Today was just different. We worshipped in a different way -- not by Dustin playing guitar and leading us in worship singing, but by all of us drinking hot beverages at a two-story Starbucks. We were locked out of the Tredegarville Church, so Troy took us to one of his favorite places of alternate church. I must admit, the flavor was better than in traditional worship. Troy led us in our last lesson -- this one on "Local-Global" Agriculture. The teaching was as rich and sweet as my Chai Latte. While in the Starbucks, the group met David, a local Christian associated with Calvary Chapel who encouaged them and exchanged e-mail addresses with them.
After an hour, Troy left to go perform a funeral, and the team hit Cardiff City Centre for some lunch and shopping. Many of us bought Welsh flags, mugs, etc., and Jonathon bought a very creative hat. You might say it was a daffy, dilly of a hat. Allen forced us all to have some Welsh cakes, which most people seemed to think were tasteless and mediocre at best (though Jaime pretended graciously to enjoy them). Then the team split up and went their different ways.
Allen and Deedee walked a great distance so Deedee could see the old grand church which had been turned into a supermarket. They imagined it being re-activated into a church and how that would effect the three nearby communities. Along the way, they practiced Prayer Walking/Plowing for Dummies.
Nate, Jaime, Zack, and Jonathon got to have a conversation with an advocate of Hare Krishna. He kind of preached to them without letting them get much time to respond, and when he found out they were Christians and were warming up to give him as good as he gave, he pretended to get a call on his cell phone and fled. Jonathon and Zack met a Moslem man who invited them into his home for a bit of tea. They engaged in a good conversation before they had to go. Jaime met a new Christian friend at coffee shop and they hoped to meet again if Jaime returns in June.
Dustin and Jessica had a spiritual conversation with a Moslem taxi driver who was a captive audience.
We all met back at the Etap Hotel at 6:30 p.m. and had our last debriefing. We gave Troy a thank you card for his leadership and his kindness to us and he expressed his warm appreciation to the team. Then Allen and Deedee ordered a pizza delivered to their room so they could crash after a long week of moving too fast, while the rest of the team ventured out into the night with Troy.
Zack went to give his presentation on Aerospace Engineering to the British version of the ROTC. The rest of the team went to meet their Malasian friend Devon for a meal and an evening together.
Much later in the evening, many team members plan to go out and help distribute 6000 bottles of water to club goers in need of hydration -- and spiritual conversation. They will no doubt stay up too late as young people tend to do.
But tomorrow we leave the Etap Hotel at 10:00 a.m. to take a tour of Caerphilly Castle and Stonehenge, and to head to the Bristol Hotel for a brief sleep before we arise too early Sunday morning for a long series of flights back to Oklahoma.
Troy made each of us answer two questions:
1) What did you take away from the week, and
2) What will you tell your friends and family about this tour?
The answers varied widely, but the net effect is that everyone felt that their worldview had changed -- their view of seeking God intensely for every minute of every day, their view of Evangelism as a daily life practice they can take back to their own worlds, and their view of each other as this integral interrelated pieces of a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
May we as a church one day impact Wales the way Wales has already impacted us.
Allen
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