7/14 - Official researching

What I did:

I put on a shirt this morning and looked down to see it almost still folded over because of the large amount of wrinkles. So I did the logical thing and first said it doesn’t matter and just went on. But then I thought again and decided I could just put on a different, non-wrinkled shirt. So I did that, and then refolded a lot of my clothes so that they wouldn’t get as wrinkled. Ironing at this point just seems pointless (not that I would have done it at any point on this trip or anytime really).

Then I got ready to make a short train trip into a part of London called Sutton. I was going to meet a guy called Jason who works at a Vineyard church plant. I did not know much of anything about him or Vineyard churches in general besides what I read about online, although I know that there are Vineyard churches in the States too. I got there fine and early enough to grab some lunch and walk down the main street for a little while.

Then I went and met with Jason who is a great guy and apparently very well read (his office was literally stuffed with books). It was good to actually interview someone again officially and structured. It makes me feel like I know what I am doing here and that this project is somehow organized and put together. Kind of like dressing up a cat as a dog for Halloween. It at least seems like something good has happened, even though it is still really a cat.

It was actually a really good interview, and (take it as you will) I can see how Jason is really good in the ministerial position he has now. An hour and a half later I was headed back towards the rail station and got to see a couple of interesting sights of Sutton.


While walking back to the house, I noticed how nice of a day it was. It was right at that time that the clouds are as full as they can get and are dripping out a little bit making the air cool and wet (but not quite humid). The pine trees respond by being as strong and sweet smelling as they can be, and the light breaking just barely out of the clouds on its long journey to the edge of the world made it all pleasant in every sense possible. All in all, it was a nice walk back.

I got back and messed around on Spotify some more which continues to impress me and got a few things in order that were previously out. I just rested the rest of the night, wondering in the back of my mind if it would be worth it to go back into London tonight to see if I could find any Harry Potter craziness, but tired legs, the price of another train ticket, and the silliness of it all convinced me otherwise in the end. Watched some British soaps while finally eating a meal (besides a quick bowl of cereal) at Graham’s again and a little more tv the rest of the night.

What I learned:

Milkshakes are not necessarily the same. I went up to a stand selling burgers and stuff after lunch because it said they had milkshakes. There were some large silver, metal machines that looked like milkshake machines back home, so I ordered one and the lady reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle. She shook it up and gave it to me. I opened up the bottled milkshake, a little shaken as to what happened, but drank it anyway. Not near as good and really just kind of like very slightly chunky milk.

A lot more about Vineyard and Jason’s views on church.

Bowfinger (with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy) is a ridiculous movie.