Catchphrase in Catford

We started this weekend with family dinner on Friday night at the William Booth College where the other volunteers are staying. This has been a pretty typical Friday activity since we've been here. We made breakfast for dinner which, despite having very different breakfast meats here, turned out well. On our way home there was a fox sneaking around our neighbors' garden that seemed very interested in us, for some reason. On Sunday we went to a smaller corps in Catford. We've been going to Regent Hall until the summer holiday season ended. The UK is very much like the US in that the summer months are often sparse in regards to church attendance because of summer programs, vacations, and whatever else happens in the summer here. Catford isn't exactly close to where we're staying (about 75 minutes by train, bus, and walking), but Eddie and Kathy go there and we were invited over to their place afterward for free lunch so we couldn't pass it up. The Catford Corps is indeed small but it reminded us of the Hilo Temple Corps in Hawaii, which made it feel very homey. I played in the band ,which was mostly made up of members from the Congress Team. Despite our small size we managed to play "I'll Go in the Strength of the Lord" decently, which is difficult as far as tune book songs go.

After church we went to the Hobgood's for lunch. We had a tasty combination of American and English food and then recovered with a game of Catchphrase. Spending our Sunday only doing this after a Saturday of even less activity made for a rather relaxing weekend. No cool pictures of Londony stuff, though...

Today we went to the East End of London, where the Salvation Army started. We started at the Quaker burial grounds where William Booth gave led his first meeting as the new leader of the Christian Mission. We then went to the Blind Beggar where Booth first engaged the Mission he would later turn into The Salvation Army. We went to the burial grounds first because of geographic convenience. We continued through Whitechapel and the bustling market to where there is a bust of William Booth and, a little farther, a full statue. There is also a huge mural on the side of one of the buildings with significant figures from British history like the royal family, a man that looked to me like Charles Darwin, and William Booth. We also visited a church plant of the Clapton Corps, which serves during the week as a cafe and charity shop. Our last location was Abney Park where William and Catherine Booth (along with several other well known Army leaders) are buried. The park itself is old and frankly rather creepy looking because it was privately owned by a company that eventually went bankrupt and then for some time was left without care. It's now a nature preserve but remains pretty overgrown. In a way, that fact adds to the tranquility of the cemetery and makes it feel like you're in on a secret knowing that so many important people are buried there. I only took one photo on our tour... the rest is video which will most likely be on my next video blog on savn.tv.

-Mejee

 The particularly interested fox pup. Or kit. Or cub.

 The under £1 coins which make up a shield. Just an interesting fact about the currency.

The Boundless 8 in front of William Booth's statue at Mile End.