My year in Wales... a memoir in the making

Gap Team Video

2009-03-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a little taste of what we have been up to since Christmas since i haven't posted in forever.
If you last through the 30minutes of rambling you can watch the bloopers!

First Christmas away from home...(and last?)

2008-12-26T04:39:00.000-08:00

Spending Christmas away from home has been bitter sweet. With it creeping up so fast this year there wasn't a lot of time to have it really "feel" like Christmas. Pete Greasley gave a fantastic message last Sunday titled "Home for Christmas" that was perfect for me this Holiday!

Pete explained with all the hype and build up over the Christmas season there is often a let down, disappointment, or sense of longing that comes after the family has left, the presents have been opened, and the food been eaten. He described this as Hiraeth a Welsh term that doesn't have a direct English translation, but describes a profound sense of longing. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' has a quote that communicates Hiraeth vividly:

It is difficult to define Hiraeth, but to me it means the consciousness of man being out of his home area and that which is dear to him. That is why it can be felt even among a host of peoples amidst nature's beauty. . . like a Christian yearning for Heaven. . .

Sunday's message pointed out the longing we feel at Christmas is the longing God put in us for the better life, the better world. Christmas was never meant to fulfill us. The longing goes deeper than just the temporary Christmas holiday, it is the longing for an eternal relationship with our heavenly Father. Ever since the beginning of time we have been exiled from God and rebelled against him. God has a plan to bring the rebel back and to satisfy the longing. All through sending his Son to be born in a stable as the Savior of the world!

As I am away this Holiday I get to experience firsthand the sadness that comes with being away from my Family. Despite the longing I am excited to be able to take a step back and focus on the truth of my Saviors birth and death for me!

A GAP team Christmas

2008-12-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

This Friday was the Student Christmas party where we decorated Junction 26 all Christmas like.
There was a good turnout and we had so much fun playing charades, eating the delectable 11 pound cake I picked out, duck taping people to walls, and doing a Christmas quiz (my team won)! We also started watching the Christmas story which was randomly cut of in the middle.
We got home around 1 and had to be back at the church around 8:30 to be at Shock wave(a youth outreach) in the morning...

The Gap team Christmas photo was taken after the party, by Richard Saunders one of the students.

After the part I got dropped off in Newport City Center where I was able for the first time to explore Newport and all the shops! I ran into some friends and one of the students and her mom from Bettws high! It is so good to be able to continue building relationships outside of the school setting.

Yesterday night we went to Taylor Reese's 18th Birthday party. He is a fella from the Sr. teens. His dad Andy and my fellow life group leader did a great job honoring him. It was great getting to be around with our close friends from church!

This week I am looking forward to our "family" farewell Christmas dinner on Tuesday and not looking forward to my girls leaving Wednesday :(

Happy Birthday Mom!

2008-12-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Couldn't get a picture up this time, but didn't want to pass up wishing you a Happy Birthday!

Thanks for the way you faithfully pursue me and go out of your way to serve me! It amazes me how you look to serve without serving in return! Thanks for your expample of faithfully serving me and our family! Love you!

P.S. Sarah and I are a bit late in getting your card to you! Its in the mail.

Mom and Dad's 24th Anniversary

2008-11-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary Momma and Dad! Thanks for demonstrating steadfast love and faithfulness to each other. Your love for your savior is what characterizes your relationship and your life!
I love you!

Rejoicing in Weakness

2008-11-24T15:55:00.000-08:00

Sunday Dan Gaweda (aka. Gaweedo) gave a message on boasting in our weakness. This was the passage he taught from and it has been my theme verse since being here in Wales.

But he said to me,"My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Rather than praying for the removal of any trials or struggles I may have I can rejoice in the fact that I have greater strength and dependence on the Lord when I am weak!

Crazy Women

2008-11-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about being in Wales is being able to spend time with my sister.
We have been able to see each other almost everyday because of Sarah's job as church secretary and my part in the teams coming and goings of work at the church.

Today we decided to have a sisters day out in Cardiff to get some Christmas shopping done.

One of the things we had talked about doing was getting our cartilage pierced (top most part of the ear). Being the wild girls we are we gave it a go!

Sarah went first. This is the before picture

She didn't flinch!

The after product!

Just a little nervous

After having Haley(our ear piercer) adjust the position
of where the earing was going to be for the 50th time
it was my turn!

Boom shock a lock ah!

To celebrate our completion of Christmas shopping, ear piercing, and Dad's Birthday
we went to a little cafe for a spice chi and raspberry smoothly (raspberries are dad's fav!)

After our eventful day we headed home on the train.
This was Sarah's first time on the Welsh train!

