(no subject)
wales....
a long plane flight across the united states and over the atlantic. Actually, it only took us 9 and a half hours to fly there, because we flew on a nice Air New Zealand flight 747. It was nice. really nice, i can't believe how nice some planes are these days- i watched MI3 on the way there- and i like all the mission impossibles and of course i thought that one was the best. Anyways, we left 110 degree riverside and arrived at Heathrow in London into a celsius system and a cool rain. The missions team consisted of about 12 people from Calvary Chapel Moreno Valley, a few from Upland, and 2 from la habra, totalling about 18 people- minus the missionaries out there, and a few others. Then we took a bus for about 4 hours to Swansea, Wales. They have amazing chocolate there- much better than the united states. i bought a huge galaxy bar and some of it melted on my shorts when i fell asleep on the bus which had no air vents, and it looked like i pooped on myself! We stayed at the University of Swansea in the flats. We met up at the flat and there were all kinds of people there to meet us- people who came to the Lord last year and missionaries from the family that lived there. The missionaries came out to Cardiff at first, then 2 years ago planted a church called Calvary Chapel Swansea in Swansea and the family has been living and the church has been growing- little by little- ever since. Our main goals while we were out there were to set up a skateboard, bike, and blade competition, to share the gospel with people, and to disciple those people and people from the year before to get them more plugged in to the church there, since many fell away since last year's mission trip.
the city there is right on Swansea bay- where the tide moves out almost a good half a mile every day! they have one of the farthest tides in the world. The weather was really nice there. Everything is green- there is no brown. it's very nice almost like green farm, pasture country with plenty of trees too. there are lots of castles over there as well, and everyone smokes cigarettes or fags. haha. i learned not to peace sign with my hand facing towards me because it's the same as the middle finger. and they have this food which is just sausage and mashed potatoes, but they called it 'Bangers and Mash' !!!! hahaha, i don't know why they call sausages bangers- but that's hilarious. anyways, their accents are way cool over there, and if you go to the right places you can get really good food. i had the most amazing italian food in my entire life at a restaurant there. It rains quite a bit over there, but it's not too bad in the summer.
we soaked the whole trip in a ton of prayer. it was a blessing getting to spend that time together every morning as a team- before we went out and did our thing. half or our time spent there was in the city centre walking around witnessing to people and hanging out with many of the same kids (mostly skaters and goths) that we had the whole time. One of these kids was Nathan. and He was 15 and practiced Wicca and was into all kinds of drugs like blow and other stuff. at 15! at first he listened a little bit and kinda asked a few questions and then after a while he kept listening more and more, and finally he told his friend, Badger, that he felt kinda changed by what we had told him- like that it made alot of sense and he was starting to believe. we didn't pressure him into anything and decided to wait and keep fellowshipping with him and his friends since it was only our first day in the city centre.
Later that week, the pro skater that was with us, David, showed a christian skate video at the university of swansea and we got tons of kids to come out- a good 150 or so. and a number of kids gave their lives to Christ that night, including Nathan. I was so excited and just amazed at the work God had done through our whole team- and we were barely into the first week. Throughout the trip I got to hang out with Nathan and skateboard with him and his friends- almost everyday and just share bible stories with him. I was very encouraged and blessed to see him slowly change throughout the time that we were there.
Our team then helped out Christian Surfers UK at a surf competition and a few of the new believers came with us to the beach and got to hang out some more there. We had some of the most blessed fellowship while we were there and not just with us as a team, but with the kids- just seeing God's hand work through the whole thing- He set it up to where we could be good examples for the kids and really spend time with them to show God's love- that He cares.
Then the skateboard competition came around and it was so awesome. we gave out tons of free stuff and got to minister to a lot of kids, and then invited certain kids to come hang out at the flat for one of the last days so that we could disciple them. Nathan being one of them. and we literally spent almost the whole day just hanging out, and learning and teaching those that came more about Jesus- just to prepare them for their new life as Christians.
i really did shorten this a whole lot, its hard to compact 2 weeks of God's work into this little journal when i need to go to bed. i will proabably right more about the trip later.
peace.
