Going with the Flow: Scotland Times - Day 33

Hello everyone!

Long time no see/talk/whatever. Sorry about the delay. Been a bit busy the last few weeks, so I believe an update is needed.

The past few weeks have been exciting for sure! I have been busy finishing up the final design work for the website, photoshot a wedding, saw castles, and went to another country for a conference... so here's a bit of more details in week format...

3 weeks ago...
Hello, it was my birthday! Big 25. Quarter of a century old. I was treated to an awesome day with the Martin's, the family I currently reside with, at my first castle outing. It was pretty legit. I also got to go inside it, with all the cool chambers and such. Oh and there were gargoyle statues with their heads lopped off. Oh and a weird glowing knight asking if I would pick the correct Grail. Okay so that last one didn't happen (except in Indiana Jones). But hey, it was cool! So that week was full of the kinda normal stuff, with finishing up the final touches of the website after having a meeting with all of the main website-savvy peoples from each of the 5 churches, redesigned the logo, and edited a little bit more of the pics I've taken (but taken a whole lot more). Sorry I haven't updated more photos, when you work on the computer for half the day you kinda get burned out and want to maybe... I don't know... take a walk on a beach, enjoy the sunshine, read a book. Which are all of the things I did on the one or two super nice days here in Banff. Woot! Anywho, we also did some fun stuff with the youth, and I got to be a part of their saturday BBQ extravaganza. Honestly, I've been doing a lot of stuff with the youth, and seeing some amazing things happen through them. We've seen several come to the Lord and many more just seeing what true community and freedom in Christ looks like. On Sunday the 5th I actually got to shoot my first wedding (so now I could say I'm an international wedding photographer? Yes.) with Andy Martin, the dad of above-mentioned family I'm staying with. Fun and random, the wedding took place mid church service (yes, it was planned that way).

2 weeks ago...
Sunday the 11th the pastor from the Elgin church (Norman, I know, ironic name right?) came and picked me up to take me to Elgin, a 2ish hour drive away from Banff, to stay with him and his wife for a week. Really, for me this week was to get to experience new places. We went and saw castles, road tripped with others to the west coast of Scotland for a day to see God's amazing creations, which included but not limited to, lochs (lakes), forest covered mountains, and coffee. Yes, I said coffee. It should always be included under "God's amazing creations". Anywho, yes I did see Loch Ness, and no, Nessie didn't come out to play this time. I was so ready to wrestle him/her/it, but the taunting I gave must have scared the big baby away. Sissy. Annnnnyways... got to also experience some old cathedrals and a garden area called "Biblical Garden". It had an amazing garden with several bible story inspired stone sculptures (some better than others, some were just goofy). Also got to do an outreach with Team Challenge in Buckie with Bob Mings, a Texan missionary. It was a good time. I was really inspired by what Team Challenge does and loved the heart behind it (they reach out to addicts and such). Did I get to go see some more castles... YEAH I DID! I'm quite the explorer (and when I say explorer, I mean I will even break the rules to get a better shot, like when the sign says "do not cross over rope", to me its just an invitation). I also got to help fix a few people's computer problems and got to take part in some worship team practice. A good time.

1 week ago - Wednesday, June 22nd
So you may be thinking, "Matt, you've gone so many places, surely you are ready to settle down." Well if you were thinking that, you are just wrong. This week and a half will be spent with Joe Ewen in Jeffreysbaai (Jeffrey's Bay or J-Bay, for short), South Africa. Oh it feels so good to step back into good ol' Africa. It seems like only 2 years since I last touched Africa soul. Oh wait, it was 2 years ago. Oh Uganda... good times. But nooooowwww, I'm in South Africa! Exciting! I've been wanting to check out South Africa for a while, I've heard great things. Well I was right. We flew out Sunday the 12th, arrived the 13th after an overnight flight from Paris to Johannesburg, and got a ride from the Port Elizabeth airport to Jeffreysbaai to meet some new amazing people. The apostolic-prophetic conference that Joe (and later joined by Floyd McClung) won't start till thursday the 16th, so the next few days was spent getting ready with greeting new people from the training school where Joe spoke at for 2 days and the fantastic people at Global Challenge, a super cool missions organization/house-church movement. I met some of the nicest people here, and the view is also not half-bad (its a few blocks away from the beach, where the Billabong Surfing competition is held every July due to its ridiculous nice and long waves. Some stretched even a quarter-mile (I believe)). Its even more amazing at sunrise. Also amazing was the fact that Nikki Johnson, Brooks Grigsby, and Lennell Perry drove 8 hours along one of the most beautiful stretch of road from Cape Town to see me! For those who do not know them, they are amazing people that are from Antioch Norman that I also went through the training school with. Also I might also be dating one of them (name starting with a N :) ) Love it! So on the days they were here, I stayed with them at a campsite in J-Bay. Such an amazing time with them! They also joined me at the conference on thursday and friday, so they also experienced some amazing teachings on the prophetic and the apostolic. They had to get back to Cape Town, so they left early in the morning Saturday. Also exciting was the fact that I accidently booked my flights the exact flights and times as Joe did, but on the next day. So that means Joe flew out Monday, I flew out Tuesday. So for my extra day there I designed a logo for a new business Global Challenge was setting up dealing with screenprinting, which I also got to check out, and afterwards went to some new friends' house and had mexican food. Good stuff. It was also bittersweet to leave South Africa, but I imagine I will return there someday to see my new lifelong friends.

Today
So after returning yesterday (June 22nd) from South Africa and catching up on the sleep I didn't get on the plane rides (which by the way, was upgraded to first class on one of them, for no apparent reason other than the fact that I have FAVOR!!! Ba-zing!), I am back at the church now starting the last 2 weeks in Scotland with a new logo project, inputing more information into the church website about the churches, and beginning to get a few things ready for my next trip to the Dominican Republic that I am co-leading in the beginning of August. My goal for these last few weeks in Scotland is to take in the last bit of time I have here and make the best of it; not checking out. Yup.

So thats an update for you guys. Hope all is well, wherever you may be. I'll be updating at least once more, maybe more before I head back to the states.

As always, here are a few pics (from South Africa)...