My pilgrimage to find fellow Jesus-lovers

Happy Sunday! Throughout my whole life, this special day in the week is dedicated to refilling my mind and soul with the powerful words of God and being in the presence of other Jesus-followers. Many of you readers may not feel the same way about God, Christianity or Sundays, but no worries. I do want to say that believing in Jesus makes me certainly no better than you of a person, and by declaring myself a Christian does not mean I look at you negatively or anything crazy like that. I am not perfect at all, and those who know me probably have seen me in ways that bring a lot of shame. No representation of Jesus there, it's just me being a jerk and an idiot.
Anyway, much respect to all of varying beliefs and religions! For realies. But if you wonder about Jesus, just ask too!

So I learned today that the Youth and Gen Y of UK are not much church goers. At the high end, only about 6% would consider church at all on a Sunday (this is all according to the pastor I spoke with today). However, for me finding a spiritual home during my stay here was really important. So I did some online church research prior to coming to the UK. It was not only important, but I knew church would be an excellent place to make authentic and trusting friendships around one common thing - love for Jesus Christ. I really think I was able to do exactly that today at Leicester City Vineyard Church.

Empty streets and
warehouses

Finding this church was certainly an adventure. It met in a football stadium about 1.2 miles away... a little far, but I just thought "aw heck, I haven't been exercising much in the past couple weeks so I'll just walk". It was a long hike through some very interesting neighborhoods and what seemed like a warehouse area. Good thing it wasn't the evening! I finally get to the location that Google maps pointed me to, but unfortunately there was no stadium. Apparently it was the football club?... didn't see that either. I kept walking, maybe another good half mile, and finally found the place. Hallelujah!

King Park Stadium

As I walked in, I was greeted by lovely people who were eager to show me the way. They had just begun the music worship portion. My heart absolutely melted as I was welcomed with familiar praise and worship songs-- Your Love Never Fails and Cornerstone among many others. It was actually pretty emotional for me, and I was so thankful to God that he safely delivered me there to spend some time worshipping Him. It was a sign that despite being so far from home across the Atlantic Ocean to the other side of the world, He was still there with me - loving and caring for me. Also, that all of this - the experience and opportunity - was for a reason and was a blessing from Him.

"You stay the same through the ages

Your love never changes

There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning

And when the oceans rage

I don't have to be afraid

Because I know that You love me

Your love never fails"

This first week has been a transition and honestly speaking, it hasn't been easy getting used to living outside of my comfort zone. As exciting as it is, it's been rough too. I stood with the rest of the congregation singing praise to God, and at that moment felt true relief. I had no longer felt alone like an outsider in an unfamiliar land, but rather a peaceful sense of belonging. I might be a foreign American citizen living amongst the English and considered a minority because of my skin color and race, but I was a citizen of a greater nation of the Holy God. How wonderful and comforting it is...

Soar Point

After service, I met a ton of really wonderful people much of whom were students in "uni" (obv means university) and other young professionals like myself. They invited me to several events going on in the week, including a Welcome Dinner in the evening at the pastor's house. I joined the students afterwards at a local pub situated right on a canal called Soar Point, which for the longest time I was hearing as Subway or Saw Point. Gosh, I really need to work on listening with the English accent (woe to my accent-handicapped ears!). It seemed like a really nice place to hangout with lots of beer (obv), plenty of seating and arcade games/pool table. On our walk over, I saw beautiful swans, ducks, pigeons in the water... oh! and don't forget about the wild blackberries growing in the bushes that I was totally eye-ing and salivating over. You can count on me picking/tasting some next Sunday, hopefully they will still be there. Pray that I'll still be alive after eating them. If you know me, you know I have a thing for eating mysterious berries on bushes and trees...

Souther Fried Chicken

The food was your typical pub food, not that I really know what that is. Most people got the Southern

Fried Chicken, which was more like hard chicken tenders. A big hit was also the Bangers and Mash, sausage over mashed potatoes drowned in gravy. It's not something I would typically go for, but people seemed to love it. I will have to try it next time.

Snuck a picture of Bangers and Mash
across the table

The students were a really nice and quirky bunch, which was entertaining. They were all a few years younger than me but I suppose I still fit in alright. There was plenty of joking around and quite a bit of "Englication" (meaning education on England) for me. All of them were from other parts of the UK, whether it was north or south and was only there for "uni", so they understood what it was like to be away from home. 

"Christ alone, Cornerstone

Weak made strong, in the Savior's love

Through the storm

He is Lord, Lord of All"

A nice first weekend, now prepping for a new week of work. Cheers!