Journey in the U.K. : 7th May - 21st June 2016 (Forge Trip: Owen Ladd)

Forge Trip in the United Kingdom

(Owen Ladd)

At the start of the Journey, we prepared as lightweight as possible deciding not to take camping equipment and rather rely on faith to provide accommodation despite a low budget for the U.K. of £1400 for 4 people. The main costs of the Journey was transport and accommodation and at the end of the journey, there remained £ 10 in the budget.

The 4 of us AiJee, SeungAe, Yechan and me (Owen) travelled to Cardiff first of all. At Cardiff we acquired tourist maps and decided to each mark on the map anywhere we felt led to go to. I and Yechan both felt to go to an area on the map which had an embankment and a cycle track. When we arrived SeungAe signalled to an elderly lady through the window if we could stay at her house and she nodded. Her name was Tien, she was Vietnamese and she could not speak English. She lived alone and we discovered more about her by SeungAe and her sign language.

She had a son who possibly was a businessman nearby and she was visited by carers who I doubt could speak English. She tried to give us clothes and money but we kept refusing however in the end we accepted £5 each and an extra £5 for me and SeungAe’s future child. She seemed very lonely but she had a picture of Jesus on the wall that she seemed to think the world of. So we encouraged her and left the next day. During our stay in Cardiff, we visited various buildings which all seemed to be half closed such as museum and welsh government. The welsh government brought allot of hope to me about Wales being a very open building designed around a tree of knowledge with glass walls and the assembly meetings underneath at the roots of the tree which could be viewed from above and walked into when nothing was being held. There was a café in the building and we were encouraged to meet friends there for coffee as the building was designed to be open and clear.

The reason why we travelled to Cardiff was because SeungAe had heard from God to go to the heart of Wales and Kathy suggested it was in Cardiff. In the government building in the centre of the assembly, there was a circle of dots which represented people or their ideas and this circle was called “heart of wales.” It was all made in glass. During our visit, they were choosing their lead person and they had just changed around all their members who were practicing their button pushing so we were not allowed in the actual assembly room. In the science building nearby I tested a replica of gallileo’s telescope, watched Jupiter orbiting the sun live and had a picture taken of me and seungae in a cardboard cutout of an astronaught. In Cardiff we also met a homeless man named Wayne but he was an atheist.

We travelled to Llantwit major North of Cardiff and exercised faith by asking God what to do and then doing. This tested us and was interesting. I felt led myself to walk up and down the main road which I did but I don’t know if it in itself did anything other than me being obedient. I have an unsatisfied feeling about this place however but I cannot explain why. We visited a local church which started the first university that trained monks which were sent out as missionaries and prayed for a local man who worked or volunteered there.

While waiting for the transport back to Cardiff Yetchan was seen by many cars relieving himself as he had chosen a spot above a traffic light where cars suddenly gathered which was a highlight of llantwit major for me as it was a frustrating place in many ways because we could see weaknesses in ourselves and how we felt reserved and awkward in approaching people. After visiting that place we went back to Cardiff and then to London.

  In London, we prayed outside Buckingham palace and Westminster. The aim of the prayer tended to be towards the queen. It was very Interesting place to visit but we didn’t enter any buildings of political importance rather we prayed outside. There was a demonstration about bringing more houses for people on benefits outside of the government building. Around about this time, I had a word of knowledge that the queen had a dream. I heard what she had dreamed and had the interpretation. It started with the queen standing at the bank of the river and four babies crawled by. The babies began to fight and struggle with one another and they all fell into the river, even the last was dragged in by the ankle. When they all seemed to have drowned they rose up out of the water as adults able to stand tall above the water level. But the river grew fierce and they had to link arms to not be swept away. The interpretation to this dream was that each main country in the UK was to become independent, grow then become united. This theme carried with me throughout the journey and where we visited.

We then travelled to Cambridge and decided to choose on the map where to go and once we reached the places on the map we prayed and travelled together and individually depending on how we were led. Cambridge during school hours is extremely quiet with allot of bicycles but hardly anyone ringing a bell or beeping a horn. I done allot of walking and yetchan studied ducks and how they acted as a family. The mum led and the chicks followed and any chicks wandering behind were pecked by the dad to keep up and not talk to human strangers. We met one lady at a bus stop and talked to her about God but I think she already knew we just cared for her and kept her company.

