met everyone at that time I could tell a few of us would hit it right off and did we ever! Take off time, and now it’s just a waiting game. I was hoping I would be able to sleep on the plane, but I couldn't at all. Thankfully, the plane had free movies that we could watch so the ones that couldn't sleep did that. They fed us on the plane. The dinner was horrible, but the breakfast was fine.Friday ~ We got in a little late but that was fine, we had to go through border control which took longer than usual, (for a plane trip that is) then we got our bags. We met Pastor Justin Williams & Bro. Corea and headed off to rent a few cars for the weekend. It's so weird seeing cars drive on the opposite side of the road and the driver driving from the right side of the vehicle. It was hilarious seeing Bro. Allen trying to get on the wrong side to drive. We ate en route to the hotel at Mc Donalds- believe it or not! We were starving since we had not had a decent meal since the Alanta airport. We arrived at the hotel, and got checked in. I didn’t have a roommate since the guy that was my roommate had his plane delayed and he missed the plane to London! When we took off, Bro. Allen had to work the details out to get him over here the next day. We all settled in to our rooms & had about an hour until we met for a little distribution for a couple of hours and then when went to eat at Toby’s Carvery . It was kind of like a buffet, but not all of the same. Let me explain, you could go up and get one plate full of meat, then as many plates of sides as you want. The building was like a mansion. As you looked it from the outside, and from the inside I guess you could say it was laid out like a mansion. After dinner we hit the hay.
Saturday ~ We had our first meeting in the morning, then we went out canvassing. Bro. Allen &and Sis. Dema had to go pick up my roommate at the airport. I worked with Bro. Corea doing letter boxing (which is basically putting tracks in mail boxes). In England you are allowed to do that. Bro. Corea told me that several companies hire people to do that for them and that he looked into in Ireland and it was very expensive. Another group and we were doing the letter boxing, and a couple of other groups were doing the John and Romans. Bro. Corea and I had lunch at McDonald's again. It was the quickest place to grab something and go. Then we went back out to do more distribution. While we were waiting on Pastor Williams to take us to another area we passed out several John and Romans and tracts . The total of tracts distributed in that day alone was 6,500. To God be the glory! Then we went to dinner at a restaurant called the Plough. It was excellent food. I had fish, chips, & mashed peas. Then we went to the hotel and some of us went down to the eating area and got on WIFI- or tried to that is!
Sunday ~ What a day to be in God's house in London, England! We were at the Grace Baptist Church in Enfield, London. I was privileged to lead singing in Sunday School at the church. Pastor Williams taught a very good adult Bible class. Bro. Allen preached the service and did an excellent job. It spoke to my heart. At end of service a lady raised her hand that she wanted to get saved. Parvina is from Turkmenistan, and was staying in the same hotel as us. She has a Muslim background, but gladly received the Russian and English gospel literature we gave her. She told us she was going to be continuing her studies with the Jehovah Witnesses on Sunday, but decided to come to church with us instead. After hearing a gospel message she raised her hand during the invitation, and Sis. Dema was able to deal with her for salvation! In between services of the a.m. and p.m we went sight-seeing. It was a blast. We went and saw Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, the London Eye, & Thames River. I enjoyed them all. We took lots of pictures. We were privileged to attend the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Charles Spurgeon's church) for the evening service.
Starting from today we rode the tubes, trains, and buses every day until we left. It was a good service on salvation. I enjoyed it, but it was a little different than I'm used to. Several of us enjoyed it- me included. After service we went to grab a bite to eat enroute to the hotel at Burger King in the bus
station. The bus station is like an airport. We got back from our long day, and several of us went down to the breakfast area & fellowshipped while we got on WI-FI.
Monday ~ We met for our meeting this morning & my roommate (Scott Rabideau) did our devotion this morning. We went distributing literature at the Buckingham Palace area. My group ( Tiffany, Sis. Dema and me) worked mostly in the St. James Park today. We went through several John and Romans in no time at all. We had a lunch at Caffé Nero. It is known for its coffee in the U. K. We had a good time of fellowship. Then we were back to distributing literature. Bro. Allen and I went to one spot near the park to distribute, and Sis. Dema and Tiffany went close to the tube station and distributed. We ate dinner at Nandos. They are known for their chicken. You can have almost any size of chicken fixed any way and put the level of spice you want on it. I had 1/4 of a chicken with medium spice, and then I put hot sauce and herb and garlic on my chicken. I also had chips and green beans. ( I think- I can't remember exactly!) Afterwards we all rode a double decker it was AWESOME!!! Bro. Harris wanted to ride a double decker and eat ice cream while he was on it from the very first day! Well, tonight he got his wish! After we got back to the motel several of us went to the breakfast area & fellowshipped once again.
