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Our First Friends in the U.K.

Today we’re going to talk to you about our very good friends in the village, who are actually the first friends we ever made in England. They are a very sweet and loving family that took us on as family of their own.

When we first moved here it was a shock how seemingly cold and formal, how not relational the culture is here. People are very polite and they will definitely talk and be friendly to you. But in America if you were new in town you would also get invited out to eat. We didn’t get any invites from people during our first year living here except from Heather and Terry. Americans tend to be more willing to let you into their lives, into more personal spaces than than the British are. So it was massive cultural shock for us here but Heather and Terry welcomed us in right away.

They’re an older couple and yet we really find them to be close friends of ours. Terry’s Hampshire accent is fun to hear. He told us this story about how he once when he went to a McDonald’s in America to order a black coffee, but he was worried about offending people behind the counter because they were of African-American descent! He said “I’ll have some coffee with no milk”. What did they do? As soon as they heard his accent they called over workers from all over the restaurant and asked him to keep speaking. “Say more, say something else,” they said. He was already really nervous; he didn’t understand at first why they were calling people over to listen to him talk. He eventually realised that it wasn’t because he was saying anything offensive. In the States you might think that there’s only cockney and Queen’s in terms of English accents but there’s a whole variety them. It’s kind of like in the US but more shocking because, although the island is small, there is such a wide variety of accents.

Heather’s really talented. She actually gave our daughter a dress that she knitted; she looks really cute in it. She’s always very hospitable and enjoys cooking. We also like that she speaks her mind. Both of them speak their mind, and that’s why we connect with them so well. She’s always picking on Felipe and he’s always picking on her.

One of the most amazing things about them is that they fostered many children; I think it’s on the order of 20 to 30 children of all ages. Foster children came in and spent time with their own kids and family, living with them. In one instance they ended up adopting one of the children they fostered. It’s quite a story of love and sacrifice to the most innocent and vulnerable people group.

I had the honor of helping organize and do the music for their golden wedding blessing back in September of 2015. It is an amazing testimony to how important marriage is that they’ve been married for 50 years, and in those fifty years have given so much to humanity. Recently we recorded a little dinner we had with them because we wanted to share with you guys these lovely, amazing people. We are really excited to share just a little bit of their voices and let you in on what it’s like for us living here.

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