Cardiff, Wales

We made it to Cardiff about 8:30 a.m. Oklahoma time. We hauled our luggage about a trillion miles to our bed and breakfast...not really a trillion but probably 2-3 miles from the train station. The B&B is beautiful! I'll post pictures of that later!

Right now we are cooling off and then headed to a museum or the castle-not really sure, but first I wanted to post a few pictures from yesterday. They may not be in order since I'm trying to hurry, but I hope you enjoy!  Sorry have to go before they would all upload...will get them up tonight! Happy Sunday!
Kayla

If I told you I met the Queen would you believe me?

Well...would you believe me? In this post you will not find that information out! Mainly because I am so tired from all the fabulous stuff we got to do! So you will have to wait and hear the complete story after I get on the train to Cardiff tomorrow.

A quick list of today's fun:
Six of us went on a  Bus Tour around London and saw just about everything!
We saw The London Tower, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, an Army Ship, etc...

We got off the bus and went to the Abbey and went through it (we paid to go through it) and it was AWESOME! Seeing all the rich history and all the tombs and plots was unreal. Sheri, you'll love this! I saw your favorite person, Miss Jane Austen! You can't take pictures in there or I would have taken a picture of it for you!!! Then they have pictures from the Royal Wedding in a room! Pretty much made my day because I'm a total girl and I LOVED IT!! hahahaha

Then two other girls and I made the hike by bus and foot to Abbey Road and took our "Beatles" picture! We ate at a wonderful little pub for dinner after we got done at the British Museum.

Tomorrow we will take the train from London to Cardiff, Wales. We present on the 4th of July. After we leave Cardiff we will come back to London by train so we can catch another train to Belgium. We will spend two days (I think) there and then head to Paris for the remainder of our trip!

One thing we have to keep telling ourselves here in London is we have three more countries...We are having to pay for more meals then we were first told about so we are having to watch what we are spending because stuff is so expensive! WOW! Anyway, it has been so much fun this far and today made it for most of us because of all the things we got to finally see!

Hope you have a great 4th of July!!!
Kayla

We made it another day!

Today started fairly early as we headed off to Paddington Station

To see Mr. Paddington himself! 

He has a great little booth in the station

and he is so stinkin cute!

Today we also went to a school. Along the way we passed this church:

I love the words on the outside of the building and throughout the past two days I've watched the people we've passed and they look so tired. They seem to always be running and never stopping. Last night at dinner (at 11:00) the place was packed with people who just were sitting down for dinner. When the people would look you in the eye you could see such hopelessness in many of them. It is heart breaking to see these people fill their lives with so much stuff and try to fill the void that only Jesus can fill! Any believe should be able to see it! That is how clear it is on their faces and in their eyes! Then we came out of the Underground and saw this paper:

I'm not exactly sure about it, but I liked Heaven or Hell but would say there is no in-between. These people will be in one of the two places for eternity and I pray they answer the call and pick Jesus! 

On our way to the school (I am not doing a good job staying in order...sorry) we went to eat and saw the Olympic signs and stores everywhere.

Here we are in a Taxi on our way to Old Ford (the school)

Our Group at Old Ford

Here are some pictures of the classrooms at the school

Here is a view of one of their play areas

Another play area

Here is another big view of a different play area for the children

                           Here is one of their bathrooms! Even the bathrooms are fun!

What kid wouldn't love this?

This school has the 'poorer' population attending it's school, but they do more than some of our private schools in the USA and their teachers are amazing! Loved the school! 

After the school we went to the Children's Museum. It has toys from years ago in it. I'm not going to post pictures from there  because toys are toys are toys no matter where you are. :) After that we split our group into three groups and headed out to explore on our own. My group went to dinner at a little place called:

where we were call a really ugly word that is not polite to say to anyone EVER. The food was pretty good, but the service was not how we would of liked it to be. After dinner we went to see more Diana  stuff! The playground was amazing!

Only Oklahomans get this excited when we see the next picture! I mean people still ask if we live in them and have dirt roads! Come on...really people? 

There was also this tree at the playground. The kids in the picture kept telling us the place was closed. I guess they thought we didn't know :) they were cute.

On the tree it said the following:

It also had what my uncle would call dust collectors all over it. Interesting tree! We then saw Kensington Palace. It is being remodeled so we couldn't get great views up close, but the far away view isn't bad. 

But then we found a place were a worker let us in by a garden to take a few pictures!

Isn't it beautiful!

We also found this tree along the gates of the Palace and it had all this fun stuff around the top of the trunk! We aren't exactly sure what it is for, but it looks pretty neat.

After a long day (but not as long as yesterday) we are able to relax and call it a night! Tomorrow we were suppose to go to Oxford, but they said that the 3 hour trip (round trip) wasn't worth the time we'd spend there. So we won't be going to the Eagle and Child Pub where C.S. Lewis use to go every Tuesday. :( Sheri I can't 'steal' you anything from there...A bummer right!?!?! 

