The Final Countdown

At the time of writing, we have 18 days left in Scotland. Today, we turned in our last piece of coursework at the University, so all we have to worry about now are finals. I've got two (one on May 11th and another on the 13th), while Aaron only has the one on the 13th with me. I could tell you that we're going to spend this glorious amount of free time that we have studying, but that would be a lie. Sorry, parents.

I'm sorry it's taken so long to get another post up here. This is definitely a labor (I still don't put the "u" in words that don't need them) of love, and while we both have certainly enjoyed doing this, it just takes a lot of effort and motivation that is difficult to find at times. It's kind of like writing an essay for fun, but it is a lot of fun. And we certainly don't want to just leave you awesome people who actually read this hanging. We appreciate you taking the time out to keep up with us. It means a lot. Really.

So where should I start...Spring Break, anyone? Aaron already outlined a lot of what happened at the end of his previous post, but I'll give my shot at a quick run-through. Our "Spring" Break actually began the Wednesday before Easter and was pretty much the antithesis of what most Americans would consider Spring Break. The closest thing to tropical heat we felt was in an elevator and the only sunblock we had was the clouds, but it was still a great week.

Aaron's girlfriend, Deborah (Deb from here on out), came to visit from Hong Kong where she's studying abroad this semester. They hadn't been face to face for four months. To say he had anticipated her arrival would be like saying Fat Albert was husky; it just doesn't do either justice. The two of them spent a few days in Paisley and Glasgow before going down and visiting our friend Suz who's studying at Oxford then traveled to Prague to meet Aaron's missionary family he interned with last summer. I'll spare most details for the sake of brevity, but just ask them about that week when you see them in person again. Try not to smile.

While they were out frolicking across Europe, my family arrived a day after Deb. We did our best "Clampetts Go To Scotland" impression and decided to see what we could north of Hadrian's Wall. We stayed a couple nights in Glasgow and made a quick stop in Stirling to see the famous castle. We spent Easter Sunday in Kirkintilloch with the Leishmans, the host family Aaron and I stayed with while our RUF friends were here, and had an absolutely fantastic time. It's not a coincidence that the Southern US is known for its hospitality and history of Scottish emigrants. They rolled out the red carpet for us, and we're still thanking them for it.



Then we made our way east to a delightfully sunny Edinburgh. That seemed to be the consensus favorite (no "u") section of the trip. I don't know if it was the daffodils or the sunny weather, but my guess is that it's due in no small part to it being the last leg of the trip before we rented a car. Four Suitses, about 8 full-sized suitcases, in a modern station wagon...on the wrong side of the road. Since I was the "acclimated" one, I had the distinction of riding in what should be the driver's seat acting as "navigator" while fearing that my final resting place would be somewhere on a curb in backwoods Scotland as my father took defensive driving to a new level in an attempt to avoid the never-ending stream of oncoming traffic to his right. There was frustration, genuine fear, and gnashing of teeth, but I'm alive today writing you this, so you know it turned out alright.



We did have a great time, though. We drove the rotary-laden road from Edinburgh to Aberdeen where we'd be spending a few more nights. From this point on, it was pretty much a sightseeing scavenger hunt as we saw a few castles (including our ancestral home at Dunnottar Castle on the east coast), the Old (golf) Course at St. Andrews, and the small town of Keith (which was my grandmother's maiden name). The vistas were beautiful, and we definitely made some worthwhile memories, but when the time came for the fam to catch their flight back to the States, they were ready. It didn't feel like Spring and there wasn't much time to rest for a Break, but I think they'd tell you it was time well spent.



Once Aaron and I left that oasis of a week, it was running before we could walk with coursework, and our first major assignment (40% of the final course grade) was due two days after our loved ones left. Then, the following Friday, I had two more assignments of similar importance to hand in. In the same vein as "Senioritis", I'd like to add another term to the American academic lexicon: "Abroadathargy". When you're in an exciting, fascinating place meeting people you'll probably never see again, it's difficult to muster up enough energy to type up 5,000 of business jargon. But we did it. And, as I've said earlier, it's done.

Then we went to Rome! Didn't see that coming, did you? But yeah, we went to the former capital of the known world to celebrate the disappearance of our major stresses. It was a fantastic time. We only went for 3 days and 2 nights, but it was an absolute blast. As I was trying to fall asleep one night in our hostel I had to just remind myself how blessed my Georgian butt was to be sleeping within walking distance of the Colosseum. In typical Aaron and Matt style, we hit the highlights with a quickness and left totally awed and satisfied at what we had seen (and full of gelato). From the Spanish Steps to the Sistine Chapel, it was all wonderful. And warm! Although the BBC forecast was calling for rain in Rome that weekend, it was picturesquely gorgeous (I'll blame it on British weather envy). We even got a shadow of a tan. It's long gone now, of course.




And so we're back at the beginning. 18 days left. We've still got plans to go on a road trip to the north and see some of the Highlands. Don't doubt for a second I'm done watching live football while I still can. If you've been praying for us, thank you so much for your support. It means the world. We honestly couldn't have made it this far without you. And keep it up! We've still got some time left here. While it's tempting to start thinking about friends from home and family and summer and humidity and sweet tea and Chik-fil-A, we're going to enjoy the rest of our time in Scotland to the best of our ability. Would you expect any less?

P.S. After such a positive response to our last video in London, here's a gem from Rome. Enjoy.

Livin and Learnin

A phrase that Matt and I have held on to the past couple weeks has been "Living and Learning." We couldn't think of anything that would describe our experiences more because of the mishaps that the Lord has brought us through. I'll be the first one to tell you that God has a sense of humor... and He's got a good one! I'm sure all of you guys have had the experience of, "This plan looks good. I think I've covered all the bases and made sure that there are no loose ends in my plan..." just to attempt to execute your plan and have it fall apart at every seam. I'm not saying that Matt and I have tried to step away from God's guidance, it's just that He has allowed us to experience, yet again, the realization that He plans better than us, and it's A LOT more beneficial for us to follow Him instead of doing our own thing. He has told us this and yet we don't believe Him... in Jeremiah He tells us that He knows the plans He has for us, and they are plans to prosper us. He KNOWS the plan for us, but the humorous thing is we think we know. We don't know.

This is Matt and I at Scotland's World Cup Qualifier against Iceland, and the picture on the right is at the England National game against Slovakia. And yes, we're wearing kilts at the Scotland game. It was only fitting. As a lot of you know, Matt and I had several goals to accomplish in our time over here, and one of those goals was to go to as many football games as possible. So far we've been able to see Rangers and Celtic, both professional teams in Glasgow, St. Miren (the local team where we are living), Manchester United, the Scotland National team, and the England National team... some of those on multiple occasions. The point is we're attempting to soak up as much European football as we can. We're like two kids trying to fit as many rocks in their pockets as possible before the teacher says that recess is over. We're having a great time! There are a couple stories I want to tell you from the past couple weeks.

