For my "poor sweet momma"...

First off, she has you all fooled...we have been in contact, no I'm not in jail, and no she doesn't really care that much...she just has too much time on her hands!!!! Someone needs to investigate the merits of her mothering abilities...offering me cigarettes and such...goodness.

Since every one's been asking...I still have the surfer flu, head congestion is the bane of my existence and I've passed it along to Mrs.Faye as well. Eventually I'll be able to breathe normally...at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I also apologize for the incredibly sad blog postings and will try to keep up better than I have been, this week has been so busy that I'm going to try and relate it all to you as quick as possible...Let's get started shall we?

When I left you last week I was on my way to a surprise welcome home party for Dan who has just come home from being on mission with YWAM in Australia and Indonesia. Dan is the skinny, pale surfer I've told you about and we've gotten to be a super good Jesus team over the week that he's been home. He came back so on fire for God and with a real passion to challenge the kids here to really work on their relationship with God, I'm not gonna lie...I push him every chance I get to do what he needs to do, but he pushes right back and thanks to him God keeps me up at night speaking all kinds of truths to me. I'll have to thank him again for my recent lack of sleep. So we all hung out at the church, played rock band, ate some cookies, played some table hockey and just had a good time in general.

Monday was the start of GSUS live, I think I've been promising an explanation for awhile now...here it comes. I have pictures that I'll post when I get home today and they may help you get it a bit better. Essentially GSUS Live is a giant trailer, one of those cool ones that expands its width and inside are sixteen computers with these like bench seats and a giant screen. We bring the kids in and they listen to a safety talk..."In case of an emergency you may flee to these exits, we will give you 3D glasses, don't mess around with the mouse or headphones till we tell you to, don't remove your gum from your mouth and place it in inconspicuous places around the trailer, water bottles could leak and destroy the whole system apocalyptically"...you know, the usual. Once they finish that they are directed to work in pairs and to select a computer. We then teach them how to wear the 3D glasses, readers at home may think this step is ridiculous, but I ask, "Have you ever attempted to give 12 year olds 3D glasses and make them sit still for a movie and not have them wearing them on the backs of their heads, or borrowing someone else's so they can wear six pairs at the same time?", if you have experienced this then you know exactly how necessary that step is. They watch a video the emphasises the themes of Rejection, Fear, and Forgiveness. As soon as that finishes we explain how to work the program and introduce the characters they are going to be working with. The program is totally interactive, no keyboard involved, they use the mouse to make decisions and move through the levels. To begin you have to pick one of the three characters: there is Ben, who is overweight and everyone is making fun of him...Rejection....Kylie has just found out her best friend is really sick and may have to go into the hospital, but last time Kylie was in the hospital her grandmother died...Fear...Ben's dad left him and his brother stole money from his mom's purse, they don't have alot to begin with and then he ran away, he wants to come home now, but Ben isn't sure he can Forgive him...see how that works? So they pick a character to work with and then the character sends them an email telling them a bit more about their situation and then asking the kids specifically for help. In order to help them give good advice the kids go to a level that looks like a desk in a kid's room, there they have to complete four tasks...they have to hear about a historical figure who dealt with whichever issue they picked, they have to listen to a woman narrate a bible story, they have to listen to a music video, and then they watch a clip from the film The Miracle Maker. Each level only shows a small segment from each of these things, they get to see the next part as they move to the next level, after they have finished they can watch all of each one. However, at the end of each level they have to email advice to the character in order to get a new email. Throughout this there are bible verses and its all presented fairly well. We managed to get over 600 kids into the trailer this past week, thats 600+ seeds planted and so many conversations started. The trailer is currently out of Swansea traveling to other schools, but it will be back in July and I'll spend another week on it. Its exhausting, but exciting and lots of fun as well. If you wanna check it out online go here www.gsuslive.co.uk

Tuesday was taco night...which of course is a resounding success. Its an opportunity for me to chill with some of the guys I've become very close to and I can hang out with them without them thinking its my job to, or that the church wants me to. We eat, play frisbee, rescue the frisbee from the neighbor's yard, play mal (a ridiculous card game, I need to teach all of you when I come home), then eat cake/brownies and watch Flight of the Concords. Just a super awesome way to chill and get to know each other.