The other thing we are going to try to do tomorrow is the bus tour so we can see more of the 'main places' in London and maybe a show...Should be great fun! Then Sunday we are off to Cardiff for the conference. 

People have asked what to pray for (which is pretty great)! So I'd say the people of London. They need Jesus badly! Tonight as we were walking to dinner we passed this crowd of men and women who were dressed like it was Halloween and they had signs that said; "Even Jesus had two dads"

Pray that God would raise up Christians in this land that can reach these people. Men and women who love Jesus and are able to build those relationships with the lost. Pray that we as believers would fall on our faces with broken hearts to the only one who can save them. It is a great need and if we do not do it, who will?

Pray for the GoStudents who will be in Cardiff soon! For Kaci (a friend of mine) who will be with them as a leader. Pray that she will be encouraged daily and filled with Jesus throughout this trip. Pray for the GoStudents and the leaders and their feet! I know that sounds crazy, but they will be walking a lot and they need their feet to be strong. 

Pray for the Edmond Kids who are in Europe visiting some of the most amazing places! I know one girl from church that is on the trip and they will be in Paris when my group gets there! 

I think I am done for the night. You are awesome! Thank you so much for caring what is going on in my life and reading my blog! It means the world to me!!

Kayla

Walk this way...

Please forgive any errors on this blog...It is 2:20 a.m.

Okay so just in case you are wondering...We did make it to London!!  We got to London on June 30 at 10:45 a.m. and we have yet to stop going! We were told in Dallas that the airport was on strike and that could cause us some delays, but Jesus was good to us and it only took about 30 minutes to make it through customs! 

Then we got our tickets and headed to the Underground and then to our hotel. It is a pretty nice hotel other than none of us could get the water to turn on in the shower tonight! Yep, that is right! NONE OF US! So we had to get the guy at the front desk to help us! BAHAHAHA I think they are already for the Americans to leave! 

After we dropped off our bags we broke up in groups and got to explore for a few hours, eat lunch and then meet back so we could travel as a group to eat dinner at the original Hard Rock Cafe and experience the London Eye! I can't even begin to describe the craziness that followed in this outing! Our train was late so we walked to the  Kensington Garden and toured it. Then we walked to Hard Rock from there where we learned it was an hour and a half wait. Knowing we had to take in the London Eye we decided to head that way! OH MY SOUL!!!!!!!!!!! It was crazy trying to get there! One big red bus, the underground and then crossing this huge bridge, we made it only to find out the tickets we bought at the airport were just spot holders! HAHA We had to go exchange them for the real ticket.

The London Eye was so worth the walking! The city is amazing to see from there. After we rode the eye we headed back to Hard Rock and we walked and we walked and we walked! We ate dinner about 11:00 p.m. but it was a fun day. 

Much more funny things happened, but I think it wouldn't be as funny by reading it so I'll post highlights of the day and then some pictures! How does that sound?

Highlights from our first day in London:

1. First thoughts of the city-dirty! 

2. They have Panda's (a cookie I had in China)!!

3. The Underground is pretty cool

4. Watching a little boy not make it off the Underground with his family-Scary moment until we saw he was with another woman who didn't make it off either! Whoa! All our hearts stopped beating as we watched the mother freak out and the father almost get his arm caught in the door as it shut because he was trying to get the train to stop!

5. The London Eye!

One thing that stopped me in my tracks (which is never good since there are so many people) is the fact that I saw Alan Day on the back of a car window! It was some sort of sticker! How crazy is that!?!? Here are some of the pictures

a few of us in OKC

On the London Eye

Hot Cross Buns

The London Eye

Less Work More Play

Our Hotel

Alan Day

Princess Diana

Thought this was a weird sign...only id until 25...

On the Underground...we are TIRED

Another random fact of the day...we have traveled and walked so much today that our feet are swollen...I got out of the shower tonight and found that my chaco strap cut the top of my foot! Now I think that is crazy and maybe a little impressive, but I'm not the coolest kid on the block! HAHA 

Blogging... I got this!

I finally have it all figured out! The blog thing that is...I think! :)


I am going to Europe in just a few short days to the International Play Conference with a group of ladies from UCO. I will be presenting with three other fabulous women! As part of this 'summer class' we have to journal daily. I decided that blogging would be an easy way to complete this assignment and it will let you keep up with what is going on!


This is not my typical summer adventure, but last fall God started opening doors and pushed me right through them! I've struggled with the fact that this trip is not a 'mission trip' but God has told me this is exactly where He wants me and I am happy to follow. His plans are better than we could ever dream and His word tells us that He has a purpose for us. We just have to be willing and obedient to follow His calling. I am ready to be used by Him and though this is not a conventional mission trip, it will be a mission trip because I am a bleiever and my job is to 'GO'.


Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and present. I am looking forward to getting to know the women on this trip. I believe there are 12 or 13 total along with people from all over the world at this conference. The nations will be joining together...a different kind of mission trip if I do say so myself! I am expecting HUGE things from a God who can do anything!


I'll post later on all the fun places we will be playing!
Have a beautiful weekend friends!
Kayla