First, I want to run through the events that have occurred. After all, yall aren't over here so you don't know what's going on. So the next couple paragraphs are probably going to be a really random group of sentences... no real connection other than the events in our lives... so hold on tight and grab a little bit of something to drink because this might be a long ride... I'd say water is a good one to go with, but Matt would fight me and most likely nock the water out of my hand trying to tell you to grab some juice, "because it's got flavor..." but you do whatever you want to do. Alright here goes. I got a hair cut. Which is sad to some of you, but I realize that all of the people that I have talked to and found out that I disappointed them by getting it cut all have short hair. All I'm saying is you can't be hatin if you're not joining the ratty long-haired mob that I was attempting to join. And if any of my guy friends have long hair at the moment... I wasn't talking to you. You probably look great. I'm mostly talking about the people I see over here with long hair. That's one club I didn't want to join... anyway, back to the goods.

Matt mentioned very briefly last time that we were offered the chance to go to our Dutch friend's home about 30 min outside of Amsterdam. Without much thought as to why we shouldn't we bought tickets and went. It was a great time! I'm going to try and make this the quick version. We get there and our Dutch friend, Stefan (the guy we refer to almost every entry), picked us up at the airport... and after about 10 min and a wrong turn at the demand of his father's GPS system we take a little tour along the German border. It was nice.. taking a little drive through a little German town. Stefan was completely embarrassed, but Matt and I kept telling him that it was more than okay, because we were now driving through Germany, which was a really cool thing to say at the moment! After about an hour and forty-five minutes of driving we were there. It was a nice little place, and his family welcomed us as we entered the house. What I really want to point out about The Netherlands is the size of the doors and the incline of the stairs. The doors could easily fit a family of moose through them, and the stair cases might as well have been on a playground next to the swingset because falling down those would have killed the bravest of souls. I'm telling you... there was one set of stairs that we came across in a pub the next day, and when I looked down it I had flashbacks of standing at the top of the Cliffhanger at Whitewater. I was expecting someone to tell me to sit down, cross my legs, and force me down the drop of death. The point is the stairs are steep.

While at Stefan's house we were introduced to probably the coolest thing that I have come across since my time in Europe. Let me ask you something. Do you like bread? Yes. Do you enjoy chocolate? Hopefully. I think a good amount of you have heard of Nutella chocolate spread to put on bread... or basically anything you wanted to transform into a magical experience. Well, I wouldn't say the item I am about to explain is better, it's just that this stuff was so different. I was left sitting in my chair trying to figure out why I was eating what I was eating. He brings out bread and then sets two boxes of chocolate sprinkles in front of us. We were like, "You put that on your bread?" I still wouldn't eat it every day, but it was something that boggled my mind. I can't even explain why it was that big of a deal... anyway, chocolate sprinkles, like the kind you would find on a cupcake, on top of bread... different.

We went around Amsterdam the next day and saw things like Anne Frank's House, the Van Gogh Museum, we toured the Netherlands' National football stadium... and all I am going to say about that is watching Matt as we went through this place was like watching an art lover walk through a gallery of original works of Vincent Van Gogh, which we also did... so I know this comparison is accurate. I'm not sure how many pictures he took... but it was enough to capture the moment, I garantee it. There was one point when we went into the little museum for the stadium and there were a bunch of old jerseys from past matches and Matt asked Stefan and I, "Can you name who those teams are?" Of course we couldn't... I think we named like one, but Matt goes around the whole room naming the different clubs. It was truly a site. The picture is of Matt looking out from the Commentator's Box at the Netherlands' National team as they practiced for their upcoming World Cup Qualifier against Scotland.

The following day Matt and I went back to Amsterdam without Stefan, because he was visiting his grandfather in the hospital. We went on a canal tour of Amsterdam. It was cool... basically we rode on a boat for a while.. but it was nice to see the city. This is a picture of one of the many beautiful scenes from our canal tour. Later that afternoon we met back up with Stefan at the train station and rode with his dad to the airport. We flew to Glasgow and then stayed in this little hotel near the airport, because we flew out the next morning at a very early hour.

So... now we're in London. We toured.. looked at things like Big Ben, Trafalgar Square (where I jumped on the lions.. I mean, I mounted it like a true hero would mount a lion), some other things and then we decided that it was time to go to the stadium. As you can tell I'm just going through stuff... So we get to the the area around the stadium and begin to ask about the hotel that we had reservations for, because we wanted to put our bags in the room... to make things easier. This is the point when God started showing us that our plans are flawed. Can't escape that. No matter how much you plan things can go wrong, but praise the Lord that His plans never go wrong! Anyway, we're walking.. and walking and walking some more... we walk to this road that has the same name as the road we're looking for, so naturally we think, "This is the road." We walk to the end of the street looking for 16, and it literally ended at 15. Yeah.. imagine our thoughts.. So we go back some ways to where we saw a little hotel and went inside to ask if they knew the location of our hotel.

We came into the front office with some hope of finding our hotel... that small bit of hope was soon smashed when the lady behind the desk began to lightly laugh while she informed us that our hotel was located in another city... yeah. ... We bought a room somewhere we've never heard of... Our plans were not perfect, and we had to come to grips that we are in desperate need of God even in the planning of a trip such as this, but what a revelation! We decided to go back to the stadium and hang out before the game (at this point we only had about an hour). The final idea was to go back to London's city center and find a hotel there after the game... the game was fun... the crowd was great and England won... not much more to it :)
So the time came when we were going to hunt for a hotel and we decided to pray that God would help us, because we really didn't want to sleep in the airport. To quote Matt, "We did our best Mary and Joseph impersonations." We went to about 12 different hotels to find that there was no room in the inn. But after another prayer and our hopes refueled God provided a place to sleep. I will attach a video that we made that night of the room... it was fun.

Right now I just want to comment on how great God is. Matt and I pray together in the mornings, and just having the ability to do that is a gift. He has watched over us the many different trips we have taken to unknown places while teaching us both a new meaning of trust in Him. It is weird to think that we have 7 some odd weeks left. As Easter has been approaching I have really been thinking about what this "holiday" really means. Over here it is definitely focused on chocolate and a bunny... but that is not the point. Easter is the picture of the Gospel. It is where the Gospel becomes "good news." This is the time that Jesus died for our sins and was raised by the awesome power of the Holy Spirit to take back from the devil what was stolen! I want to challenge all of you as you read this to reconsider what you are focusing this Easter season on. Praise God this holiday season and tell others the true meaning of Easter.

Lastly I want to comment on what will be going on the next week as we have our Easter break. Matt's family is coming into town on Friday and they are going to travel around for the week... going to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Aberdeen, and possibly Lock Lamond. As for me... Deborah is coming! What a blessing it will be! We are going to travel a little bit to London to visit Suz (our friend from Mercer studying at Oxford) and then head over to Prague to see my missionary friends from last summer... so the week will probably fly by, but it will be a great week! Keep praying for us and for what God has for us here. Pray for ministry opportunities and for our obedience. Thank you all for the support and we'll be talking to you soon!

The Americans Are Coming!

I don't know who the British counterpart to Paul Revere was, but he was rolling in his grave a couple of weeks ago as a group of seventeen Americans from the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF from here on out for all the newbies) at Mercer (who also happen to be some of our closest friends) came to Scotland just north of Glasgow in Kirkintilloch to do some mission work. Aaron and I had circled this past week because we were really looking forward to it. And it was a good thing we did because there's not enough ink to highlight how awesome that week was. (I know there's a metaphor hidden in there somewhere.)

