Rhoades In a Nutshell...

Nearly ashamed to post.. It's been too long.

2008-12-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello again.. I'm back from the dead..

My mom is pressuring me into continuing posts on here despite the fact that I haven't been able to for nearly a month. I suppose that isn't entirely true as I definitely could have squeezed in a little tiny something here or there, but ultimately I have just been very very busy in this the home stretch of my first semester abroad. I am honestly only updating now because I'm bed ridden with the flu and I'm going crazy the last 3 days and just thought.. oh man.. I still do have a blog.. I'll write in it!

The last month has really been mostly a blur. The last two weeks even more so. I'll start with Thanksgiving week.. which was only a short time past when I last post. We had the most amazing Thanksgiving at Canvas ever.. Around 100 students came around to learn about the strictly American tradition and eat good home cooked food with us. It was wonderful. 8 Different students got up and said what they were thankful for.. I could do them no justice.. but know that atleast 3 of them made me shed tears due to their kind words about Canvas and our staff... and our friendships.. It was absolutely remarkable. Gosh I love this place.

I just remembered something that happened the week before that is notable. A long long time ago.. when I was living on a different continent.. Before I knew I was going to live in Jolly Old England (at all).. two young men friended me on facebook. They were from the London area and friended me specifically because their surnames (Thom RHOADES & James HUGHES) equalled my name on facebook. They are super cool whatever kids, in a band, etc. etc. I thought not much of it. But just that it was funny... Well fast forward to the week before thanksgiving.. I met Thom Rhoades and his friends in London for a couple beers.. then ended up spending three days with them in lovely London.. near their university. It was awesome.. and something I'll always be happy to say I did in my crazy years.

After Canvas thanksgiving which was actually on Tuesday.. I headed off to Scotland.. the place William Wallace is from.. and spent 5 days there. I had a great thanksgiving there as well. My couchsurfing host Simon surprised me with a chicken (or a churkey if you will) and potatoes and vegetables and we cooked a traditional thanksgiving dinner. I had Thanksgiving in Scotland with two greek guys, a spanish girl, and a belgian guy (and myself) and they had me tell about the holiday and how it came to be, etc. etc. It was awesome. Edinburgh is a beautiful place as well. I had loads of fun in Scotland but when it came down to it.. the place is just too cold. haha

After that I came back to Birmingham for the home stretch. I've been reading Simply Christian which is quite nice and been spending as much time as is possible with students before the holiday break. Things have been going well and relationships are growing.. as am I. I can't express how awesome this entire term has been for me. I've never done anything that stretched me so much. And for that I am thankful to God, the Canvas staff, ACF folks, and so on. It's been a wonderful term. I am also thankful for my parents who actually read this thing all the time (I didn't know if they would) and for everyone else who bothers to keep up with me on a however-often-I-decide-to-post basis.

England has been good to me and I hope you enjoyed my update. haha

sorry it took so long.. next term will be more consistent I promise!

love-

Tuesday Nights with Canvas..

2008-11-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

That's what our Tuesday night "Bible Study" is now officially referred to as. And let me tell you.. God is at work. Last Tuesday night we had over 40 students at our free dinner and talk. It was flipping awesome. I mean kids that maybe some of us thought would never bother. And when I say this I don't speak of tons of Christians.. these guys are probably 95% non-Christians. And they feel welcome enough to be around our place. I love it. Nathan spoke wonderfully about a British Christian that people have heard of but who's name I can't place right now haha. If I wasn't rushed I would look it up. Anyways. After dinner and a talk I heard multiple people tell him how moving it was. It was tearjerking. We all hung out for quite some time and just played mafia and sat around and played fifa and oh gosh it was just incredible.

Monday was awesome well. I went to a concert in Wolverhampton with Hannah and a couple that she knows. It was excellent. Got to see a cool American band from Austin, TX called Okkervil River... and a cool british band or two as well.

Last night I went to Snobs with Rob Bentley.. my boy. We had such a great time and good talk time as well. Then I met some fun people that made me happy. haha.. doh

Anyways.. Poker and a film tonight so hopefully it will be huge and lots of people will come and play. MAybe I'll even go to the soak and make Jon Myles proud with a song at open mic.

l.p.h.h.

la la la la hey!

