WELLSPRING TRIP TO THE U.S.A. APRIL ‘07
SHIRLEY’S DIARY

Monday 

……Long day. Didn’t arrive until 5 the following morning, but I didn’t feel all that tired, somehow, and thankfully because of the time difference it meant we could still have a full night’s sleep. Poor Roland, though, left before us and arrived hours later because of a cancelled flight.

Tuesday

What a glorious morning! Never mind the possibility of bears, I couldn’t resist going off on my own for a quick hike up the nearest hill. There are lots of trails up the back here through the woods – the hills are totally covered in trees – mixture of conifers, deciduous and rhododendrons. Such bright sunlight and fresh air – lovely warm temperature. Apparently, if you see a bear, you walk backwards away from it, and make lots of noise….. bears are scared of humans – that helps! I didn’t see one, thankfully, - walked up the steep hill called Rattlesnake Mountain –(didn’t see any of those, either!) Great view from the top. 

Rehearsal went well this afternoon. Feels good to be playing in the group again. Some of us took the opportunity of a free evening to visit the bars (not bears!) of Ashville and see if we could find some live music on a Tuesday night! We did find a pleasant restaurant/bar with jazz piano and bass, and had a relaxing time.

This evening we heard that Jo Garcia’s husband (Wellspring ‘cellist) has just had a severe brain haemorrhage and had an operation tonight. I prayed with Corinne and Chris for him.

I’m sharing a room with a nice lady called Cindy, who goes to bed early and gets up at 6.30! – she’s on the intercessors team.

Wednesday

The weather couldn’t have been more different – drizzle and mist. However, we’ve been rehearsing all day so it doesn’t really matter. 

Speaking as one who has never been to America before, everything seems quite “normal” here. Of course there are differences, but particularly in a Christian setting we’re really amongst family, here.

I feel quite tired tonight. Everything went well in the meeting. There was a clear message about our God being a missionary God. I get a bit bored in the liturgy bits though. There are missionaries here from all over the world, and the people are so passionate for God and spreading the gospel, it’s challenging and inspiring. 

I’m very glad I brought my travel kettle – makes being away from home more like being at home!

Thursday

Another lovely day, weatherwise – Sam and Alan came up the hill with me this afternoon – still no bears!

I enjoyed playing in the group again, and there were some interesting speakers. It’s very challenging, hearing what some of our brothers and sisters in other places have to deal with. One African man spoke of how a young man had been stoned to death for saying he was a Christian, he’d picked him up and taken him to a hospital where he came back to life again! The Indian speaker in the evening was not all that easy to follow (!) - he spoke a good message, however, about how the different Christian groups in India would benefit from working in partnership with one another. There are still many unreached peoples in India and places that have need of the scriptures in their own language.

What’s been really good about being here is the time to have some good chats with other “Wellspringers”, learning to appreciate one another’s differences, and building stronger relationships.

Friday

An interesting young couple spoke this morning about their work in Peru, with a particular emphasis on training leaders. Sounds like a lot of people are hurting out there – poverty, occult and abuse.

This afternoon, Jon, Sarah, Chris and I walked 3 miles down a noisy road into the nearest town, Black Mountain. (People just don’t do that kind of thing in America!) After an extremely nice cake and a lemonade, we wandered over to the interesting musical instrument shop selling home-made dulcimers and such like. We presumed that we’d be able to get a taxi back, but there just aren’t any in Black Mountain! Guess what… would this happen in England?..... the shop keeper offered to lend us his van!!! – but when we declined, he made a phone call and found someone to take us back! Very kind. Thank the Lord for human “Angels”. It’s a good job too, because we were a bit short of time. Some of the others had played a game of crazy golf. Alan was ill today, though.
The meeting went well this evening. Richard felt the Lord wanted to minister healing tonight into those who are hurting in the Episcopal church (American Anglicans) about the divisions over here particularly with regard to the homosexual issue. We went out among them, improvising. Many people were moved by that. Someone was saying how a group like ours is very rare in the U.S. (and England, too) It’s the combination of electric instruments and acoustic. They either have a “rock” group or a choir and orchestra and organ. We have been able to use some songs from different nations, too, - very helpful in this multi-national context. The old favourites keep coming back…….. the African songs, “Siyahamba” and “Moto”! The people here particularly liked the song Wellspring introduced last time we were here: “In Christ Alone”.

The meeting was good tonight – an interesting talk about the need to reach out to young people and teens. A rather shocking statistic that only 3% of the U.K. are churchgoers…. Under the heading “The church is dead in Europe…..”! Well, the church here is very much alive alright, but we do live in a climate that is very much more hostile to Christianity than they do in the States.
We all got together for a coffee after the meeting. Richard is very happy with the way the team has gelled. Marcus led Worship tonight – he was really good.

Saturday

Rather academic talk this morning about how to help the world’s poor intelligently ……all good stuff, actually, but it went on, and on, and on….Had lunch with Cindy today, my room mate. Actually, we’ve hardly seen anything of each other, because she disappears before I’m up, and most nights she’s asleep before I come in!!!

This afternoon passed without me doing much – had a bit of a sleep. I felt a bit discouraged tonight, before the evening meeting. One of the intercessors prayed for me and of course tears would flow, just as I had to go and play my violin! It was O.K. though. We played along with a musical drama tonight. It was a true story about the two ladies who were acting in it and how God brought them together to help children in Africa.

After the meeting, we sat in the coffee shop and Sharon sat with us. She told of her time teaching English to College students in China. She got the opportunity to tell them about Jesus at Christmas and Easter, and they were all so interested. They had been told that the whole story about Jesus was a myth and that he’d never existed.


