a week in LONDON

January 24th - January 30th

I arrived in London on Monday after an exhausting 10 hours of flying from Florida. London is cold and wet, I learned that very fast. I was quickly introduced to the 16 students that I will be living and attending training with during our stay in London. You can only imagine… 16 college students in one house, chaos right? Well, it was. But it was also an awesome week of fellowship, site seeing, worship, prayer, learning, and forming long lasting relationships with the students I was hanging out with and students from London.

Monday

On Monday, we attended a student church where we worshipped and received a message from one of our supervisors. It was awesome to see the students in London have such a strong love for Christ that burned so passionately. I made friends quickly and was excited to finally go to sleep.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I woke up singing “You have called me higher, You have called my deeper and I will go where you will lead me Lord” (“ Called Me Higher by All Sons and Daughters). These lyrics were such a blessing and were exactly what I needed. The Lord provided me with a confirmation of where I was supposed to be because He has called me higher and He has called me to go deeper in my relationship with Him. I pray that I continue to sing those lyrics as I endure the length of this adventure. We also began to train, and train hard on Tuesday. We took several tests and I found out that I am an ESFJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) on the Myers Briggs Personality test. Also, I learned that when it comes to conflict I am more avoiding and compromising than accommodating and collaborating. We trained cross culturally, in prayer, and in our testimonies and it was a long day. BUT! I ate fish and chips in London, so that we cool.

Wednesday

On Wednesday the group went into London and ate a traditional English breakfast, which includes baked beans and it was different. But baked beans are actually really good for breakfast! After we went to one of the universities to hang out and serve lunch to the students. It was amazing to see how easy it was to strike up conversations with the students at the university. They are all so friendly and determined in their studies, much like us at home.

Thursday

Thursday was another long training day. We took a spiritual gifts test and I my top three scores were Administration and Service (tied), Leadership and Helps (tied), and Exhortation and Pastoring (tied). Some of those really through me off, because I don’t really consider myself to be an exhortation kind of person but maybe God will reveal something about me through that in these next couple of months. That night we went to dinner at Nandos and headed over to Quiz Night at Starbucks. Quiz Night is like trivia night we have in America, but so much more fun and highly attended in London. Unfortunately, my team did not win.

Friday

Friday was our major sight seeing day. We went to many sites in London such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, etc. We took a tour in Westminster Abbey, which is probably one of the coolest things that I have ever done. Also, we went on a Christian Heritage tour where we saw how Christianity has spread through out London. I saw a church that Charles Spergeon planted, a church where Dietrich Bonhoeffer served, where Martin Luther and William Tyndale’s New Testaments were burned, St. Paul’s cathedral, London’s oldest church and several other things. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much history. We ended the day with Chipotle, the Tower of London Bridge and, of course, Starbucks. It was sad to end the week, I had made so many friends. As the group surrounded the living room, we explained how awesome it was that all 16 of us had gotten so close in such a short amount of time and gave God praise for our new friendships. We all said our sad goodbyes and are heading our separate ways in Europe for 4 months, but will reunite again in London in May. So we all have something to look forward too.

Being in London was amazing. It is so beautiful here and I will have life long memories of my visit. I still find it weird that they drive on the other side of the road and say things like “cheers” a lot. But I am already beginning to fall in love with London and Europe as a whole. See my Facebook for pictures!

As I continue on this journey, please keep me in your prayers. Specifically for:

-Homesickness

It has been really hard being away from home, my family, and my friends.

-Health

-Safe Travels

-That God will do great things in Europe

I will talk to you all soon!

Much love,

Ashton

#icesquad2016