International Easter Rally: Part 10 - The Journey Home

I woke up Thursday morning feeling very tired. It was an intense few days and I was exhausted. It didn't help that I had only gotten a few hours sleep the last couple of nights. Still, I had a big journey ahead, filled with trains, planes and automobile (not in that order) and I was extremely grateful that I had done the journey before and kind of knew what to expect. This trip would be pretty much the same as the one coming in, only in reverse. After a quick piece of that excellent country toast that I had been enjoying all week and a cup of coffee, we climbed into Andy's school van at 8 am. Andy was kind enough to drive the six of us back to the Nuneaton train station. But we weren't leaving until we got our witchabella! It is a Purley tradition to line up and sing this nonsense witchbella song as people depart. It was great fun and I enjoyed it, although I do not know all the words to it and wish that I did. With that, we said a sad goodbye to Purley and our new friends. The Canadian group would be getting a ride to Birmingham to fly out in the afternoon. We caught the train back to Euston station in London and had time to have some lunch before hopping back on the Tube to Heathrow. The Tube to Green Park station was very hot, stuffy and crowded. There were no seats. I feared that we would be standing in this uncomfortable train for the whole hour trip, but as it turned out, most people departed after a couple of station stops and we were able to get a seat. The train from Green Park to Heathrow was much more comfortable, although still warm. We arrived at Heathrow and saw Cody through his check-in and luggage drop in Terminal 1 before we said our goodbyes to him and traveled on foot over to Terminal 3. We checked in, which took a good deal longer and was hard than I expected. I was glad that we had arrived early as we didn't have that much time before we were scheduled to board. The journey through security was uneventful, with the exception of Holly's airport patdown which prompted a new verse to Cody and my Airport Patdown song that we wrote at Purley. We had just enough time to take a run through the duty free shops for last minute gifts and souvenirs and then grab lunch to go as we made our way to the gate. I love my last minute finds - a "mind the gap" cap (in reference to the constant audio reminder on the London underground) and my London tea cozy. Our flight was on time and boarding was easy. The four teens all got to sit together in the middle seat row, which was nice for them. They actually seemed to enjoyed the 7 hour, 30 minute flight to Boston. And I must put a note in here about how well all the teens who traveled with me did. I did not hear one single complaint the entire trip. They were in all ways helpful, thoughtful and considerate to me and to everyone they encountered. When we ran into difficulties or uncertainties, which we certainly did, Celie, Chris, Cody, Holly and Liz were confident, positive and relaxed. I am very proud of all of them, as well as the three Canadian teens, Ashleigh, Joesph, Jordan. Although I did not travel with them I found them to be very polite, gracious and friendly towards me and everyone else throughout the time at Purley. All the SCYL teens were great companions, good travelers and fun to be around. These are teenagers that everyone should be very proud of. We arrived as scheduled into Boston Logan. The trip through immigration and customs was easy for us on this leg. No searches or delays. After a short wait, Chris' mom Patty and brother Caleb arrived to hug and pickup their safely arrived world traveler. Shortly after that, Steve and Mary Bauer arrived to pick the rest of us up. We were tired, but very hungry, so we stopped for Mexican food on the way home. I couldn't help wondering how many Mexican restaurants one might find in England. I don't remember seeing any, but I am sure that there are quite a few. Still, I wished that all our friends in the UK could be here enjoying the food with us. We welcomed ourselves back to Maine on Thursday evening and everyone was home safely by 11 pm. Whew. What a relief and gift from God.

As a final reflection back on this adventure, I can see some real positive and noticeable changes in our SCYL youth program. The new International Swedenborgian League of Youth has been formed and has an active Facebook page. I know that teens are skyping and chatting with each other on both sides of the pond. Conversations are already taking place about future retreats, teen camp exchanges and other visits. The teens are more aware of the Swedenborgian faith in other areas of the world and likely feel less isolated as members of a small denomination. I personally feel hopeful and actively present to our friends in Swedenborgian community in the UK. I see their struggles to make a youth group function and succeed, but also see the beautiful youth leaders and teens in the UK that are excited and energized to be a part of such an incredible faith and church organization. And it was wonderful for me to be able to exchange youth work ideas and methods with other Swedenborgian church youth workers outside of North America. I learned an incredible amount of information, both about youth work and about the issues facing and successful activities of the British Conference.

I close with gratitute to all those that helped make this trip a reality. There are too many to mention them all and with the understanding that I will surely forget some that should not be forgotten, some need to be called out. In Canada, Pam Kesselring, Rev. John Maine and Rev. Alison Longstaff along with the members of the Church of the Good Shepherd board. In the United States, Joyce Fekete (who assisted with funding) and Steve Bauer. In the UK, Rev. Jack Dunion, Rev. Dave Gaffney, Anne Gaffney and their fine staff at Purley, Andy Leather, and Steve and Jenny Jones. Lastly, Rev. Catherine Lauber, who had the faith, confidence and belief that this event was both possible and worthwhile when we first spoke about it over a year and a half ago at Convention 2009, and then again at Convention 2010 when we really decided to go ahead and see if we could make something happen. I am honored to have been a leader of this International Easter Rally event and blessed to be a part of this exciting new group of international youth that from all perspectives, appears to be quite the glorious and heavenly community.