SUNDAY & MONDAY

Ed & I were talking and realized that we haven't really shown on this blog about what we actually do for the London Mennonite Centre. We have focused more on the sights and sounds of London which have been great. However, we do work as well and so I would like to journal for a week each month to give you a picture of our lives at the centre.
Sunday, 15th July: We have been here now for five months. When people stop me on the street and ask for directions to somewhere, I actually can tell them. Ed drove a neighbor of ours, some of his musician friends and their equipment to a BB/restuarant outside of London where they were putting on a concert/show and dinner. Johnny (the neighbor) is a professional singer and has done some acting at some of the West London theatres. This would be the equivalent to Broadway in New York. We can often hear him practicing when he has his back door & windows open as our back yards are next to each other. He is a fantastic singer.
I stayed back and went to church as I hadn't been in two weeks. Since Ed took the mini bus, it means we have to walk. This is a 40 min brisk walk one way. It's a good way to get your sense of direction. Afterwards, we often congregate in the lounge on the main floor and talk, play games, etc.
MONDAY, 16th July: Ed and I are at our "posts" by 8:30 or 9am. He sweeps the front porch and steps, the main bathrooms, make sure that the trash is emptied. I (Phyllis) try to look at the email first thing and get all of that answered. I receive all the email that is directed to the LMC and so either answer it or send it to the appropriate people. The mail comes around 10a and I distribute that. Today there is a "Root and Branch" meeting in the lounge. This is a network of Christian organizations in Britian & Ireland committed to shared radical values and vision with respect to anabaptist perspectives. We get the room ready with chairs, charts, coffee, etc. They are there until 1pm and then we clean up afterwards. We are welcome to sit in.
Mon - Fri's I have coffee & biscuits ready for break at 11a where all the staff gather in the kitchen around the table or outside if it is nice. At 12:50 Mon-Fri, we (the staff) have prayers in the chapel for 10 mins. Then it's lunch from 1p-2p. Ed and I are always "on" so to speak as if someone rings the door bell, then we are responsible to answer it. There are others who do if we are out. Also when the phone rings at the Centre, if we are there then we will answer it.
Ed has several little maintenance type things to do around the house and gets those done.
At 4p Mon-Fri, I have tea & biscuits ready for the staff and any guests or visitors that may be there. After tea, Ed wraps up any books that Will (the bookstore manager) has gotten ready to be mailed out from the metanoia book shop which is mostly an on line store.
Tonight is house meal night and we take turns with having the main course. It is our night and so I walk about the equivalent of 5-6 blocks to get some ingredients for spaghetti. At 6:30 we buzz that we are ready and all the people that live at the centre, plus any guests in the guests rooms at the time come for supper and bring whatever they signed up to bring. Tonight we have three guests so we have 16 people around the kitchen table. Lots of conversation goes on and the main topic is Ian's recent trip to the States. He flew with three other friends to Chicago, rented a car and drove to Goshen for three days, then drove through Ohio, stayed in Pennsylvania for awhile then to NYC. He loved it and was impressed. He got to see Amish and was able to do some water colors. Ian is an architect by profession and an artist as his hobby. Often Monday nights are topped off with me playing some scrabble with some of the younger girls, or rook, or other card game.
After 10 or 11p, we check to make sure that all the doors & windows downstairs are closed and locked, and the blinds are drawn and I recheck the calendar to see what is on for the next day. We try to phone Emily as it is around 3p when it is 10p here, but she doesn't have her phone on or is out of range. Then it is soon time for bed.......after checking the email and blog comments of course!