God is good.
pray for the church out there.
a long plane flight across the united states and over the atlantic. Actually, it only took us 9 and a half hours to fly there, because we flew on a nice Air New Zealand flight 747. It was nice. really nice, i can't believe how nice some planes are these days- i watched MI3 on the way there- and i like all the mission impossibles and of course i thought that one was the best. Anyways, we left 110 degree riverside and arrived at Heathrow in London into a celsius system and a cool rain. The missions team consisted of about 12 people from Calvary Chapel Moreno Valley, a few from Upland, and 2 from la habra, totalling about 18 people- minus the missionaries out there, and a few others. Then we took a bus for about 4 hours to Swansea, Wales. They have amazing chocolate there- much better than the united states. i bought a huge galaxy bar and some of it melted on my shorts when i fell asleep on the bus which had no air vents, and it looked like i pooped on myself! We stayed at the University of Swansea in the flats. We met up at the flat and there were all kinds of people there to meet us- people who came to the Lord last year and missionaries from the family that lived there. The missionaries came out to Cardiff at first, then 2 years ago planted a church called Calvary Chapel Swansea in Swansea and the family has been living and the church has been growing- little by little- ever since. Our main goals while we were out there were to set up a skateboard, bike, and blade competition, to share the gospel with people, and to disciple those people and people from the year before to get them more plugged in to the church there, since many fell away since last year's mission trip.
the city there is right on Swansea bay- where the tide moves out almost a good half a mile every day! they have one of the farthest tides in the world. The weather was really nice there. Everything is green- there is no brown. it's very nice almost like green farm, pasture country with plenty of trees too. there are lots of castles over there as well, and everyone smokes cigarettes or fags. haha. i learned not to peace sign with my hand facing towards me because it's the same as the middle finger. and they have this food which is just sausage and mashed potatoes, but they called it 'Bangers and Mash' !!!! hahaha, i don't know why they call sausages bangers- but that's hilarious. anyways, their accents are way cool over there, and if you go to the right places you can get really good food. i had the most amazing italian food in my entire life at a restaurant there. It rains quite a bit over there, but it's not too bad in the summer.
we soaked the whole trip in a ton of prayer. it was a blessing getting to spend that time together every morning as a team- before we went out and did our thing. half or our time spent there was in the city centre walking around witnessing to people and hanging out with many of the same kids (mostly skaters and goths) that we had the whole time. One of these kids was Nathan. and He was 15 and practiced Wicca and was into all kinds of drugs like blow and other stuff. at 15! at first he listened a little bit and kinda asked a few questions and then after a while he kept listening more and more, and finally he told his friend, Badger, that he felt kinda changed by what we had told him- like that it made alot of sense and he was starting to believe. we didn't pressure him into anything and decided to wait and keep fellowshipping with him and his friends since it was only our first day in the city centre.
Later that week, the pro skater that was with us, David, showed a christian skate video at the university of swansea and we got tons of kids to come out- a good 150 or so. and a number of kids gave their lives to Christ that night, including Nathan. I was so excited and just amazed at the work God had done through our whole team- and we were barely into the first week. Throughout the trip I got to hang out with Nathan and skateboard with him and his friends- almost everyday and just share bible stories with him. I was very encouraged and blessed to see him slowly change throughout the time that we were there.
Our team then helped out Christian Surfers UK at a surf competition and a few of the new believers came with us to the beach and got to hang out some more there. We had some of the most blessed fellowship while we were there and not just with us as a team, but with the kids- just seeing God's hand work through the whole thing- He set it up to where we could be good examples for the kids and really spend time with them to show God's love- that He cares.
Then the skateboard competition came around and it was so awesome. we gave out tons of free stuff and got to minister to a lot of kids, and then invited certain kids to come hang out at the flat for one of the last days so that we could disciple them. Nathan being one of them. and we literally spent almost the whole day just hanging out, and learning and teaching those that came more about Jesus- just to prepare them for their new life as Christians.
i really did shorten this a whole lot, its hard to compact 2 weeks of God's work into this little journal when i need to go to bed. i will proabably right more about the trip later.
peace.
God is good.
pray for the church out there.