Dear Friends,
As most of you know, I am home safe and sound. I would like to thank you all for your support and prayers for my trip. I feel it was a great success. I apologize for this newsletter being later than I had intended. Since I have been home things have been quite busy. My grandfather died on the 17th so please keep my family in your prayers. My second newsletter ended with June 23rd so I will pick up from there and report to you the remainder of my trip.
Tuesday 24 June through Saturday 28 June
Tuesday Trevor and I went to the Counterslip Baptist church. This was for another Ladies Meeting. Trevor told the story of Ruth as if she were his mother. It really showed off his storytelling ability. The women were very nice and I enjoyed talking with them. That afternoon I met Jason in town and we wrote lessons for the next two Bible clubs. We were studying Jesus is the Life. Wednesday Pauline, Lora and I went to Street, which is a factory shop village. We were able to stop in Glastonbury and see the abbey. Bible club was that evening and I was in charge of a great deal of it. We sang and worked on our memory verse. Then we played a game called �Repentance.� Afterwards I told the story of the woman at the well. We used colored water as an object lesson. Thursday morning was coffee morning as usual. That afternoon Pauline and I made a trip into the country to pick something up. On the way back we stopped by Stanton Drew which is the next best thing to Stonehenge. That night was the church planning meeting. All members are welcome to attend. It was an interesting meeting, especially when some neighborhood pranksters started climbing on the roof. Saturday morning was a ladies class that I was teaching. It was at Heidi�s house. There were a few ladies out of town,
but we still had a good number. I heard lots of positive comments from it. After the class was over, my friend J.J. took me to Cardiff, Wales. We went to the castle. It was a really interesting place, and very ornate. I really enjoyed it, especially after I noticed some rooms had biblical themes. Later that afternoon J.J. let me drive his car, in a car park of course. I thought it would be really strange driving from the right side of the car, but I didn�t even notice it at first.
Sunday 29 June through 5 July
My last Sunday in Bristol was relaxing and very English. We went to the chapel and set up for Bible class. I helped in Pauline�s class which was the older children. We were studying the Wedding at Cana. We had a wedding feast and then Jason came and turned water into �Kool-Aid.� We had a guest speaker, Naaim, from Pakistan for worship service. For lunch we had a large crowd. Other than Trevor, Pauline, and I we also had
Naaim, J.J., and two couples. We spent the afternoon drinking tea and enjoying the company. Monday was an easy day. I packed and moved to Heidi�s. Then Jason and
I met Heidi in town and we went to the cinema. Tuesday I was able to sleep in! That afternoon Jason and I went into town and then met Heidi at the chapel. Heidi had a met a woman who had just moved from Spain and we invited her for tea in the chapel. Jason and I went to visit the Morasons, (the Pakistani family at Bedminster.) We had a song service that evening at mid-week Bible study. Wednesday Jason and I went into town to run errands and then met Heidi at the chapel to get ready for Bible club. We talked about how Jesus is the good shepherd. I was a sheep instructor and taught the children how to be sheep and then we had a puppet skit with a lamb named Lamby. We practiced following a shepherd and listening. It was a really good lesson and I think the kids understood the application. Thursday Jason and I went to coffee morning. I had to say goodbye to all the older ladies. They commanded me to come back. After lunch I met Annette and she took me to Cleavdon. That was an outing she had been planning for weeks. I really enjoyed that afternoon. That evening we went to see an outdoor performance of the Tempest. It was interesting to see a Shakespeare play with real English accents. As usual, Friday was youth group, but this week had a twist. As it was the fourth of July we had a cookout. Since it was my last event there, it was also a kind of going away party. The younger adults were invited as well because I hadn�t had as much interaction with them. There were a lot of children there and they wrote notes and drew pictures for me. Saturday morning J.J. graciously drove me to London, which is a two-hour trip. This kept me from having to take a long, lonely coach. From London I flew to Amsterdam, to Memphis, to Chattanooga. The flights were fine and I didn�t have a single layover. I got to Chattanooga and Brian met me at the airport and drove me to Huntsville to be with my family.
That is the sum of my trip. I will have a folder presentation with pictures and other details for you to see sometime soon. I hope you have enjoyed my newsletters. I wanted to do this to begin a good habit for any future mission work. I believe it is important for those who support me to know what I have done. I hope that this has given you a good idea of the work I have accomplished. I tried to record the highlights, although I can assure you that there is much left out from this record. I learned so much in the few weeks I have been away, and I truly feel blessed from this experience. Thank you all so much for your prayers and your concern.
Elizabeth