There's Nothing a Little Rain Won't Hurt

Today I was able to experience the phrase, "There's nothing a little rain won't hurt" to the fullest. Except I might beg to differ that there was slightly more than a little rain. But before I get to that let me do a little backtracking to where I believe I left on Thursday (in the since of what's happened since my last blog.)

When I said I really liked Wednesdays, I should have also mentioned I also really like Thursdays and Fridays, too. Thursday during the actual day was a nice time for me to just get some needed down time. I love to be on the go, but there are times when I simply just need to chill. God really refreshed me once again during this time, so I definitely praise Him for that. Thursday afternoon I was supposed to tell a Bible story to a special needs group which meets during the afternoons at the church. Now while this is definitely my mom's calling in life it is not mine, so I have to be honest when I say I was a bit relieved to find out it had to be postponed until Tuesday. I have never done anything like that before, aside from just visiting in my mom's classroom, so pray God will help me through this storytime next Tuesday. Thursday evening brought another kids' club, and boy do they love the sheep song. If you haven't heard it before, please don't ask me to sing it to you :) Just kidding...it's actually one of my favorites. And then following the kids' club, the youth came and I always have a blast there.

Yesterday, I was tricked into believing a broke the church's piano. I am beginning to find the humor in the fact that I am way too guillable, but tricking someone who knows nothing about the technicalities (spelling?) of music and musical instruments is just not nice! Besides that little prank I enjoyed a just a wonderful day of laying on the floor of the sanctuary, listening to music from my ipod and from Louis, eating ice cream (and my favorite chips - aka french fries - with curry), and just spending time with wonderful people. Due to some transportation issues Rachel and I had to take the train to PCY, a youth group we go with the Pentrebach youth too. Thankfully we were accompanied by some wonderful people (aka Louis and Rea). All of the other PCYs I've been to have been some fun event, but last night's was a Bible study on Peter. Peter is my favorite Bible character because I feel I can relate so much to him and I always learn so much from his life. Michael, the guy who lead it, made some awesome points by looking what Peter's words and actions declared about his life and asking us to see what our words and actions declare about our own lives. This is always something I need to be reminded of because I want to make sure my words and actions are declaring that I love God and I love others, which I know so often I fail at. So last night was very encouraging and challenging to me and hopefully the youth as well.

Okay back to what I mentioned in the beginning. Today I went with the youth from Pentrebach to build a dam in a creek about 30 minutes or so from where we go to church. Let's just say it was a definite first for me. It was fun, but the water was really cold upon first getting in. And while the weather has been quite nice this past week the rains definitely fell today. So we huddled under a make-shift covering made from a tarp and hangers to cook the hamburgers on a disposible grill (I'd never seen one before) and used sticks to flip the burgers. It was great fun just a little cold. But I think that will be one of the things I remember most about Wales. Rain just stops nothing here :)

Oh and I am currently celebrating Independence Day in the nation which America won its independence from...the Welsh kids even said the pledge with me today haha. Oh the irony of it.

Please continue to pray for the youth and kids. But also pray for the leaders here - pray that God would strengthen those who are currently serving in amongst the youth and kids here, but also pray that God would raise up harvesters to love these youth and kids like He does. And pray for the youth who have already accepted Christ as their Savior. Pray they would be held firmly in God's hand and they too would raised up as harvestors among their friends and family.

I hope you alll are found smiling and laughing wherever you are and you are able to be lavished in the wonderful love of Christ. I love you all so much. Words don't express how blessed I am to have you all in my life.

Grace and peace.