Thus far I have been tired. The first week I was working on getting over jet lag not to mention settling into my very first home away from home and getting to know my room mate Sam Breen. Those first few nights were fun, but exhausting. The next two weeks we preceded to settle in as Bill, Mike and I are new to England. We went to our first pub on that fist Sunday and experienced the pleasures of a cold pint with a jolly group of church goers. Ben Cantilon and Sam Parker treated us that night. We later walked to a local fish place and got Kababs. I loved mine. Bill did not like his.

The next few days consisted of going to the Ministries Office and meeting everyone that works there and who we will be working with throughout the year. So many of them are lovely people and they are so wonderful to get to know. I can't wait to hang out with them more this year.

One day, Allison Maffey (Mike Pilavachi's PA/and kind of a mom to the interns) came over to our flat to chat. She was just checking in and seeing how we were doing. Then she asked for two people to go with Si Nichols, Soul Survivor's contribution and production manager, and his apprentice Ian Masters, to pack a huge larrey with stuff for the festival that was soon approaching. Sam and I chose to go. It was so fun. We literally spent 8 hours just moving crates and packing this huge truck with heavy things. A semi-truck. It was a great time to get to know some of the guys and to build some muscle ;)

The next week we all went off to the Stafford Soul Survivor Summer Festival Week A. It was amazing. Such a great time of worship and serving the Lord. My job was a Seminar Host and Running the Bandstand. I had so much fun. I would get water for the speakers and take them to the venue at which they were schedule to speak at. Then i would count the attendance a record it, and do powerpoint or run the videos or whatever they required for their seminar. It was a great job to have because i was able to hear a lot of good messages and studies that I probably wouldn't have. Then at 1:00 PM or 13:00 as Englanders would say, I would go to the band stand site and begin setting up the equipment, taking names for auditions, and such things. The Bandstand is basically a chance for the 3,000 campers to play some of their own music on stage. Each day we had slots for 6 or 7 acts for 4 days. Unfortunately the last day got rained out because we were hosting it outdoors. At the end of the last day we had "Best of Bandstand" in the big venue where the usual large meetings were held.

The week was fun, peacing at times, but mostly challenging. I began reading 1 Samuel while I was there because the staff continuously tell us to keep refreshing your mind and refueling yourself, which means spending time with God because He is our strength. I would have to say that the best part of my week there was reading the Bible. I read about 15 chapters during the 5 days that I was there which is amazing for me and I contiuned to go back to it and read the next part. It fascinated me.

Anyway, there's a very short and non-detailed summary of the last month of my life. Feel free to ask questions!

Tyler

Update - Staford Goodbyes

Hey Fam! I seriously miss you all so much!!!

Dad, thanks for the video link. I wasn't able to get much out of it but thanks anyway. How's the business? How's the convention? How are the robots doing? I really want to hear about it! I miss you so much. You have honestly taught me so well and I think that this year will be a lot easier because of all of the maturity you've helped me to achieve. Thank you!


Mom, I love you so much! I miss you! That face you made on our last moment together was heart-breaking, but I am coming home. I promise! I wish you guys were on skype more because I really want to talk to you and see your faces. I haven't yet. Oh, also, Mom! I cooked dinner tonight! Well it's my second dinner to cook for all the guys but it was super good! I made fish and chips along with one of those tomato, basil, mozzarella cheese, pasta, and oil. That turned out so well! I miss you! Thanks for teaching me everything you have!!!

Ry, it was so nice talking to you and Danielle the other night. It's good to hear your voice and connect and know taht you guys are supporting. It was funny talking to you and Brian Wurzel. It was great. haha. I miss you and am thinking of Rambo.

Jess, You are amazing! Your photos of Victoria and Steph look so good! Did you take them? That's for Empathy Cloting Co. right? I want to see the rest of your items. Do you have anything cool out that's new? I miss you so much! You rock!!!


Mel!!!! I miss you, big sister! I was just talking about you to some guys. I was saying how my sister is incredible at soccer (well football over here) and track. I played some guys at the park at soccer today and we beat them. They were super good too! Thanks for teaching me those off-the-wall-sick trixx! I love you! You need to use skype because i want to see you!


So have we got a new cat yet? A puppy? What's the pet status?

Tomorrow (wednesday) we are packing down the office for the Staford stuff and I will not have too much time to talk for the next week. I have been on skype non-stop to talk to you guys but I haven't seen you on. :(

I love you all! Please be praying for the journey I am going to take next week and pray that God will really do His will with my heart and my time.


Ty

Photograph

Here's a photo i did of some houses down the street. I used photoshop.

Pictures

Hey fam!!!! The flat has been great. I got my cell phone today. and acutally it is also a skype phone so i can talk to anybody on skype for free. It's amazing. I have to pay per minute on actual phone calls and texts. 12 pence a minute. but skype is completely free. I spoke with Alex it today for about 20 minutes. If somebody at home gets skype you can literally call me any time anywhere from your computer and i can answer it. You just call me on skype (tyler.axtell) and if im not near my computer at the time it will just ring on my phone like a phone call. It's so cool and totally free.

Today we went shopping together for the first time. We bought lettuce, 16 sausages for only 1.59 pounds which is cheap i think, we bought milk and cheese, brie cheese and just sharp cheese. Their cheese is SO much better here. It's so rich and creamy!

We went into town also and get a bank account but we needed Alley to fill out some forms for us because we are from the states.


Anyway, more details will follow. COmment me with any questions you have.


Here's some pictures of the house and the area:

Travel

Here is my first blog ever. I hope that I get good at doing this. I will do my best. I love you all!

My trip was difficult but I did it. It was a hard journey because I had mixed feelings. Loneliness, excitement, questioning, and prayer. All of these things played a huge part in my first night in the flat aswell. Talking to Alex, and Dad was an amazing time for me. I can call you guys for 1 pents a minute which is amazing! I don't think you can call me on there but as long as we can talk. That's all that matters.

I miss you all and I love you!

Tyler


p.s. I haven't figured out how to put pictures on here yet but I will.