Europe Trip Day 6

Today is my last day in England. It’s been a very nice time, and I have made some wonderful friends.

I woke up late and started packing. Sis Sharon was kind enough to do some laundry for me, so I’ll still have some fresh clothes for the remainder of the trip.

Bro Gerald came to get me at around 2 o’clock. We had some tea with Bro Whisper, another brother and pastor in London of one of the larger churches. Bro Whisper is a quiet man, but you can tell he is listening more than speaking. As we talked I tried to find out more about him, give him plenty of openings for him to tell me about the church and his life, but he would give a very short concise answer and then ask me more things.

Of course, everywhere I go, I am from Jeffersonville. “How are things there?” “Is Bro Joseph pastor now?” “How is Bro Collins, what is he doing?” No one wants to gossip, but they want to understand how things are. It doesn’t really bother me, I understand. I am perhaps bored with it all personally, but for my brethren who are so interested and what to understand things correctly, I am happy to give explanations from my point of view and in a very “non-official” way.

After our nice chat of about an hour and a half, we depart. I tell Bro Gerald that Bro Whisper is a very quiet man. He tells me that Bro Whisper was REALLY interacting with me. Wow is all I can say. He’s a very nice man, but keeps his thoughts to himself. I COULD have done the same, but…well, that wouldn’t have hardly been much of a conversation. Bro Gerald tells me Bro Whisper is very quiet and also a busy man as a pastor to over 400 people, he was surprised that Bro Whisper had an hour and a half we could talk. Well, just another day in the life of a travelling preacher from Jeffersonville I guess!

Bro Gerald and I have laughed a lot about the “Jeffersonville” effect. It does pique people’s curiosity! It is all in good fun and quite hilarious.

After tea, we did a little walking around a shopping mall where I purchased a few souvenirs and such. Bro Gerald and I just enjoyed one another’s company throughout the afternoon.

For dinner we met a couple brothers, Joseph from Monday night, and Bro Nelson was someone I hadn’t met. Bro Gerald took the excuse to bring me to Nando’s again. Well, I like Nando’s too but I think he was more than happy for the special reason to return because he really likes it as well. I don’t want to step on a scale any time soon! Nando’s sure is good chicken though. I had wings that Bro Jack recommended and helped the brothers with the other two platters. We rolled ourselves out the door after we finished.

Chicken satiation thus completed, I said my goodbyes to Bro Gerald.  Bro Joseph and Bro Nelson then drove me past Bro Gerald’s to pick up my luggage and thence to take me to a hotel near the London-Gatwick airport to be in position for my flight out tomorrow morning.

We had good fellowship on the way to the airport and some good laughs. Bro Nelson is the choir leader at Bro Whisper’s church. He is also a talented singer and musician. He says I will really enjoy their church and not in a “Kayumbe way”. That is a reference to how I told him the Bro Louis Kayumbe always talks about how much he loves Africa and how much better it is, but still chooses to live here! So he is saying that I won’t just enjoy it but want to be somewhere else, I really will want to be there! (Love you bro Louis!)

As I’ve said, the believers in England are so welcoming I believe I could spend six weeks here preaching without a problem. (Except I’d have to bring the family – I’d miss them too terribly)

Arriving at the hotel, we got me checked in, and it wasn’t long before I ready to take my rest for the journey to Finland tomorrow.