Next we travelled to York via leeds. Most of our trips were cheaper because we used megabus. In York I briefly visited the railway museum with Yetchan which was excellent and someday I will take my brother there. We were picked up by Vivian and Jeff and taken to their home where they kindly looked after us. We visited a place called Hollybush church which was a barn converted to worship God etc. and it was a very similar place to Bobs barn where I work but 50 years older maybe in its development. It was very interesting to visit there and the people were very kind and gave us free books etc. I will try to keep in touch there if possible. We also went for a day out in york and Vivian cheekily asked for all of us to have a free trip on the tour boat through york to which the man agreed. She explained we were Christian missionaries and the price was normally something like 10 pound per person so that was amazing. We prayed in the abbey there in york and Vivian thought highly and respectfully of the main bishop there who is very influential in the church of England and seems to be a hope to invest in. We enjoyed fellowship with Vivian and Jeff but we could not stay too long as time was short. I really enjoyed seeing Vivian’s spirit which was a childlike and innocence joy which we all need to show in order to show Jesus in us.

Jeff took us later to Durham and we travelled from there to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is quite a gothic city with allot going on. The buildings can be quite impressive but there is a forgotten feel to the place when it comes to its spiritual inheritance. We decided to travel through this city very simply by just choosing left or right as we walked by faith. We called it wandering in the morning before we headed out. As we walked we started to feel lost and felt maybe this was not a good idea and on our way we saw a street performer who captured his audience very persuasively but he was very funny so we watched we also saw anti-Semitism propaganda being given out in the street with a live band being played to make them seem acceptable. After that we travelled down back alleys and as we were about to change our wandering method we saw a cows backside high up in a wall in front of us made of plastic which led our gaze to another sign which said “Not all those who wander are lost”.

This encouraged us so we followed on from there and soon came to the area of the government and royal buildings which are side by side. We did not enter any of these buildings on that day but we climbed the mountain behind them on a path past an old well to a place where we thought was high enough which when we stopped and looked at the hill opposite looked exactly like Aijee’s drawing which she had drawn for Vivian before the trip.

The next day we visited inside the Scottish houses of Parliament which were designed to look like leaves that seemed cut of and had fallen to the ground. The building was pretty ugly and even the Scottish seemed to agree. The theme inside the Government house seemed to be of independence as the history of the parliament was one of war and independent struggle with the English and its monarchy however this more modern independence struggle is focused on the English government not the monarchy which is shown by the building being next to a royal residence and the Queen seems to have supported the Scottish quite allot.

Outside the Parliament was a Scottish independence camp which was comprised of caravans and tents with a couple of long term residents and many passers by. We talked to the people there and explained our journey and what we were praying and saw their views to be very interesting. I had a chance to express conspiracies which I had been told and thought there was no point in knowing as a way of gaining their trust and interest with an introduction of God through that. They were friendly and we gave them food and he made us tea.

After Edinburgh we travelled to Aberdeen and on the journey we each sat next to strangers on the bus as that was how it worked out. I made friends with the lady next to me and she was a retired carer and she taught me allot on scottish views on the other side of independence and about caring for the elderly which I always miss due to ignorance on my part. Seungae talked to the lady next to her who was elderly who the carer I was next to knew and she witnessed to her. The lady next to me was very happy that my wife was in conversation with her and said that will make her day. The lady next to me was also the owner of a bed and breakfast somewhere deeper in Scotland and it would have been interesting to explore a deeper trip in Scotland had we more time as we were praying about travelling deeper into places like the Shetland islands and inverness.

When we arrived at Aberdeen the verse of the day was about the fat cows that pharaoh had seen and Joseph was going to interperate. So I felt that we should go to a church that was the fat of Aberdeen and very much alive. So I googled it and found the first church that was open and doing something at that time and found kings community church. We travelled to the church and met people inside and explained what we were doing and met briefly with the main pastor but mostly with Pastor Thomas Matthew who had been led to that church in following God and to serve there. We became friends and he took us out to food which was very kind of him and we hope to see him again in the future. We prayed with him inside the main part of the church for the fat of the land and for the church etc.

