Cymru Am Byth!!!

Greetings folks!! In case you're wondering, that was a Welsh phrase meaning "Wales forever" (I think!). I just spent two weeks there so believe it or not, I did learn something! I learned how to say "oatmeal" ("uwd") and "disgusting" ("uch a fi")...so you know that's gotta come in handy someday! :) Anyways, as most of you know, I was asked to come teach Church History at the Calvary Chapel Bible College extension campus in Cardiff, Wales. We did a two-week "block class," which included 3 hour lectures each morning (and homework of course!); this made it a more intensive class, but the students did quite well and I was really proud of them! So with that, let's get into some photos...

This is Church Street, so called because (obviously) there's a church at the end of the street! Just to give you an idea, this is right across from where the Calvary Chapel Cardiff church office/Bible college classrooms are located.

This is the High Street, where the church office is located (on the left hand side). As you can see in the background, Cardiff Castle also just happens to be right downtown, so we got to walk by it every day on the way to class--kinda neat!!

Here are my wonderful Church History students--Stacy, Melanie, Shannon, and Kelly!! These gals are the full-time students who came over from the Bible College in Murrieta; it's neat because there are also several part-time students from the church/community who attend evening classes (a couple people actually sat in on our class occasionally, so that was fun)!

Here's another shot of the girls in one of the rare moments when they weren't doing homework! :) This particular afternoon they took me down to Cardiff Bay and we walked around down there and enjoyed a surprisingly sunny day, it was fun!!

But of course, we did have to get some class time in as well!!

This shot is for those of you who have taken classes with me before and know how much I love to talk with my hands! :)

A nice bonus to being in Cardiff was getting to know folks from the church there and being involved in their weekly activities, such as the Thursday night Bible study at the Vickery's! Pastor John Vickery has been going through the Book of Revelation, so one night we watched a video on the situation in Israel as it related to our study.

This is my friend Amber Rios, a former Bible College gal who is now a missionary serving at CC Cardiff and the Bible College. I was so blessed to be able to spend time with her (I actually stayed at her flat!), and to see all that the Lord is doing through her as she serves at the school, leads worship for church, etc. I actually had the opportunity to play piano with her for worship, which was fun!!

This is Melanie (one of the students) with Eleri, Amber's "flat mate." She and Amber were great hostesses during my two weeks there! By the way, Eleri is the resident Welsh speaker, so she taught me everything I know! :)

As a little bonus before heading back to London, we spontaneously decided to go to a professional rugby match! This particular match was between the Cardiff Blues and the Sale Sharks (a London team). Cardiff won, which was probably a good thing so we didn't have to avoid any angry fans afterwards!

Rugby is kinda sorta similar to American Football, but I have to tell ya, it seems alot more brutal when they're tackling and jumping on each other without padding and helmets! As you can see, it's not a sport for wimps!

Here's Steve Vickery and Amber watching someone get clobbered during the match. By the way, Steve is also a former Bible College student (and John Vickery's son) who is now a teacher and the director of the Bible College in Wales. He also teaches the young adults' Bible study for the church on Tuesday nights. We've been good friends for several years so it was nice to spend time with him as well (plus he taught me the basics of rugby so I wouldn't be totally dazed and confused)!

While I was in Wales, there was a leaders' conference at Oxford for the Calvary Chapels in southern England and Wales. It ended up being a fun little reunion for those of us from the Bible College back in California! So I thought I would throw in a random "bonus" photo of Steve, me, Amber, Denae, and Dan!

So there you have it--a little taste of my time in Wales!! I really was blessed to be able to teach there and also to be a bit involved in what the Lord is doing in Cardiff!! Please keep Wales in your prayers, that the Lord would continue to open doors and hearts to the Gospel, as well as bless and grow His church there! "Pray also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ" (Colossians 4:3).