We Have Arrived In London!

Last Monday at 4.30am, we left Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland.  We drove our car to Belfast, took the ferry to Scotland, and arrived at our hotel in London by 8:00pm.  For the last week, we have been staying in the Queen’s Hotel in Crystal Palace.  The Lord blessed us with a very good deal on our room, which is at the top of the hotel and has a great view of the city.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we spent basically all day in the car driving across the city viewing houses to rent.  Thankfully, by Friday afternoon, we were approved to move into a home in the Borough of Greenwich.  Our new address is 8 Bracondale Rd, London, SE2 9HS.  We will move in tomorrow and our belongings from Northern Ireland arrive tomorrow afternoon.

We had a good time visiting a couple churches close to where we are staying on Thursday night and Sunday.  Both churches were very kind to us, and we look forward to learning more about the need here and seeing what doors God will open for us here in the city.

Several observations from our first week in the city:

  • London is like it’s own country.  It has hundreds of different neighborhoods and is very diverse.
  • It is  densely populated.  The houses are all quite close together and there are people everywhere.
  • As we drove, it took us on average 10 minutes to drive 3 miles.  To plan our driving, we just doubled the driving time our GPS said and then added another 15 minutes!
  • Overall the people we have met have been very friendly and helpful.  We have enjoyed talking with them over cups of tea and biscuits.
  • It is a very family-friendly city with lots of green spaces, parks, and places for children to play.
  • It has a way of swallowing people from all over the world and luring them into the British way of life.
  • The weather is much better here than in Derry.  Most days, I think it has been warmer and dryer than Northern Ireland.
  • The food has been great!  We have enjoyed Peri Peri Indian chicken, Chinese take-a-way, fish and chips (made by folks from Turkey), Harvester’s Sunday dinner, a traditional English breakfast, and fried chicken!

Thank you so much for praying for us.  It is amazing that we were able to find a house so quickly.  God certainly heard your prayers for us.  This week, we will work on getting our house set up, utilities turned on, etc.

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