Well, it's now been over a month that I've been in Wales, pretty unbelievable. I have 10 days left here followed by 10 days in London. This past week has been a great week and I have learned alot. This past Sunday I preached twice, the same sermon two different churches. My first sermon was in the afternoon and it's safe to say that I was not as organized with my message as I should have been. There were various things wrong with the sermon mostly in regards to presenting the message in a ways that clearly presented the idea of the text. It was more like a 30 minutes long run on sentence that was hard to understand. It certainly could have gone worse, but it definitely could have gone better. Nevertheless I had a great conversation with Pastor Rees who was very gracious and yet pointed out the weakness that were most glaring. I mention this first account, because I had about 90 minutes to bring all the ideas of the text together before the evening service back at the church I am based out of. The wonder of God's grace in it all is that those 90 minutes were incredibly productive and the message that evening was one of the most well received I have preached. In fact due to no eloquence of my own, one man in the congregation is reported to have stated to a friend that he finally understands why we all need Jesus, that was hugely encouraging and I hope to see him act on that understanding. Certainly many practical preaching lessons I gleaned from that experience and very glad it was a redeeming experience for me.
The rest of the week flew by. I was able to share the story of Jesus bringing Jairus's daughter back from the dead, with the local elementary school. The next day I was a finishing judge for the school's sports day, which is equivalent of field day back in the states. It's been great as the kids get to know me more, it's fun to see them around town and be recognized. I also got to play golf with Pastor Rees and Rick, which proved to be yet another humbling experience. But that time was a joy for all of us. Rick as I mentioned in last weeks prayer request is a man who is asking alot and thinking alot about the Gospel, but there are lots of bad habits he has that are huge stumbling blocks for him. It was a great time for him I think in being relaxed and that night along with conversations later on in the week were very helpful for him I hope.
This past thursday night I had the privelege of speaking at a monthly outreach meeting. I found the message to be much more difficult in preparation than I had anticipated, I preaching on Matthew 11:27-3o, but I believe the work and prayer resulted in a sermon which proclaimed the Gospel clearly and was well received by those, though few in number, who were there that night. In some respects there was some disappointment about the meeting, because there had been much effort and prayer involved in planning the meeting and getting out the word and yet really noone beyond regular churchgoers showed up. It is a testimony of the difficulty for ministry in this area. Nevertheless, the fellowship was sweet and God was glorified!
Lastly on the touristy side of things, I was able to go to the smallest city in the world. It is really a village, but because it has a Cathedral it is officially a city. The cathedral, St. David's Cathedral, was a beautiful cite. The building dates back to the 1300's, but Christian's have been meeting there for 1500 years, so just the history by itself was amazing. It's been wonderful learning of the Christian tradition which is so rich in Wales, including the revivals Wales is famour for over the past 200-300 years. There is certainly hope, but the current situation is dire and all prayers are greatly needed.
Some specific prayer requests are :
Pastor Rees and 4 other members are away for the week to Northern Wales for a outreach mission. Pray for their time in LLandedno.
For the two services this Sunday which I will be leading in every respect as Pastor Rees is out.
For my ability to see everything through which needs to be done, this is a great opportunity for pastoral training, as I'm the "acting" pastor for the week.
I'll be going to a youth meeting on tuesday night, and thursday afternoon pray that the Gospel be proclaimed and the youth come to know Christ.
Pray that I finish strong in my time here and that the Lord use me to be a blessing as I depart.
Thanks for your prayers!
God bless,
Cole
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