What is reading week?

This week is one of this little treasures in life, it is a week without deadlines, meetings, classes, or anything that you have to do type stuff. In England all the schools have a week off after 6 weeks on, so this is week to catch up on reading, writing our papers, seeing people and enjoying our time here. During this week we have spent a day in Oxford, we talked to a drunk man who questioned us about Rebecca's North Alabama sweatshirt he couldn't believe how many univeristies there were in America and wanted to know where North Alabama was at. After chatting with him for a while we continued on past some buildings that have housed learning since 1300 and proceeded walking next to the River Cherwell where a family of swans, dad then 6 babies and mom swam near us, then dad got out of the river stood in the path and signaled for the rest of family to come across the road to a little swamp area, this whole procession took about 10-15 minutes, but again it is reading week so why not take in that show? We then hung at Starbucks for a while, again it is reading so why hang for a while? Yes we have worked on a paper that we have due on Tuesday, and I have read quite a bit as well. I have also walked my feet off it seems, two days ago I figured it to be about 6 miles, maybe more than that even I was counting conservatily (spelling?) and then yesterday probably another 6 miles maybe not that much but who cares that is alot anyway. A question that I brought up yesterday while my feet ached was why there could not be more moss covering blacktop. There are a couple of spots on our walk to school where moss liberally covers the walk and as Rebecca put it "moss is like nature's carpet" to which I responded then why hasn't more been laid down. Anyway I will continue to walk, read, and hang out this week, and then get back to the day to day next week. Take care, and if you see moss on the walk, due take the time to stroll on it, and think of a plush natural carpet

From Daughter # 1(Who is Rachel?)

Howdy, American cousins! This is Earl and Rebecca's eldest daughter Rachel. Just wanted to thank you guys for sending us such lovely house mates! We are having such a great time living with these two and already it is hard to imagine what it will be like when we all have to say goodbye next July. We are learning loads about the US and I can't wait to visit and see all the places Earl and Rebecca have told us about.
Bible college is sooooo cool! Am loving every minute of it! God is teaching me way more than I imagined and he is exploding out of the little, convenient box I seem to have put him in over the past few years. To anyone thinking of doing this year at KBC, I can only recommend it.
I hope to meet some of you when you visit us in Oxford. I can try and convert some more of you Americans to drink tea and love Monty Python (Rebecca now drinks up to 6 cups of English tea a day!).
Bye for now!
Rach x

A British/American Family?

Rebecca's Ramblings:
Although long overdue I felt it was time that I contribute to the blog now that we finally after 6 weeks have internet in our own home! This community living idea brings an interesting concept to my mind. Just as you cannot choose your own family neither could we choose the people we would be meshed with this year. It is really an intereting concept when you think about it, put 4 people together in a house, expect them to get along, have Christian community, and learn to love each other. What could be a potential "disaster" in the world's sense, has been a huge blessing! Above you will see a little picture of our family, Earl, Rebecca, Jazz on the left, and Rachel on the right! Earl and I are sometimes referred to as dad and mum but always in a lighthearted, loving way! We have truly bonded and are enjoying our home at 21 Sycamore Rd. Jazz brings so much with her curry making ability and morning concerts from 7:45 a.m. until 8:15 a.m. as she gets ready in the morning. Rachel adds her touch with her fixation on British tea and her new demand to watch more of our Seinfeld dvds. We are blessed here knowing that our home is a place to relax and hash out all God is doing in each one of us, pray together on a regular basis, laugh until our sides hurt, and also be a place where we gather others into our home. The other photo above is from a movie night we had at our house where we had 32 people in our living area. One of the students loves to come to our house for what he calls some "Sycamore loving"! We hope that element continues all year. And finally...a quote I have been working on all year:
I am turning into a tea drinking, biscuit eating, trouser wearing, tin opening, rubbish throwing, stone dropping, mick loving, post sending, box ticking, lorrie dodging, boot storing, garden mowing, queen loving, mobile using, Brit and I'm loving every minute of it!

Not here?

