May
9
My Airwaves Fix
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Today after
having an awesome time of prayer with Pastor Matt and Julie we grabbed some lunch and then ran by the WalMart of England. The store is called Asda. So, we went by the Asda Supercenter so I could stock up on my favorite chewing gum. Airwaves! I first bought some about seven years ago. I liked it so much I called Wrigleys in the states to see if I could get some - no luck with that. Everytime we come I try and stock up and then ration it out to make it last. It’s like a Hall’s cough drop in gum form. Well, as you can see from the picture a WalMart is a WalMart no matter where in the world it is. While I was engaged in some serious business the team was working on a community service project this morning. After taking a break and having some lunch at a local “Chippy” they completed their project then it was back to the host homes for a rest and packing.
Tonight we are meeting for dinner and then watching a movie on North Korean refugees along with spending some time in prayer. Our flight leaves at 11:10AM tomorrow morning. Tomorrow I’ll post about tonights activities as well as our trip back. Oh, here’s a pic of the happy shopper!
May
8
More Football, More Food, More Fun
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Another great day today. While Susan taught in the Bible School I headed off with the team to Liverpool to meet with a group of North Korean refugees. It was such a beautiful day we headed off to a local park with the group of about 40-50 North Koreans for some teaching, football and food. After spending some time playing football the team started the service with a fun drama. After the drama Joel, Jessica, and Monica shared the Word and Trent closed out the time with prayer. They were so appreciative of the Word and you can tell that they were so enjoying the freedom! North Korea is such a closed and oppresive place. Once again we were treated to some incredible North Korean food. I’m not sure if the spellings are correct but we had Kimchee, Kimpop, and a whole bunch of other delicious food. Here are some pics of the football and food.
The weather h
ere has been incredible. No rain for the last view days, bright sunshine, and temps in the seventies. After ministry in Liverpool the team headed back to the church to prepare for the children’s ministry in the evening. The team has done some incredible ministry with the children and tonight prayed with 2 girls to be born again. After a late dinner we took the minibus and made the rounds dropping team members off all around Manchester.
It has been such a blessing to work with such wonderful people. After ministering closely with them it is very hard for some of the team members to leave. In fact Trent and Jess told me they weren’t leaving. I asked Trent what I should tell Nate and he said tell him 
he would be back in six months. Really though it is so wonderful to work with people who are so excited about reaching this nation with the Gospel. Here a few pics of some of our co-laborers in Manchester. Ty is the handsome guy in the white sweats, Dan is the guy having his face almost pinched off, and you can see Becky and Ty posing with Susan and Cortney. One full day left and it’s on the plane home!
May
7
Football Fanatics
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While the team did some work around the church today I had the privilege of teaching 3 sessions at World Harvest Bible
Training Center. It was great to encourage these awesome students who have come from around the world for training and preparation to take the Gospel back to their countries. We had students from Latvia, Burundi, Nigeria, and a whole lot of other places. Definitely an incredible time. At about 1:00pm Dave and Sheila Murphy took all of the team over to the Trafford Park Mall. It’s probably close to the size of the Mall of America in the Twin Cities. We had a great lunch and a time of shopping. I was in a sporting goods store looking at some Manchester United football(soccer) jerseys and Dave and Sheila questioned my choice of team and suggested I look at a Bolton Wanderers Football Club jersey instead. People are serious about their football here. I compromised by purchasing a Celtic Football Club shirt which they said was fine since they had the Irish last name of Murphy. We bought some gifts for the grandkids also and then headed back to the church for the evening meal. After our meal Sheila presented me with a Bolton Wanderers coffee mug. I will proudly drink my steaming joe from it!
The team went out on the streets of Manchester to help out a ministry called Barnabas which feeds and ministers to the poor and homeless of the city. I’ll put a report of tonights activities on tomorrows post. Sorry Scott, no food pics tonight. Maybe I’ll slip a few on here for you tomorrow.
May
6
Curry Slurp
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First of all here is a couple of pics of the teams trip to “Nawaab”. It is an Indian restaurant that had incredible food. As you may know the most famous Indian dish is curry. There are many different types of 
curry. Here is my partly eaten plate of food. The first thing I ate was so hot that everything after that tasted hot! Wow, was it good.
Here is a picture of one of our illustrious team members Justin doing what I guess we could call the “sideways curry slurp”. Way to cool off the tongue Justin!
This morning after prayer with the bible school students the team went to Victory Outreach, a home for men who had been addicted to drugs. These guys are on fire for God! They joined together in a nearby park and spent about 2 hours worshipping God together, praying and encouraging one another with the Word and testimonies. After this we all met together back at the church and headed over to spend the afternoon in Bolton ministering to North Korean refugees. After worshipping together Susan ministered the Word on forgiveness to these precious people who have gone through imprisonment, torture, etc. in a effort to escape the oppresive rule of North Korea. One young man gave a testimony of how he was saved in prison in Ch
ina through the drawing an American who was imprisoned in China made for him. All of our hearts were touched by these incredible people. We ended with a time of prayer. They then had us stay for a meal. If you can imagine about 20 people crowded in to a small apartment. They laid newspaper out on the floor and began to bring in plate after plate of traditional Korean food. We all sat on the floor with our chopsticks and had an incredible time. It is something I know none of the team will forget. Their generosity and hospitality were overwhelming. For security reasons we could not take any pictures of these precious North Korean believers.
This evening we participated in the once a month Holy Ghost “Inspire” service at the church. Susan led us in an incredible time of Spirit led prayer. Some things were confirmed in Matt and Julie and we definitely joined together in prayer and know some big things are in store!
Tomorrow the team will be working around the church while I teach in the Bible School. The afternoon will be some time off for a little shopping and then tomorrow night will be more street ministry. Look for another update tomorrow.
May
5
Crumpets, Curry & Wigglesworth
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No, this isn’t a British law firm, it’s a description of our day today. I had the experience of eating a crumpet for break
fast, like the old expression “Tea & Crumpets”. It was basically an english muffin. Probably someone figured they would sell better in the US if it was called an english muffin rather than a crumpet. I had my crumpet with butter and jam. It was a little bit spongier than an english muffin. Here’s a pic.The first stop today was Saltaire Village. It was an entire town built by a man named Titus Salt. I don’t have time to get into the whole story but he was probably one of the richest men in the world in the middle 1800’s. Quite an interesting story. We were given a tour by a wonderful lady who did the tour in character of a person who would have lived in the town at that time. Each of us was given a card with a name and a description of a person who lived in the town at the time and where they lived. My name was Sylvester Toothill. Everyone said it fit me well. Can’t figure out why.
After a lu
nch of fish and chips it was off to see the village where Smith Wigglesworth was born and then on to the place he is buried. Here is a picture of his and his family’s grave. If you have never read about Smith Wigglesworth I would encourage you to pick up some books about his life. He walked in an incredible degree of faith, so much so that he was called the Apostle of Faith. Tonight it’s off with the team to eat the most popular food in England, curry. Maybe I’ll take some pics of the different dishes and post them tomorrow. It seems like today was a tour of English food. Well, someone has to do it!