Friday Through Tuesday, 22-26 July 2011
The group is off and they don't have an internet connection yet so I will give a quick update:
They are on a bus on the way to camp. So the journey begins! We have 9 American adults, 10 Welsh adults, and 18 youth (4 bhoys and 14 girls) bonding together as they travel north to the beautiful mountain country. Please be in prayer for all of them as they make these new friendships and bonds around the things that are eternal.
At last, an internet connection!
The team of seven Americans (Allen Rice, Doug Dees, Doug Mikes, Tracy Hunt, Laura Turner, Hannah McMillan, and Stormie Lee) left Oklahoma City and things were uneventful until we landed in Amsterdam, Netherlands and discovered that according to a glitch in teh computer system of KLM Airlines, Doug Mikes and Hannah did not in fact exist, and the airline had no tickets for them on a full airplane so the best they could do was to be placed on standby to travel to Bristol, England. Allen lobbied every airline official he could find, stewed inwardly, and imagined the worst. Doug Mikes and Hannah were surprisingly unperturbed and Tracy was a veritable font of faithfulness and encouragement. The whole team sat quietly on the floor and bonded for about 80 minutes while the whole debacle played itself out. Ultimately, the airline relented, issued Doug M and Hannah tickets and they didn't even have to wait for on standby. Doug Dees pointed out the spiritual truth: prayer worked and God intervened. This truth gave Allen great comfort and it lowered his blood pressure.
Three delights at the Bristol Airport:
1) We all passed through immigration with less friction than ever before. Tracy was the first one up. She simply stated that she was with a group touring castles. Then the whole group was called up, and after a question or two each, all seven were rubber stamped through. Miracles do indeed still happen!
2) We were greeted by our friend and bus driver, Chris Reid.
3) Even more delightful: we were greeted by our eighth team member: Lauren West. She has been serving in Wales as our church's intern for the last two months, serving pastor Derek Rees and helping to prepare for the youth camp. She has grown to consider the welsh her family, especially Pat, a sweet mother figure who Lauren has been staying with. And the Welsh have found her irreplaceable. Monday Night they through a going away party for Lauren and to thank Pat for her hospitality. Around thirty people showed up to express their love and respect for Lauren and for her godly service.
We all toured mystical, meditative Tintern Abbey with its impossibly tall walls pointing to heaven and we toured grand, powerful Caerphilly Castle with its dark stones and deep double moat.
Sunday we all went to Capel Gomer where Derek preached. We went to the beach at the mumbles and had Joe's ice cream. Monday we met with the Welsh team, brainstormed over how best and who best to cover every minute of the camp itinerary, and we bought supplies and lunch materials for the next day. Our ninth team member, Jennifer Nath, arrived after a seven hour delay because of a mechanical problem on the airplane going from Oklahoma City to Detroit.
Tuesday, we got on the bus, got the children and headed for Bala College in scenic mountainous north Wales. We stopped at sunny Aberystwyth Castle for a sun-filled lunch on the lawn, punctuated by attacks by bread-grabbing seagulls. Then on to Bala. It was a rough ride. One child got sick, and another child nearly so. Tracy and Doug Mikes very nearly lost their lunches as well. But we finally arrived to a peaceful yet fun-filled environment.
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