Setting Foot in Europe- Sixth-Ninth Day: Isle of Wight

We took a ferryboat to cross the sea to get to the Isle of Wight from Portsmouth with our friends (the family who invited us to the UK?). Isabelle was so thrilled for her first ferryboat ride. Pastor Andy and his wife met us at the pier and drove us to Totland. Our friends stayed at their house. Paul, Izzy and I stayed at one very sweet lady's house, who is also Pastor Andy's church member. We are so grateful to God for bringing us to very generous hosts.




The house where we stayed at was a beautiful one on a hill. It's got a huge picture window in the dinning space. From it we could see the beach area.




Visiting Carrisbrooke Castle... We rode a double-deck bus from Totland to Carrisbrooke to check out the castle where King Charles was imprisoned. Princess Beatrice made it her home when she was governor of the Isle of Wight.

Climbing the hill to see the castle... with our friends.




Jack, the donkey, was the one that did the walking that day to show the tourists how donkeys helped with turning the wheel to get water from the deep well.


Newport City
We also spent a day exploring the city. It is located in the middle part of the island. It's a pretty small city but I think I heard someone saying that it is where the people in the Isle of Wight do some shopping. We checked out their shopping places and coffee shops...


My Birthday...
We were still in Totland, Isle of Wight on my birthday on the 21st. Our friends and Paul and I were asked to speak at Pastor Andy's church. The congregation also greeted me a Happy Birthday after the service. We had lunch at Pastor Andy's house. His wife made Pavlova! I found the dessert very yummy and promised to try to make it when I got home. For my birthday, Paul gave lots of red roses and chocolates! He knows I am a chocolate monster. :)



Izzy and our beautiful hostess in Totland, Isle of Wight. Our little girl really enjoyed her morning chore at the house... feeding the fish and birds in the backyard.

Setting Foot in Europe- Fifth-Sixth Day: Portsmouth

The conference in Hoddesdon was concluded after lunch on the 17th of February. We then headed down to Portsmouth. It's 2-hour overground train ride south of London. Two sweet Christian couples and a generous widow hosted us there. It was such a blessing to get to meet and know them. Our time with them was spent mostly on sharing testimonies, praying together, eating their delicious English food, including Merigues. I really wondered why Meringues didn't get to America. Anyway, our hosts fed us like we were kings. I've never eaten that much in my entire life... (well, it's just to say, I ate like crazy there!)

Setting Foot in Europe- Third-Fifth Day: Hoddesdon

On on our Day 3 to Day 5, we were at High Leigh Conference Center in Hoddesdon, about 30 minutes away from the center of London, for the 3-day leadership training of the Mongolian Christian Fellowship in the UK. Paul and I spoke at the said training for a few times. Paul concentrated on Evangelism and True and False Conversion, while I was teaching on how to do Inductive Bible Study. We felt so blessed to be able to share what the Lord has blessed our lives so much with. I would say that it was a pure joy to be able to speak on topics that we both have practiced (and mastered?) over the years.



Special dinner with special people...

Meet the conference coordinators...


The worship leader...

Izzy's English-speaking new friends in the UK...

The conference venue... (Can you see Izzy?)

Setting Foot in Europe- Second Day: London

It was a Sunday... the first thing we did was go to church. Paul found Charles Spurgeon's church, so we went and brought our my friend (and host)Gantuul, and her daughter, Angie, with us.


Rev. Masters, the pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle... Behind us is the picture of Charles Spurgeon.

Both Paul and I were so blessed at the Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spurgeon's church). The church is huge! The service was so simple and God-centered! There was no choir... no band either, just one piano... but during the worship time, it sounded like the Thousand Choir of Minneapolis was there! Meaning, everyone sang! Rev. Masters (the pastor) led the entire service. Nobody else was on stage but him. He was a very simple man but when he spoke, it was BEAUTIFUL! He preached inductively and prayed in KJV English for about 20 minutes... and everybody was silently praying with him! It's AWESOME! Paul and I realized how churches in America have put aside the importance of fervent prayers during services. We were in tears... the prayer has really touched our hearts! There was complete reverence for God's presence in that church. There was no hint of entertainment. Oh, how blessed we are to find a church like that!

For lunch that day we ate at... McDonald's in Piccadilly Circus. Our hosts wanted to do shopping at the Gap store to buy some presents for Izzy. McDonald's was right next to the store, so it was convenient... and weird!



We spent the rest of the day checking out a few landmarks of London, like the Big Ben and the London Eye. Riding the London Eye was sort of enough for us to see the entire area. It's an old city with beautiful European architecture. Coming from Minnesota, I found London to be not as clean. But it's fun!

The Big Ben

The Parliament Building

The London Eye





A day is not complete without coffee. My friend (and host), Gantuul, also loves coffee, so it's fun! Caffee Nero is everywhere in London. I really tried to avoid Starbucks. It's actually strange to see Starbucks there. I think I just didn't want to see it there. I don't know. Anyway...

Setting Foot in Europe- First Day: London

I am now blogging at our friends' house in Stalybridge, UK. We are staying here for 5 days. Stalybridge is just about 10 minutes overground train ride to Manchester Piccadilly.