Aaron and I had originally planned out an exciting welcome for them by me meeting them at the Glasgow airport while his bushy-bearded self waited around a corner with some sort of empty cup and asked for change from the group until someone recognized him. But since they weren't flying into Glasgow, that plan was out. Instead, we walked into a group meeting after they had all arrived. Let me just tell you, if I could bottle that feeling, I'd never have to work another day in my life. Talk about happiness. I guess this would be the appropriate spot to say that my girlfriend, Meredith, was a member of the group, so there was a little added anticipation to those initial hellos. It was great beyond description to embrace our brothers and sisters and be welcomed back, in a sense, into the body of Christ so lovingly. They were obviously tired from all of their traveling and settling in, but Aaron and I felt like dogs with a bone we forgot we'd buried. It was brilliant.



I will do my best to summarize the work of the group throughout the course of the week. Much of their time in mission work was spent in the schools in and around Kirkintilloch speaking and meeting with the students there. In addition to this, the group also participated in evening activities at the two churches, St. Mary's and St. David's, mostly serving younger children. Aaron and I traveled after our classes were done Monday and Tuesday while "commuting" back to Paisley at night, abut we were able to stay with the group from Wednesday evening on until saying our goodbyes on Friday.

Maybe my favorite part of the time spent in the field came after an assembly at Kirkintilloch High School. Marlin Harris spoke the gospel (I mean he brought it. We were all really pleasantly surprised at the fervor and enthusiasm coming from behind his Alabama swoop. Big ups.) to the group of high-schoolers who were rather receptive despite the 9:00 assembly time. Then we went to the library and met with the Christian student club at the school. How many members were there? Five. Out of a school of 700 there were 5 students there. While in the States many people would claim to be Christians and show up to a meeting like this one without having Christ in their hearts, even that feeling was absent among the student body.The leader of the group and captain (president) of his senior class was named David. The genuine care for his fellow students was astounding, and his stories of how difficult it is to be a believer in the daunting feelings of loneliness within himself and the apathy of his classmates left most of us speechless.

When it came time for us to ask the small group of students if there was anything we could pray for, David told us not to pray for them, because they were already assured of eternal life through their love of Christ. He told us to pray for his classmates, that their hardened hearts would soften and be open to receiving the gospel. Even as I type it, his words, as a senior in high school, just leave my jaw open. Join Aaron and I in doing as David said and praying for the students at Kirki High. If there is to be spiritual revival in Scotland, it must begin with the young people.

It wasn't all-work-and-no-play for our compatriots, however. There were trips to Stirling and the Wallace Monument, Ibrox to watch Rangers, the Falkirk Wheel, Edinburgh, and downtown Glasgow to make sure everyone had a solid view of Scotland before they left. And if these experiences weren't enough, everyone was set up with a host family with whom they would be lodging with. Aaron and I spent our time at the Leishman family's house in Kirkintilloch along with our friends Marlin "Bring-the-Word" Harris and Brett "21=Fun" Richstone. The four of us couldn't express to the Leishman's how thankful we were for their gracious hospitality. We had an unbelievable time watching and talking football with their two sons Andrew and Fraser, eating some of their mother, Fiona's, fine Scottish cooking (yes, including haggis...which is good, by the way), and just being made to feel like adopted sons during our short time with them. There was a general feeling amongst the RUF group that most everyone else also had a similar "royal treatment" experience. It was, truly, an unbelievable blessing and accurate picture of how we should open our homes and lives up to others in the name of Jesus.





On a side note, the four of us guys got had a little excursion of our own. On the Friday before the group was scheduled to fly back home, the churches planned a traditional Scottish dance, called a ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee), as a send-off for the group. Well, Aaron, Brett, and Marlin had a conversation with a member of the men's club at St. Mary's earlier in the week named Jim McEwen who had offered to fit the lads with the accessories necessary to properly attend a ceilidh as Scots: namely a kilt and weapons. The four of us went to Jim's house that Friday afternoon and had a great time sitting in the living room of a genuine Scottish Clan Manager as he discussed the finer parts of Scottish pride and nationalism while explaining the sharp points of the claymore and broadsword he had in his living room. I think it's safe to say we got more than a taste of Scottish history that afternoon, and we all left feeling very much like clan brothers. Well, this picture speaks for itself.





It was sad to say goodbye to everyone that night after the ceilidh (which was an absolute ton of fun), but we knew that we would see everyone again in the Fall. Their visit was an incredible boost for me in terms of lifting me up and strengthening me spiritually for the rest of our time here. Continue to pray for Aaron and me and our spiritual walks while we're here. While we have each other, your prayers do more than you or we can know in keeping us going. We love all of you.


Some quick notes:

1) I played in my first and last college football game this past Sunday. We won as the UWS Pyros defeated the Durham Saints 18-6 to record the Pyros' first ever playoff win and push us into the British quarterfinals. As tight end, I recorded one catch for, I think, 3 or 4 yards. And as a special teams player, I had a tackle on a kickoff. My personal bottom line coming out of the game, though, is that on the opening kickoff, I was running down the field and just before my first contact with a Durham player my foot slid in the mud, and my knee bent (ever so slightly) backwards, sending a sickening chill up my leg. I shouldn't have played the rest of the game, but I did, and now I'm done for good. It's still very tight almost a week later. Again, prayers work miracles. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun playing with the guys and getting to know them as football players, too. I wish them nothing but the best in their playoff run. They have a game tomorrow in Newcastle, so GO PYROS!

2) One of our friends, Suzanne Bottorff (http://suzinoxford.blogspot.com), from Mercer who is studying at Oxford in England this semester came up to visit us while the RUF group was here. Again, it was great to hang out with her and show her around Paisley. Aaron got to go with her and the group to Stirling and had a blast. I know she could use some of your prayers down south, too!

3) Coursework is picking up steam a little bit, so pray that we can get it done.

4) If there's not another entry this coming week it's because we have a lot going on. Wednesday evening we're flying over to the Netherlands to hang out with our Dutch friend, Stefan, for a couple of days in Amsterdam. Then we fly back to Glasgow Friday night before flying out again Saturday morning to go to Wembley Stadium in London to watch England v. Slovakia in a friendly. Should be loads of fun, and England are unveiling new kits for that game. I'm excited. Pray that God gives us traveling mercies, and that we don't get too lost as we travel around Europe.

5) The weather this past week has been phenomenal! Hardly a cloud in the sky. It's probably warmer wherever you are right now, but at least we get to see some rare sunshine. It's amazing how much of an impact the sun has on people around here. Seriously, people are friendlier and more talkative. It's quite remarkable.

Thanks for keeping up with us! Sorry the writing has been a little more sporadic than we'd like, but we'll try to be better about that. Have a great weekend!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

Oh Goodness! It's time for another Aaron entry!!

So it's been a little over a week since the last entry, and there is so much to tell! Well, I say “so much,” but it's really not a lot of different stories. There are just some stories that I will probably take a long time to explain... so buckle up those metaphorical seat belts! It's time to ride the story bus!

