Wales Mission Trip Thursday

By Eloise Ravell

It was so exciting for us "Americans", as we are now known as, to come to a different country. We have had so much fun the last few days to do Holiday Bible club, go sightseeing , and making new friends. Most of our conversations with the Welsh kids are about the differences between here and the U.S. I'm still getting used to saying "toilet" instead of "bathroom" . :)
Today we went to the Caerfilly Castle and our Welsh friends were surprised that this was the first castle we've ever been to. It was pretty amazing for us. I managed to take some pictures despite my practically dead batteries in my camer because I had left all my extras at the tent. AT the end of they day, we all piled into the two big vans and headed back to the campground, singing our favorite Christian songs all the way.
Staying in tents is quite a challenge, I share a tent with Keila Cortes and Kaitlyn Aberle and we had to fit all our luggage into it along with our sleeping bags. The area where we are camping is on a hill and so during the night I find myself slipping downward so I have to pull my sleeping bag back up and go back to sleep. The wind and the rain are loud, but we are all so exhausted by the end of the day that we fall fast asleep and don't wakt up until seven minutes before we have to leave. And that's if Benji wakes us up. Or we just wake up from being cole. But it's all good. It's an adventure.
So we drive to the community center where the Holiday Bible Club is and eat breakfast. Half of us go to another location to do HBC there too. I stay at the center. We mess around before the kids come and when they do we sing the songs we've now come to memorize along with the motions. The kids go to drama, crafts, video and games, We sing again and talk about the lesson, the kids leave, and we go off to do our activity of the day. IT's amazing to be here in Wales and I can't wait to tell everyone about it when I get home. This is a wonderful experience for us "Americans".

P.S. Our showers are 20 pents (around 40 cents) and are only 3 and a half minutes. But on the bright side, the Welsh kids here love learning about God.

P.P.S. By Stephanie Ferguson
We also went to some Roman Ruins today. We saw some old barracks and an old Ampitheater. They were built around 90 A.D. It is absolutely amazing to be standing in something old and imagining all the things that could have happened in that exact spot! We made a stop in Cardiff, too, the Capital of Wales.