In Aberdeen we stayed at a bed and breakfast called the applewood b&b and we were made very welcome by the owner. She explained about the relatively recent loss of jobs in the local oil industry job lines and how Aberdeen was experiencing a depression because of it.

After Aberdeen we discussed travelling to places like Inverness, Shetland Isles and Isle of Sky and such but in the end we decided not to continue. So we headed towards Glasgow and prayed there and then to Belfast in Northern Ireland. We stayed in a Hostel in Northern Ireland and talked and witnessed to some there and enjoyed. We decided to go to the Irish Government place called Stormont. It took us two hours to walk there and back as our budget was low. W hen we arrived the security staff were very friendly and relaxed Irish. It put me at ease and if I were a terrorist I would have changed my mind by the time I passed through security. We missed the main tour but caught the end of it and talked to the tour guide about many relationships based questions of Ireland and Great Britain and saw some new and unexpected things in Stormont. Because we missed the tour one of the security staff showed us around and explained things about the rooms and how it was before Ireland changed and after the Southern Ireland Independence. The main thing that was shown about the more modern Government room is that there are no royal symbols like in the other UK Governments. They wear suits not robes and if they had any royal symbolism it would be seen as bias. The Government there is still made up of people who want to be in great Britain and out however there are more who want in that is why they are still northern ireland in great Britain. But it does not mean that it is wholly for staying in the uk.

The feeling towards monarchy in Northern Ireland seems still a bit rough. In Scotland they now blame the English more than monarchy and perhaps this is true in Northern Ireland but they also may feel resentment to monarchy. I heard quite allot that she is the English queen and she was not referred to as the british queen. It is not a healthy situation as all countries want to blame the motre dominant thing wether it seems to be England of the queen however they are not to blame. There is some hurt that is strangely integrated into Britain that is now being shown which may cause individual independence or may bring something up to the surface that may cause unification eventually. Anyway if Britain is based on a foundation of wars that have made unification then it will not last. However if the countries choose freely to become united Britain perhaps after separation then it will become far more beautiful than even before depending on God’s blessing. I enjoyed Northern Ireland in seeing the government and where Britain is or may be.

After Northern Ireland we travelled to Glasgow, London, Cardiff then home. On the Journey I found a change in myself. At the start of the Journey in the Cardiff bus stop there were a group of young guys who were into drugs or something and I felt a barrier in my heart towards them. On the return in the same bus stop a very ill young man who had become sick through drink came up to me and sat beside me closely. Instead of a barrier in my heart I knew this guy needed to be looked after and the reason why he sat close because he was cold and needed help. He was not scared of me he was looking for help and somehow he knew I would. He was on his own and thrown out because he was ill and no1 would help him. He was not allowed in anywhere like mcdonalds or such or even a taxi because he was ill. There was no shelter and even the bus shelter was very open. There was nowhere for him to go. Eventually together we managed to get him a taxi home and he was safe. That was possibly the best part of the trip for me that he needed me and for once I didn’t fail.

We got home safe and weeks later (as I am extremely late writing my report) our united Britain has decided to come out of the EU! This is likely to cause Scotland and northern Ireland to become independent but interestingly probably not Wales as Wales may well stand with England. Maybe this is because Wales did not fight England so much in its history and perhaps England’ and Wales’ relationship was based more on an acceptance of each other as neighbours than with the other countries. However in Wales and England there are still hurts that need reconciling even if it is to a smaller degree. I love England and Wales and I love the English because they are maybe similar to me as I was raised with English mum and even English friends. My heart is for the truth of the UK to be shown clearly that britain is different and so is the monarchy and that there can be a relationship based UK if hurts can be found out and dealt with. I do rest allot of hope in the Monarchy as despite the history of war in the UK the monarchy especially the queen stands for what is right in the UK and for the Truth in Jesus. She wants a Great Britain back more than anyone and works hard for it.

During the Journey I experienced many things and enjoyed spending time with my friends. I held Yetchan’s hand across the road and watched Aijee almost walk into lampposts while holding maps, I saw SeungAe almost get run over by cars, shopping trolleys and bicycles but still we survived. Sometimes we may have been obstructions to others but maybe that is what we needed to be. God loves the UK and if we choose it we can have a new and foundationally strong country based on country relationships that are chosen not forced.