We bid Ponty High Ta-ta today after another 5 lessons on the Bus. Becca got to stay for the whole time and even did a lesson herself. She's so great. Next week the Bus is in Caerphilly. I enjoyed it a lot and I will be able to work at 3 more schools with it in a few weeks. Now all that is left for that area is to do the event tomorrow night. Should be good. Pray that we have a good turnout. But after we packed up the Bus and sent it off, we both got dropped off at Claire's so that we could go with her to the Kid's Club in Caerphilly.
The Club was loads of fun. It is basically a weekly Vacation Bible School Session (Holiday Club in Wales) and it was great. I met lots of the children and we were able to have a really great time. I have been helping out with so many different churches and they are all so different! But it is so much fun. It reminded me of 2011 when I worked with that church all week. It was such a good time. I am still so very glad to be back in Wales.
After Club we headed up the mountain for the PCY Wide Game. PCY is a youth group which draws from many of the local churches, so many of the people that I have worked with were there! It was so much fun. The Wide Game is an annual event. Essentially it is a game of capture the flag on a mountain with blocks of wood hidden all around (Alun's doing). Then you go and try to retrieve bricks (varied points), pull socks to capture people (10 points, 50 for captains) and, of course, capture the flag (1000 points). The flag never did get captured. Both teams did a great job of hiding them, so it all came down to the bricks. Jon (A Rhyd Friend) and I were wandering around looking for the flag together looking for the other flag. We scoured their territory and then eventually we found something quite fortuitous. Three 100 point bricks that the opposition had hidden for later. So we took two and I re-hid one and went back for it later. But a chase ensued in which a boy, who I found out was born in LA chased me all around the mountain. Eventually it came down to an uphill footrace with him and Becca (who I'd gotten out once already) chasing me up the mountain. I won. Jon got his block and I returned to capture the third. The final score. Them: 1050. Us: 1250. Stash raid for the win. It was a good time. I ran through a few nettles along the way though. Nasty stinging plants. They are annoying, but don't hurt too bad. Somewhere between normal thorns and a sunburn.
After the game we headed back to Claire's to relax. We ate. We drank tea. We watched British Comedy Programs. It was great! Faulty Towers is especially good, but apparently got cancelled because the main guy had a breakdown. Not surprising given his character...
I had a dream last night. And there was a voice. It told me that I should stop wasting my time doing all of this mission work. It told me that I should change my ways and really start to enjoy life apart from all of the service and ministry. Funny enough, I prayed for protection in my dreams last night. It's not an uncommon request for me as I tend to have very vivid and sometimes very bizarre dreams. This one was such. It definitely affected my attitude as I woke and immediately the day started negatively. Everything was negative and late and going wrong and BAH! But I realized that something was amiss. I checked my attitude. I recalled my dream. I recalled my prayer. I said another. God did not grant me protection from an encounter with evil, but he did protect me from being overpowered by it. The day moved on and things got better as the morning went on. I prayed and I was very conscious of what I thought and said. We prayed as a team. I prayed with Becca. Things just changed. The concept of Spiritual Warfare has always been very abstract for me, but today was very real. I don't believe in coincidences. Too many things made sense. It probably sounds pretty strange, but I think that the Devil was trying to throw a wrench in my gears. Good. That means that we are making an impact. Lest he would not care. But He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world and so I will not fear.
It has been a crazy first week. I have met so many awesome people, done so many great things and learned so much already. This time last week I was scared. I don't know why I was in a panic about things over here. I guess it was just a hard transition between Erskine and Wales. Those of you who know me well should know that I don't tend to get freaked out easily. But the idea of coming here and of all of the efforts that the Church went through to help us just weighed on me. I didn't feel big enough. This is God's mission, His work. And who am I?
But God is good. In my weakness He has proven himself to be strong. My doubt, His faithfulness. My fear, His power and love. It's hard to believe all of the time that we have got left to live and learn in Wales. I am excited to see what God does. Thanks for checking in.
God bless.
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