2008-11-09T16:06:00.000-08:00

hmm.. where to start.

been kind of a slow few days.. but good for rest.

I went to an American football game. It was the Birmingham Lions vs. the Bath Killer Bees. It's the second biggest sporting event in university level sports.. in all of England. possibly in all of Europe. It was hilarious.. kind of like watching mediocre high school teams. and they had about a 12 piece marching band.. with the cheerleading squad consisting of 100 or so girls.. (maybe an overstatement but atleast 50). it was very interesting.

Sunday was wet and nasty. proper English weather.
good day though.

Anyways.. sorry for the short one. will give a picture or two from the game soon..

outside of that.. talk to you soon

And happy birthday to Chandler-- continue prayers for him as he heads off to Germany in a couple weeks.

update that's more in depth.. soon. love

New Presidents and fireworks.

2008-11-07T02:17:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone who reads :)

The last couple days have been awesome. Oh wait.. first.. big shout out to Kristi Glenn who is a new reader and wonders "how the heck did I not know you had a blog" No one will ever know KG.

Yeah so the last couple days have been awesome. Tuesday night bible study was great. We had a similar turnout to the first week with about 10 people coming for the second week in a row! How awesome. Natalie talked a bit about Martin Luther King Jr. Everyone hung out, enjoyed music, listened to her, and then afterwards sat around and just had wonderful conversation. Oh yeah and we watched the CNN feed til like 5 in the morning to find out who our new Prezzy would be in the U S of A. Congratulations to Obama. He's younger. And a good speaker.. hopefully he will have good ears to listen to the people around him. I'm excited to see good things happen in the States. Obama is by far the English supported candidate.

Anyways.. Wednesday was lazy. goofed off.

Yesterday was Vale fireworks show. The fail is the Freshmen halls part of campus.. huge fields. a little pond.. Last night it was made into a carnival! Cotton Candy=candy floss in the UK (how interesting). They had a huge firework show that was soooo good. I really enjoyed it. We had a ton of folks join Canvas in going. Afterwards it was to the Soak where Tom, Pete, and I each played a song for open mic. Then back to canvas.. then I watched a movie with my friend Hannah. Great night all and all..

Needless to say.. today is a big day for Canvas. Some of the students are starting their top tier leadership group with the staff. I tihnk it will be awesome. Pray for them.. its around 2ish your time. And it will be the beginnings of actually laying out the gospel for them. I thank you for your read.

Love and peace..

rhoades

Canvas Video-

2008-11-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

Chandler sent me this last night after reading my blog.

I've also attached an email that I sent to Kristi Glenn back when ACF showed this video on a Tuesday night at Bible Study. It was written very quickly. I hope it makes sense. It's very much from the heart..and a personal description of the people in the video and my relationship with them. You may even notice some of their names from people I've talked about on this blog. Good voting to all. Who will it be.. Obama I think will be the new President of the U.S.A.! scary?

