Moment By Moment Musings
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