What can I say? I've never really strongly desired to visit Europe before. The door just got opened for us and everything fell into place!

London is a such a lovely place! It's got a feeling of New York but with a fantastic European architecture. I am especially blown away by the boulevard with a sweeping curve at Regent Street! It is awesome!!! I feel a little bit disappointed that we didn't get to spend enough time in Oxford and Regent streets to take photos. I just thought shopping in London is out of the question for me... and funny... being that I came from the place where the biggest mall of America is just 10 minutes drive from us.

Anyway, we got here on Saturday (February 13th). One of my very good friends, her daughter and their church friend came to pick us up at Heathrow Airport. They brought us to Mitre Hotel in Paddington straight away so we could kind of rest before we explored the city of London. They gave us our Oyster cards and so it was easier to just hop in the train and go.

Our first day was pretty much resting at our hotel, eating out at one of the Aberdeen Steak Houses in Piccadilly Circus, underground train rides and trying to cross one of the London bridges. It was freezing cold that night! So, we decided to go back to our hotel and retire. I was amazed how easy to get to places with the underground train.

That was our Day One in London.

The secret of having a super nice pre-schooler in a 9-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean is Stompie, the elephant and gum!


Izzy was excited to see Angie for the first time.


Izzy's mommy was so happy to see her very thoughtful friend, Tuul.


Taking the underground train in London for the first time!


In the train... Paul and Izzy didn't seem to have a bad jet lag.


Our first hotel, The Mitre Hotel in Paddington.


What did they put in this water to cost it $9?


Dining out at Aberdeen Steak Houses...


Eating up our most expensive dinner ever!



Help me figure out what I was supposed to do with two different faucets on the sink?



Exploring one of the London Bridges...

London

Wow, it's been like forever since my last post here. I've been so busy with other activities (more important than blogging, obviously!) and other hobbies. I know I have other hobbies that I want to make monies! Hence, I kind of neglected this one. I still hope to monetize this blog and my other blogs someday! ;)

Anyway, we have an invitation to do special lectures in London next month. My former boss/friend and his family invited us over. So off to the land of the queen in less than a month from today! I am so excited for this trip. It's gonna be my first time to Europe! I've been to quite a few countries in Asia but never to Europe yet. Our trip is pretty set, including our very specific itinerary.

Here are some of the places that we will be visiting: London, Isle of Wight, Manchester and Scotland. We made sure that we will be in London while I celebrated my _th birthday! And speaking of my birthday, I still want to eat at a restaurant where I have an access to the view of the London bridge. And yes, I will try to sing the famous children song, "London bridge". I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but it will for sure bring back childhood memories I have with my sister. We played that game growing up a million times!

Seriously though, I am just glad that we have this opportunity to help train church leaders of this new Mongolian church that our friend has started. It's quite impressive that this church has just been planted for not even a year yet, but they already expect 30 delegates to be at this conference. God's Kingdom keeps on advancing!

Oh, and we will also be meeting two of my cousins who are based in London. I haven't seen them for quite sometime. So, that is something I am looking forward to as well.

Signing off... for now.

Merry Christmas 2009

What a joy it is to remember the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ -- that He came to save those who repent of their sins and trust in Him; and that He is coming back again to complete the eternal redemption of His people!

2009 was a full year for our family. We started it with our bi-yearly vacation to the Philippines in January. We got to visit our Filipino side of the family. It was wonderful to see every one healthy and happy! Papa and Mama (76 and 66 years old) celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. We truly thank God for blessing my parents with a beautiful marriage! On the last few days of our 21-day trip, we led a conference of 120 pastors and church leaders. We spoke on apologetics regarding true and false conversion and use of the law in biblical evangelism.

Late this summer, we finally got rid of our purple carpet! We updated our house. The renovation went well and we are very satisfied of how it turned out. Paul worked so hard and excellently in lacquering our woodwork and repainting our walls. Love the wide linen white wood trims! The red kitchen! The humble gold living room walls! The ice blue master’s bedroom! Izzy loves her prominent pink room! And yes, we love our new pattern-textured light gold carpet!

Last month, a follicular nodule in my thyroid was removed through surgery. It was scary being that it was my first time to undergo a general anesthesia. But it turned out well. My surgeon did a wonderful job! I am so blessed to have the most loving and supportive family, friends and church! Surely, God’s hand has been upon me, in healing me and helping me learn to trust Him more than I ever did before.

We can’t thank God enough for all the blessings He has poured upon us. Isabelle turned 3 and she sure is a darling! She has just started to pray on her own for her meals and before bedtime. She loves to sing and dance. She still loves Dora and still lines up stuff in the house. Oh, and she had her first (ever) stage performance this year. She was in a Charlie Brown Christmas play at our church as a Woodstock. It was so fun to see her perform! On the other hand, Paul’s painting business is still blessed with jobs even with our present economy. Paul and I continue to desire to grow in the Lord and be used for His glory. We enjoy our regular witness trips to Crystal Lake Beach and every opportunity we have to speak to people.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family!
Paul and Dina and Isabelle