June 11 "Change"

What a good night's rest. I don't think that I have slept that well in ages. And today I felt great. I wasn't even sniffling in the morning!

The morning began with an assembly for little ones. When we got there, we hit a bit of a snag. You see, Alun uses these paint boards that work like fill in the blanks for special words for each story/lesson. And today...he forgot the sheet for the board. SO, I had to stall the children while he quickly painted up a replacement. It was so funny. He asked them to guess where I was from. "India...Pakistan...Wales...France...Paris...England..." It starts with an A! "Afghanistan...Africa...Australia..." It was hilarious. The lesson went off without a hitch and then we headed back to the house to do a bit of work.

I spent the afternoon working on Bible study stuff and things for home (wedding, loans). And I got to chat with quite a few people on Facebook! It was good to touch base with everyone back home. I'm not one for missing people...so we will just leave it at that.

Then tonight I went back to Coedpenmaen for the Youth Club and I really got to meet a lot of the people there. It was a fun night and it was really good to see the youth working together and having fun. I'm glad that these kids have each other to be with and to depend on. It's important. They had some pretty crazy youth group stories as well. It reminded me of the good ole days...

After that, Alun invited me to go out to a men's fellowship with a few Christians and a few nonChristians. It was a fun time to sit and talk. No youth. No work. Just relaxing and enjoying some good food and fellowship. We went to a place called the Bamboo Grill...which made me thing "Asia", but the food and decor was Middle Eastern, and the music was in Spanish. I got a fried banana and a Coke. And I was able to pay for it all with the coins in my pocket! In the States, if I were to pay for a meal in change, I think that they would think I was mad. But not here. They're old school. I felt all medieval and stuff. Twas a good night.

I've been thinking about something that Jake said to me yesterday, about my expectations. I know that I am not here to change Wales single-handed. I am here to help. I know that God has a plan and that I am a part of it, but often times He moves in slow and mysterious ways that we cannot understand. I need to think more highly of God and His work and less highly of my own. I need to trust in Him to act and to be at work. If I can get to that state of mind then I wont feel like there is so much pressure on everything that I do. I want to leave Wales better than I found it, but there are so many other forces at work here. This country, this mission is a lot bigger than I am. And that's ok. I just need to let go. Let go of all of these prideful expectations and realize that no matter how hard I try, the change that I will see most on this trip, will be God changing me. Pray for me.