Wednesday was my day off in the trailer and so we decided to go to the Gower. The Gower is the place with the gorgeous beaches and cliffs and where the animals just sort of wander all over the road. Dan drove us out there to see Culver Hole which is this crazy hide out hidden in the cliff side that you can only get to when the tide is out. He took me, Heidi and Siusan and we just spent the day climbing cliffs and rocks and almost dying repeatedly just so we could experience it. It was so worth it, the views from those cliffs are so amazing its unbelievable, how you can deny that God exists while standing on that edge looking at the ocean just blows my mind. His handprint is all over this country. On our way back we got a text saying Youth Bible Study had been cancelled. We were all kinda bummed, but then Dan just decided he would lead it. I was all for it and offered up our living room and told him to go for it...here was me pushing him again. We had to go by the youth minister's house because I was supposed to come round for dinner and discuss Girl's Night with his wife. They invited all four of us in and we had an amazing meal and got to spend time with them and their three adorable kids. We texted around and told them we were still holding it and then we said our goodbyes and left their house. We got home later than we expected and it was so funny to see three of the guys sitting around in our living room with Mrs.Faye and Missy, we had a full living room that night and we worked our way through the book of Galatians for going on two and a half hours, no one wanted to stop they were so into it. We played two hands of Mal and then I kicked everyone out because we had to get up early and work the trailer. Dan stayed behind for a bit because he was so pumped about how well it went and wanted to discuss and spend a little time praying about it. It was just a crazy night.

Thursday and Friday we spent on the trailer and we just chilled at home thursday night, friday we spent at Rhys' house and had pizza and talked and some of us watched Slumdog Millionare, but most of us spent the night just hanging out and chatting. Saturday was much of the same and Sunday morning I went to the first service to hear Siusan sing and hear Mandy preach...both of which were excellent and Mandy's message on the life of David was really what I needed to hear after this past week. After worship in the second service, I went with Dan to Crash where we led teams and had to dress up in crazy clothes and we talked about being embarrassed...much better than the loneliness thing and we had several girls, so it was way better than when I taught last week...and there were cookies, win win. Student lunch followed that where I received yet another sunburn because Wales has decided to become a tropical country this summer. That night Dan spoke in Thirst about your relationship with God and we had just an intense time of prayer where God really moved and spoke, we spent about three hours in prayer which just blows my mind because we had kids as young as 11 who wanted to pray for each other...things were resolved that night, people had conversations that should have happened months ago, friendships were repaired and several people received the encouragement they needed. It was crazy and one of the most powerful spiritual experiences of my life.

Monday I spent a good two or three hours with Keefe and Matt discussing child protection and how I was feeling and just had a great conversation that covered lots of ground. After that I just went home and ended up having several people come round the house just to chill and hang out, same with yesterday, people just kept popping up. Yesterday was also taco night and Siusan cooked and it was deliciously spicy, the poor Welsh kids were using sour cream to cool it off and when we ran out they were all sucking down glasses of milk like it was going out of style...it was hilarious. We had several new people there and we just had a really good time. Except for the fact that I looked as if someone had painted a red stripe down the front of my legs, I had only spent about half an hour in the sun and it was awful looking, so they spent the night slapping my legs whenever I got to close to them, they were purple by the end of the night...ridiculous.

I think that is everything, or its possible I've left stuff out, but I tried! I have pictures of all of these things that will come next and hopefully the next post won't be a week away. I have to go do the Christian Union meeting at one of the local schools in about an hour, but it'll be good, it always is. So until later, my momma and her posse can go keep tabs on other kids!

Love you guys!

RBWD: Trainers-Tennis shoes