It was a great day experiencing the simple blessings of having
a Christmas shopping trip in WALES with my sister!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2008-11-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all you have invested into our family!
You are the most humble and hard working person
I know. You have always faithfully encouraged and led me
through the years. Most importantly you consistently
point me back to the gospel! I love and respect you so much!

Lemon Tree

2008-11-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Mom sent these pictures from back home of my calamondin tree that turned out to be a lemon tree(rip off). When I left the fruit was small and green. Check how big they have gotten!

Enjoy eating the fruit of my labor.
Thanks for taking care of it while I am gone!

Update

2008-11-15T03:56:00.000-08:00

Three weeks since the last post and an update is necessary.

The past three weeks have been eventful!
October the 25th- we had an Offensive Roadshow where Dai Hankey spoke on the gospel and evangelism. It was a really good day where the Uni Students, Life groups, and folks from outside of Christchurch came together for the day and reminded afresh of the effect of the gospel and the sacrifice of our Savior.
...That night I completely lost my voice for the whole weekend and into the next week! The first time I have ever lost my voice for more than a couple hours. Its God's mercy that this was the sickest I have been since being here. It could have been so much worse! The exciting part of getting sick was trying to find medicine or remedies in a different culture to try and get better. Some of the things I tried where:

Tea with Honey and Lemon juice
Lemsip, a kind of medicine you put in hot water and drink (really tasty and soothing for the throat)
lots of different "welsh" throat lozengers
Taige's Birthday whiskey (this actually worked well)

Thankfully the rest of the week was half term break so we weren't in the schools like usual but did projects around the church building and planning for future assemblies.

October 30th- We had our first Students (uni) Coffee House in Junction 26 (ChristChurch's bar and lounge). It was a small turn out, but we had so much fun with the group and I think it really blessed them that we would do free coffee and set up the place for them. We are hoping to do a whole lot more of these in the future!

October 31st- We crashed the senior teens meeting with Gav and Emma. It was a great evening of hearing how the group is stepping out in their schools to share the gospel with their peers. Considering it was Halloween appropriately I thought we should dress up. I was going to dress up as Cleopatra, but the rest of the team where a bunch of lamos and didn't want to dress up so it didn't happen. :(

November 2nd- There was a student lunch Sunday that we went to gearing up for Out Post Cardiff. It was another great time to get to know them better and just chill.

November 4th- Which was Tuesday is our "Doctrine Day." We have been going through Wayne Greudms Bible Doctrine and any other articles that they give us to go over. Instead of doing Bible Doctrine, Bob McCan took us to the Three Black Birds my favorite pub we have been to where he treated us to Drinks, desserts, and a good dose of teaching on the doctrine of sin. Such a rich time of reviewing our desperation, inadequacy, and dependence then looking back to the cross where we find all joy, comfort, and hope!

That night we went to Alan and Heather Woods to get some catchup time. Heather fixed amazing lasagna. We spent the evening talking about grandkids, traveling Europe, challenges and how God is using the church, current circumstances and his word to reveal himself to us and grow us. They have been so encouraging and such a means of grace to build us up as we are here in Wales!

November 5th- Guy Folks Day:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I can think of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

David Toms and I went to watch fireworks with our homegroup at a rugby club. The Welsh celebrate Buy Fawkes day all week so we also went to caerphilly castle to watch fireworks, and celebrated at VJ with a big bonfire and MORE fireworks.

November 6th- is Bettws High day. This was the first day we did an assembly in the school. Janelle shared her testimony and then we announced VJ for the first time. We spent time praying before hand that the kids could ask us questions about Janelle's testimony and that the kids would be able to come to VJ.

November 7th- After the announcement of VJ at Bettws we were hoping to see some of them there. God was so faithful to answer our prayer and about 20-25 kids ended up coming! Praise the Lord!

November 9th- First Out Post Cardiff Sunday at Koko Gorillas! The venue was perfect Bar, band, and the whole nine yards! Pete spoke on the centrality of the gospel. Not very many guests came, but there was such a huge support group from church! Lord willing more and more people will come to here God's word preached!

November 11th- Hang out time at Juno lounge with the crew!

November 12th- Christmas market at church! So much fun! Tons of different vendors came to sell their wares. My first Christmas event for this year!

November 13th- Nicky's surprise going away party at China-China! She was shocked!