Here are some things I want to tell you about. 1) Last Friday night's dance competition that Matt and I participated in at the Student Union (the student center here). 2) Our trip to Manchester to watch a legendary football match and 3) My time at church and a brief mentioning of Matt's American football experiences so far. There aren't that many things to cover, but as I said I can get a little long-winded.

First up: Dance Competition. Anyone getting the itch to just throw your arms and legs in different directions in front of somewhere between 100-200 people? If you're not getting that itch you're normal. Matt and I are definitely not normal... or at least last Friday we weren't. The Student Union was having a “Western Night” party. The themed party would include mechanical bull riding, dancing, and multiple prizes to be given away. The night started pretty strong with some solid bull riding. Matt and I had the 1st and 2nd place times for a little bit with 21 and 37 seconds respectively. We both thought that I might win the bull riding competition until at the end of the night someone came along and stayed on for 40 seconds. It broke my heart. After riding the bull we got onto the dance floor as any true partier would. We got into the motions of moving one's head back and forth at the same time as the legs. While the head-leg combo is going on your arms can do whatever you want them to do... that's where you get creative.

The DJ is on a stage in front of us and begins talking about prizes. He tosses a couple of hats into the audience and Matt snags himself one (mine was taken... it made me sad). A couple minutes later the DJ asks for several volunteers. Matt and I were right at the front so we thought, “why not?” We get on the stage followed by two other guys and 4 girls. He announced a dance competition. The girls would go first and all dance, and the crowd would choose which one they liked best. The same method would be used for the guys after their song was over. So we step up there... Matt and I are on the stage front and center. We're looking out at a crowd that's probably 200 students. The final thoughts are, “Why in the world am I about to do this?” But before you can convince yourself again as to why it is a good reason the music starts... Some jams hit you and the bass shakes up you heart beat.. it's game time!

After about 2 ½ minutes of moving our arms, legs, hips, and head around in different directions at different times the song was over. All I know is that I caught a glimpse of Matt doing something that would fit in an old country movie (you know the ole grab-your-belt-and-do-something-like-the-can-can-except-a-little-faster move. This would come right before you link arms with your partner and spin around). I can't bash Matt because somewhere within the allotted time I almost slipped off the stage. On top of that I attempted the robot. Why?! I'm not sure. I know for a fact that my robot is horrible, but when the spotlight is on you things just happen. Finally the music was stopped. We both came back to consciousness to see the crowd kinda cheering... I think we both blacked. We must have been shaking the floor with our sweet Georgia steppin! The cheering began as the DJ went to the first dancer and then to the next. The yells got louder and softer depending on how much they liked that particular dancer... I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the end when I saw the DJ point to me and say, “The guy with the beard!” Thats right. I won the dance competition. I have to say, though, Matt was definitely a close second. After the victory was handed to me I will admit that I tried to start a USA chant. I really think I heard a few people start going along with it, but it ended quickly when the DJ gave me my prize and asked us to get off the stage. So my hat being taken earlier was replaced by something far superior in it's usefulness. That's right, I won a Razor Scooter! And not just any Razor Scooter. I won the “Hy-Pro Phantom!” With built-in head lights! For night riding! After our late night we headed back to attempt to grab a few hours of sleep before we woke up very early the next day to catch a train and a bus to get us to Manchester.

Before I can talk to you about our trip to Manchester to watch a football team called Manchester United play, I must describe why the Manchester United game even matters. For all of you readers out there who are not familiar with Manchester United Football Club (United) I must say a few sentences to introduce you to my world of United factoids. Matt is the guru of United football. Football only in it's truest sense: soccer. If you could see a sport team's crest in someone's blood Matt would be the first to tell you that Manchester United is flowing through his veins. Some call this an obsession. Some say it is unhealthy for a young man at the age of 20 (21 next Friday!!! What what!) to be following a form of entertainment this passionately, but I would have to say that United is far above entertainment in Matthew Suits' book, which won't be published until 2020 (be on the lookout for a book with a title somewhere close to My Life as a Manchester United Supporter: More Than a Fan). No, Matt would say that he has several “legit” reasons to enjoy the game of football as portrayed by the club of Manchester United. His interests in this particular team stretch farther than a favorite color or player (even though both of those exist in his list of reasons). He's got a story to tell, and he will tell it to anyone who will hear it. Manchester United is not just another football team. It is part of his life.

Now before you go judging him by saying in your head, “Yeah.. Matt is obsessed.” There are many more vices in the world that were worse than this one. But since I am not currently involved with any of the other unnamed addictions I will have to focus on this one. I don't think 2 days pass without Matt telling me something that involves Manchester United. Someone they are signing, someone they fired, the score of their most recent game, an update on an unknown player, a fact about the stadium, a funny comment that team manager Sir Alex Ferguson made in his last interview, why Ryan Giggs is the savior of United and why Ronaldo is not... I think you get the idea. And I say all of this in love. I really enjoy the things I am able to learn while in the company of Mr. Suits, but I must say them to give you an idea of why this trip is special. I was able to go to a Manchester United game with arguably the most passionate and biggest fan/supporter of Manchester United in America. This follower would fit in with the best of supporters from Europe. He knows his stuff, and he's invested the time to learn these things.

So Matt and I catch the 8:30 bus out of Glasgow. But before we made it to Glasgow we had to get to the train station in Paisley's town center at 7am. The bus was not running that early on Saturday morning, so Matt and I walked to the bus station. This half hour walk definitely allowed us to wake up before our long day, or give us more motivation to crash on the bus ride to Manchester. This 5 hour bus ride began extremely early, but we would both agree that it was well worth it. We talked some, slept some, and played games on his iTouch! I'm a big fan of the games on there, and if any of you have been around me when I'm playing with an iTouch or iPhone you've seen that I really enjoy the games on there...possibly too much for my age, but you can't stop me from enjoying the simple things. I definitely just referred to an iTouch as simple, but you get the point. The trip went by much faster than 5 hrs. Before we knew it we were pulling up to the station, getting out, and looking around at the new place that we have found ourselves in. First step: locate the stadium. Second step: EAT!!

We found where the stadium was and how to get there (we just had to ride the subway), and then we grabbed a bite to eat at the nearest restaurant/pub. After a weird but tasty chicken burger we headed toward Old Trafford, United's stadium. As we got closer I attempted to document the situation. I wanted all of our close friends to see what it was like to witness history in a young man's life. After watching 100's of Man United games Matt was going to Manchester and I was able to travel with him to see his team play live! It's really hard to explain what all was going on. It was really awesome for me too, but I think the point of the story is to tell about Matt. That's what you guys really want to know. We walked up the long road, slowly gaining ground on the stadium. Little by little the terraces of the stadium began to show. I think that Matt would have cried, but there was too much going on in his head at the time. There were no system managers up there to shoot some tears out.. there was portions of the stadium to inspect, scarves to buy, programs to collect, statues to admire, pictures to take, videos to record, atmosphere to take in.... and after all of that I realized what the whole day was like...

