One week...

Paul and Kaylee on WestJest Flight 209

Arrival

A huge double decker A380 !

Our flight landed in Edinburgh on August 21st, 2013 at 6:45pm local time. We made our way through a long corridor  to meet face to face with a customs officer. He glanced at our visas (UK ancestry) and exclaimed, "That's the best visa you could ask for. There are no restrictions on this one." He then asked what we intended to do while we were in the country. We told him that we were coming t0 work in a church. To which the immigration officer exclaimed, "I have theology training as well!" The officer then smiled, stamped our passports and said, "God bless you and welcome to United Kingdom." 

We collected our seven pieces of luggage (which all arrived at the airport with us) and crossed the door into arrivals. There we were greeted by long time friends Steve and Heather Belleguelle, Pastor Mike Willis, and our new friend Andrew Allman. It was amazing to finally see everyone face to face! 

Drive to Morpeth

We left Edinburgh International Airport and began our drive to our new home in Morpeth, Northumberland. A short drive away from the airport we spotted a large rainbow. The rainbow's shimmer of light illuminated the Scottish Highlands and lit up the cloud swept sky. It was a fitting welcome to a land of beauty. It felt right to be reminded of God's faithfulness after a long journey to a new home. 

North Berwick

On the way home, Kaylee casually mentioned to everyone that she had never seen the sea. This shocked everyone in the vehicle and caused Mike to adjust our route to drive along the North Sea. The view on the way home was absolutely stunning! We stopped in North Berwick, Scotland for 'tea' (supper) and ate fish and chips by the sea side! It was all very breath taking! 

While we were eating our fish and chips an entire brigade of Scottish bagpipers made their way through town. What a perfect serenade from some of Scotland's best! Paul managed to catch a quick clip of them: 

The Church

Things that struck us as 'different':)  

English muffins are called..... you guessed it: Muffins!

Orange juice does not have pulp... it has 'juicy bits'. ;) 

Baked Potatoes are called "Jackets". They tend to be filled with the oddest assortments of meat. (i.e. tuna and prawn cocktail)

Encountering "Canadian-isms" is always good for a laugh:

We don't spell 'gud'. 

Hot fruit = Canadian? 

Paul preached his first sermon

You can listen to it here. 

Beautiful Scenery 

Almost Gone...

Five days.... 

Five days are remaining of our time here in Canada. One hundred and twenty hours remain before our departure. Wow! It seems very surreal that we are about to board a plane for the other side of the world in a scant few days. To be on the up and up ; I am not sure that the reality of the situation has fully registered with us. What we do know for sure is that, on the morning of August 20th, the Walker's will board West Jet Flight 209 toward our new lives in the United Kingdom. 

We have for the past few week been living out of six suitcases. It is a strange experience to reduce your essential belonging to a few suitcases.  So we thought it would fun to share with you our few 'must have' items that we are taking with us into our new lives overseas. 

100% Pure Canadian Maple Syrup 

Once you've had the real thing... you can never go back! We love real maple syrup on our homemade pancakes, waffles and bacon! mmm..... It's a piece of Canadiana that will remind us of home. 






Canada Starbucks Mug(s)

To remind us of where we came from each morning as we enjoy our coffee and tea!

BOOKS! 

We sold or gave away 95% of the books we had in our vast collection. Somehow we are still talking a suitcase full of the essentials for Paul to use in his sermon preparations... etc. Here is Paul's Top 10 List of books he 'has to' take with him:

The Top 10 Books I am taking with me:

10. The Politics of Jesus, John H. Yoder

9. The NIV Application Commentaries (New Testament)

8. The End of Religion, Bruxy Cavey

7. The Moral Vision of the New Testament, Dr.Richard Hays

6. The Jesus Legend, Dr.Gregory Boyd and Paul Eddy

5. The Myth of a Christian Nation, Greg Boyd

4. The Kingdom New Testament, N.T. Wright

3. Life in the Spirit New Testament Commentary

2. The New Testament For Everybody, N.T. Wright

1. Can you hear me?, Brad Jersak 

Guitars

As you may or may not know, Paul plays a lot of guitar! Paul also loves to lead worship as a part of what God has gifted him to do. So needless to say, this is a must have item(s) to bring with us into our new lives! We have already shipped them through Fexdex a few days ago. To have all three guitars shipped cost a lot of 'dosh'. ;) 

Rain Jackets and an Umbrella 

We get the impression that it might rain a bit when we are in the UK. We thought we should come prepared. ;) 

Kaylee doesn't own this ....YET!

A Farewell BBQ

One last thing.... If you are not doing anything on Sunday night we would love if you could meet us at Meewasin Park for a "Going Away Pot-blessing". Check out this link for more details. 

We would love to see you before we leave on a jet plane!

GOD BLESS,
Paul & Kaylee Walker