Tuesday ~ we had our meeting and I was privileged to do our devotions this morning. Then we headed out to the Tower and Castle Bridge area. Even before we got to our area we were supposed to go today a man asked the Lord to save him. His name was Prince. Then not long after we got to our working area Clare was able to lead a lady named Paula to the Lord. WOW!!! Thank God for His fruit already today. We had to be extremely careful here since it was on private property. If someone would say something to us we stopped for a few minutes and then started in again. I was able to talk to two bobbies today and give them both a John and Romans. I was with Jim & Clare Woo as we distributed the John and Romans. We met up with the ladies (Tiffany, Courtney, & Mary) for lunch, some of us ate at KFC and some had Subway, but we all ate together at KFC. We did have a good time of fellowship with each other. After lunch we had a little time to spare for souvenir shopping. I got a few things for myself, John Henry, and Cierra. Then we went back distributing. After we finished distributing we went to eat at a place called Harvester's, which is like a English style Cracker Barrel. It was wonderful food. We were able to eat all of the salad that we wanted. I had salmon, chips, and green beans. Again, I know you all think I really enjoy the fish and chips- well I do! Then we had dessert. Most of the group had a sundae of some sort but I had a cheesecake. It was okay, it was definitely an English style of a dessert- I would not request it for my birthday, that’s for sure! We all did the same thing as we normally did.Wednesday ~ We started the day like any other day, we are going to be working at Piccadilly Circus. I have never seen sooooo many people in my life! Our group ( Bro. Harris, Pastor Williams and me)
were empty in no time at all. Bro. Harris reminds me so much of Grandpa Bob it’s not funny- so no wonder we were empty in a very short time! I had lunch with a couple of the groups at the Thai
Bar. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was actually very good. While we had lunch Pastor Williams went and refilled the big suitcase. When we got finished he still wasn't back so we went souvenir shopping and we exchanged money if we needed to. I couldn't believe the exchange
rate! I exchanged $ 80 U.S. dollars and I got I think 45 -50 pounds back. When he got back, we loaded up and distributed the rest. Then we headed to dinner at George's Fish'n Chips. He is known for his fish and chips. We hurried to church where Bro. Corea did the service, which was excellent. It dealt with my heart tremendously. We rode a double decker bus back to the hotel and put our stuff up that needed to be. Several of us went downstairs to the eating area and watched the Olympics, fellowshipped, and got on WI-FI.
Thursday ~ We went to the Olympic Park today, and distributed scriptures. I normally emptied at the most two backpacks in a day, but I had to refill at least 3-4 times. WOW!!!! What a place to distribute His word. While we were there we saw Islamics passing out material. A group with Back to Genesis, a guy preaching, and a group doing some kind of native dance. What a place of action! As we were leaving the Islamics were ganging up on the guy preaching & Bro. Allen, Bro. Harris, and Bro. Corea backed him up, by simply saying AMEN!!! After we left we headed for the Eye & the boats. Some of us rode the Eye & the rest of them rode the boat. The eye was an experience and a half! I rode the Eye with Tiffany, Courtney, & Bro. Corea. Bro. Allen, Sis. Dema, Nate, Clint, Jim & Clare Woo, Bro. Scott, & Bro. Harris rode the boat. In the Eye you can see all of London which was amazing!!! It only took about 30 minutes at the most, they were saying 45 minutes, but there was no way! It kept on moving it never stopped. We finished before the others, so we went souvenier shopping. I got quite a bit of looking done before they got back. Then we were off to dinner at the Texas Embassy. It was very nice restaurant, it was set up a little differently. Normally we were able to get unlimited refills on four different drinks for about 2.35 pounds,but here you were not able to. I ate lasagna -the best I ever had, I do believe! We had a good time of fellowship while we were eating. We headed back to the hotel. We got back kind of late. Once again the four of us, (Bro. Scott, Tiffany, Courtney and me) went down to the breakfast area to get on WI-FI. Courtney was putting a disc together for everyone from the trip and was needing everyone's pictures, I was skyping mom, and Bro. Scott and Tiffany were doing e-mails. Tonight was the last night we all are going to be together. A couple of us started some missions conference fun. We started late, you don't want to know how late we were up!Friday ~ Back to the states we go. I hate to see it end. I thank God that there was such a unity in the group, lifelong friendships for everyone, scriptures put out in abundance. We had one last meeting
we were sad to leave. Pastor Williams took a video of us that he wanted to send to his supporting churches, and we got a group picture (finally). Same rigamoral from the train station to the airport,
through security, etc.... We divided into three groups, the first group got there plenty early and was able to grab a bite to eat. The other two groups barely made it in time to grab something fast and board the plane. It was a good flight, I was actually able to sleep on this flight for a little while. The food actually was good on this flight, and not like the last one. When we landed we had to go through border control, and all of that junk. You know, having to tell what you brought back to the states, how much it costs, etc.....When we all got through customs we hated to leave each other. I have made some lifelong friendships here on this trip.
Thank you for taking the time to read my journal of my
missions trip.
Asher Neal
~Nehimiah 2:18~
*Bellow is a video of my missions trip to London. Please take the time to view it. Thanks!*