You know those family reunions that bring people together that haven't seen each other in years? Some of these long lost family members were unaware of the existence of other members, but there's still something that brings them together, something that they have in common. I witnessed one of these family reunions. I watched as young Matthew Suits rejoined his long lost family. He's never seen any of these people before, but now they all walk together, side by side with their United scarves around their neck and their jerseys proudly flaunted. At one point I even lost Matt! Ha ha! I was recording a video and as I was narrating I lose him. At that point Im thinking, “Alright... he's got his scarf and jersey on...but so do the rest of these people.. awesome.” I saw him a couple seconds later in front of Old Trafford taking a picture of the stadium and the statues of Man United legends. I could go on and on about the details of the game.. how Matt made sure to sing every one of the songs that started up in the stadium. The thing about that last comment is that Matt KNEW every one of the songs! Yeah, there was no listen-to-the-first-verse-and-then-I'll-sing-along-when-it-comes-back-around stuff. He heard the first couple of lines and began belting it out along with his other 75,000 uncles, cousins, and nephews. “There's only one United! There's only one United!” Yep.. songs were sung. I definitely joined in, but I was the wait-a-min-catch-on-to-the-song guy. As I was saying, the details would take up the rest of your afternoon, and I don't want to do that to you. You're probably already tired of this entry (but there's still some more left to talk about). I will mention an ironic portion of the game, though. I said something about Matt's not so fondness of Christiano Ronaldo earlier. Well it turns out that Ronaldo held the team together that game and ended up scoring the nastiest free kick! We yelled until we got horse, and then yelled some more!

There is one more thing I want to mention about the Manchester trip and that is the ride home. We ended up grabbing the 1am bus out of Manchester after finding that all the hotels in the area were completely full. We listened to a sermon that we had downloaded and discussed it for a little while (we knew that we would not be going to church the next day). The bus that drove us back to Glasgow in the wee hours of the night could have easily been traded for a sauna. I guarantee you that the temperatures were very close! I will say that the only thing that would make the sun bus more enjoyable would be a lady across the isle making sure that everyone knew what kind of misery she was in... yeah, I had the opportunity to share the isle space with “Oh my gosh!! I'm going to be sick..” There were occasionally a few choice words from her, but the Lord allowed me to sleep through some of it, and I am so thankful for that. Matt and I got back and caught the first train from Glasgow to Paisley then took a taxi from the train station to our flat. Needless to say we fell on our beds like unconscious walruses when we got back... I don't know how long we slept, but it was good! The Manchester trip was a huge success!

This past week went by pretty fast. The days don't last that long... we have class in the morning on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then we are finished for the week! This past weekend we went to another football game. I wont talk too much about it because I wasn't planning on it, but I will tell you the basics. Celtic is one of Glasgow's two teams, and they were playing St. Miren, Paisley's team. We weren't expecting much of a game because of the skill differences between the two teams, we were just wanting to watch some football. Well football we saw! The ending score was 7-0! That really almost never happens! The scores are usually somewhere between 1 and 3 goals a game, but we were blessed with a goal-fest! (The rhyme was unintentional) We enjoyed our time for sure! It was like watching a shark fight a goldfish... the goldfish can swim as much as it can, but it's going to get eaten every time. St. Miren tried so hard to stop Celtic, but it was no use...

Sunday was a great day! I had invited our good friend, Stefan, to church, and he said he wanted to go. I looked online for some churches in Glasgow, and I finally found one that really looked good! The messages that I previewed sounded solid and the online videos of their vision really encouraged me to check this place out. It is called C7... because church should happen 7 days a week, and that is what they try to do. I looked it up and found where it was located by the address on the web site. Stefan, Eric (our Swedish friend), and myself set out at 9:30 for the 11 am service to ensure that we made it on time. We get to the area of Glasgow where this address is located with about an hour to spare... plenty of time! Apparently not. We looked and looked and then looked some more, but found no C7 Church. We asked a couple of police officers if they knew what we were talking about, but they had no idea of any church being called C7. I was beginning to sound as crazy as I looked... but I knew that I read it correctly. We kept looking. Eventually, when it was about 10 min until 11, we stopped this young couple that was dressed up hoping that they were going to church. They were! But not to C7. They were heading to a church called Glasgow Westend Vineyard. We asked if they had heard anything about this C7 church, and they had not. The man admitted that he was from Ireland and that he hadn't lived there for that long, so he really didn't know the surrounding area too well.

He pulls out his iPhone and looks up the church online to see if he can find a number or an address for us. He did and then wished us well and said that if we didn't find this church that we were invited to his church which was just up the road a ways, and we could come in whenever. It didn't matter if it was after 11am. We began our search once more to be unsuccessful after another 15 minutes. We decided to call it quites and go to this Vineyard church that the Irish guy told us about. The service was great! The worship was good, and the message was just what I needed/wanted. The pastor continued a series about spiritual gifts. The topics this week were Faith, Healing, and Miracles. Basically he explained that a life with God is not something you can just talk about, it is something you have to experience. He compared the Bible to a restaurant's menu. The menu describes the food, but you can't eat the menu. He said that the Bible tells us about a life that can be lived for God and how to live that life, but WE have to live it. We have to experience it. He focused a lot on praying and not being afraid of praying for the sick. He said that God looks for those who are willing to be used. We can't go around being scared to pray for people when the Bible tells us that if we ask in faith that we will receive it, and when we lay our hands on the sick they will recover. He said, “Pray. Don't be afraid of nothing happening. Don't let that keep you from exercising your faith.” It was good. Eric, Stefan, and I grabbed some lunch after attempting to find the invisible church one more time and coming up short again.

After we had finished and we were walking back to the train station I thought about all that went on that morning. I had prayed that we would find the church, and we found a church. It was the church He wanted us at and not the one I was expecting. This is just a funny picture: There are 3 guys walking around looking for a church. An American, a Dutch guy, and a Swedish guy all wandering seeking a place none of them had been. Asking for directions turned out to be useless, and after an hour of searching we had made no progress. Then God sends along a man. Not a man that knew much about Glasgow, but a nice Irish man who was willing to help us. So you've got 4 guys all trying to guess where a church was located that none of them had ever heard of or seen, and none of them having lived in Glasgow for very long or at all. It was funny to me. If you're not laughing I understand. It's one of those moments you had to witness. God is good and He showed me that yet again.

One final thing... Matt started his practice with the American Football team that the university has here. His dream of playing college football is being completed, and he gets to do it representing the United States of America (he's the only American on the team). He said that I could probably play, but I think will stick to the European football for now. Matt and I hope that all is going well and that God is teaching you all new things this semester as He is definitely teaching us. Thank you for your prayers and comments!

(sorry about the length of the post, but at least you'll get a week or so to rest your now-aching eyes)

It's A Small World After All

First off, let me apologize for taking so long to post, 12 days...but who's counting (*cough* John Evans *cough*). In all honesty, it always seemed like there just wasn't a whole lot going on that you might find interesting. (Something like, "Well, today we had class, chilled in the flat with the guys when we got back, wasted a bunch of time watching TV and on the Internet, and then went to bed. Keep us in your prayers!" See what I mean?) All that's not to say we aren't making the most of our time here or going on frequent adventures in our new world, it's just that since school started, they've been a little more spaced out.

So to make it up to you, I've compiled a list of 12 things (one for each of those missed days) that have been going on in the land of the Scots. Sorry there aren't any pictures here. Check Facebook.

