Gratitude

Everything I have is given to me.

I was thinking about that last night before bed and again while making lunch today. I was making soup. I poured water into a pot and let it heat. The electricity activated the stove and the water poured from the tap as it usually does, but I did not wire the building or lay the pipes. In the water, I boiled a stock cube and some rice which former housemates had left behind, I poured in a sauce which a friend found and purchased for me a year ago, I added vegetables and herbs I had purchased using funds provided by supporters - many of whom are probably reading this. If that's you, thanks for lunch.

The giving goes further. This food, like the majority of what I eat, was made without consulting a recipe. This is because I have a mother who, many years ago, was willing to pass on her abilities to an easily distracted daughter. If not for that, I wouldn't have the confidence or experience to improvise a meal from ingredients left in the cupboard. Mom, thanks for teaching me to cook.

Just as lunch was almost ready to eat, a friend of mine came in and offered me something to drink. Another gift which I had not purchased was given to me. Faith, thanks again for the tea.

But the gift reaches further. I could go on. I could go deeper and meditate on the people who shipped or produced ingredients and the debt of gratitude owed for the natural world from which these ingredients came. I could consider that my body and health and consciousness have all been given to me as surely as that cup of tea was.

The risk is that this will begin to read like the Acknowledgments section of a book, and while most acknowledgments feel unending, this one really would be, because everything, everything in my life is given to me.

That includes the strength to make it through busy seasons. In the past four months, I have not once updated this blog, but I have run a kids' club. I've prepared numerous English lessons, seen new ministries begin, and watched outreaches fall. I've rejoiced with those who were rejoicing, counselled grieving friends, and celebrated the holidays with loved ones. I've considered the future, formed new dreams, and watched some of those dreams die to eventually make way for others. All of this was with gratitude for the help of dear friends close by, the prayer and support of loved ones far away, the common sense and energy of coworkers, and, yes, the grace of God.

The problem is, that picture is too large for me. It's difficult to see and wrap my mind around all of these things I don't have any hope of paying it back.

So, today, I focus on the little things. The fleeting gifts. The everyday generosity we take for granted, because there's a lot to be thankful for in a cup of tea and a bowl of rice.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

 - Psalm 103:1-5

Bringing you up-to-date

Hello everyone,

The last month has passed, sometimes flying and sometimes crawling by. I've become involved in the English classes at an LCM centre in Limehouse once a week. At the moment, I'm beginning to prepare to lead an entry-level class next week and a pre-entry class the week after. The ladies there are lovely, both the ones I work with and the women who come in for the classes. I'm excited for the opportunity to gain teaching skills, and I'm grateful for a slower pace this week. It has given me the chance to catch up on several other necessary items that fall by the wayside in the course of the average week - updating this blog being one of them.

For the month of November, I'll be assisting with youth work at a Centre on the Isle of Dogs once a week. My hope is that this will give me another perspective on youth outreach at Ridley Centre and prepare me to better serve there as well. Work continues at Ridley, with Philippa launching a new English teaching outreach, but it has been slow-going to get students in the door. Please pray that God would give the team fresh energy as well as a shared vision as we go into the months ahead.

I've been asked what I actually do when I'm not working. This Saturday I ran away to Richmond park with two friends to see the deer. The mushroom picture at the top is courtesy of my friend Faith. For some reason, my expectation was that Richmond park would be similar to Hyde park. Hyde park is extremely cultivated and commercialized, with every shrub seeming to have a border around it and an ice cream stand at every corner. It is not my favorite London park. Richmond Park, however, is on the outskirts of London and feels like stepping directly from the city into the countryside. It is the first time I've been in London and had no strangers within a hundred feet of me. We watched deer, climbed trees, and looked out over the treetops from the top of a nearby hill. The park is free to access, and I highly recommend it to anyone staying in London craving a breath of fresh air, as well as to any visitors who don't have a chance to visit the countryside. The bakery and tea-house near the entrance also seem to be well worth a visit, though my little group was too eager to get outside to spend much time there.

