The International Open House team come up with some wonderful ideas for their programme of events for international students, but perhaps the most ‘madcap’ idea was to get up very early – before the crack of dawn – to watch the sun rise. One Elder agreed – in a ‘madcap’ moment! – to go as well, since it was to be on Easter Sunday, so that there was more purpose about it than just to survey this wonder of God’s creation. And so it happened; Apple,Mark, Levon and Paul Tench accompanied 26 international students and friends, from various countries in Europe and Asia, to the Wenallt. Apple saw to all the logistics of getting people there in good time. 
The sky above was absolutely clear, but there was a pall of cloud hanging over the eastern horizon above the hills on the English side of the Bristol Channel. We had to wait for the sun to appear over the edge of that cloud but, as we did, we read the resurrection account at the beginning of Luke 24, and then coaxed those who knew the hymns to form a choir to lead the singing ofUp from the grave He arose and Jesus Christ is risen today, Hallelujah! These two rousing hymns were not quite enough to defeat the chill, but Levon came to the rescue, as ever, with a game that got everybody running around.
Then off to church, for breakfast, which Albert and Janet Rodrigues had kindly offered to cook; Gerald was there too, and one more student joined us as well. Every bit as good as the Men’s Breakfast a few weeks before!
At 9 o’clock, 28 of us - Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics and those with no fixed religion - began the Bible study, whichMark led from 1 Corinthians 15: the good news that saves, Christ dying for our sins, what sin is and what its consequences are. Serious questions and answers began to flow: do Buddhists go to hell? Can you be half Buddhist and half Christian? Is Christ the only way? Is it fair that a person who repents on his death bed goes to heaven? What about people who have never heard? Is the conscience a reliable guide? Eventually we got to verse 4 about the resurrection, and the evidence for it: why was a body never brought out by opponents? Why mention the 500 eyewitnesses?
Mark handled all these questions frankly and gently, and the study would have proceeded for much longer if we hadn’t had to stop for the morning service! Apple closed in prayer, and many of the students stayed on for the morning service, and finished at Paul and Charlotte Tench’s for lunch.
A memorable day that had started soon after 5am, with excellent opportunities to share the good news of why the Lord Jesus came and died and rose again. Seed sown, we trust, for eternity!
