Hello from Watford!

Alright, so here I am! Finally here in England with Tyler!!!! First of all, I have to point out: it's currently 9:20pm here and it's SO light outside. It looks as if it's about 6pm. Crazy! But so far, I am having a BLAST! We have gone all around Watford, gone to St. Albans to see the cathedral and city, went and visited his work offices...so many things! And still to come: two days in London, a day in Paris, a church BBQ, etc. WOW. It's been remarkable. Also, just to note...Tyler walks more in a day than I probably have in my entire 19 years combined. It's amazing. My feet hurt so badly at the end of the day. But I guess that's what you have to do when you don't have a car in a foreign country! :) It's also funny how not foreign this place is to him. I'm constantly taking pictures of everything, wanting to try new foods, amazed at all the buildings, immaturely smirk when people say "toilet" instead of "bathroom", so on and so forth. But it's so normal for him. He doesn't have to read a map to figure out the train and which station to get off at. He knows all the secret routes to places. He's even become friends with so many coffee/restaurant owners after visiting so often. I'm amazed at how many times we've been walking down the street or eating lunch and he gets up to go talk to someone he knows. It feels like I'm with my grandpa in Ventura all over again.

It's also been amazing to be around the people from his church. I have yet to go to a service or even see the church building, but just meeting the people...they all have been remarkable. I went to a cell group the other night, which is essentially just like a small group or Bible study and LOVED it. Even though I didn't know anyone there, I felt so comfortable. So many people went out of their way to talk to me and get to know me. That seems to be the theme for all of the people here. Even getting picked up from the airport on Sunday, Lydia waited in her car for nearly an hour and a half for Tyler to get me. The people here are just so selfless and giving. It seems like this is how the church should be. And at that cell group, we did a time of musical worship and it just seemed like every single person in that room was pouring out their soul. It wasn't that they were singing because everyone else was or because it was "time" to do it, but it was this deep desire they had to just praise the Lord. It was one of the few times in my life that I've seen that. And it made me want it.

Sure, I can do good deeds and participate in church services like the best of 'em, but there are so many times that my heart is just not in it at all. And I think God brought me to that cell group to remind me of how glorious that feeling can be. To bring me back to the heart of worship.

Needless to say, it's been a pretty incredible trip so far. About halfway done. It's been absolutely wonderful being with Tyler again. He was in the airport with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and I thought my heart was going to explode. :) And while we were planning our day in Paris tomorrow for my birthday, I decided that I am the luckiest girl alive to be doing this whole trip. It's a pretty great reward for a year apart. :)