Is it December yet?

Hello all. To be really honest this has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I don't think that I understood what I was stepping in to before I got here. Not the physical part of this, or even the emotional part. I've learned that I'm on the frontline of spiritual warfare. It's become clear to me that I've been under attack this past week, or really since I've been here. Tuesday night I learned that my first cousin was in a head on collision with an SUV. They airlifted him to Grady Hospital. If any of you know Atlanta, you know that Grady is where they take the really bad trauma cases. To be honest I panicked. I called all of the people in my immediate support group. I wanted to come home. Real bad. Have I conveyed how badly I wanted to come home? Well long story short my cousin will be fine. He will be soon or has already been released from the hospital. It's seriously by God's hand that he is alive. It's a big relief to me and my family. Thank you so much to all of my friends who prayed for him during all of this. I'm convinced that's a part of why he's still alive.

One of the hardest parts of this is how I've handled the stress of all of this. I've allowed all of the joy that I had about this trip to be taken from me. I'm so emotionally spent right now. I don't have much to offer anyone right now, much less the ability to minister to someone. To top it all off, I've been a HUGE jerk to Ginny. She has had to put up with so much of my crap this past week or so. I've been unfair and I've made our relationship pretty miserable during this time. Ginny, I'm truly sorry for how I've treated you. You haven't deserved it, in fact you deserve so much better than what I've given you. I know you've said that you forgive me. I just wanted to let everyone know about it, where they can keep me accountable in the coming weeks. I love you and I'm very thankful for you. Please allow my actions to realign with my heart. Be patient with me. I know you will, that's why I love you. Thanks Gin.

All of this makes me know that I'm supposed to be here. Why else would I have been attacked so relentlessly? I'm going to post part of an email that Troy sent me. I hope you don't mind Troy. It really surmises what is going on here:

As I was thinking about your situation, the thought occurred to me, "why is this happening?" The answer that came back in light of what I know about you, was that this is the first of many trials for Robert. You see you have a call to work in international missions on your life. This comes with many sacrifices. You will miss the birth, death, marriages of many that are close to you. Remember our reading in Luke 14:25-27. I like it especially in the Message.

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sister--yes, even one's own self!--can't be my disciple. Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.

You may find that being away from Ginny, this accident with your cousin, your grandmother's health are all tests of your commitment to follow the call on your life. They all come, and you cannot serve God overseas and be with 'the family' at every crisis and celebration. I too, am the one looked to for stability in my family. I felt a great weight of responsibility when all hell seemed to break loose on my family after I left. They kept calling wanting me to sort it out. In the end I had to say,"no." They needed to be away from me as much as I needed to be away from them. You see when I was taken out of the picture, they had to depend more on God and each other to get through the crisis. I needed to be released from the pressure and I needed to release them to God. Some heavy but necessary lessons that I see potential for if you are willing for God to teach you.

I really think that last line is what He is doing here. As much as He worked on my character this summer He is back at it again. It took losing Ginny to realize that changes needed to be made. I think that this week has been another wake up call. A call to radical character molding. There are many areas that need reshaping in my life. I think that this trip will serve to be the catalyst and hopefully the beginning of the process. I just ask a couple things of you people out there that read my blog:

1. Please pray for me and my team. We are under attack and we need to be blanketed with prayer.
2. Pray specifically for the areas in my character that I'll be letting go of. The big one right now is forgiveness. I'll update as more surface.
3. Pray that I'll be more Christ-like in my important relationships. Ginny, family, and friends. So pretty much ALL my relationships.
4. Pray that this will become fun again. Until this week started I was having the time of my life here. I need that feeling to return.
5. Be patient with me.


Thanks so very much for supporting me through all of this. I need you guys to lift me up right now because I'm really down. I know that this will work out for the best. It's just hard to see that right now. Well, it's bed time here. Homework day tomorrow and off to the pub after that. I'll post as much as I need to, so look for updates soon. Leave some love.

-Robert

Hooray for ME!!

Hello all. I think that I may have to post more often. Since Wednesday a lot of stuff has happened. I may have forgotten some of it, but I'll try my best to remember. Here we go....

