You Might Be in England if....

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

So many of you have asked me questions about my trip to England, so I've put together this fun blog for you.

You might be in England if......

• Everyone wants to talk to you because you're from America, and they particularly love your Southern accent.                                                                                         
• People say you're from South Carolina, America.                           
• If everyone you meet has a different accent, even if they live only ten miles apart.

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• If the nickname for Rebecca is Bex.                                                    
• If you meet people from all over the world and all walks of life, including a down-to-earth, beautiful princess from Uganda.                                                                                              
• You can't wear green at weddings because it's considered bad luck.

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• You get to see some of the most beautiful architecture you've ever seen.                                                                             
• If every town and city you visit is unique and has it's own personality.                                                                                         
• You meet some of the kindest people you've ever met in your life (which is saying something coming from a Southerner!)                                                                                 
• If you laugh the most you've ever laughed in your life because everyone has a great sense of humor and loves to laugh.

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• The beaches have some of the biggest sand dunes you've ever seen.                                         
• If a bachelor party is called a stag party and a bachelorette party is called a hen party.                   
• If at your hen and stag party you dress up in outfits suitable for a Halloween or costume party. (In Liverpool, I saw a stag party with a group of men dressed up like superheroes.)

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• If you ask for a biscuit and get a cookie.                                           
• If you ask for for chips and get fries.                                                    
• If the bacon is the best tasting bacon you've ever had in your life, and it makes American bacon look like malnourished swine.                                                                  
• If you're told American pancakes are actually Scottish pancakes since they're so thick.                                                    
• If you get invited for tea and find it's actually dinner, and there are no cucumber sandwiches involved.

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• Everyone thinks Prince Charles is not Prince Harry's biological father.                                             
• If everyone has beautiful gardens in their back yards.                                                                            
• If there's absolutely no signage to help you get around. (This is especially true in London, which may result in you and your friend having a "Run, Forest, Run!"/"Chariots of Fire" moment to catch the bus AKA coach back to Liverpool.)

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• If the television show "Dancing with the Stars" is called "Strictly Come Dancing" and Len Goodman is known as the kind, easy-going judge.                                                                                                                                                                         
  
• If McDonald's is much more posh (English word for fancy) than those in the U.S., and they have a much better selection of food on their menu.                                                                      
• If you make many new friends, and you look forward to the day you can return.

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If you had told me six months ago I would have the best experience of my life to date in England, I would have said, "You're crazy!" My life has been anything but easy. In my twenty-nine short years of living, I have endured more suffering and pain than many people experience in a lifetime. Life has been incredibly hard, yet the older I get, the more I realize just how good my God really is. He took me across the Atlantic to a country I never thought about visiting to show me that He still has great, wonderful plans for my life. He showed me that He can use anything for His glory, including three diseases in one woman's body. 

Many of you were faithful to pray for me on this trip, and I want to thank you. I might have been able to go on a two-week trip to England, but my illnesses also went with me. There were days I wondered if I could physically do what had been planned, but God answered your prayers and gave me the strength and energy to do everything. Your prayers, emails, and Facebook messages brought me great joy every single day. Thank you!

And for those who wonder if God can ever do anything like this for you, I want to encourage you to not give up hope. We serve a mighty God. He can open doors that no man can shut. He is not limited by time, money, or sickness. He is the God of joy, and I pray you will see Him at work in your life in big, powerful ways. 

"So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?.....None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." ~ Romans 8:31-33,38-39 (The Message)


*Slideshow of a few more of my favorite pictures from the trip below.