Recently, it has come to my attention that I have not posted any information regarding funding on this blog.For anyone interested in partnering with me financially in the next year, I have opened an online PayPal account you can access through this link: https://www.paypal.me/CorneliaGreenidge

(USD is absolutely fine as far as currency selection goes.)

Please note that donations to me this year are not tax deductible, as funds will be going into my personal account. This is due to the fact that LCM is unable to open accounts for foreign citizens, though they are willing to vouch for me that all money raised will be going to service and ministry expenses in London. If you have any questions about this or anything else covered in this email, please feel free to contact me through my work email: Corrie.Greenidge@lcm.org.uk

 Thank you all again for your prayers and encouragement. The Lord bless you and keep you.

- Corrie

Back in London

**I wrote this post in late September when I first arrived in London, but initially forgot to publish it to the web page. Thank you all for your patience with the delay.**

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. By the grace of God, I've landed safely back in London, and am currently recovering from jet-lag and preparing to get to work. Autumn has set in here, with chill breezes and occasional rainfall. At the moment, the sky is blue and sunbeams are slicing through the privacy curtains. Despite the city's reputation for continuous drizzle, I've found that the weather is mild more often than not. It is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year.

I'm extremely grateful to have been able to experience the beginnings of Autumn in Colorado this year as well. My family traveled into the mountains before I left to enjoy a few days of hiking and time together. By now, the elk are probably bugling, the leaves are beginning to change, and people are looking towards the all-too-quickly approaching holiday season.

My temptation is to look ahead as well. I'm anxious to see what this year will bring, how our new outreaches will look, in what ways youth work will change, who will return from the community this year, and what new faces we'll see. Then there's the change to when we have our Mum's and Tot's outreach and my time learning more about teaching English as a foreign language. That's not even looking at collecting my residency permit, completing the necessary paperwork at LCM Headquarters to begin work this week, catching up with old friends, and getting to know people who have moved into the intern's house since I've been in the States. I'm grateful that anxiety has not yet caught up with me, but the potential is there, and I'm reminded again of Jesus' words to Martha.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:41b - 42

There is my prayer request for the coming time. Please pray with me that my focus and my priorities would be in their proper place. Pray that that's where the eyes of my team would be as we continue to work in East London, that before we become preoccupied with much serving we would not neglect to sit at the feet of Christ and remember why it is we do what we do. 

Thank you again to my family at Grace Church. You are tremendous blessings to me, and I am always happy to hear from you.

 Love,
Corrie

Home Assignment

Hello everyone,

I'm happy to say I had a safe trip home on Thursday, and I've recovered sufficiently from jet-lag to update this blog. The past year has been a learning experience, and I'm excited to return to work with London City Mission in mid-September. In the meantime, I would like to meet with anyone in the Longmont/Firestone area who is interested in a cup of tea and conversation about what God is doing in London. Starting next week, I'll be at local coffee shops each Tuesday evening - I'll be sure to post more information in advance on my Facebook page. If you would rather meet at a different place/time, or if you don't have access to Facebook, please feel free to contact me via email at CorrieRGreenidge@gmail.com. God bless, and I look forward to hearing from you.

- Corrie

Ghost Writer! Moment by Moment Musings

**Corrie Note: Hello all! I haven't been very faithful in posting on this blog recently as life has been a little crazy. That being said, I'm in fairly regular contact with family back home. Fed up with the lack of a blog to read, my mom offered to write a few follow-up pieces based off of our previous conversations. I know, I know, getting your mother to do your homework is not cool, but she's pretty great, and I'm certainly not going to complain.**

Moment By Moment Musings 

How’s that for alliteration? I was going to go with “Moment by Moment Musing with a Missionary’s Mom” but that just got messy. (See what I did there?) The Sherlock references needed to end because it’s just to much to live up too. Besides, I took the online Sherlock personality test and ended up with Mrs. Hudson...I can see it...(Humor w/ Hudson?) While in London, Corrie and I also visited:
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Westminster Bridge Memorials.

