London, ON

We arrived in London, Ontario last night. 13 hours in the car, but a relatively easy trip. We traveled through Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana; Toledo, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan before entering Canada at Windsor, Ontario. I get really nervous at the border check- afraid I will say something weird or wrong! I played it cool this time, except when they asked us if we knew anyone in London and I shook my head no when Roger was saying yes! We decided later, that this is definitely the case- he knows the guys he's talked to there, but I don't! Checked into the hotel after eating at a double decker McDonalds- which the kids thought was really fun.



Cheap gas? I think not- that's $127.7 per liter! 4 Liters per gallon= $5+ per gallon! The dollar menu at McD's is $1.39! Everything here is a little more expensive. The US dollar and the Canadian dollar are at about even right now. The last time we went on mission to Canada, we could get 1/3 more for our dollar. Yikes! Needless to say, we are watching our budget very carefully and looking for deals.



Sam thought this was a funny picture....notice the sign! We stopped for Timbits (donut holes) between church services. Tim Horton's is like McD's in the US. There is one every 1/4 mile! They call it "Timmies". We used to eat at them in Maine after church- yummy soup and sandwiches to0.

We attended two church services this morning. They were very different from each other. The first one was at a large "mega" church that has 2300 people in attendance over the weekend. The service was well done, the building very nice, everything was very pleasant. Of course, we can't help but scope out things, and found it lacking in authenticity. No one greeted us. No one told us where the restrooms were (Nat!). No one pointed us to childcare (though we possessed an 18mo old). The service was smooth. The sermon nice. But that's just it! I'm not sure that Jesus was invited. The bible story (not even Jesus) was presented as a life additive.


Next, we worshiped at a multi-cultural worship service that was help in a secondary school. Much more authentic worship. Many cultures represented- 5 different African countries. Today they celebrated World Refugee Day because many of those present are refugees from their own countries. The Pastor/Elder leading this ministry has a real heart for these people. He told us that 20,000-30,000 people live within about a mile of the school where they are meeting! There are a lot of high rise apartments in the area. So, we enjoyed this experience much more. Isaiah didn't exactly blend in with the other kids!



After church, we went to the city center to walk around. There were a lot of people out and about. The weather was really nice and there were two festivals going on down there. We ended up eating at..... you guessed it- Subway!!! LOL!!! The best part was when the kids asked for American cheese and the young adults guys behind us made fun of us. the. whole.time.we.were.there. Roger talked with them and asked them to friend him on facebook. They were actually very nice!

Tomorrow, we are off to one of the outlying counties around London. We are headed into the areas where we have heard there are no churches. It will be interesting to see if that is true and to try to get a pulse for those communities.