School was really good on Thursday. I'm not learning a lot in the terms you'd think. Most of what we are doing now is stuff I already know. It's about how to build relationships with youth and why that is important . That's not hard for me. I know that relational ministry is where the heart of God is. I think that God is preparing me for the stuff we are going to do in the near future. I can't wait!

Here at the church things are going well. We got permission to tear up the youth room tonight from the deacons. We have a lot of work to do and I'm really looking forward to it. As I've grown older I've learned to appreciate working with my hands more and more. We have to chisel away part of a wall and tear off some wood paneling before we can start working. We start that Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it.

Friday all the guys met at Troy's for our accountability group. It's going to be really cool. I'm going to get to know the Scriptures so much better. Saturday we had an actual American breakfast at Troy's house. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Troy's and we met at 9:30 am. But to have real biscuits and gravy I'd get up at 4 or 5 am. We ate and babysat Troy'd 4 kids until 4 ish. It was cool to just be around kids and not think about anything for an extended period of time.

Tonight Stella and I had dinner at Brian's. Brian is my favorite Welshman. He has a story about EVERYTHING. He is a retired history teacher and can talk the night away. We sat around and had intellectual conversation for about 3 hours. He is a riot. I really hope we can do that again.

On a completely unrelated note, I think that we are beginning to bond as a class. We have been hanging out with the Brits that are in class with us. We meet up every Saturday night at a pub called Dewi's. It's in the Centre City and it's really neat. Christians here are allowed to go to the pubs, it's THE social gathering place here. It's cool to go to a pub and not feel like I'm being judged. Well enough of that. I took some pictures at the pub Saturday. We had a blast. We all got nick names. Mine's "Tea Leaf". I have no idea why or where Nick got it from, but I like it. Check the pics out.

On a very personal note, please pray for me and my family. I'm not going to go in to detail, but we need your prayers. It's not life or death but I'd appreciate you keeping us in your prayers. Also please pray for me and Ginny. We've had an emotional week. We've worked through a lot of issues together and we need a break from stress. Oh, and the fact that we've spent 9 days together in the past 4 months doesn't help.

Life is good right now. This is the happiest that I've ever been. God has been so very good to me. I have the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I have a wonderful girlfriend that supports and loves me so much. She brings so much joy and happiness in to my life. I have a healthy family. I have 2 churches that love and support me on a scale that I don't deserve. I'm living a dream right now. Thanks to all of you that make my life great. Keep posting your comments and emails. I really appreciate all of them. Leave some love!!

-Robert

Hooray for ME!!

Hello all. I think that I may have to post more often. Since Wednesday a lot of stuff has happened. I may have forgotten some of it, but I'll try my best to remember. Here we go....

School was really good on Thursday. I'm not learning a lot in the terms you'd think. Most of what we are doing now is stuff I already know. It's about how to build relationships with youth and why that is important . That's not hard for me. I know that relational ministry is where the heart of God is. I think that God is preparing me for the stuff we are going to do in the near future. I can't wait!

Here at the church things are going well. We got permission to tear up the youth room tonight from the deacons. We have a lot of work to do and I'm really looking forward to it. As I've grown older I've learned to appreciate working with my hands more and more. We have to chisel away part of a wall and tear off some wood paneling before we can start working. We start that Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it.

Friday all the guys met at Troy's for our accountability group. It's going to be really cool. I'm going to get to know the Scriptures so much better. Saturday we had an actual American breakfast at Troy's house. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Troy's and we met at 9:30 am. But to have real biscuits and gravy I'd get up at 4 or 5 am. We ate and babysat Troy'd 4 kids until 4 ish. It was cool to just be around kids and not think about anything for an extended period of time.

Tonight Stella and I had dinner at Brian's. Brian is my favorite Welshman. He has a story about EVERYTHING. He is a retired history teacher and can talk the night away. We sat around and had intellectual conversation for about 3 hours. He is a riot. I really hope we can do that again.

On a completely unrelated note, I think that we are beginning to bond as a class. We have been hanging out with the Brits that are in class with us. We meet up every Saturday night at a pub called Dewi's. It's in the Centre City and it's really neat. Christians here are allowed to go to the pubs, it's THE social gathering place here. It's cool to go to a pub and not feel like I'm being judged. Well enough of that. I took some pictures at the pub Saturday. We had a blast. We all got nick names. Mine's "Tea Leaf". I have no idea why or where Nick got it from, but I like it. Check the pics out.