There are more memorials now in England: Manchester, London Bridge, Grenfell Tower Fire, and most recently the attack on the mosque in Finsbury Park, North London. It makes you stop and think, right? More importantly, it makes us stop and pray! Corrie is concerned that her location is a distraction. Maybe if people weren’t concerned about her, they would be more concerned about the people actually involved. I think that by the Lord placing her there, we are even more aware of the people. Otherwise, it’s easy to separate ourselves from the tragedies. Here’s a tangent, but circles back around, so hold on. Not long ago, I was watching “Madame Secretary” a fictional political TV show. Russia was invading Bulgaria and the debate at NATO was, “Do we go in and protect this small country?” Now that I have met Bulgarians, have heard some stories, and pray for individuals on a regular basis, my reaction to a fictional TV show was, “Of course, you go in!” I don’t know if that would have been the same a year ago. It’s the same with these attacks. The people are real and no
longer “Just on an island” on the other side of the Atlantic.The Westminster Bridge and London Bridge attacks were way too close to home for Corrie but only confirmed that she is where she is supposed to be. For those who wonder – I also have peace.

“There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The
center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!”
― Corrie ten Boom

Now, let me introduce you to some of the people in Corrie’s life. You have probably heard or read some of the names already but this will give you a quick reference point.

The Hostel - Central London
People are there anywhere from a few weeks to several months. There are also guest rooms for visiting LCM missionaries, (and family members for a small fee.) It’s located directly next to LCM headquarters and has a pretty cool history, being built in the mid 1700’s as a parsonage, and having survived the Blitz. (Headquarters is built on the foundation of the old church building, which didn’t survive.) Jonathan is full time with LCM. He lives in an apartment in the hostel w/ his wife and daughter. I’m not sure of his official title. I do know that he’s the one Corrie was in contact with concerning LCM. He helped her determine where, exactly in LCM, she would be serving. Plus, he makes sure everything at the hostel runs smoothly.

Ridley Christian Center - East London
There’s a team of people that Corrie has been working with. Sammy is the leader right now but is transferring to The Isle of Dogs. (Be in prayer for the right person to take his place.) Philly, Yordan, Ilyas, Ali, and Kaine make up the rest of the team. Corrie spent Christmas with Philly and her husband, Chris, along with their family, then New Year’s with Yordan, Kalina, and their family.

Now for some stories:
-Corrie is trying to learn Bulgarian. It’s a practical language skill that has come in handy several times. One day she was working at the food bank – a weekly gig at a church in East London. (Tangent: That’s one of the many healthy things about LCM. The goal is not to go into an area and take over Christian ministry. It’s to work alongside churches that are already established and supplement what is being done.) There is a lady she works with every week named Eileen. Eileen knows a young Bulgarian lady and her mother who go to the church where the food bank is run. They have lived in the area for 3-5 years. They are both believers and Corrie was able to write a note in Bulgarian, with some English, inviting them to Ridley Christian Center and giving them Yordan’s Facebook page so they could get connected with other Bulgarian believers. The daughter, who is around Corrie’s age, came to the center on a Tuesday and the two of them got to hang out for a few hours. Corrie was really encouraged by their time together and looks forward to hanging out with her more.

Philly taught Corrie a cool lesson that she passed on to me. They were discussing the purpose of learning a new language. Is it to say, spell, write everything correctly? Or, is it to understand and be understood? When you know that it is the latter, it gives you freedom to learn and communicate effectively, even if not perfectly. The Holy Spirit really does fill in the blanks.

-To celebrate The Fourth of July, Corrie listened to Hamilton and the Liberty’s Kids theme song, connected with some friends, and got to see/talk with several family members via Whatsapp. (She considered throwing some tea in the Thames but didn’t want to waste the tea or pollute the river more.)

A text from Corrie on the 4th:
.
“Total 'Happy Independence Days': 3 Bulgarians, 3 Americans, maybe a South American,
and one Brit who wasn’t sure what the Fourth of July was celebrating, but was really cool
about it when I told him.”

