Matt and Chad and I decided to go to an afternoon tea for international students hosted by a couple from the church we have been going to on Sundays (Holy Trinity.) I had noticed the invitation for it in the church bulletin the first week we were here and again yesterday. We decided, what the heck? Let's go. Maybe we will meet some new church friends. So we followed the directions and came to this nice little townhouse with a view into a park. We were expecting that John and Jen Cooper (the hosting couple) would probably be former Cambridge students, maybe in their early 30s or late 20s, with a heart for students since they had been students not that long ago. So, when we get to the address, we made Chad ring the doorbell. (Poor guy always gets put in potentially embarrassing situations by Matt and I. We owe him.)
This sweet little old man opens the door, and he's probably in his late 70s, maybe even early 80s. Not quite what we expected, and we thought we were in the wrong place. However, he welcomed us and ushered us upstairs into his sitting room. We let out a sigh of relief as we saw other students sitting there. We were in the right place. Oh, we were in the right place indeed.
I wish I could tell the stories of all the students there. One girl was from Estonia, another from Mexico, and a couple from the States (GA and FL.) There were guys from Indonesia, Germany, and Ireland. Quite an eclectic mix. Once I met Jen Cooper, I realized that Matt and I had sat right behind this very same sweet older couple at church that morning. I thought they were adorable then, and by the time we left their home, I was thoroughly in love with them.
They stuffed us full of yummy cakes and cookies and biscuits and tea with milk and sugar. It was like the British version of the "Mimi Meals" I've been missing so badly. (A 'Mimi Meal' is one cooked by my mom's mom, affectionately known as my Mimi. Before we left the US, Mimi made some delicious peanut butter bars and confetti cake. My mouth waters just thinking about it.) John made us all introduce ourselves, and later he told us the story of the Passion Flower that he grows at home. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora will tell you the Christian version of how it got its name.) Basically, each part of the flower represents part of the Passion of the Christ. It was a neat little anecdote. Before we left, they took our names and telephone numbers down and gave us their number. They were overly hospitable and just wanted to make sure that we knew that we could call on them anytime if we needed anything at all. I left knowing I had just found my home away from home, my newest set of grandparents.
Even more precious than the way they treated a room full of strangers, was the love story of John and Jenifer. They have been married for 58 years! They were classmates for 5 years during high school. Then, John became an architect and moved to Africa to work as a consultant for the British government. He and Jen wrote letters to each other, and their relationship got pretty serious. They decided that they would not write each other for a year, then they would pray about what God wanted them to do. So they cut off communication. But as soon as that year was up, the first letter that John wrote to Jen was the one in which he asked her to marry him. She said yes! Then, she had to remind her parents who he was in order to get their consent! :) Over the next 58 years, they lived in Uganda and Kenya, and traveled extensively from Indonesia to Austria. That's why they are particularly drawn to making international students feel welcome in the UK. They also rent out houses to students who are unable to get accommodations through the university. Basically, I want to be them in 58 years.
Now, I must tell you about the lady I sat next to for 2 hours. Her name is Paola. She is a super spunky, 74 year old Italian lady who has lived in Cambridge for about 25 years. She is absolutely fascinating. She loves technology, has an ipod, flies RyanAir, and has hip black glasses. She grew up in Italy, but went to a German speaking school, where she also took courses in French. By the time she was 18, she fluently spoke all three languages. She decided she needed to learn English, so she moved to an immersion school in the UK. She met one of the English teachers who was 11 years older than her, and they fell in love. Paola had to move back to Italy, so her new love interest decided to find a job teaching English there. They were married by the time she turned 20. They had their first son when she was 22 (that's younger than me!), and by her 28th birthday, she had 4 sons under the age of 6. When her children were 6, 2.5, a little over 1, and 2.5 months old respectively, they moved to Senegal so Paola's husband could work there. Before settling permanently in the UK, they lived in Stockholm and Bombay. They bought their home in England via post while living in India. I asked her where her sons lived now, which led her to tell me about her oldest son. He passed away from cancer when he was 27. He was a chemical engineer (just like Matt) and had wanted to do water treatment work in underdeveloped nations. She told me that he had become a Christian while he was at university and had gone to Holy Trinity. The whole time he was dying, she said he had such a wonderful outlook, and that was what brought her back to her faith. She had been raised Catholic in Italy, but had kind of fallen away during all her travels. The people at Holy Trinity took care of her when her son died, and so she has been going there ever since.
So, as she is telling me all this, she is tearing up and I am tearing up. Luckily I avoided a complete meltdown (until later when Matt and I got home.) Then Paola goes on to tell me about how her husband died when he was only 61, but if he were still living, they would have been married for 54 years. This woman was just incredible. She wasn't even supposed to have been at this specific tea. One of her sons was going to come visit her from London, but he got a cold and didn't want to travel. (Coincidence? I think not!) By the end of the afternoon, she and I felt as close as family. We exchanged emails, and she promised to take me to coffee and to this art museum that does free concerts on Fridays. She answered all of my questions about where to buy different things around town. I just sat there knowing I was in the presence of an answer to prayers. I obviously didn't come to Cambridge with the intention of finding friends that are 50 years older than me, but somehow I felt in my gut, that these were exactly the people I was supposed to find.
So, how do I know that they are really an answer to prayers? Well, I told my dad this story via Skype, and he relayed it to my mom. Then, before I went to bed last night, I got this email from my mom.