Hey guys..
This is Rhoades writing.. I know most of you here and can't wait to meet the rest of you. This is a good time for me to write because this is only like 2 hours before your bible study you are at right now, and I've just had the best night at Canvas. (our globalscope home here in England) Well.. let's be honest, every night has been a great night here. I've been lucky enough to meet all the people that you watched in that video. They are awesome guys. None of them are Christians. Which could seem shocking to you but is even more shocking to me because I know how awesome they are first hand. I actually used to hang out at the house they recorded at.. play music with Ash and Andy.. Ben is the tiny blonde headed guy who talked about one of his parents being a Christian. He's a great guy. The last week or so we have been working on the new building that was given to us by an awesome group of people.. just for the record.. its in the absolute best spot possible. Ben was there everyday.. despite the fact that he has graduated and moved on, living over 30minutes away.. (which is a long ways in England) I mean dilegently working in this guys bathroom that was painted so awesomely. He's a great guy. Pete is the guy who talks about being agnostic now instead of an atheist bigget. He might be my favorite. We have the best times and he is just full of awesome sayings.. most of which wouldn't be appropriate for this time.. but they are great so just imagine. Pete is the guy who told me he prayed and talked to God for the first time in 10 years about us being given the building.. which we were. Pete wouldn't mind me saying that he constantly tells me that Canvas is the best thing he has ever been a part of. That he loves it. And he might mind me saying this but please pray for him.. He's been going to church for the last couple months with Canvas folks and loves the lifestyle but still has doubts and fears about truly giving his life to Jesus.. So keep him in mind as much as possible. Andy Fielder is the red head.. I can't remember if he wears a hat in the video but in real life he always does. He's quite the funny one. He actually went to a pub with me the weekend of the Auburn Southern miss game and brought his laptop along. (as mine hadn't arrived yet) We watched auburn football on the computer while we watched England play a world cup qualifying proper football match on the plasmas at the soak ( a local pub here in Selly oak). Andy is brilliant.. actually he's about to start his PHD which is just impressive in itself. Ashley is the blond headed guy. who doesnt actually sound like himself in the video. He goes by Ash but I like to call him Ashley because its very feminine and since we are good buds now I can take the piss out of him. Ash is brilliant as well. And he actually liked his time last year with canvas so much that he decided to delay getting a real job (with his masters in computer science and artificial intelligence) and just get a job at a pub so he could stick around and be involved in the new building and all the events. Canvas loves him so much that they are throwing him a birthday party on the 10th.. which will be our first huge event at the new house. it's exciting to say the least. Ash and Andy and Pete also worked tirelessly on the new house remodeling and painting. They are blessings. especially int he fact that don't even realize how much god shines through them as non believers. Lastly is Matt burnes. He's the guyt he video ends with. It might have made you cry like it did me. Unfortunately burnsy moved on.. He has a real job now, but has no other plan than to be in Birmingham as much as possible for canvas events. He is one of the most mature people I've met in England. HE understands so much about community, love, and relationships.. He taught me a thing or two in our fe conversations we got to have before he left. And guys I want you to know this is only the beginning of the list. there are tons of other people that are involved and even more that are out there just waiting to be met and talked to by me and my fellow exchange students.. and you guys too. I could not suggest anything better thant o be a part of globalscope. It has already enormously changed who I am and what I care about. and certainly for the better. And gosh if you come soon you could be in on soemthing so special. the building we were given to be the new canvas house is just incredible. My friend Kyle Marshall and I hung out til 3am on Friday and Saturday and we met over 35 people that just wanted to come in and see what the heck was going on. It's purely incredible. I've not seen a bigger miracle in my life than the donation of a 2million dollar facility to our ministry to help in the outreach of thousands of college students who don't know much of anything about a proper life with Christ. I just want to say that I love and miss ACF soooooo much and I hope everyone is doing well. Please please please consider throwing in an application tomorrow or tonight to Amanda. Or atleast just talk with her about future opportunities. I'm sure that it woudl change anyone who participates life. Pray for us as much as youcan. Love you guys.

Rhoades

--------------

good day.. pray for our second bible study tonight

Love my life.

2008-11-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

So I can't complain too much today.

None in fact. You know those moments where everything in life makes sense, and it seems like everything really will work in a perfect way. I happen to be in the longest one of those moments I've had in England. We just had open mic night. (On Monday night) And it was perfect.. and I even played a couple songs which were apparently recorded so maybe I'll let a select few hear those one day. Besides that.. Since my post early Friday morning/late Thursday night.. this is what has gone on.

Friday was Halloween. I went out with Canvas folks.. I think maybe we all became legend that night.. check out my scary Joker costume posted above. :) I'm a little too proud of it I'm afraid. haha.. anyways.. Saturday was a resting day. Hung out at Canvas all day. It was excellent. Sunday went to church at Pavilion where Natalie was speaking on Abraham and Isaac.. What is your Isaac? :) After church, over beers (I include this because I love the fact), I had the best talk I've had with a non-american christian here in England. It was with Paul, the minister at Pavilion. We talked about manhood and how it felt to finally feel like a man with your dad.. and how confusing that is.. and just all kinds of great stuff. I loved it. Today was full of meetings and such and then open mic night which I mentioned above. I saw so many great things tonight. And I am finally learning that I don't have to be involved in everything. That sometimes I can just sit back and watch God work on his own.. and that's awesome. Then on my walk home I just listened to some excellent music and here I am typing.

