Mission to Wales, Summer 2009: Day 3

Monday June 29, 2009

Today was remarkable for unexpected adventures.

All we were supposed to do today was to find common ground with the Welsh people by savoring some of their most beloved sites. We did tour Cardiff Castle, a Roman stronghold and an 11th Century Norman Fortress, but in the 1800's it became a Disney-like fantasy castle built decades before Disney was born, and funded by the richest man in the world, the coal magnate, the 3rd Marquess of Bute. We also walked the streets of downtown Cardiff (City Centre) and toured the Welsh Folk Museum at St. Fagans -- a gigantic compound containing original buildings reconstructed on site from all of Welsh history, including a pre-Roman Celtic Village, (complete with bee-hive shaped circular huts), and from the 1800's a tannery, cornmill, and blacksmith shop. Oh, by the way, it also had a castle with breathtaking sculpted gardens and a series of lilly pad pools.

But all of that turned out to be tangential. Here are the highlights of some unexpected encounters:

Jordan Deah Rice was hit between the eyes with a bumble bee.

Nikki Clark and Shannon Richardson found a really hot Welsh guy of Portuguese descent working as a tour guide in a 17th-Century chapel. They ran to fetch Jordan Deah, because he was more her age. His name was something like Joao (pronounced "Zhow" which Shannon could remember because his good looks reminded her of the word "Wow!"). They struck up a playful conversation with him. Soon the entire rest of the team were hanging out in the chapel with Joao. Then we all took our picture with him as we stood and sat in the "choir" of the chapel. And to our surprise (and Shannon's prompting) we all sang an entire stanza of "Amazing Grace." In the midst of much silliness and flirting, it was a surprisingly powerful spiritual moment. The words to that opening stanza are familiar enough to be disarming, yet profound enough to change a human heart.

Jordan Deah climbed a tree, sawed off to a stump about half-way up, and wouldn't come down after a photo session.

Jerry Beasley, Nikki Clark, Brian Booker, and Allen Rice had a delightful conversation with an elderly Welsh couple, Malcolm and Jackie, who were on vacation from western Wales, visiting the Welsh Folk Museum. Malcolm has experienced a lot of bad health of late and was happy to be alive every day after a series of heart attacks. Like many Welshmen, Malcolm is justifiably proud of being a part of a Welsh men's choir. When he heard that Nikki was a talented singer, he dreamed of having her sing with his choir the deeply spiritual song, "Ave Maria." Later, as the conversation moved from choirs to the churches in which choirs often performed, the team got to hear Malcolm speak of his steady Christian faith and his faithful church attendance. He mentioned attending the largest church building in his west coast town one Sunday, and the only people in attendance were the Anglican priest, himself, and one other member of the congregation. It was embarrassing to him, so he went back to attending his rather small (but much larger populated by comparison) church. It was sweet to hear Malcolm to be so open about his Christianity even in a time of great struggle in his life, especially as transparent as he was before four American strangers. As we parted to catch our bus, we all shook the couple's hands, and Allen encouraged him to "Keep the Faith, brother!" This discussion was especially encouraging because Malcolm's wife, Jackie, did not seem to be a believer (though she was certainly in no way opposed to the notion), so between the four members of our team and Malcolm there was a bit of relationship evangelism going on at a supposed "tourism" site.

By a divine appointment, as we all walked down the main street of the shopping district (Queens Street), Gavin Hart happened to run into some student missionaries he served with last summer. They greeted one another with joy and chatted for awhile, while Nikki and Shannon convinced Deedee Rice of the spiritual need to visit a scented soap shop.

While Jordan Deah was sitting innocently on a moving bus, a rose bush slapped up against a barely opened window ten feet off the ground and a fragment flew through the air of the bus about five feet, ricocheted off the side of her head and lodged in a tangle on the back of her curly hair. We dislodged it, took pictures and shrugged our shoulders, reckoning the event as par for the course for Jordan. Man those briars were sharp!

We started to dine at a particular pub, but Deedee wisely pointed out how hot it was inside (Wales is experiencing a bit of a heat wave -- in the 80's Fahrenheit today!) so we went to an air conditioned cafeteria that had more food options than we could work our exhausted minds through. We felt the restaurant was perhaps a divine appointment when the lady in front of us could not quite pay for her meal with her daughter and her granddaughters. We discreetly made up the difference with a simple "God Bless You."

At dinner we discussed what it was like to connect with the surprisingly open, friendly, talkative, and likeable Welsh. Nikki called them simply "Okies" and the analogy seemed to fit. Everyone chatted about their experiences of meeting with Welsh folk the last two days and about general guidelines on being God-dedicated in our encounters but still permitting the Holy Spirit to demonstrate humility, gentleness, and an ability to listen more than preach -- as a means of manifesting Agape Love.

The evening concluded with another divine appointment. As we were leaving the cafeteria, a twenty-something (?) lady walked quickly up to Allen and asked "Are you on Mission?" Allen, being dull, did not understand her clearly and so she continued. "I heard you all talking about God, but I wasn't trying to overhear." "That's OK," we said. She seemed so cheerful and eager to talk with us about overhearing our conversation about God, that Allen felt prompted to ask, "Oh, so are you a Christian, then?" "No," she replied, "I am Nothing." We laughed and patted her. "You're not Nothing," we said. "Nobody's just a Nothing." The lady continued her sweet, chipper conversation with the ladies a few more moments, and then parted as if she were a friend of more than two minutes acquaintance. She seemed genuinely delighted that friendly, loving people were talking about God.

Unexpected adventure indeed!

That's how it is here. The watermelon fields seem warm and mellow and ripe. We don't know if we are to plow or sow or water or reap or vintage but we are truly enjoying the sweet fruit of interaction with a great people and a people of great hope.

Tomorrow we tour Cardiff Bay. Dustin Loehrs arrives after lunch and later tomorrow night; he and Allen are to chat with the Elders of Rhiwbina Baptist Church about our experiences with Church Growth. Mainly we want to learn from them how they have been so prodigious at planting churches. We hope to deepen that friendship and partnership that we have already established between our two churches.

That's what is on the agenda. But you always have to be on the lookout for God -- He has a way of breaking through even the best-laid plans and of arranging every now and then an unexpected adventure! Or two!

Allen