Arriving in England

Week Monday 16 April to 22 April

Monday began with a very cloudy morning in Toronto, but we still set out  on a trip to Niagara Falls. We were able to use our Greyhound bus pass to Niagara, then caught another to take us to the Falls themselves, by which time it was sunny. We walked down through the glitz and glamour and along the path adjacent to the river and the Falls. The sight was awesome, there being 2 massive falls. One is referred to as the American Falls, the other the Canadian Falls.

The sheer volume of water going over has to be seen to be appreciated, and we got wet from spray. The USA was just a short distance across the canyon.

Karen appreciated the gardens especially some of the trees that were covered in pink blossoms –some type of Magnolia. 

The following day was our flight out of Toronto, so we caught the underground train and the bus to airport. When waiting at the Airport, God had set aside a divine appointment with Patricia Bootsma, part of the pastoral team at Catch the Fire Toronto. She was catching the same plane, and she prayed for us and prophesied over us. She also strongly urged us to attend a conference that she would be at over in England, one tht we had already in fact been considering.

The flight was overnight, so we arrived in London on 8th Wednesday morning, and caught the tube to Osterley Station. There we met up with another New Zealander, Andrea (whom we had met briefly in Toronto) and walked to her flat. She and her other flatmate, Vanessa were just so welcoming and blessed us with wonderful hospitality. They had house group that night, and invited us to share.

Vanessa and Andrea

We were escorted to various places by our hostesses. On one occasion we went for a walk to Osterley Park, close to where they lived. It was amazing to find farmland right there in the midst of houses in London. It was just beautiful, with lakes, cows, ducks, flowering trees, a mansion of a wealthy banking family, the Childs.



Osterley Park

The Child's Homestead

However, we got caught in heavy hail storm. Andrea said she had never seen hail like it, and this was repeated by an elderly gentleman we saw the following day.

Hail like snow on the ground

Hail on the roof

We were taken to a Japanese restaurant beside the Thames River one evening. Walking over the Richmond bridge, in the evening was so picturesque. We were also taken out for lunch to experience our first English Pub meal. This English Pub overlooked the Thames, which at the time was low because of the tide.

We had decided to hire a car for transport around the UK, so we picked up a car, a small Peugeot 107. We also purchased a Sat Nav, or GPS so hopefully we would not get lost. On Sunday afternoon we set out with the car and Sat Nav and headed for a meeting at Catch the Fire Wembley. There we had  Rolland Baker “sharing”. We left the meeting early, so could make our way with the  aid of Sat-Nav to our host family in Berkhamsted, where we would stay the next few days whilst attending a Partners in Harvest Conference at Hemel Hempstead. This was the one that Patricia Bootsma had urged us to attend.