TBN Shakas
Thanks to Daren Mountain, the CS UK Staff guru, we were able to talk about Christian Surfers and the upcoming Jesus Surf Classic with Leon Schoeman, a fellow Saffer ,now making waves with TBN in the UK (program scheduled to run mid October )
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| Shakas at TBN Studios London with Leon Schoeman & CS Legend Darren Mountain |
Festival Shakas
After a short break with Sharon's sister and family in Emsworth, it was back to Nailsea and into a community festival - where Phil, Joe and the crew were raising money for a local skate park. A fantastic community event supported by CS.
Severn Bore Shaka
I have heard about this wave often from Phil and so, it was with a deep sense of excitement that we headed out to catch my first river wave. It was great fun and extremely addictive. I will be back :)
More than that though, I connected with a serious crew of very dedicated surfers. They know this river and its nuances like any of us would our own local surf spot. A really tight crew - "The Muddy Bothers".
"That every surfer and their surfing community would have opportunity to now and follow Jesus"
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| Arial image from the internet couldn't find the name of the Photographer, but such an amazing & powerful image had to use it. Below the muddy brothers, a tight crew of core surfers, that meet around the tides. It was an honour to connect with this crew. |
French Shakas
Since attending the CS conference in Hossegor, France in 2004, this has always been a surfing community close to my heart. It was fantastic to come back almost 10 years later and see amazing, faithful people sharing the beautiful story of Jesus. The Perenties have layed a solid foundation and connecting with Rich & Reggie, as well as Audrey and Powel, was truly inspiring. Pray for their work and that we would see a harvest beyond what we could imagine in this place.
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| From Top Left / Rich & Reggie and the Surf Church Hossegor Crew / Micro beach break beauty / Cold hard reality inside a world war II Bunker / Modern Art taking outside WWII bunker / Thomas & Doerta ding repair in Baritz / Timo YWAM Hossegor. / Cheese and Braai vibes on arrival at Audrey & Powl's house (National Leaders of CS France. |
World Belly Board Shakas
One of the core strategies of CS all around the world, is serving. This opens up so many opportunities for CS to shine Jesus to our surfing communities. Still it's not every day that you get to serve at the World Belly Board Champs :) This was a fantastic experience. A quirky and extremely different event. No wetsuits and the junior division is for under 60's...LOL
Still it was great to see our CS UK crew involved in judging and generally serving in any way that they could. Also great seeing a number of core surfers and surf industry folk there. Check out the Surf School owner in the Union Jack Onezie.
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| Top left / CS Crew dress appropriately for this prestigious occasion. |
Newquay Shakas
A massive thank you to Phil for organizing us a 5 day stint in Newquay, and to our great God for timing the arrival of a swell.:) Newquay is for sure one of the big surfing areas of the UK. It was great to see this in full swing.
After a really busy and active couple of weeks, it was fantastic to regroup as a family. We went surfing with the kids before the swell arrived and Cailyn stepped on a Weever Fish. A searingly painful blighter with a hypodermic spike that injects a protein based poison. Nice :( some surfers have surfed for 20 years in the Uk and never had this painful experience. Fortunately it wasn't too bad and the life guards put her foot in hot water to break down the effects.
There was a great run of swell whilst we were there. I even got barreled :) and also managed to catch up on a whole heap of CS Admin and SKYPE calls.
Jesus Surf Classic Shakas
This is a phenomenal and long standing event on the UK Surf Calendar. Over many years we have often prayed for Phil and the UK crew for this event and for waves. This year I got to live a little of the stress and pressure of this. The UK weather is dynamic. There are lows and highs moving all the time and thus planning a big event like this carries risk and stress. Well done to the crew for stepping out in faith.
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| Even Cailyn got into the act and served behind the counter giving change in Pounds and Pence :) |
Watching Mike setting up a full skate park in the rain is an excellent example of this. Seeing the volunteers etc come around food stalls, mobile judging stations because of the swift moving tide etc etc. On top of all this CS does not surf in the event. "It's a matter of serving the surfing community," said Phil.
Check out the links to some of the secular press around the event.
A fantastic time with amazing and phenomenal CS people. We were humbled blessed and amazed.
Finally it was back to Rod and Chris Neal's spot to cull 20kg of luggage and a 100L bag before heading to Peru.
Thank you UK & Europe. Keep charging so that:
Check out the links to some of the secular press around the event.
CS Wales Shaka
Right at the end of our amazing time in the UK, we headed to connect with Johnny and Annie, and got to catch up with some of the CS Wales crew.
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| Home School - Checking out a Welsh Coal mine with Annie & Johnny |
How's this for a welsh word?
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (lan-vire-pool-guin-gith-go-ger-u-queern-drob-ooth-clandus-ilio-gogo-goch)
Yip one word. Google it for the translation :)
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| CS Welsh Crew meeting in the Hillmans lounge. |
Finally it was back to Rod and Chris Neal's spot to cull 20kg of luggage and a 100L bag before heading to Peru.
Thank you UK & Europe. Keep charging so that:
"Every Surfer and every Surfing community will have opportunity to know and follow Jesus"
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| Team UK |
