And now the end is near

17th August 2013

“And now, the end is near”

Writing this at 20.45 local time in Mooresville knowing that this time tomorrow evening we’ll be in the air flying home to UK.

What a wonderful experience this has been. We have met so many great people and I have gained so much for my ministry. It has been like being on sabbatical – even though I was “working” if you can call it working playing Sir Wally at VBS, or singing with the church choir, or experiencing the great choir of St Pauls Charlotte, and so on and so on.

The last couple of days have involved a lot of driving. On Thursday we drove from Washington DC down to The Outer banks - an area of the North Carolina Coast. (Referred to locally as OBX) The drive was over 300 miles but for the most part the roads behaved themselves and it took 6 hours.

We were sad to leave Washington DC as it is a terrific city and we had such a god time exploring with Cousin Tom. Bless him as we left he gave us 3 beautiful picture books about DC. It was great to spend so much time with him. We first met in 1977 then not again until 1996. We saw each other for an afternoon in 2001 so now was the first time to spend any length of time together.

Sadly our time in DC was all too brief. We barely scratched the surface. For example we didn’t visit Arlington or the Holocaust Museum both of which had been on the list for me before our visit. Next time.

The place we were staying at OBX was called Nags Head and the motel we stayed in was right on the beach. A lovely location. And it goes to show that first impressions shouldn’t count. As we drove in to Nags Head we followed about 5 miles of strip malls with lots of places selling T shirts, beach accoutrements, fishing tackle and so on. But once we got on to the road running between the strip malls and the each all changed.

On Friday we’d arranged to meet up with a friend made via Rotary. Rachel visited the UK in February / March this year as part of a group on what is referred to as a Group Study Exchange. Rachel stayed with us for 3 or 4 nights and we hit it off. So Rachel and her family came to meet us at Nags Head.

It was so good to see her again and to meet the family. They live further down the coast. But not being familiar with the geography of North Carolina’s coast we were humbled to find they had driven 200 miles to see us. They bought us dinner then drove back. That’s North Carolinians for you.

Today we set off for Mooresville – about a 400 mile journey. It rained for most of the way and including some breaks it took us 8 hours. We were briefly able to catch up with some Fairview friends who had the key to the parsonage before we met Pastor Calhoun and his wife for dinner. We compared notes and I was pleased that they’d had as good a time as we had. In fact David said (quite seriously) that he intends to write to Mayor of Swindon and tell him that Swindon is a great place with great people. It just needs to work on its PR.

So now Anne & I are in the Parsonage. (Tom is out with his Fairview friends.) I suppose I should be looking forward to going home and in a way I am. But it will be hard to leave behind this wonderful experience. Something I will never forget.

I am just so pleased that a number of people are promising to stay in touch and there is a real plan for a youth group from Fairview to come over to the UK in 2015. I so hope it happens.
So, the American adventure comes to an end. I have been so blessed by God and by so many people. When can I do it again?