Wales

Well, where do I begin? I guess the first day would be a good start...going into it, I had no idea what lay in store for 20 crazy Americans taking 10 hours to cross the big puddle...into a land flowing with sheep and accents.
It wasn't until I was already locked tight and sealed shut inside the big bird that I realized what KIND of a trip we were in for. I stared at the odd man in front of me in horror as he wrapped his airline blanket around him and began to contort his face in ways I never thought humanly possible.
Then it came upon an afternoon clear when we met the fearless leaders of the church. Ahh, yes. Captain Garreth himself, and his trusty sidekick Tony. They, together with their super powers, single-handedly scooped all 20 of us up and led us to their mighty carriages. With the wisdom of thousands, they thrust our luggage into the "boot" with a single bound! I had never seen such precision. As we glided through the country-side with the wind on our faces, I pondered the looming future, which led me to wonder: What will my host family be like? What will we do this week? How well do I WANT to get to know my team members? Is that drool coming out of ........'s mouth? (TO BE CONTINUED).....

Check out my Slide Show!

Hey, here's just a few...kind of a run-down of our trip! Enjoy! :)

Finally Home...

YAY! We just got home a few hours ago. I'm so sorry we weren't able to update the blog like I would have wanted to. We couldn't get internet from Julie's lap top very well.
I am SO glad to be home (I get to sleep in MY bed tonight!!!), but it was definitely very hard to leave the people in Merthyr yesterday.
HELLO TO ANDY, LYNDA, BETH, MEG, GARRETH, ANGELA, MATT, TOM, TONY, NORMA, JOHN, JAMES, MATT AND AMY, VICKI, ANNA, and EVERYONE else at the wonderful SGC in Merthyr! I miss you all already! I will be taking my film in tomorrow to get it developed so I may be able to put up some more pics on the site tomorrow night! I love my new Merthyr church family and can't wait to hear from you! Feel free to post on my blog when you can, and send pictures as well!

To everyone here at home that I haven't seen yet, I LOVE YOU and can't wait to see you! Please pray though...my luggage was lost today. :( I got my camera case but my suitcase didn't make it on the plane in Charlotte. They did call us to tell us they FOUND my bag, but it most likely won't get delivered till tomorrow evening at the earliest...which means I don't get to give my family their gifts until then. :(
Thanks to EVERYONE who prayed for us while we were gone, and for the weather! We had a few days where the weather was gloriously sunny and thus enabled us to spend more time serving and spend time with the church. It was definitely disappointing to have to cancel the Fun In The Park day, but I am so grateful that we can trust in the sovereignty of God. I know that God's purposes cannot be thwarted and are not dependent on a team of 20 Americans coming over to help out a baby church. :) God doesn't NEED me to do certain things for His glory...He simply provides me the wonderful privilege of serving His church and lifting His name up in a dark world, because He chooses to do so. How kind of our amazing God to give me such a wonderful opportunity!

Wow...I will be amazed if any of that even makes sense to you guys. :) It's 10 PM right now, which means it should feel like 3 AM to me...which means I should be passed out in a coma by now. =D Again, I love you all and can't WAIT to hear from you!

An Update!!!!

Okay, it's Jennifer again! Here's an update from Abby Carlen on her dad's blog: Mr. ‘C’. It was so cool to read that! :o) And, Abby, you ARE on a Missions Trip...the most important kind because you're taking the Gospel to the lost! It's okay to have fun along the way! ;o)

Nathan's updated his here.

Are they alive?!?!

This is Jennifer in for Julie and Steph since they obviously care nothing about us! :o) I was tired of seeing those travel pictures, so I thought I'd post a picture of their flyer for the upcoming event. As far as news...I guess no news is good news? Still, it sure would be nice to hear from y'all! We love you and are praying for you anyway! ;o)

Pictures from Travel Day!!

Hello from Merthyr Tydfil!!!

Well we all made it to Wales without any international incidents. Everyone is very tired but doing well and glad to be here! We traveled for about 24 hours straight as both of our flights were delayed 2-3 hours. We finally arrived in London at 11:00 this morning (7:00 Orlando time) and me Tony and Garreth, two of the pastors from Christ Church in Merthyr Tydfil. Everyone's luggage came through YAY! We took a 4 1/2 hour bus ride from London to Wales. When we arrived in London we were pleased with the weather, around 70 degrees and sunshine!!! I was a little worried about all the warm clothes I had packed. As we drove further towards Wales however, it quickly became darker and colder and eventually started to rain steadily...ahhh there was the weather we had been warned about. We all tried to sleep on the bus since we didn't sleep much on the flight...hence a great opportunity for some pictures of sleeping passengers (see below). We arrived at Tony's house in Caerphilly which is about 25 minutes outside of Merthyr Tydfil and there we met our host families. Stephanie and I are staying with Andy, Linda, Beth, and Meg Johnston and they are pretty much the sweetest people ever and have the coolest accents! They live right in the heart of Merthyr in a 3 story house built in 1890, all with the original floors! Merthyr is a very destitute and poor place but the location is beautiful. It was a bit cloudy driving in this afternoon so hopefully we will be able to see it better and get some pictures tomorrow morning. We all had tea once we got to their house and shared a little about ourselves and the rest of the team. Then we got to see our room...which is amazing! We are on the 3rd story in a little alcove/attic type room that has a really cool window ledge with a neat view of the village. The town sits right in the middle of a valley and is so cute :) We had a really good dinner...nothing weird. Chicken, potatoes, salad (although they have salad cream not dressing), bread, and Welsh cakes and chocolate for dessert. Then we spent some time singing and dancing with the girls (who are so adorable and precious)...they asked me and Steph to sing...so she did Kelly Clarkson and I did Taylor the Latte Boy. Tomorrow we are sleeping :) and then hopefully going for a walk around the town, then we're going to a team meeting and a barbeque at Garreth Lloyd's house (senior pastor). We still can't believe we are here!! More pictures to come but these are just some fun ones from the past few days! We miss you all and can't wait to share more with you!

My team!

So, yeah, here's my team! Back row: Abby Carlen, Josiah Wells, Joey Phillips, James Henry, Stephen Morgan, Stephen White; Middle row: Daniel Howell, Jeff Getz, Kyle Davis and Gloria Canaday; Front row: Amber Sutter, Damaris Wells, Julie VanLue, The Diva, Mike Nash, Trinh Getz, Rebecca Getz, Maria Tschannen. Nathan Edwards didn't make it for the picture. After much drama with planes and cars, he made it to the meeting.

The Goofy Pic: notice the Waling Jenny's (Julie, Lauren and The Diva)....and then there's Mike. :o)

Pray for us! We're leavin' in 3 hours!!!

WE LEAVE TOMORROW!

ONE MORE DAY!!! WOOHOO! My team leaves for Merthyr Tidfyl (sp?), Wales tomorrow around 3:30!!
I'm going to try and keep my blog updated w/ AMAZING european stories and tales of our adventures, and our quest to bring the Gospel to the Welsh...and maybe some pictures.
I am SO excited, but please pray for us! :)