On a very personal note, please pray for me and my family. I'm not going to go in to detail, but we need your prayers. It's not life or death but I'd appreciate you keeping us in your prayers. Also please pray for me and Ginny. We've had an emotional week. We've worked through a lot of issues together and we need a break from stress. Oh, and the fact that we've spent 9 days together in the past 4 months doesn't help.

Life is good right now. This is the happiest that I've ever been. God has been so very good to me. I have the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I have a wonderful girlfriend that supports and loves me so much. She brings so much joy and happiness in to my life. I have a healthy family. I have 2 churches that love and support me on a scale that I don't deserve. I'm living a dream right now. Thanks to all of you that make my life great. Keep posting your comments and emails. I really appreciate all of them. Leave some love!!

-Robert

Sorry Ginny, I'm taken

Hello all. Just sitting here in the computer lab with Jeff and Josh surfing the web. As Stella said in her blog we had prayer meeting this morning, followed by our Wednesday lunch at Yum-Yum's. We have to clean the youth room out at 4:30 today. I'm really tired already and it's only 2:45. This will be a long, but good day.

Sunday morning at church the funniest thing happened. A lady in the church couldn't remember Stella's name. Then she said, "Oh yes that's right, you're Robert's wife." Stella politely said that we were just friends that met each other at university. So apparently Stella and I are married. Sorry Ginny, I'm taken. I guess you can be my side dish. (j/k) Stella and I cracked up about that. I love Stella a whole bunch, but a relationship between us would end up in a funeral. Good times though.

We have "school" tomorrow. I love the fact that my bus stop is right outside my front door. I really like school. It takes a new and fresh angle at discipleship and evangelism. It's really great and has made me think outside the box. I love it.

Well I'm gonna go and take some pictures of the room before we start the clean-up process. I miss you all and can't wait to see you again. Leave some love!!

-Robert

Home

Hello all. This will be a short post, as I'm short on time. I've had a good and restful weekend. Saturday was restful and quiet. Sunday was good again. Sunday morning I went with the kids to Sunday School. I love kids and hopefully these kids will love me.

Sunday night was a little more stressful. We had Youth Group and Lewis and Makafui were pressing my buttons all night. Even through all of that we had a great and productive meeting. The church is giving us a room for the Youth. Stella and I are letting them design how the room will look. They thought up a pretty neat design. Now it's not as nice as Jacksonville's, but it's pretty cool none the less. Wednesday we start the cleanup of the room. Let's hope all goes well.

Sunday night I moved in to my permanent host home. Staying with Pastor Fred and his family was great. They were kind and very hospitable to me. They really made me feel like a part of their family. I'm actually Uncle Robert to them!! I moved in with some senior adults. Their names are Alan and Elvira. They have a wonderful home and are also very kind and gracious to me. I actually watch ESPN Sunday Night Baseball last night. Granted it started at 1 am, but it was great. I'm going to post some pics of my room and their house.

I have to go. My first dinner with them. I don't want to be late. Yes Brandi, I was going to call you guys this week. Let me know a day and time that all of you girls will be together and I'll call. Leave some love!!

-Robert

Back to school, back to school....

Hello all. Well before I tell you about class, let me tell you about the trek to class. We were supposed to be there at 9. It takes about an hour to get to class from here. Stella didn't arrive here until 8:20. We got to the bus stop at 8:25 and Josh arrived shortly after. The bus was supposed to get there at 8:28. At 8:35 instead of the bus stopping at the stop it just kept on truckin'. The next bus wasn't due until 9. We walked to the next street over and caught another bus in to town. We got on the bus at 8:55. Well long story short we arrived at class at 9:40. Oh, did I mention that it was raining during all of this? The sad part is that Jeff was an hour late. His bus just didn't show up. So all of the Americans were late to class today. Bad Americans. We blended well with the Brit students. We will work well and become good friends with them. Good times. I really like "school" so far. They don't like us calling it school. It is the knowledge that they are giving us to support our ministry. Well anyways, it's really neat. I'll be getting a certificate (like a vocational school diploma) in Youth Sports. It will actually allow me to get paid for coaching and working with youth here in Britian. Maybe there is a job in the future for me if I were to move to Wales one day. Just a thought. I'm actually beginning to settle in here. Not to say that this is home yet, but it's becoming familiar. Friday is an off day and Saturday I may go for a boat ride in the bay with the Lewis, Mekafui and Delasi. Saturday night I might babysit for Troy. Who knows. Good day, but long. Off to call my lovely girlfriend and then it's sleepy bunny. (for Maggs) Leave some love!! -Robert

Milk'em Dry!!!!

