So far, this has been a trip of mixed emotions. This morning Les took me to Over-Stratton, which is one of the little village churches on my old circuit. They have a weekly “coffee morning” and since Margaret was still in the hospital the two of us went.


It was fun to see them – that church still remembers me as that crazy American who washed the children’s feet! I took a service where I did foot washing and apparently 7 years later they are still talking about it! It was also hard because most of the people I remembered were only half there – either the husband or wife had died. The churches here are unfortunately getting much older without much (if any) new blood. I fear my little circuit (I served four churches) may not be around much longer.
This afternoon we went to the hospital in Taunton hoping that Margaret might be released…and after about three hours of waiting she finally was! Thankfully they didn’t find anything wrong…and I fear that it probably really was all the excitement of looking forward to my visit.
When I was here 2002/2003, I took Fridays as my day off and just about every week Les and Margaret would take me off on some adventure or another and then on Sundays would drive me around between my services (I’d preach once or twice in the morning and then somewhere different in the evenings!). We had wonderful times together, but seven years certainly has them both showing their age – they both turn 80 this year!

Here's Margaret just before we sprung her from the hospital.  It is always interesting to experience medical care in other countries...I know that there are advantages and disadvantages of a national healthcare plan, but it sure was cool to see that Margaret spent 3 days in the hospital, got all the testing she needed, was handed a bag full of prescription medications, and then walked out the door not owing a penny!