God is so personal, isn't He? He heard my mom's prayer, prompted us to go to some random tea, let Paola's afternoon plans fall through, all so our paths would cross with these peoples'. I cry as I write this because I just feel so humbled that He would pay any attention to our minuscule lives. Who are we that He is mindful of us? I will never forget that afternoon tea. I hope one day to be that couple that has been married for 58 years and is still inviting strangers, no matter their age, into my home. Generational gaps don't exist between believers. God is outside of time, yet He has planned encounters for us down to the minute. There is no reason I should be so loved.
This sweet little old man opens the door, and he's probably in his late 70s, maybe even early 80s. Not quite what we expected, and we thought we were in the wrong place. However, he welcomed us and ushered us upstairs into his sitting room. We let out a sigh of relief as we saw other students sitting there. We were in the right place. Oh, we were in the right place indeed.
I wish I could tell the stories of all the students there. One girl was from Estonia, another from Mexico, and a couple from the States (GA and FL.) There were guys from Indonesia, Germany, and Ireland. Quite an eclectic mix. Once I met Jen Cooper, I realized that Matt and I had sat right behind this very same sweet older couple at church that morning. I thought they were adorable then, and by the time we left their home, I was thoroughly in love with them.
They stuffed us full of yummy cakes and cookies and biscuits and tea with milk and sugar. It was like the British version of the "Mimi Meals" I've been missing so badly. (A 'Mimi Meal' is one cooked by my mom's mom, affectionately known as my Mimi. Before we left the US, Mimi made some delicious peanut butter bars and confetti cake. My mouth waters just thinking about it.) John made us all introduce ourselves, and later he told us the story of the Passion Flower that he grows at home. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora will tell you the Christian version of how it got its name.) Basically, each part of the flower represents part of the Passion of the Christ. It was a neat little anecdote. Before we left, they took our names and telephone numbers down and gave us their number. They were overly hospitable and just wanted to make sure that we knew that we could call on them anytime if we needed anything at all. I left knowing I had just found my home away from home, my newest set of grandparents.
Even more precious than the way they treated a room full of strangers, was the love story of John and Jenifer. They have been married for 58 years! They were classmates for 5 years during high school. Then, John became an architect and moved to Africa to work as a consultant for the British government. He and Jen wrote letters to each other, and their relationship got pretty serious. They decided that they would not write each other for a year, then they would pray about what God wanted them to do. So they cut off communication. But as soon as that year was up, the first letter that John wrote to Jen was the one in which he asked her to marry him. She said yes! Then, she had to remind her parents who he was in order to get their consent! :) Over the next 58 years, they lived in Uganda and Kenya, and traveled extensively from Indonesia to Austria. That's why they are particularly drawn to making international students feel welcome in the UK. They also rent out houses to students who are unable to get accommodations through the university. Basically, I want to be them in 58 years.
Now, I must tell you about the lady I sat next to for 2 hours. Her name is Paola. She is a super spunky, 74 year old Italian lady who has lived in Cambridge for about 25 years. She is absolutely fascinating. She loves technology, has an ipod, flies RyanAir, and has hip black glasses. She grew up in Italy, but went to a German speaking school, where she also took courses in French. By the time she was 18, she fluently spoke all three languages. She decided she needed to learn English, so she moved to an immersion school in the UK. She met one of the English teachers who was 11 years older than her, and they fell in love. Paola had to move back to Italy, so her new love interest decided to find a job teaching English there. They were married by the time she turned 20. They had their first son when she was 22 (that's younger than me!), and by her 28th birthday, she had 4 sons under the age of 6. When her children were 6, 2.5, a little over 1, and 2.5 months old respectively, they moved to Senegal so Paola's husband could work there. Before settling permanently in the UK, they lived in Stockholm and Bombay. They bought their home in England via post while living in India. I asked her where her sons lived now, which led her to tell me about her oldest son. He passed away from cancer when he was 27. He was a chemical engineer (just like Matt) and had wanted to do water treatment work in underdeveloped nations. She told me that he had become a Christian while he was at university and had gone to Holy Trinity. The whole time he was dying, she said he had such a wonderful outlook, and that was what brought her back to her faith. She had been raised Catholic in Italy, but had kind of fallen away during all her travels. The people at Holy Trinity took care of her when her son died, and so she has been going there ever since.
So, as she is telling me all this, she is tearing up and I am tearing up. Luckily I avoided a complete meltdown (until later when Matt and I got home.) Then Paola goes on to tell me about how her husband died when he was only 61, but if he were still living, they would have been married for 54 years. This woman was just incredible. She wasn't even supposed to have been at this specific tea. One of her sons was going to come visit her from London, but he got a cold and didn't want to travel. (Coincidence? I think not!) By the end of the afternoon, she and I felt as close as family. We exchanged emails, and she promised to take me to coffee and to this art museum that does free concerts on Fridays. She answered all of my questions about where to buy different things around town. I just sat there knowing I was in the presence of an answer to prayers. I obviously didn't come to Cambridge with the intention of finding friends that are 50 years older than me, but somehow I felt in my gut, that these were exactly the people I was supposed to find.
So, how do I know that they are really an answer to prayers? Well, I told my dad this story via Skype, and he relayed it to my mom. Then, before I went to bed last night, I got this email from my mom.
"Hey, Dad was telling me about the little couple you met as well as the Italian lady. I just started crying as he was telling me about this because before you all left, I prayed you would find a couple when you got to England that would be like a second set of parents to you like me and dad had with Gary and Mary when we were in Stillwater. There's something comforting knowing that you have someone in a new place with a few years of life experience not to mention the good food that they can make for you (ha). Mary used to cook dinner for me and dad and Gary always helped dad with home fixit things..."
Well now that I am wiping my tears, I think I'm all caught up. What an amazing story and adventure you two are on. God is so good!!
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with Heather and you, Kelsey! That is beyond amazing! I can't say I'm shocked :)
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