Hello all. Actually some school related stuff to report. We had orientation on Tuesday. It was from 9-4 and it was a blast. Here are the names of my team followed by our superiors and what they do. (so when I talk about these people you know who they are) Team- Stella (you know her I bet); Joshua-from Rochester,NY;Jeff-from Richmond via Atlanta; and Robert (me). Our superiors- Troy and Cheryl Blankenship (IMB missionaries and team leaders with 4 kids from OK); Rob and Jenny Burns (what irony--They are are CONNECT supervisors. Connect is our schooling while we are here. 4 kids as well.) Tom and Ann (don't remember their last names but he is from Trussville and she is from Oxford!) They are our team logistics coordinators. Kelley is a 26 year old journeyman from TX. There are also 6 British students as well. I'll get to that in a minute. In orientation we learned about Cardiff and the cultures we will be dealing with. Islam is the biggest culture and religion in the areas we will be working and living in. I never knew that learning about other cultures would be so interesting to me. It was great, and Josh and Amir are going to teach me some basic Arabic!! How cool!! We are also in a mentoring program. Troy is my mentor. Rob told us this about our relationships with our mentors, "milk'em dry!" As he said that Jeff said, "That's gonna be the next title of Robert's blog!" Good call Jeff, good call. Then today we had prayer meeting at 10. We walked 35 minutes to the Kelly's flat (Josh overslept and we waited on him. We missed the bus. I wasn't thrilled with this start to my day) When we got there Troy told us that until lunch we would prayer walk our territory. Oh boy. I just walked 35 minutes here and we have to turn around and walk around our entire area. I wasn't thrilled with this revelation either. As it was prayer walking turned out to be pretty cool. Stella, Cheryl and I walked around Grangetown and it went well. Then Stella, Josh, Jeff and I met for lunch at Yum-Yum's. (see earlier posts) We ate and hung out and bonded for 2 1/2 hours. It was great. At 7:30 we had our induction in to the CONNECT program. It went well. Rob asked Isla (pronounced I-lah) and I to lead worship. Isla is one of Rob's friends that attends Glenwood Church. She was a ton of fun to work with. She really made me look good up there! Thanks Isla!! We had dinner and met the British students in the program. I think we will blend nicely with them. Oh, by the way, Americans are loud and obnoxious compared with Brits. We have class tomorrow morning at 9. I'm going to go to bed now. I miss you all and honestly think about you all the time. Oh, this is for Brandi, Jessie and Maggs. Isla and I were practicing for tonight. I started singing falsetto in one of the songs. She actually told me I sounded just like the Bee Gees. I about died. All I could think about and sing was "Livin it up, on the Barry Gibb talkshow" I thought about you guys and all of the good times we have had together. I miss them and can't wait to have more. Ginny, sorry about calling you late on Monday. I still feel bad. Sorry. Have a great day! More to come tomorrow about school!! Leave some love!! -Robert

My mobile (cell) number

I forgot to put this in the last post. My cell number is as follows. Dial it exactly like it's typed. 00144-7914-315-512. Call me anytime, just remember add 6 hours if you are in Alabama 5 in Georgia. You better not wake me up!! Leave the love. -Robert

