Visit with the Harmons

Easter has come and gone but not without a great deal of activity.  Henley Baptist Church rolled out the red carpet to welcome folks for Easter services.  There was a Maundy Thursday communion service (which I had to miss because of the flu).  Then our church hosted a community Good Friday breakfast that was well attended and well prepared by Gordon Trinder and Pat Williams.  Shortly after the breakfast, folks joined at the market cross on High Street for a brief service led by the pastor of the Anglican church.  Then at 10:30, people gathered back at Henley Baptist for the Good Friday service.  It was an honor for me to get to bring the message, while the other pastors in town had a part in the service.  Right after the service, Nadine and I caught a train for London, where we met our daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Russ Underwood, from Stafford, Virginia. We spent the night in London right next to the Thames River and about a block from Big Ben.  On Saturday, we returned to Henley on the train (but not without incident).  When we arrived at our destination (Dorridge), the train stopped to allow pasengers to get off/on.  We were gathered at the rear door with all of our luggage (4 people remember) but our door did not open.  Soon the train was on its way to the next stop (Solihull), as we stood watching our station fade in the distance.  You should have seen our faces!  Talk about shocked!   A kind lady told us to get off at the next station and catch the returning train back to Dorridge, which we did.  We laughed a lot when it was over!     After we arrived safely at home, we took the kids to Stratford on Avon for a walk through one of our favorite historical and beautiful towns (Shakespeare’s birthplace & home).

Sunday morning, about a dozen or so gathered on the mount overlooking Henley for a brief Communion Service.  My family couldn’t answer the bell (so to speak) but did get up in time for the main Easter service at 11am.  We had a great service with a wonderful attendance.  After lunch, I took the kids to Warwick Castle (which they thoroughly enjoyed).  Monday was filled with travels to the Cotswolds (Stow on the Wold, Bourton on the Water and Chipping Campden).  Tuesday, we travelled north to the Peak District to visit Pemberly, for you Pride and Prejudice fans.  In reality it is Chatsworth House, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.  But to P&P buffs, it is the home of       Mr. Darcy from the 2005 film starring Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFadyen.  Ever since I read Jane Austen’s novels, I have wanted to see Pemberly.  There are actually 2 homes used as Pemberly (Chatsworth House and Lyme Park).  Lyme Park was the Darcy home in the BBC version in 2001 starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth.  For me, personally, it was a great delight to walk the halls of Pemberly and try to invision what Lizzie would have thought about it (’And of all this I might have been mistress’ she said).  To live as the folks of Chatsworth (Cavendish family) did blows my mind.  It far exceeded my dreams of what such a home would be like.  Visiting Chatsworth was great, especially knowing that we were walking through the rooms shown in the movie version where Keira Knightly walked.  It was entertainingly delightful.  One room (the sculptor room) had a bust of Matthew MacFadyen near one of the walls.  I photographed my daughter standing next to it.  ( We DIDN’T have to twist her arm, I must say !)

On Wednesday, we visited Bath and Stonehenge (places I have visited before).  Both were great to see again and brought back wonderful memories.  The weather for these visits was perfect (plenty of sunshine and warmth).  On Thursday, we put our Russ and Susan on the train for their trip to the Portsmouth area so Russ could visit with a friend and co-worker.

As we toured parts of England, I was reminded of how beautiful the countryside is here.  The flowers are in bloom, the trees are leafing out, the grass is as about as green as it could ever get, the streams are full, the birds are chirping, and the folks of the UK are out and about.  By the way, I did manage to drive through the country without incident.  What struck me is that here was a country that has been blessed with great beauty by our Heavenly Father, with churches and abbeys and cathedrals all over the place as reminders of God’s hand upon this country, but it seems that England has forgotten God.  How sad to even think about. But America is following England’s footsteps of neglecting God.  In the US there seems to be (in many places) a real hunger for God, and I guess that would be true here as well (in places).  But for the most part God seems forgotten or not needed.  How I long for a genuine revival here, a   heaven-sent revival which calls people from every village and town and city to seek the heart of God and long to live for Him.  Join me in praying that God may make Himself known here in a powerful way.  My prayer is that Henley Baptist Church would be the place where such a  revival would begin.  As we seek God’s face and turn from our selfish ways, God will hear from Heaven, forgive our sins and heal this land.   

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Nadine’s Corner: 

Hi everyone.   It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through our stay here in this beautiful country.  

I thought you might enjoy some humor here and there.  Checking out the British-Yankee Vocabulary is pretty interesting and thought I’d share a little each time with you:

Bangers and Mash                                Sausage & mashed potatoes

Bap                                                        Hamburger bun

Bomb                                                     Success

Bonnet                                                   Car hood

Boot                                                       Car trunk

Bubble & squeak                                    Cold meat fried with cabbage and potatoes

Chemist                                                  Pharmacist

Chips                                                      French Fries

Crisps                                                     Potato chips

Isn’t it fun?  I love it.  I love the differences.  I think sometimes differences bother us or even scare us, but  as my daughter Susan has reminded me many times:  Different’s not bad - it’s just different!   Our God has such a wonderful sense of humor, doesn’t He?   He never ceases to amaze me when He shares a miracle with me or when He presents me with gifts of new friends, new things, new ideas (this one’s tough for me), new ministries, new places and new chances to learn how to be more like Him.  I want to know Him more and I want to learn to love those He has given me to serve.  I want to learn to love the unexpected experiences, the unexpected joys and I want to learn how to be the kind of “missionary” that will make a difference to my world.

I think this experience has helped me grow in my faith tremendously.  It has helped me to be willing to leave the unknown in God’s capable hands and trust Him to meet our needs.  I prayed that God would take care of my Dad so that I would not have to leave here before our term is up in July.  The last report is that the Doctor told him he would not need anymore of his radiation treatments.  What an answer to prayer!  I worried that I would be terribly lonesome for the great friendships God gave to us in Virginia.  He has given us some special people to be our friends here.  We’re not lonely, we are fulfilled as God fills us up day by day.  I worried that our daughter would be needing us back in Virginia and she has been our #1 cheerleader the whole time.  I worried that we would not have the money to remain here for 6 months.  God laid it on people’s hearts to give of their means to our ministry and we’ve had plenty!   I worried that we might not fit in - we like to have fun and THEY like to have fun, and we are loved.  I worried that my health would be an issue and the Lord has seen to it that my diabetes has been kept under control by meds and I just got a really good report from the Doctor here about my latest bloodwork.   One by one, God has taken my doubts, my worries, my lack of faith - and has proven, day by day, that He is Lord of all!!   That’s not to say that we’ve not had some vascillating moments about this and that, but God is helping us work through that as well.  He never leaves us, does He?  He’s always there, waiting for us to come to Him. 

We don’t know what our future holds.  We don’t know what the Lord is going to ask us to do in the months to follow.  We don’t know that our time here will always be as smooth and happy as it is right this minute.  But this we do know:  We have people praying for us in Virginia, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California and we believe in the power of prayer!  Thank you for all your prayers and your support while we are serving the Lord God that we all have in common.  We couldn’t do it without you.  You are as much a part of our ministry as we are and I know if Henley in Arden Baptist Church could, they would also want to say THANK YOU.

Our love to all of you.