November 14th- Had 1031 in the evening with parents. Dave Taylor gave a great message called "Don't Die Young." It was on reading God's word, meditating on scripture, and then applying it to our lives, so we can grow in our Christian walk. He gave a great analogy from the Bourne Ultimatum on Simon Ross, the journalist who Jason B tries to contact to get info from. In the end they get in a bit of a tangle with hit men chasing them and as Jason B is giving Ross directions to escape Ross makes the statement : "I think I can make it" and as he steps out of the lines and directions Jason B is giving him gets a fatal shot to the head. It was sobering to think that God's word is so crucial to follow so we don't die young from wandering away from our savior.

Today! - Katherine and I had a great time in Cardiff getting with Hannah, Carolyn, and Sarah. We got to skim the Cardiff museum for the 1st time and do a bit of preChristmas browsing through the stores. We then Headed back home with David and Reese to watch Lemmony Snickets (one of my favorites!) with Peter, Ben, Jack S., Jack P., Taylor, Sarah and Mike.

Tomorrow is our 2nd OutPost! In Merthyr Tydfil there will also be a Baby dedication- Baptism-wedding vowel renewal going on. A gal in my life group will be getting baptized along with others! So exciting to see where God is at work!

*Please pray that there would be more people coming and that lives would be changed through the teaching and our interactions with them!

*Also, my camera has temporarily gone missing. I believe it is either around the house or at church somewhere. If you could be praying that I find it would be wonderful!

Thanks so much for caring for me enough to read my rambling!
Love you all!

New Post

2008-11-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

67 Bassaleg RdNewport, South WalesNp20 3ed

I made it off the plane!!! (two months late)

2008-10-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

After Katherines' post I thought I should do my own, so sorry that it is so late!

Finally getting to sit down and write a super late post. I am so sorry I have done such a poor job of keeping in touch and haven't gotten to contact those that have been praying and supporting me!

There are so many thank you notes WAY over due. I just want to let all of those that have given financially and been faithful to be thinking and praying for me that I am on this trip in Wales because of y'all. You are in this adventure to spread the gospel to Wales just as much as I am!

Well to summarize the past weeks I'll give you some of the highlights:

1st view of the Windsor Castle
dinner with the Gawedas
dinner with the Smiths
meeting Christ Church
settling in our new house
touring the Welsh country side
Sarah and Mike arriving!
Team retreat to Ffaild-y-brenin
Fish and chip "experience"
1st guiness
my walk across the Ffaild-y-brenin hills to see the ocean
web caming back home
getting hooked up with the Martin caregroup
retreat with Bettws High
1st day of school :)
meeting the Woods, our girls "parents"

Sunny Sausage sizzle at guys house:

Climbing trees
1st Kabab(scrumdiliumptious)

Student beach trip
meeting my life group
retreat with life group (mud fight, talent show, & the whole nine yards)
student hill walk to an amazing Newport overlook!

There are a bunch more I could mention!
If you want a more in depth look at what we have been up to you could go to Janelle, Katherine, and Peter's blogs at :www.janelleleach.blogspot.com, www.katsbloggy.wordpress.com, and www.peterbenson.wordpress.com.

Hope to keep you more updated on coming events! I am so grateful for all your encouragement and prayers! I love and miss you all!

hurrah for my first blog post... EVER!!

2008-10-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Starting out my blog there is so much I could say...but, Kat knows I just need to get stuff down on paper (well maybe not paper....) or it won't get said at all! So here is a list of things I have done this week:

SUNDAY:

Church
and then an AMAZING "Hill walk" up the local mountain/hill with the Christchurch Students (college students). the scenery and fresh air and crisp breeze and friends... AHH...
that night we had our first real fire in the fire pit we got Peter for his bday. It wasn't too cold and we had a hilarious time sharing "ghost stories" between all us Gappers and Ben Greasley who joined us.

MONDAY:

thankfully monday was our day off and we SLEPT in!!
did a bit of laundry
walked to TESCO with Kat in the rain. (lots of yummy FRIUT for my pretty fruit bowl. second fav only to the GREEK yogurt i go twith my scrumdiliocious granola)
then we had a GIRLS NIGHT watching "Sweet Home Alabama" (fav chick flick EVA!!) with Kat, Janelle, and sista Sarah-bear.

TUESDAY:

this morning i went on a run with Janelle.
we headed to the church at 9:30am and read up on our Bible Doctrine for a quiz that Mike gave us later in the day on ch6 (the Trinity) and ch14 (the person of Christ)
for dinner I made stir-fry for Kat and I. we had a great time being in the kitchen and chit-chatting about girl stuff and what God is teaching us here in Wales....
our team also did a bit planning for our YR1 (like kindergarten) at Mt Pleasant tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we are going to teach the kids about autumn, being thanksgiving, and my most favorite part: LEAF RUBBINGS.... i'll let you guys know how that goes... :)

P.S. Love you mom! My one blog reader!