The last day of nothing

Hello all. Let's work backwards, shall we? Sunday was good. We attended our first church service here at Grangetown Baptist. It went well, I went to Sunday school with the children. There are about 15 or so kids that are regulars. It was good to meet them and start to work with them. It will be our job to train some more kids and youth workers. I don't feel qualified to teach "adults" how to run Sunday school, but God will use me somehow. Sunday night was my first time with the youth. There are 4 or 5 regulars, and I foresee this to be our biggest challenge. The kids that are there are in the mindset that only good people go to church. That will make evangelism hard. Our first task will be to make the kids understand that EVERYONE needs a relationship with Christ, not just the good people. Pray for us, it's gonna be an uphill battle. Today I had lunch in the City Centre with Stella and some of the church members. It was good to be out of the house and the area. Nothing against Grangetown, but we haven't had anything to do since Friday. Today is the last day of nothing, tomorrow is orientation. Wednesday is induction and Thursday classes start. Back to the subject. After lunch we went shopping. We went to a place that Americans call a mall. Here in the UK it's called an arcade. It's really neat and beautiful. I'll have to take a picture and put it up later. They are the prettiest parts of the city to me. I bought 2 books at the Christian bookstore. I could have spent hundreds of dollars today, the shops are that great. Oh, for all of you 1st Baptist people I'm getting some new glasses next week. They are really cheap here. Around 35-40 quid for the eye exam, frames and lenses. (quid is a slang term for pounds; thanks Kevin, you really are my hero.) That equates to about 70-80 dollars for the whole package. As nice as my duct tape glasses are, I need some new ones. Please pray for the following: I'm leading worship Wednesday and Thursday at induction and the first day of class. I'm really nervous about it, so please pray for me. I'm worried about raising money if I do stay. Many of you will wonder how that can be. It will cost £2800 to stay the whole 10 months. 2800 times 1.84= $5152. (1.84 is the exchange rate) That's just the money for tuition and meals. I would have no spending money and no way of earning more. Just pray that first off I will hear God in all of this and two that I'll be obedient to whatever He wants. Also, pray for Ginny. I know she doesn't want me to put this up, but she needs it. Our separation for this long has been hard on us, and the prospect of adding 6 more months doesn't help. We both need your prayers. Thanks for all of the continued comments and prayers. They mean more to me than you will ever know. I miss all of you and can't wait to see you again. Whether I stay the 10 months or just 4 I have to come home for Christmas. One week down 14 to go!! Leave some love!! -Robert

Welcome to Wales!!

Hello all. A lazy and restful day here in Cardiff. We had our coffee shop this morning. Rather uneventful, but a good time. Stella and I met with pastor Fred and the leaders of the church after coffee shop. It was good, and we now hove a gameplan. After the meeting I went on a little bike ride with Fred's two sons and their best friend. So Delasi, Mekafui, Lewis and I set of to ASDA. ASDA is their version of Wal-Mart. It's about 7-10 minutes away on a bike. It's good to know where it is. Well we went in and out of some of the shops in and around ASDA. We decided to go to Cardiff Bay. Well right as we were halfway there, it started raining. It was a heavy rain. So we waited part of it out under a walkway that wasn't solid. It was a metal mesh walkway that shielded us from some of the rain. As it was raining Delasi said, "Welcome to Wales, this is how it is here." So I think that today was my first taste of how wet it is here. We were SOAKED!! It was a good time. I'm sitting here tracking college football on ESPN.com. I really miss sitting down Saturday afternoon and watching college football all day long. I really hope the 'Dawgs put a hurtin on South Carolina. Well enough of the randomness. Check out the new pictures I have up. Some of them are quite funny. I miss you all and think of you often. Leave me some love!! -Robert

Insert cute title here

Hello all. This shall be a short post. It's 12:20 am here. I drank a glass of tea at 10:30 that's keeping me up. Here's what happened today: Woke up at 11:30 am. It was great. I think my body appreciated the extra sleep. Had lunch and watched American TV. Good times. Stella and Joshua met me here at 5 and we left for our hour long bus trip to Rob and Jenny's. Long story short I lead us to the wrong bus stop. There are about 12 on our street and they all go to the same place. The one we were supposed to go to arrived 15 minutes earlier than the one we eventually used. Somehow we arrived at the house only 5 minutes late. I really don't know how, the double Decker bus we rode in sounded like it wasn't going to make it up some of the hills. Well the cookout was great. We met Jeff our last team member. Morgan (see Stella's blog) was sent home after arriving here in the UK. Long, long, long story but she should be here within the month. Please pray for her and the situation. It was good to get to know our whole team better. There are 3 missionary couples- Troy and Cheryl, Rob and Jenny (my favorite for obvious reasons) and Tom and Ann. Tom is from Trussville and Ann is from Oxford. They told Stella and I we could come over for sweet tea any time we wanted. They are wonderful people to learn from and work with. I'm really starting to consider staying the full 10 months of the program. I'm not going to make a decision until November, but I need to consider it. I think I would be cheating myself out of a great opportunity if I didn't at least consider it. Money and Ginny are really the only things I worry about when I think of staying. I know money isn't an obstacle, but I'm a worrier. If I stay Ginny and I will have only spent about a month together during the year. She left in May and came back in August. I left in September and may not get back until July. Including the time I'll have for Christmas, we'll have only had a little over a month together. It's tougher than I thought it would be, and adding 6 or so more months doesn't help things. It may sound petty to some of you, but it weighs on my heart. Please pray for me. I genuinely want to make the right decision. I want my answer to be the same one that God wants. I had a great title for this blog, but it's a long story. Remind me and I'll tell you the story of how to turn a Brit in to an American and visa versa. I said this wouldn't be long, but I lied. Thanks to all of you that wrote me a little letter at the Welcome Back party. You have no idea how much I needed that today. Thank you. I'm going to bed. Coffee shop At 10:30 am and a meeting after that. I'll post more pics tomorrow or Sunday. Leave some love!! -Robert

