The smiling faces of the outreach team matched the sunny weather that the Lord gave us during the week of the 60th Llangollen Eisteddfod. A Christian team has been present for 58 of those 60 years.
The four stations where the team worked were kept busy throughout the week. The schoolroom of the chapel with its various stands and mission displays saw more visitors than for many years and our new gospel cart was an attractive sight near the Llangollen railway station.
Literature
Many overseas visitors received literature and were engaged in conversation. The Ultimate Questions stand near the town hall attracted a lot of attention and people received free copies of the booklet.
Near the entrance to the Eisteddfod field the Open-Air Mission had their stand, where over a thousand pieces of literature were given out and many conversations took place, including one with a Welsh TV personality.
Each day of the week began with Bible ministry and prayer in Glanrafon Chapel; and closed with prayer at the end of the day’s witnessing.
Tuesday saw a colourful musical parade attended by a large crowd, as many national groups filled the streets of Llangollen and brought traffic to a standstill. After this, the team enjoyed a barbeque and fellowship at the home of a kind couple.
On the same day a man celebrating his 60th birthday took a John’s Gospel and a folk group from the Basque country and visitors from Armenia and Romania took UQs.
Overseas visitors
Wednesday brought many visitors to the overseas stand and conversations with people from India who took literature in Hindu, an Asian man from Birmingham who took a John’s Gospel and young ladies from Thailand who took Scripture Gift Mission booklets and UQs.
Others contacted were from Moldova and the Czech Republic. Teenagers from Turkey and South Africa were pleased to take UQs and John’s Gospels supplied by the Open-Air Mission.
During the lunch hour an outreach took place near the river conducted by men from the Open-Air Mission and The Evangelisation Society. People listened to the speakers and singing and a long conversation took place with a local young man. An Italian folk singer and his wife were invited into the chapel and sang.
On Thursday a member of the Open-Air Mission and his wife were well received at the local school, where they took school assembly and hosted a children’s activity at the church after school. The children enjoyed the gospel being presented to them in a way they could understand.
Thursday also saw, among others, a Lithuanian folk dance group, a young French couple, a German scout group and a folk group from Turkey and Kurdistan all accept literature.
South Africa
Friday was very busy. A folkdance group from Albania gave a display of their dancing and then took literature. People from Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, India, Sardinia and Italy were contacted.
Young people from three South African groups, many of them Christians, were invited into the chapel. They were delighted to find us; and one of the groups – a girl’s choir from Cape Town – went on to win the Choir of the World award.
Many free cups of tea, as well as lunch each day for the team, were so helpfully provided by the ladies’ kitchen team in the chapel schoolroom.
One of the team in the schoolroom spoke with 38 people during the week, including back-packers who read a tract and were much affected by what was in it. A young member of the church was a great help in the chapel bookshop, and thoroughly enjoyed himself!
A big thank-you to all who supported the week’s outreach and the churches that upheld us in prayer.