Sunday

Got up early to take our cases down to the meeting hall before breakfast. African communion service…..so the African favourites came out again! I like playing the claves. Chris played the shaker, which Jamie enjoyed taking the mickey out of her about. Apparently her style needs to be developed a little!

Ashville airport is very pleasant. I got a great photo of the girls reclining in rocking chairs at one end of the departure lounge and another one of the boys in another set of rocking chairs at the other! Not a pleasant flight, particularly for Sally and Marcus who felt rather travel sick. Maybe it was the Lord who arranged for our next flight to be cancelled. He sent us another one of those human “angels” to help us in Atlanta airport and fix us up in hotels for the night. What freezing weather for those of us who hadn’t brought a coat. (We couldn’t access our cases) but we had a nice meal in a steak bar. Good to flop into bed tonight!

Monday

Up at 5 …. Yuk! The most amazingly busy airport I’ve ever seen. The queue for check-in was about a mile long. We finally got here.. with all our bags. Lovely beach house on stilts. Standing there with my cuppa (Mmm) looking out to sea on a gloriously sunny morning – couldn’t resist the desire for a dip! Everyone else appeared to be asleep in armchairs.

Later in the afternoon we had a short rehearsal at the church – a beautiful old church, by American standards, and a meal at the vicarage. Very nice people. Kitty, who danced with Wellspring at Spring Harvest a few years ago, is the reason we’re here. She now lives here with her husband Andy, who’s the youth pastor, and she’s got two lovely little boys – one 3 and one only 5 weeks! Ahh – he’s so cute, and I got to hold him! (Don’t worry, 4 kids is enough for me!)

They’ve some interesting wildlife here. I saw a pelican! Apparently, they also get sharks – and there’s a sign in the town that says, “Do not feed the Alligators”. Turtles come on the beach at night to lay their eggs, too, sometimes. O.K.- if you see an alligator….. you have to run in a zig zag… because they can outrun you if you just run straight!

Tuesday

Today has been a looong day. Starting with an early morning swim (well, 8am), we rehearsed in the church for the classical concert with James, a violinist friend of Andy and Kitty’s, and had lunch in the church hall. After lunch we prayed with Andy and Kitty and the vicar and his wife. Marcus started up a song on the guitar and we had a lovely time of worship. They were obviously moved and said how they longed for more of the Spirit in the church. They definitely feel God has called them here, but it’s quite hard work, sometimes.

We had a good rehearsal in the afternoon, though it was quite long and tiring. One of the muscles on my back was playing up, but didn’t seem to affect my playing. The concert seemed to go well and was very well received. Sally joined us and sang beautifully – Father’s Song, and Somewhere over the Rainbow, with Marcus accompanying on the guitar, and Sam was too worried about how to bow correctly to notice that he got a standing ovation for his piece, "Storm Clouds"!. Jonathan said he felt some kind of spiritual release as we played Riverdance.

Afterwards, Andy took us to a bar where a very kind guy – I think he was the owner of the place- offered to buy us all drinks….. on the condition that we play something. So we got the instruments out and played his request – Nearer My God, To Thee, and Amazing Grace. It was a great moment, though I was extremely tired by now!

Wednesday

Another early morning swim – the sea looks so gorgeous with the sun shining on it. Sarah came in with me today! A bit more choppy – one large wave ‘got’ me unawares. Then straight to the church to rehearse the worship stuff. Things got a little tense, with disagreements over tempo and things like that. I think we’re all a bit tired.
We went out for lunch, then did a bit of shopping for presents, then back for the instruments and voices workshop in the afternoon. Not many there, but those who came really enjoyed it, and Richard got them to join with us in the song, Light of the World, in the evening service – a great idea.

The evening meeting was interesting. The people there are clearly not used to contemporary worship styles, and I don’t think they’d ever had drums in there before. (- played excellently as usual, by Jamie!!!!) However, I think it was probably the most significant thing we did in our trip. The red wool on the cross thing was just right, because it enabled the people to respond to God in a non-threatening way.

I mustn’t leave out the most important fact though …… that today was mine and Pete’s 20th wedding anniversary!! I felt quite emotional, reading Pete’s e-mail on Jamie’s Apple Lap Top. (He’s very into Apple proselytising!)

After the service had finished, some of us went to play to the children and their carers in the church hall. We sang a couple of children’s songs, and Alan did lots of wonderful animal noises and others which they absolutely loved – his speciality! The church choir made a meal for us after the service – very lovely food. In fact they’ve given each of us a copy of their home-produced cook book, with paintings of local scenes by local artists. Chris Swain had a chat with Minnie, a 91 year old black lady whose grandmother had been a slave. Many slaves worked in the plantations around here. She had recently been over to some reconciliation service in England with Rowan Williams. She also was there at the famous “I have a dream…” Martin Luther-King speech.

Sam and I had a lovely late – night walk along the beach. The waves were so high. Didn’t see any turtles, though – maybe it’s the wrong time of year.

Thursday

Here I am, sitting in Atlanta airport again, and I’m feeling poetic:

America, a land of smiles
Of warmth and heartfelt helpfulness
And gun massacres and fear.
Extremes.
People, both thin and fat,
Rich and poor
White and black.
Christians, fighting on the front lines,
And cozy sofa and crisps and T.V. Christians,
And Christians desolated by sin.
Lord, let your Holy Spirit in 
To the extent of the division
In your church here,
And stir them, our cousins,
To pray for us
In our exile.

Just a few final things to thank God for:

For Jamie and Alan bringing such humour into our bus journeys… and for Sally’s great laugh!! For the wealth of wonderful people I’ve just shared 12 days with, each one bringing something unique. And thanks Lord – no bears, sharks, snakes, alligators or jellyfish!

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