I know who the Devil is!!

Hello all. Another good day here in the UK. It started at 9:30 with what was supposed to be a rather cheap and uneventful breakfast. Stella met me at my host home, which is next door to the church. We walked to Ikea, a furniture and home decorating store. I think that there are a few in the States. I digress. We had a lovely breakfast that only cost us £3. That's pretty cheap here in Wales. Well, we get done with breakfast and try to leave the store. The key word in that sentencee is try. To begin with, Ikea is bigger than a super Wal-Mart. Why this place has a cafe in it is beyond me. Secondly, you can't go out the store the same way you enter it. They make you walk the length of the store to the exit right by the cash registers. Rather brilliant if you ask me, but really inconvenient. Add to that there are no signs that tell you where the exits are and you make for a 15 minute adventure to start your day. As we were walking out of the store Stella made the quote of the day. She said, "The next time someone tells me Wal-Mart is the devil, I'll tell them they are wrong. Ikea is the devil, not Wal-Mart." So today I learned who the real devil is. After we played the role of the Jews lost in the wilderness, Troy met us at my home. He took us around where we live to get us familiar with the area. It was really great. My area of Cardiff, Grangetown, is very diverse. In Cardiff there are 47 first languages spoken. In a city that is smaller than Birmingham, it makes the city really diverse. I went in to many shops today. I think Stella and I have found our bakery that we will be frequenting. It's called "Yum Yum's" and we met Rob, who I think is the owner. We also went in a new Arabic restaurant. It smelled really good and I hope we get to go back. We also went in Pakistanini grocery store. IT was really interesting. I bought pomegranatete that will soon be devoured. I almost bought you one Ginny, but I don't want to see your face after you eat it. :) Then Josh and I went to a refugee center at Tredegarville Baptist church. Josh is a member of mine and Stella's team. They have rec time for refugees. They have pool, foosball, and ping-pong. Needless to say I played ping-pong. I beat poor Joshua pretty badly. Then another guy named Josh from Nigeria played me. He beat me 2 games to 1. I think I can beat him when I shake off all of my rust. But I've been told he's not the best one there. I'm excited to play these guys, they should be some stiff competition. The highlight of my day was talking to Joshua and Armin. Joshua is a converted Muslim whose name was Mohammed before he got baptized. He spoke pretty good English, good enough to help Armin and I have a 45 minute conversation. Joshua and Armin are from Iran. They've left Iran because they were tortured for not supporting the government. Armin showed me scars he has from plastic surgery. Apparently the government beat him badly enough to warrant plastic surgery. They asked me all about America and I asked them about Iran. It's amazing how the media portrays their people. Both guys told me how much the Iranian people love and admire the US. They also told me how desperate their people are for democracy. They are fed up with the government, and how they are treated. I was amazed at some of the stuff that they told me. It was an eye opening experience. Hopefully I can start going to the rec time every Tuesday. Armin isn't a Christian and hopefully I can start some dialogue with him about what Christianity is really about. Today was great but I still feel run down. I've been getting good sleep, but I just hit a wall at 5:30 or so. Please pray that this passes soon. Next week is when we start up with everything, and I want to be refreshed and ready for it. Thanks so much for all of the comments. It's good to hear from my friends and really encouraging to hear from all you guys at 1st Baptist. Leave some more love!! -Robert

These are the people that Jesus threw out of the temple....

