The Offer

23- London, Scotland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Greece, California, Hawaii

We saw all our friends on the ship in Glasgow which is the largest city in Scotland and very industrial. The capital of Edinburgh, on the east coast, is more of an historical city. We decided to take a few friends from the ship and visit Edinburgh with its beautiful castle and Royal Mile. I also took the opportunity to take a day drive out northwest of Glasgow to check out the amazingly lush countryside.

Don Stephens was on the ship at the time. He spent most of his time at the ship office in Texas and travelling the world now but he would visit the ship from time to time. He knew about my DTS prerequisite situation and offered me the opportunity to take it on the ship while it was going to be in Europe that summer. He also offered it at a very reasonable price. We decided to pray about it. 

Laura wanted her best friend and her husband to come back to London with us for a visit. This was the couple that I hadn’t liked back in Jamaica. We had resolved any tension between us during our wedding but Laura’s goal was for me to at least be willing to someday live next door to them by the end of their visit.

On the way down to London, we stayed the night in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in northwest England - The Lake District. It’s an incredible mix of forests, fells (mountains) and lakes that just stunned us. It is home to the highest mountains and the deepest and longest lakes in England. It is also famous for its association with the nineteenth century poet, William Wordsworth and other so-called, Lake Poets.

The atmosphere of The Lake District was so compellingly warm that it just melted any animosity I had left towards Laura’s friends. We spent the night in a nice little cottage and I decided right then that we could live next door if it ever came to that. Laura was ecstatic. We had a good visit in London and after praying about the ship DTS opportunity, we decided to take Don up on the offer. 

We had only signed a six-month lease on the flat so the timing was good. The ship had moved on to Hamburg, Germany so I would get there in time to start the DTS. Laura still had a few weeks left to finish up the school year so she stayed in the flat with Cherilyn until the lease ran out. Then she joined joined me in Hamburg for our new adventure.

Edinburgh Castle


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