You can stop your waiting and whining!

So this will be a long one, because I have to go all the way back to last thursday afternoon and then there are some excellent pictures tacked on to the bottom. And this would count as textual storytelling...because there is text involved, otherwise I would be vocalizing and would therefore have no need for text. Take that Momma!

Thursday afternoon I went to Kid's Club and told the story of Jonah and the Whale...they listened as intently as you can expect fifteen 5 and 6 year olds to. They played a bunch of games and then ate cookies and sang a Jonah song and then we got to meet one of the leader's puppets. It was this crazy middle eastern sheep with glasses like Ray Charles...I've got to get me one of those. After that I headed back to the church where I played around on Facebook until the guys had finished Youth Band practice. When they finished we had an awkward car ride to Lanie's house where my BFF and his older brother Rhys were having an argument. There was much slamming of doors and grunting...the usual brother fight. We went to Lanie's where she was having a BBQ, in the rain, to celebrate Bible College graduation and also to say goodbye for the summer to most of the kids. We chilled and ate food and then were beasted in ping pong by some bible collegers...we had no chance. Then we left out so I could get some sleep before Spiritual Health Day.

The next morning I was up bright and early with Phil headed to one of the secondary schools to lead five lessons on spiritual health. It was crazy, we had a bunch of Year Eights which is about Eighth or Ninth Graders and they went to things like Career Advice, Self Defense and Drug Awareness...how are we supposed to control them after that? It was ridiculous, but it went very well. We weren't there to evangelize, we simply wanted them to think a little bit. We also took a poll on the number of students who believe in God and got hugely disappointing results. I think it is representative of not just UK kids, but American ones as well. After that I was fully exhausted, but ended up having some people pop up over at the house so I didn't make it to bed until late.

The next morning we went to a disappointing Boot Sale that had been conquered by the rain, so we decided to cut our losses and headed into town. Tim, Gareth, Nathan and I had McDonald's then charity shopped in the rain, then we had Mad Cow of course and then we sat in Castle Square to watch the last half of the fashion show, then some musical acts, then some street dancers. Swansea was apparently celebrating Independent's Day with a fashion show from all its Independent Store Owners...I personally think they were just ripping off our holiday...it was July 4th after all. We didn't hang around too long because we had to head over to the cinema so that we could watch Ice Age 3 in 3D with some of the younger youth...it was hilarious!

Sunday morning I worked in Kid's Church where they decorated balloons and then promptly poppped them in the room and then out in the sanctuary...I was not responsible for that bundle of fun. After Church we went to the Woodman for lunch with Lanie and her cousin, after they left for the bible college, Sophie, Dan, Nathan, Tim and I went over to Swansea beach to play frisbee and try out Tim's long board. We eventually got too cold to continue so we brought the party back to Cherry Grove where the boy's watched tennis until they had to go home for tea. A few hours later we had Thirst, which was a Prayer and Praise Party. We did several worship songs and then we did encouragement hands. You trace your hand on a piece of paper and then write your name in the middle...sounds like turkeys right? WRONG! I did however make a turkey before the kids got there, but the Welshies were unimpressed...I thought he was great. Anyways, then everyone walks around and writes notes of encouragement or bible verses on your hands. It was a nice way of encouraging people without being awkward. I also made sure to write that it would have been cooler as a turkey on all the older kid's hands...so someone gave my hand feet and a beak...it was a nice touch. After Thirst, I had a few people come round the house and chill out for a bit before crashing from exhaustion.

Monday morning we had staff prayer and I met with Matt and Keefe for quite awhile to discuss how the summer is going and what I need to be doing for the last bit I'm here. That night we had Boys and Girls night...the boys played ultimate frisbee in the mud and we had a kind of hip hop dance lesson...we also managed to abduct two of the older boys and make them dance with us...they are suprisingly good sports even if they are debilitatingly uncoordinated.

Tuesday was a hang out day with one of the younger girls, we had lunch in town and then we shopped a bit before coming home to watch Miss Congeniality with Ms.Faye. We also made the "Almost" Birthday Cake for Nathan who was turning 17 the next day. Taco Night had an Oriental theme so we ordered in Chinese and then since it was raining we abandoned our tradition of frisbee and other assorted garden games and just watched tv and hung out. Everyone filled up on cake and Chinese and just had a good time at the "Almost" party. Nathan also loved his tacky American t-shirt, he fully got the joke. I also gave him an awesome voucher for a free Mad Cow milkshake that I made on the computer earlier that afternoon.

Wednesday was Tour of the Gower day. I went with Lanie and her cousin and Dan and Gareth all the way around the south of the Gower, visiting several hidden spots and then had lunch at the King Arthur...the pictures after this text are some of the places we saw...you just can't describe how gorgeous it is. That night we had Youth Bible Study where we watched Toy Story 2...I had forgotten how good of a film that was!

Today was Garden of Death Day. We were going to spend an hour of two in the church garden and ended up spending waaaaaaay more than that...for such a small garden there was a ridiculous amount of weedage that needed to be done. It was crazy, but thankfully it wasn't hot so we managed to get it done with minimal whining...although I suggested, with much support, that we should just do a controlled burn and start again...there is always next time.

I think that is it, I think you've been caught up mostly and I am tired of typing...so I hope you enjoy the adventures and I'll textualize you again soon!









Sheepage on the side of the road.








Flat Lily hanging out with the sheep.


Flat Mary watching the sea.





Two lane road? Yes it is!








Spotted while attempting to pay for Welsh Cakes.










Part one of the birthay gift...he loved it! Part two was an excellent hand-made/computer crafted voucher for a Mad Cow milkshake.


mmmm, cake!


General excitement as the almost birthday boy cuts the cake.


Oriental Taco Night and the Chinese we ordered...it covered both counters...there was so much of it.


The fantastic "Almost" Birthday cake complete with Barbie sprinkles.