1) Aaron's last entry was 100% correct. Scottish is not English. It's like saying dogs and cats can talk to each other: they're both pets, they both make noise, so they should be able to understand what each other is saying, right? No. Barring the obvious differences in dialect, there are also a few little quirks that have been stumbling blocks in our communication. It took me a few days to pick up that they use the word "wee" for any time we would say "little" in American English. Example: I went to the wee shop around the corner to pick up my wee brother from school. I'm from the South and everything, but they sure do say "folk" a lot over here. It's they're word for "people". Examples: A lot of folk don't understand me; maybe more folk should buy hearing aides. You might think we're whining, but if the most serious Scottish accent you've ever heard came from Mel Gibson, you got another thing coming.

2) We have been trying out various churches over here. A few weeks ago we were invited by a couple of teenagers in a sports shop to their local baptist church the coming Sunday, so we decided we'd give it a shot, especially since it was a 15 minute walk from our flat. It was also just a huge blessing/surprise to be invited to a church around here. So much so, that we had to get them to repeat the invitation for us (half because of the surprise and half because, well, look back at #1). We had a great time at the service worshiping and meeting people, including the American pastor and his wife, but there were still a couple of other churches we wanted to visit before we settled on an adopted house of worship.

3) This past week we decided we'd check out a little hole-in-the-wall church that we pass on our way to campus every day called New Life Gospel Church that originally caught our eye because of the bright yellow signage out front. It's a very small (25 members, tops), very tight-knit church with members who obviously have their hearts set on Christ. The most contemporary out of all of our church visits (maybe despite the average age of the congregation), the service still had a very old-school revival feel to it, which was a nice change for us.

4) Class is going well for Aaron and I. Classes here are bigger than we're used to at Mercer, but it's been good for us to see how higher education works at a larger university. Aaron and I are both taking Business Research Methods on Tuesday morning and Operations Management on Wednesdays. I have e-Marketing on Monday afternoons while Aaron has Personal and Interpersonal Skills (which he definitely needed a class to help improve) at the dreaded Monday morning spot. Business Research Methods is by far the largest class. So large, in fact, that they had to split the course up, and since Aaron and I are on opposite ends of the alphabet spectrum, that means we're in different locations.

5) He's in the state-of-the-art auditorium, while I'm in a church basement. Yeah, a church basement. "But Matt, I bet it's probably some really old, cool-looking church with some nice stained glass and buttresses and stuff." Yeah, it's like that on the outside. But in the basement, it's not that spectacular. And it's freezing cold all the time. A minority of people take off their jackets once they get inside and even fewer take off their scarves or head wear. And the class is pretty boring. Before you call the waaahmbulance on me, I just had to vent on that for a second because Aaron surely isn't sympathizing for me.

6) During the tutorial session after BRM the other day, my class was split into groups of four where we had to discuss an assignment and then have a spokesperson talk for our group. Well, I was the only one not shaking my head when it was my group's turn, so I was it. It was pretty funny because I could notice people making an effort around the room to turn and look at me while I was talking. Must've been my irresistible Southern accent. Anyway, during a break a little later, an Indian guy walks up to me and goes, "Matt!?" And I just kinda nodded my head and said, "Yeah?..." And he said, "It's Sam!" Instantly, I recognized/remembered who this guy was. His name is Sam Arora, and he was an exchange student at Mercer last Spring. Aaron and I had met him during his time there, and we were able to get to know him pretty well and get kinda personal. We had totally forgotten he was in Paisley and he didn't realize we were here, either. It's been great to see him and hang out again. And the same day that we met him, it just so happened he was heading over to our dorm to cook Indian food for some friends, so we partook as well. It was great. And yes, Aaron sweated.

7) We play football (soccer, that is) pretty much every other day out here on the fieldturf pitches next to our dorm. We've met a lot of guys who like to play (of course), so we've usually got some good games going. As far as how we stack up, Aaron is actually among the best players out here (that's not really a surprise to some of you). And I am not. While I don't look like a three-legged giraffe out there or anything, I just don't have the footwork on the ball like these dudes. We have both discovered that we are getting older, so the aches that we get playing out in this cold weather linger a little longer than they might've in the past. As our French friends might say, C'est la vie.

8) Man, there sure are a lot of French people out here. If you hung out with the right people, you could fool yourself into thinking that you were studying in Marseilles or Lyon instead of Scotland. It's been cool, though. They like talking to us because they can understand us better than the locals, and we enjoy meeting more European people, so it works out well.

9) I'm gong to fulfill my dream of playing college football. After meeting some of the guys on the university's team, I'm going to start practicing with them next week and hopefully get some playing time soon. They recruited me pretty hard, and they were all really nice guys, so I couldn't pass up on the chance to put the pads on and hit somebody again. Check back here for injury reports.

10) We love cereal. A lot. If we don't eat at least two bowls a day, we're hungry. It's cheap, it's delicious, and the milk mixed in with the sugary bits of cereal tastes like angel dust.

11) As far as watching soccer, we've been to the pub to watch England get outclassed by Spain 2-0, Celtic and Rangers fight out a 0-0 draw in an exciting edition of the Old Firm derby (this rivalry is HUGE over here...WIKIPEDIA it...the pub was packed), and Manchester United outclass Derby County in the FA Cup 4-1. We're going to watch the local team, St. Mirren, play in a Scottish Cup match in a few hours in the first night match at their new stadium.

12) Our tickets to the Manchester United game on Saturday came in yesterday. We'll just say I was excited and leave it at that. Check back early next week for Aaron's analysis of my spontaneous combustion at Old Trafford.

13) (BONUS!) Some people have asked for our mailing addresses over here, so here they are.

Matthew Suits (or) Aaron Gray
Villa 15A2 (or) 15A5
Thornly Park Campus
Caplethill Road
Paisley, Scotland, UK
PA2 7TR

Pray that we will eventually settle on a church home over here. While we have enjoyed all of the services and simply being with fellow believers, we still want a consistent church body we can worship with every week. Pray for safety as we do a little traveling this weekend. Most of all, pray for the people we come in contact with, like Sam and our flatmates. Pray that we can make an impact on them in some way to help them see Christ and his desires for their lives more clearly.

Thanks for sticking through this extensive list. I'm sure by now you've had a full dose of your Matt-and-Aaron fix. We love and miss you all. Thanks for your support, and check back soon for more updates.

I Swear It's Not English!

We have been here a little over a week, and there are still instances when people talk to us and we walk away saying to each other, “Dude, there is no way that's English. I promise it's something else.” We just have to take those moments and laugh! Sometimes the laughter is a confused form as we laugh along side some Scot that just said something that apparently deserved a chuckle. Other times it is when we are walking away in complete confusion as to what just happened. One specific instance occurred as we waited for the bus to arrive. A man walked up and was looking at the time charts with a confused/concerned expression across his face. He then asked Matt and I about a specific number bus and then pointed down the street. I looked at him as he awaited my response and then I said, “I'm sorry, what did you say?” I tried the “please repeat that method” as if I had spaced out and just not heard him, when in all honesty I heard every sound he made. I tried to buy another chance to make something of the mix of syllables that exited his mouth. He then repeated some form of elvish and pointed down the street again.