After being here I have realized that there are some differences in this culture, ya I already knew that but what I mean is there are some things that they don't have here that we do have at home. I'll attempt to keep this listing somewhat short, as I could expand it later if the need arises. First of all I have not seen a pickup truck anywhere, not even ones that tradesmen use for their job, it is definitely not like states where everyone including grandmas drive them just because they are cool. On the transport front there are no school buses, we walk near two schools on our way to school, I see many city buses, privately owned buses but no large, yellowish school buses, I have to admit that I do sort of miss that. They do not have much if any customer service, I am not ranting although we did finally get our internet connection on the 17th of October, we are writing them a letter, although why would that really matter? This is not just a view that I keep, the Dean of Theological Studies also takes the same view, so it must be right:) They don't have much ice here, not in drinks, not in freezers, not on lakes, just not alot of ice, I am not a huge fan of ice on the road but some rocks with my coke, that ain't bad. They don't have near the number of electrical outlets that a modernized country should have. For example we have an outlet in our bedroom, this is used for lights, an iron, my razor, mobile phone charging, hair dryer etc... Presently we have our computer plugged in, but the printer, light and other light aren't because of our lack of outlets, it really is something that we are not used to. They do not have big phone bills here because they don't use them, it is mobile or nothing and to that it is text or nothing, why talk when you can text your thoughts and not have to interact? By the way we have a mobile, we text and hardly use the landline also, and we don't use much ice, we don't drive a pickup, and we are used to the lack of customer service, I guess we are fitting in quite well. Later
earl
PS - They do not have college football here, but I am finding ways to keep up, looking forward to the OSU-Michigan game as much as the rest of the nation.

Abi, Rebecca, Tash and Mike Our little group Fajitas at the Robinson's

What is community?

This is a question that comes up quite often here at KBC and in church situations I have been around. I'm not talking what area of town do you live in or how do you get together with you neighborhood, but rather who do you share your ideas, heart and feeligs with, and who do you get on with (British way of saying you enjoy their company) on a consisent basis. One of the goals of our time here is to experience Christian community, to somewhat understand how it is formed, to further understand how to foster community with others around us. We were put in charge of a community outreach group at KBC, basically there are 5 groups of 8 people, ours like the others is made up of a group of people that usually would not hang out or get on with each other much. I had hardly talked to some of them before our first time praying together. With that being said we knew that we had to get to know each other before any serious opening up, ministry and working together would really take place consistently. So we had them all over on Thursday night for fajitas (my can Rebecca cook) and we had the best time. We played a game or two that got everyone out of their comfort zone (for those of you who have played our games, you probably know what I mean:), we laughed, we ate some pudding, we laughed, we prayed, we laughed and talked and at about 10:45 they slowly, somewhat wishing they didn't have to leave, they left. We didn't expect this type of evening, but now that our COG has gotten off to a good start hopefully this will be another example of God bringing together a 'motley crue' to accomplish His mission, not unlike the 12 disciples or the first leaders in the church of Acts. Our outreach will probably be something to do with children, possibly art or music related, with a slant on the creative, I along with the group are quite tickled by the possibilities. So I started this post with the question of what is community and hopefully I and you are understanding it more, it is the way that Christ lived with his followers, open, vulnerable, on the cutting edge, taking up each others concerns, watching out for each other, and being friends. Do enjoy the pictures of our new community group, if they are not here yet, look back in a few hours and they should be up. Take care and God bless
earl

Sitting in a blue hall?

Right in now I am against the wall in a blue hall at our college, we are done with meetings for today, and tonight we have our community group coming to our house for supper. Days here at KBC can get long, today happens to be one of them, I had a hand in chapel, which as a result of unforseen circumstances I ended up leading chapel and playing music as well. It was a wonderful in the Lord, although now what we were expecting. Life here at school is busy, actually Rebecca and I keep ourselves quite busy, by choice of course, we do love hanging out with people. I do promise a load of pictures on this very blog site very soon, then you can see some of the people that I write about. Last night we had a chance to serve hors derves (spelling) last night at a conference here at the Kings Centre, we were so happy to get an opportuntiy to make a little bit of pocket change, we are going to work tomorrow as well. So ya we are staying busy, having a blast, being stretched and yada, yada, yada. So Beth is sitting next to us, she is annoying us, and being herself all at the same time. This is the same Beth who yesterday threw Rebecca into a dark toilet, and wrestled her to the ground as well. Now she is running in neon green wellies and throwing candy bars while a conference is going on. She really is a great gal, we have totally enjoyed getting to know her. (This was all true and certainly quite unrelevant) Talk to you all later
earl

How awesome is God?