From yesterday - Pictured above
“This morning I watched toddlers. This afternoon I hung out with Yordan and Kalina. The Isle of Dogs went well...Also, I just got a text from Ilyas that one of our contacts just professed Christ. All in all, a very satisfying day.”

Corrie will be here August 3rd – September 14th. She’ll have a lot more stories to share!

Another text conversation that Corrie and I had recently:
Me: “Dang, girl, I can’t wait for you to get here!”
Corrie: “You’ll be sick of me after the first, 'I’m a grown woman, doggonit!' argument.”
Me: “That’s the plan.”

There ya go. This mom is all mused out, for now.

:) Tammy

Travels with Tammy/Wisdom from Watson

**My Mom visited over Easter, and it was wonderful! She offered to author a blog post on it. Without further ado I present...Travels with Tammy**

    I’ve learned from different friends that alliteration helps people remember. That’s why I can still remember the “ROYER REPORT” and “REV RAG” even though I haven’t read either one for close to two decades. Let me explain the two titles for this blog, then we can get to the actual content.

    When Corrie left for London last August, I gave her a huge hug and figured that I’d see her again in a year. Samuel had plans to visit. Dave, her Dad, might end up over there on a work trip and would have a chance to say "hi" to her, and that would be enough. Then my wonderful husband took a look at all of the air miles that he had accrued. To him it made more sense for me to go and spend several days then for him to show up and share a meal. Made sense to me, so that’s how I ended up traveling across the ocean and spending Easter in London with Corrie. The other title came from Corrie...in a way. As a proud mom, and the mission board chair, I keep encouraging (nagging) Corrie to update her blog. She shares these incredible stories with me! I just want everyone one hear them! She commented that I could be Watson to her Sherlock. She could live the life that God’s given her and I could report on it. Somehow, I think that she figured since she wasn’t here, life would stop for me. (Her dad and 4 brothers might take offense at that, but as the only girl, she gets a lot of leeway.) So there you go. The blog will probably be more “Travels” than “Wisdom,” but I’ll start typing and we’ll see what happens.

    I’ll start this by saying that the trip was in God’s timing, not mine. As usual. My plan was to go in May and get home just in time for Mother’s Day. That way the boys would REALLY appreciate me. But when Dave started looking at his miles, it worked out that he could send me business class a month earlier. Of course, I’d have to fly through Frankfurt but business class sounded really good so why not? Then we got the actual dates. It came right after a very busy time for our family. We wrapped up our 6th performance of “The King and I” on Sunday, April 9th, cleaned up the church on Monday, April 10th, and I was on the plane Tuesday, April 11th. It worked out perfectly because I was too tired to be stressed about the travel part.

    I got on the plane (“Hello, Mrs. Greenidge. Would you like orange juice, water, or champagne while we wait to take off? Here’s a menu. I’ll be by later to hear your selections."), had a nice meal, reclined the seat all the way back, put in my head phones, and slept. Colony House, Switchfoot, and John Forman sang me across the ocean.

    Customs was a new experience but not a bad one. The international travelers in my family told me to keep answers short and clear. I might have said a little to much. When the scary man sitting on a platform where I had to look up to him, asked me why I was in London, I said, “To visit my daughter.” So far so good. “Why is your daughter here?” That one caught me a little off guard. “Oh! She’s interning with LCM in Central London. It’s a...” I was getting ready to continue when he rolled his eyes, stamped my passport, and told me to move on.