That was my second try, so I had better make the best of it. I looked down the street as if I had understood anything he just said and then replied, “Yeah maybe, but I'm not sure.” He said that he didn't know either, but he'd give it a try. We wished him good luck and waived to him as he sat down inside the bus and rode away... I still can't tell you exactly what he was asking. Maybe it was something dealing with the bus turning the next corner. Maybe he asked if the bus went to a specific place. I'm not sure, but I hope that he made it wherever he was going. I could go on about a time when Matt and I were in a store and we began a conversation with someone, or the time I rode in an elevator with a man at the train station and he said something about my clothing and smiled. I just smiled back. It makes me wonder if this will improve or if we will have moments like this throughout our stay in Scotland. I wonder if there will be at least on time each day when Matt and I agree that they're speaking Swedish or if we'll begin to pick up on their quickness of speech.

But enough with that... I'm going to use the next couple of paragraphs to tell you guys about whats been going on the past couple of days. After all I feel like thats the reason for this written endeavor. This past Wednesday Matt and I were able to go to our first European football match!! You can only imagine our reactions. If you haven't already looked Matt has put some pictures of the game on his facebook page, so you might want to take a gander. Anyway, I would say that our reactions were a little different. Of course we were both excited about everything that we were seeing. The crowds, the jerseys, the new city. We were having a great time! We had not been into Glasgow before this game, so everything around us was new! We took a train into Glasgow and then basically found our way around the town. It was really fun to see how we navigated around an unfamiliar place, but I feel like we did really well. If nothing else can be said, we found some dinner...a few interesting shops... and thankfully the stadium. The game was incredible! We got to the stadium about an hour early so we went down to the wall bordering the field to watch the players warm up. This next part probably wont matter to many of you, but I will tell you that it was crazy watching players like Ronaldhino, Kaka, Beckham, and our own Demarkus Beasley (an American player) kick around before the game!

It ended in a 2-2 draw, but it was nothing short of exciting! Hearing the crowd react when the Glasgow Rangers (the home team) scored was very cool. And then being able to join in because the first goal was scored by the American player I named earlier, Beasley! Matt and I were jumping and yelling and high-fiving! Basically any way you might see a person act if they had just won the lottery.... we were screaming like idiots, but the great thing about this story is that we were in the midst of thousands of other lottery winners! I must add one more detail. After the crowds had subsided, and the cheers had simmered down, Matt begins yelling out “BEASLEY!...BEASLEY!...BEASLEY!” Naturally I began to follow along.. ha ha. But what completes the chant that Matt started is the amount of people that joined in! I don't know exactly how many people actually joined in at the end, but I know that a majority of our side and definitely our section was cheering right along the chant that my fellow American began. When it died out after about 20 seconds Matt turns to me with the biggest smile on his face. If I didn't know what had just happened I might have thought he'd just won the Cleverest Man Alive Award (which if you didn't know, Matt is in the running for)...but the truth is that I had just witnessed this amazing/hilarious act. Matt turns to me with his smile full and said, “I started that.” I'm telling you, there have not been that many other moments when I knew a person was completely satisfied with a previous action, but I was able to chalk another one on that night after Matt's chant. Our journey home was interesting as well. I will only say a few things. First, we exit the stadium into a herd of people and basically try and fight our way through the crowd that was walking the opposite direction. You ask, “why didn't you find a way around them?” We tried... but let me ask you something in return. Have you ever watched a cyclist ride against the flow of traffic on a one way road? Neither have I, but I imagine something similar to our situation. I am exaggerating a little, but it was definitely a task to walk through the throng of people that we found going to opposite direction.

So we made it through that mess and continued walking towards the road that the subway station was on. As we got a little closer we noticed a line full of people coming from around the corner we were approaching. Matt asked if I thought that line was coming from the subway, and I responded with a hopeful “No.. there's no way.. at least I hope not.” We kinda chuckled and walked a little faster, first to see if this was in fact originating from the station, and second to be able to get back to the line before more people joined it. Well it turned out to be from the station entrance. We quickly turned around and made our way back to the end of the line with a pace something short of jogging. When we took our place in line we guessed it would take at least an hour just to get back to the subway... but with that hour we still had enough time to catch the last train from Glasgow to Paisley. I am so thankful for this line because it gave Matt and I another chance to just talk. We ended up trying to quote the verses that we have been memorizing, as well as the verses that each of us had previously memorized in our S-group with Benjamin. This time was just great to be able to talk about God's Word and some challenges that each of us have been facing. God knows what we need and I am without a doubt that He sent Matt and I together for a reason! We are both very encouraging to one another and I don't think two days go by without one of us telling the other that we're glad the other is here. But now that I got that out of the way I will talk about some other stuff :).
Before we left on Wednesday we were finally able to get our student cards for the university. We went through the whole process of paperwork, talking to some people, and then the infamous picture... Matt got done with everything first and then I made it to the picture portion of the show. Matt says that she will count and tell you to smile on 3. The next sentence I hear is “You should totally make a face at the last second..” To make the story shorter you can see my picture ID on the side there... I had been wearing a hat all day so I have a form of hat hair, but in all honesty it really doesn't matter considering everything else that I have going on around the face/head area right now! Ha ha


Thursday and Friday gave Matt and I chances to just relax. We slept in and then got some stuff done that we needed to get done. Thursday we were able to play soccer for the first time, and I was so ready! I think we were both tired of getting adjusted and wanted to just run around and be crazy! So we did. We had a great time. We went out there with two of our flatmates, Julian and Julian (one from France the other from Spain), our friend Stefan, and a couple other guys from Scotland and Spain. It was great getting out there and kicking around in what felt like (with windchill) low 20's. It was cold! But it was equally fun!

Friday we were able to meet a lot more people when we went to a get together that some other students were having. The funny thing is we are the only Americans here, so everyone wants to meet us. It is really a weird to think that when you introduce yourself the other person says back to you (most of the time with a French accent) “You're the Americans!” It was actually a little overwhelming at times... we basically just talked about ourselves for several hours because everyone would ask questions when they met us... sadly they were a lot of the same questions. We've answered “So...why did you leave America for Scotland?” at least 73 times, and I don't think it will let up any time soon ha ha. Well, at least until we have told everyone the reasons for our choosing Scotland...where we're from and why we chose Scotland... how its different here than where we're from, and then why we chose Scotland.. ha ha! I guess they are confused because most all of the students that are here from Europe came to improve their English, and since we obviously speak it they don't know why would choose Scotland.

There is one more thing I want to cover, and I will cover it fairly quickly. The international students were given the opportunity to go to Edinburgh today, and Matt and I pounced on it for sure! After a 1 ½ hr bus ride, a small nap, and a new high score in Tetris on my phone (one that beat Matt's current high score!! We've been competing) we were finally in Edinburgh!! The journey began with a small plan that I came up with... to give you an idea of the organization of this trip. They gave us little guides to Edinburgh and the time when the bus would leave later that day... the rest was up to us! So yeah, we came up with a pretty sweet game plan and I think at the end of the day the four guys that made up my group were satisfied. We saw the castle, the cathedral, the old town walk, the Scottish Parliament, and then climbed the mountain pictured below! It was amazing! We were so blessed to see God's creation!! and the weather was beautiful! It was a little cold, very windy, and extremely pretty! God is good.