That question of how awesome is God cannot be answered with mere words. As we were in Derby this past weekend were allowed to have a glimpse of the glory of praising, praying and relating to others in the Kingdom while convening with God. If that does not make sense lets say that we had a kick butt prayer meeting, incredible praise and worship and a sense of God's presence that was prevelant as we gathered. In addition to the prayer days we also stayed with our friends the Rooks, they have a 17 month old daughter named Molly who really took a liking to Rebecca, they hung out quite a bit together. If you are in Derby do visit them, they are then nicest people:) We attended a Kidz Klub gathering at a local school that a girl in the church started, it has been going 3 weeks, the first week there were 120 kids that came, it was a great time. On Saturday I attended the best conference I've been to on praise and worship. To sum it up the speaker asked "Where is our praise?" and then had a bunch of questions surrounding that about songwriting, prophecy, exaltation, etc... he was very provoking to say the least. I think that many of you have been praying for me, I had some wonderful emotional release with God during the closing songs, and feel renewed, rejuvenated and ready to go! So ya it as an impactful (word?) weekend, now we are studying the New Testament, so far it has been quite good, and I can't wait for the remainder of these 2 weeks so that I can learn more. By the way if this blog sounds all good it has been, don't assume that life here is just a bowl of cherries, there are some hard times and some trying times, but overall God's grace has been given to us. I promise there will be pictures soon on the blog, it has been a while. take care
earl

Ready for the weekend?

We have been learning all about the Old Testament for the last two weeks. The Bible is quite a long book hence there has been much information to wade through, while interesting it has been alot to get through. Anyway that series of lectures concludes tomorrow, then at lunch time we are off to Derby as a class. There is a Salt and Light leaders prayer conference that we are attending, it should be a great time of listening to the Lord, seeking His word, and praying with many others from around the UK. I am excited as we have been in lecture mode for 4 weeks straight, and this will be a total change of venue, and style of learning. We are going to be staying with Ben and Esther Rook, they are former KBC students who attended 4 years ago, and we have gotten to know them over the years, so that will be great staying with them. Then on Saturday there is a worship conference that Salt and Light is hosting, I am very happy about that, I hope to learn a whole lot more about leading, singing, playing prophetically, and singing spontaneously. There is so much to learn and experience while we are here, and this weekend should be a great time of being with others, hearing from the Lord, and learning more about Him and His ways. By the way we fast tomorrow, so that is not easy, if you read this please pray as we are praying. Do take care,
earl

Snack Food?

Food is an interesting facet of living in another culture, and while they speak English here, it is really quite different. I am going to focus this piece on snack foods mostly, maybe with a reference to custard here and there. I realize that mint sauce/gravy is often put on lamb, I don’t get it but I understand it happens. I also don’t get the idea of taking a meat/mint mixture and putting them into crisp (chips) form, that means you taste some lamb and mostly a mint aftertaste in crisp form, do try if you are willing when in the UK. Baked beans made the list not because they are weird or odd, they are on the list based on their propensity to be served on anything with much consistency. Beans on toast, bread, jacket potatoes, hamburgers, and whatever else one wants to put them on. Everywhere I look I see them, and they are not as tasty as the beans at home, not that I eat much of it there either. I am not going to go into depth of Marmite, if you are interested go to www.marmite.com it is a fascinating look at the fanatacism surrounding a yeast based, dark brown, gooey spread that is put onto bread and crackers. People love it, it has remained unchanged since 1920’s I don’t get it. Prawn styrofoam is the best way I can explain these white, foam like, shrimp flavored, dissolve in your mouth treats. They are served at Asian places and are used like spoons instead of forks or chopsticks. They are not too bad taste wise although quite salty. As far as Nobby’s Nuts are going I haven’t had them, I think they are like Beer Nuts in America, but with a name like Nobby’s Nuts how can I exclude them from this list (if interested go to www.smiths.com) Just some ideas about food here, do try if you’re on the island.