    Again, my wise, world traveling husband helped me out by encouraging me to pack carry on, so I didn’t have to deal with baggage claim. I get through the gate and there she is! My Neeka! (Yes, it’s one of her many nicknames. Don’t ask me why. We started calling her that when she was a baby, and it stuck. It’s short for “Corneeka,” A nickname for Cornelia. Our family is a little wacky when it comes to nicknames.”)
    Back to the travels...Corrie has learned to have people take time to eat before the long tube ride to the hostel where she lives. (More on the hostel later.) We had some tea – London, right – and a snack. Then it’s on to the tube, after putting money on our oyster cards. Corrie laughed at me because I kept comparing the Tube to the El in Chicago. The Tube is wider and cleaner, just sayin’. She planned the route so that when we exited the station, the first thing I saw was the Tower of London. Very cool. Sad history but amazing architecture. Her goal at this point was to keep me awake, so we walked across Tower Bridge to get to the hostel, exchanged gifts, went for another walk, and grabbed Thai food for dinner. (Because, I hadn’t been exposed to enough Thai culture lately.) We stopped by a grocery store then headed back to the hostel. After she cleaned the bathrooms (it was her turn), I got a shower and crashed for the night.

    There you go – day one. Don’t worry. I’m not going to do any other days like this. One reason is because it all runs together. We would wake up in the morning, decide what we wanted to do that day, and go from there. There were only two things scheduled, so we had plenty of time to rest. The entire trip was excellent, but there are several that really stand out.  

    The first one was having Good Friday dinner with Yordan and Kalina. I also got to meet their lovely daughter, Pavlina. Corrie knows me well,  so was concerned that I would be anxious about being thrown into a new situation. I had total peace about having dinner with them. They love Jesus and enjoy my daughter. It doesn’t get much better than that! We had tea, snacks, dinner, and dessert while conversing over a couple of different languages and more than a couple of different cultures. A friend of Kalina’s from medical school was visiting from Bulgaria. She doesn’t speak as much English as Yordan and Kalina, but I think she understands quite a bit. She laughed and seemed to enjoy the conversation, with Yordan and Kalina providing translation for all of us. We spent several hours there and I could have stayed longer, except for the whole jet lag thing. Corrie told me once that this is the couple that she could picture Dave and I sitting on our back porch discussing Jesus, kids, life, and missions with...I think that she’s right. I would love to get to know this family better and feel like we only scratched the surface.

    The second scheduled activity was church. After all, it was Easter Sunday! A solid gospel message was presented along with hot cross buns and champagne. You’d have to talk with someone from England to understand the relationship between the church and the government. Evidently, separation of the two is not a bad thing. A survey was taken that week of people who regularly attend church in England. The question was asked, “What do you associate most with Easter?” Hot cross buns came before the resurrection of Jesus. A definite mission field and in the church.

The one thing I regret is not visiting Ridley Christian Center. Samuel got to spend some time there in January and meet the people. The time just seemed to get away from us.

Other adventures/highlights:

-Many walks along the Thames

-Watching Beauty and the Beast with Angelica and Corrie, then going out for a fabulous curry dinner

-Dumping American candy on Elie’s bed

-Discussing food and Lord of the Rings with Quinn

-Getting to meet Aaron who spent his first 12 years in Longmont (It IS a small world)

-Getting to meet Jonathon who was recovering from a cold and not catching me at my best.

-Going to see a west end musical “Half a Six Pence”

-Having the traditional fish and chips. (I didn’t need to eat anything else the rest of the day.)
-Watching a couple of movies and Big Bang Theory while eating pizza and ice cream.

-Finding Harley t-shirts for cousin John 

-Seeing Buckingham Palace but really just needing to find a toilet.

-Paying to use one in St. James Park

-A lot of walking, talking, praying, and even a little crying with one of my all time favorite people

This ends TRAVELS WITH TAMMY.

I’ll do another one that covers Corrie and WISDOM FROM WATSON.

Corrie said she’s looking forward to it...”Watson understood and appreciated Sherlock’s genius.”

Her many adventures will be coming your way soon. Hopefully, I’ll do the title justice.

North Devon

If any of you are curious as to where you can find one of the most beautiful places on Earth, I recommend North Devon. I spent a four-day weekend in Ilfracombe with my friend Elie and her family, running barefoot on the tors, exploring the coast, and relaxing on the beach. It was a wonderful time to enjoy God's people and His creation. Now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.