Saturday, January 26, 2008

Wales cont'd

It was a dismal and dreary morning as Julie and I headed to the team meeting. The worst-case scenario had overcome us, as we were sure we would be sent back to our own country and be forever known as the “silly Americans”. But needless to say, our fearless leader dealt with the matter in a very humble, and non-dramatic way, and all was forgiven. :)
So we went on (except for Amber, whose ankle had gotten worse) to do more leafleting for the day…we sort of got lost on this trip. But we met some neat people and had great conversations! One of the people I got to talk to was an older gentleman. He talked to me about everything from the Beatles, to symphonies, to musicals! It was very enjoyable. I did try to start talking about the Gospel or whether he was in a local church, but he seemed to just want to talk to me. He was a very sweet man.
That afternoon, Julie and I got back to the house just in time to change and leave again with Lynda. She drove Julie, Beth, Meg, and me over to Dan and Mira’s (where Amber and Lauren were staying) for dinner: Chicken Curry, Baked Potatoes with all the “fixins”!! Yum!
Once we were done with dinner, Lynda drove us over to Cafarthfa Castle to see the school children perform Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! It was fantastic! The little boy who played Joseph was phenomenal! Julie and I really enjoyed it. By the time Jules and I got back to our little tower in the castle, we slunk into our beds, exhausted physically and emotionally!


Wednesday morning we continued to leaflet a few more neighborhoods, but the Merthyr church told us they wanted to take us to Sain Fagin’s for the afternoon! This is an area where they built replicas of historic buildings and villages from…I think the 1600’s. So we all just sort of split up into smaller groups and walked around the entire property, going inside old general stores, libraries, and an INCREDIBLE castle, complete with a gorgeous courtyard, vine-covered walkways, and a secret garden…alright, maybe it wasn’t a secret…but it was to me until I found it!
Then the park closed for an hour or so and re-opened for a special theatrical performance! All of us Americans were SO excited because we had no idea what lay in store for us! So we went just outside the park, where they had a grassy hill or two. We spread out blankets and sweatshirts, sat on the grass, and ate our lunches that our gracious families had packed for us! It was SO nice. Some of us just laid down and rested in the heat of the Welsh sun, some went for a walk, and some of the guys decided to play this strange hacky-sack game…guys where running, some were rolling, some were screaming…some screamed like girls.Then we went to see….THE MIKADO (the play)!!!!! It was at this little outdoor theater inside the park, and it was, very different from ANY play I’ve ever seen! It had political humor and jabs, tap-dancing, bicycles, an evil villain who looked a lot like Cruella DeVille, and there were names like Coco, Tiddy-Poo, and YumYum. It was entertaining! :)

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