Lord's Day August 13 2023

I was preaching last Lord's Day in Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch. I have never preached there before but two long serving members have moved to Pembrokeshire and become members there and so I was given the opportunity. The chapel is compact and holds less than 80 I would guess. It was pretty full last Sunday as lots of holidaymakers had come in, in the morning, including a family I know from North Wales, the new minister at West Kilburn and his family, a family from Childs Hill, a couple who know my sister and several others. I preached on three groans from Romans 8 in the morning. The later 4 o'clock service was smaller and more informal with no hymns. I preached on Zechariah 3:2 and then we had a useful discussion. One feature of the day was that on a campsite near the chapel which we passed a car had speeded into a tent the night before and caused injuries, an item covered on natonal news.

Holidays

We are having a nice time in Wales. We travelled up to Aber last Monday and are enjoying staying with family. Good to get some reading done and a bit of research in the National Library. Good to be at the Alfred Place prayer meeting. Last Friday we drove down to Solva to spend time with good friends from Childs Hill who have now retured to Pembrokeshire. They treated us very nicely, including ice creams, etc, etc. I preached in Roch and we then returned to Aber on Sunday night for the conference week. That began this morning with a book launch at AP for Keith Underhill's book.

Traditional Welsh Breakfast

We are away in Wales on holiday. We had a few days in Aberystwyth and then headed down to Solva to stay with good friends, formerly members of the Childs Hill church. We had a brilliant time including a traditional Welsh breakfast in St David's, in The Mill Cafe, paid for by our hosts. You could argue over the ingredients of such a thing but in this part of the world the above seems about right. (We also had toast with ours). The sausage, bacon and egg are obvious ingredients. Then black pudding would get a vote across a wide range of territory (we always had it at home). The really distinctive ones are the cockles and the laverbread in oats. Cockles are small clams found on sandy beaches. The Magna Carta grants every citizen the right to collect up to eight pounds of cockles from the foreshore. Larger quantities will require a picking permit. Laverbread or bara lawr is a fine seaweed. It has nothing to do with bread but is a puree mixed with oats or put on toast. Scrumptious.

Gyda'r Teulu

One feature of this season's holiday break was a three day family holiday in the Haven Centre, Pembroke. Some forty gathered and we had a brilliant time talking, walking, eating, playing games, doing quizzes , singing and worshipping together, etc. I was a little fearful beforehand about whether it would work but it was a fine time with the right mix of organisation and relaxation.

The story starts over 70 years ago in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales in a Welsh speaking Nonconformist home where two sisters (one of them, Iola, being my mother-in-law were born). These two (2) both became school teachers then married South Walians, one a preacher and one a schoolteacher, (4) and moved to Aberystwyth in the middle. They both had three children, (10) now all married, (16) who in turn produced 9 (Iola's side) and 12 (Rhiain's side) grandchildren (37). Of these grandchildren three are married and one is engaged (41). Eleri's youngest cousin is married to an American serviceman currently overseas so he couldn't be there - though we saw him on skype.

We are pretty much a middle class bunch I guess but there is some variety. Of the 40, two are retired, three are preachers, one is involved in church planting and youth work and another is about to start working for UCCF; a number work with children, one drives for a living, six are tertiary students (art, drama, English, technology, medicine and science) and 17 are school age (4-17). We live in Wales (22), England (12) and the USA (6). We attend 10 different churches (two Welsh speaking, the rest English, three of which are in Wales). Of the men, five are elders and two are deacons. There are three Catrins, two Owains and potentially two Keiths.

It's a great privilege to be part of such a family. One real asset is Eleri's cousin Gwydion, a PE teacher, and his wife Catrin who basically organise the whole thing. Everyone is either a believer or not actively rebelling and that makes a big difference I'm sure. Lots of things to give thanks for as the year closes then.

Y Benfro

Part of our Christmas this year has been joining with about 40 for a family get together in Pembrokeshire. It was nice to be down by the sea yesterday.