Hello all. I had another long and rewarding day here in Cardiff. It started out at 8:30am with Troy calling me (Troy and his wife Cheryl are the head missionaries here in Cardiff.) He wanted to know what Stella and I had told customs at Heathrow airport that allowed us to get in to the country so easily. I told him that our answer to customs was that we were doing volunteer work here in Cardiff. Apparently Morgan, one of our team members can't get a visa to stay the entire 10 months. So she needs to know what to tell customs when she arrives here in the UK. Morgan and Jeff arrive on Friday and we are having a barbecue with the entire Cardiff mission team. BRILLIANT!!, as they say here in Wales.

So today I had all of my money exchanged in to pounds or £. I traded $3600 in to £1845.11. The exchange rate was 1.95. That means that after my classes I'll have about £425 to run on for 3 1/2 months. That will be way more than I'll need. Once again, thanks to everyone who helped get me here. As we were exchanging my money Troy made the comment of the day. He leaned down to me (Troy is 6' 4") and said, "You know Robert, these are the people Jesus threw out of the temple." I just about lost control. It's good to know that I'll be working with people that have a great sense of humor. After that we went to lunch. We had Somalian food and it was amazing. All I could think about during the meal was how jealous Ginny was going to be when I told her about lunch. I will be back there MANY times.

Then we went to the church where our classes will be taught. It's a 50 minute bus ride. To be honest, I am not looking forward to getting up at 7:30 to be at a 9 o'clock class, but it's only on Thursdays. Tomorrow we are going to a refugee shelter to hang out with some of the guys and then we get our cell phones. I'll post the number when I get it. Thank you so much for the comments you guys leave. You have no idea how much I look forward to checking my blog. Thanks so much. Leave some more love!!

-Robert

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Hello all. It's been a good day of R&R. I went to bed at 9:30pm and got up at 9:30am. I'm still jet lagged, but I feel good. I had breakfast and it was great. My host parents oldest son, Delasi, cooked me a wonderful breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, and beans. Of course every meal is followed by tea. It's great and you people don't know what you are missing. At 11:30 I went to the computer lab and uploaded some pictures and did the email thing. We had lunch at 12:30. It's a community lunch that the church does every fortnight. (A fortnight is every other week) It was great. I got to meet a lot of the church members. We had a full meal. Asparagus soup, beef, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli , peas and for dessert I had pineapple upside down cake. All of this for £2. (that's about $3.50) During the lunch on of the coolest guys I met, Bryan told me about an inscription that is on every 2£ coin. It reads "Standing on the shoulders of Giants" It's even on some of the 1£ coins. Sir Isaac Newton wrote it in letter to one of his friends. He was referring to his feelings about his success and fame. He said it to mean that he felt all of his success was due to the people that supported him and helped him. That's exactly how I feel. I wouldn't be here without all of your prayers and financial support.

At 7:30 we had computer club. It's where the church opens up the computer lab and lets the youth in the area use the lab. It only costs 50p and draws a lot of support from the church. There are a lot of youth here. It's kind of hectic and crazy, but I think it will be a big part of our ministry here. That is where I am now, in the computer lab. I just showed some of the youth my stretchy skin and they are going crazy.

Well, I'm off to my home for a night of relaxation and conversation. We are 6 hours ahead of you guys. So I'm writing this at 9:40pm. Leave some love!!

-Robert

I'm having a Wale of good time

Hello all. I've been in Wales about 8 1/2 hours now. I'm so very tired, but at the same I'm really excited about my work here. We've been touring Cardiff today. It's such an amazing mix of natural beauty and modern elegance. We went on a little nature walk and then went to Cardiff Bay. I really think I'll love it here, I already do. CHECK OUT THE NEW LINK TO MY PICTURES!! Here is my mailing address:

Robert Litton
129 Clive Street
Grangetown, Cardiff
CF11 7HP

I'm really tired, so I'm going to go be a bum. I'm not allowed to go to bed until 8pm, so I still have a couple hours of nothing until sleepy time. I miss all of you more than you know. Thanks for all that you mean to me. Leave some love people!

-Robert