We had breakfast and then we went to see a local Abbey but it was apparently closed because of the dreary weather (a normal weather day here in the UK - Light rain and chilly 5 degrees Celsius (low 40's Fahrenheit) We then went to the town of Iron Bridge were the worlds first bridge made of iron was built during the 1770's - about the time of the American Revolution. It is a very interesting town with many small shops. Matt was excited to get a real cup of coffee. In England they have excellent tea's for our meals but the coffee is usually instant coffee and he was desiring some brewed coffee (He is used to his espresso machine @ his home in Raleigh) We returned from Iron Bridge late for lunch and the Estonians had arrived and we joined them for lunch of fish and peas. Many people had started arriving and we spent the afternoon getting reacquainted with old friends and making new ones. It was good to remember all of the times we had doing ministry with our British friends.

We had a picky tea for supper (in America it is called an appetizer buffet) It was very good as we had a good variety of different foods to try. The conference center staff has done an excellent job of having a variety of English delights for our meals. After supper we had the first session of the first annual Aldersgate UK. David Winstanley reminded us of how it all began 10 years ago and how the ministry is beginning to flourish. It has been exciting to have been a part of what God is doing through each of us! After worship and David's session we had prayer time. I did not volunteer to be a part of a prayer team because I have come to realize that sometime I need to be the one that is on the receiving end of being prayed for. I was okay until the song they played in the background was Hillsong United's "Oceans" This song has been very personal to me since my feet are limited in how far they can wander - But I am sure God is taking me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of our Savior! Prayer time was special and the love of God was present for all those who were present.

Afterwards We talked with some of our old friends some more. We then went to the sitting room where we listened to the minister from Estonia tell of the many great and wonderful miracles God is doing and has been doing in Estonia for many years. He talked about the oppression of the communists against the Christians and the many experiences they had. He told of the three inch thick cable between their church and the KGB building next door. They were allowed to have church but they were very limited in their activities.They were not allowed to have fellowship meals at the church but they could celebrate someones birthday so they had frequent birthday celebrations in which all of the people gather to fellowship.They were not allowed to preach the Gospel but they could tell stories and they used the Bible stories and just changed the names of the characters and the congregations would "read between the lines" to understand the message the minister was bringing. He talked about sometimes how someone would cross the KGB and they would disappear into the KGB building next to the church and either disappear altogether or they would find out they had been sent to a Russian prison camp to be "reeducated". He told stories of how bibles were forbidden and they would still have a few Bibles even though they were always being confiscated. (If you could bribe the right people they would let you posses a Bible - but even then that was risky) Some of the bibles they had came from a container that someone dropped into the sea and knew the container would wash up on shore and they found the container and were excited to find it was filled with Bibles.The Estonians are overjoyed to have the religious freedoms they enjoy now but they worry that the younger generation that did not grow up during the communist repression will not cherish their religious freedom. We must be more intentional and instill in our next generation the value of the freedom of worship they have!