To the right is Edinburgh down below... It was amazing.

Stefan, Matt, myself, and Dennis

We spent the day with our friends Stefan and Dennis. They are from the Netherlands and Denmark respectively. We had a great adventure today! It included Matt and I buying kilts, and myself purchasing a set of mini bagpipes! Matt, Dennis, and Stefan laughed until they cried as they watched me attempt to fill the bag with air. The sad thing was that I could not muster out more than one very oddly sounding note with all the air that I forced into this little bag. What I discovered after a thorough search of my new instrument was a small flap that was taped over the hole entering the bag!!! I had been blowing with all of my might and lung power just to be blocked by this little leather flap that was there for whatever reason! After that discovery I found it much easier to fill the bag and was able to squeak out several notes that belonged to Amazing Grace.
Keep praying for our relationships with our friends and for mine and Matt's relationship with the Lord. We are meeting and praying a couple times a week in the morning and trying to challenge each other as often as we can. Thanks for the support and feel free to leave a comment at the bottom... it's always fun to read. Much love!

The Most Snowfall Britain's Seen For 6 Years

At least that's what the BBC are telling us anyway. Snow's coming down pretty intermittently right now, but it looks like it might get worse tomorrow. Needless to say, Aaron and I are pretty excited to see the most snow fall we've ever seen in our lives. The picture above is looking out the window from our flat. Pretty wild stuff. If you've seen a picture of Aaron lately, at least you know his face is in zero danger of getting cold anytime soon.

Alright, so I'll try to get you up to speed on what's been going on since Aaron finished his Encyclopedic entry on Friday. Saturday, we had great intentions of getting up around 11 and catching some football at the Wallace. (Our "favorite" pub so far...I put it in quotes because, as you may know, Scotland has its fair share of pubs, so to designate a favorite this early in the game would be somewhat of a false start. But it is pretty homey in there.) Well, after we woke up 40 minutes past eleven, we decided that we could at least throw a hat on and make it for the second half, which we did.

We watched the team from Paisley, St. Mirren, draw 1-1 at their brand new stadium after a late equaliser from the home side. (Sorry if there's a lot of soccer jargon thrown around in here.) It was a great experience for me (I can see your eyes rolling from here) because I got to be around other guys and grown men who made funny faces and weird noises at the TV (it's still not a telly) when someone came agonizingly close to scoring. And the cheer that went out when St. Mirren finally did was still an adrenaline rush even though this was the first match of theirs I'd watched. Sorry. I've been hooked for a while now. And I don't even have to tell you whether or not I have their jersey now or not.


We hopped back on the bus and decided to take a little stroll/hike on the path that's immediately across from our flat at Thornly Park. And what an adventure it was. From the slippery depths of the Muddy Hill (we're talking Nesquick muddy, here) to the mysterious Policeman's Jacket we found (promise) and even to Aaron's domination of the Thorny Bush (If you haven't seen the video yet, please, PLEASE go HERE), it was a mighty fine outing. It sufficiently wore us out.

So when we headed back down our little mountain, what time should it be but none other than that of the Manchester United v. Everton kickoff! (I can hear your groans from here.) So what else would two strapping two lads who just did their best I-wish-I-were-William-Wallace-but-I'm-slipping-down-the-chocolate-milk-muddy-Muddy-Trail do at a time like this? Yeah, go catch the match at the pub. But when we got there, turns out I was wrong about the start time (darn time difference), but we still made a pretty solid trip of looking around some shops before that Cinderella-esque hour of 6 o'clock when everything quite literally shuts down (except pubs, naturally). But just as we were waiting for our bus back to the flat, we saw the match coming on a big projection screen in no other pub than the Wallace (cue Aaron's description of my "toy fire truck" eyes). So we may or may not have gone in and watched the whole match. (Solid 1-0 win for United.) Again, lots of fun, but United has its fair share of haters ('cause I need something else for people to give me garbage about), so my celebration was somewhat subdued. Bottom line: Go tell your friends Matt and Aaron went to a pub twice in one day. See if they believe you.


Then we missed the bus. The almighty 1 Bus that is our only means of transportation on that cold night blew right by us, despite me waving it down as it just blew on past without so much as covering the brake. No matter. We'd just walk. And (let me check) yep, Aaron confirms that it was 0 degrees Celcius that night (that's freezing for you Communications majors out there). No matter, we used the 2.5 mileish walk back to burn off the ribs we had in the pub. Good thing our dumb jokes kept each other warm because not much else was.

Sunday morning we decided to check out Laigh Kirk, a local Church of Scotland we pass on our way into town. All in all, our visit to the church was labeled "pleasant" by concensus. It's still just crazy to hear hymns and a message and even pulpit jokes with a Scottish accent. It really was a solid message from the pulpit about putting your faith into practice. James 2:26 says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." Definitely a message that we are doing our best to take to heart as we continue to meet new people from (literally) all walks of life.

Other than the children who came in at the beginning of the service and the relatively young pastor and his wife, we were the youngest people in the sanctuary. That, paired along with our American accents, got us plenty of attention from the congregation who invited us to "a cup of coffee or tea and a biscuit" afterwards. The warm coffee and conversation went a long way in keeping us insulated on our walk to the supermarket before we went back to campus. By the way, it is a sad truth that they just don't sell peanut butter over here. Try to hold back the tears for us.

When we did arrive back, we saw the university's American football team, the Paisley Pyros, about to start their match. After we dropped our food off at the room, I went down and caught some of the live action on SuperBowl Sunday. It was really funny to see a sport very much American being played by guys who very much weren't. And in an interesting juxtaposition, the university Gaelic football team was having a match on the field adjacent to the Pyros. The connection that sport has with culture is one that continues to fascinate me, and it was neat to see my own paired with the one I'm currently in so seamlessly.



We chillaxed most of the rest of Sunday, getting things "done" around the flat and hanging out with our flatmates Julian and Paul, who Aaron mentioned earlier. It's been a lot of fun getting to hang out with them and share stories from our respective homelands. Everything from TV gameshows to weather to how sweet tea is nothing like English tea is discussed, and I think we all really enjoy that time. God has truly blessed us with some fun guys to hang out with, and we continue to ask you to pray for us as we try to influence them through how we live our lives: called to a different purpose.

Today was the first day of class, so a vast majority of our time was spent at the university as we dipped our feet into the waters of these "modules" as they're called over here instead of courses. I met a really nice Scot today named Ryan who i have class with. Believe it or not, his dad actually has friends in Macon! Talk about a small world moment. Anyway, pray that he would be another one of those people that the Lord has put in our sphere of influence.

And, of course, it's been snowing! It has been really mesmerizing to stare at the flakes outside. It's Julian's first time to ever see snow, so things have been pretty jovial around here. We love you all back home and we thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. They've really helped us get off to a good start, and we know we'll need them more and more and the semester progresses.

And now I feel like a hypocrite for calling Aaron's post long. Such is life.