I hope all is well for my readers. Thanks for still reading this silly blog. It means the world to me.

good night from England.

Talk soon.

hope the pictures are nice.. they are some catch ups. oh and there is a video.. hope it works.

I also have a friend who reads named Chandler. I mention his name for a few reasons.. some selfish some not :) Chandler will be going to Globalscope Germany soon.. and very soon. He is going to be awesome there.. In the short time I have gotten to know him I can just tell how good he'll be at his job. He is great at talking and he is genuine. I ask that you pray for him number 1. Number 2.. if you want another blog to read this is his http://chandler7.blogspot.com/

And ultimately I want no matter what for you to go to his blog and look for the post about England.. where there is a great video that I don't even know where it is.. but I want my readers to see it. So just go check it out.. it's awesome.. and tell me what you think abotu that video because it is awesome.. really.

pictures are me and anthony halloween night..

me and kalyn and matt and ahmed on thursday for ahmed's birthday

the video is snow :)

cold weather.

2008-10-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

My last post was a short one to say it was snowing.. in October. It was beautiful. I loved it.

Tuesday Night: Bible Study number 1

wow.

I was so nervous.. would anyone show up.. would they be scared.. would they never come back.. what would they think of what our ultimate purpose was. Well God showed me as always to trust trust trust and everything will work perfectly. It is still working perfectly. We had 6 new faces come to Canvas for Bible Study for their first time. We had probably 10 of our semi regular students come as well. Then all the old Canvas alum (if you will) and us exchange students and staff. We probably had around 40 people there. It was just excellent. It was a short introduction to what Tuesday nights would be about from now on. About how they would teach about stories for the next few weeks. Leading up to the story of Jesus. thank you for your prayers.. I have no doubt that our prayers from all over the world helped the night to be so perfect.

Last night I spent lots of time with Hannah (a new friend) and Sizzle. Hannah is a cool Christian girl we met here in Selly Oak and she loves what is happening at Canvas. We watched bootleg Dark Knight and Little Miss Sunshine and almost played taboo. It was excellent.. left canvas at like 4 though.. long long night

as for tonight.. well It was awesome. Hence me being up at 5am. I had a great day with meetings and such and then got invited to a Halloween party for my friend Ahmed's birthday. We went to the city centre to work on costumes (Kalyn and I).. in honor of the Dark Knight movie I chose to dress as the joker.. it was good. For some reason my card won't read on my PC and I don't have the patience for finding the cable to plug my camera up but soon I will add joker and snow pictures. We went to the party for a while and then went to a club with some of our friends. It was excellent.. unfortunately the night ended bad because Kalyn's passport and phone came up missing. It sucks because they were in my jacket pocket but when I let the girls have my jacket outside the items unfortunately fell out. We weren't able to find it in our return trip to the club but hopefully tomorrow it will all turn up. Please pray that we can get it sorted because she has a flight to Paris on Wednesday and it would be nice to g et it fixed asap.

Anyways.. again thank you for your support and for reading. It means the world to me even though I really don't know who all reads haha. Much love from across the pond.

rhoades

Reminder and awesomeness.

2008-10-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

So this is a reminder to pray.. pray like crazy in 4 hours.. for the first Canvas Bible Study.

It's huge.

We need your support.

On a lighter and funny note, it's snowing outside right now. I have pictures I'll post later.

These are the weather details for here right now. And it's snowing like crazy. faith love and hope to all. remember which is most important.

Current Details

Humidity	93 %	Cloud Cover	90 %
Visibility	1 Miles	Max Temp.	43 °F
Dewpoint	32 °F	Min Temp.	34 °F
Ceiling	1700 ft	Departure	-9 °F
Apparent Temp.	34 °F	High Past 6 Hrs.	43 °F
Wind Chill	25 °F	Low Past 6 Hrs.	34 °F
Wind Speed	12 mph	Precip Past 3 Hrs.	0.28 in
Wind Direction	NE	Precip Past 6 Hrs.	0.42 in
Wind Gusts	10 mph	Precip Past 24 Hrs.	0.42 in
Pressure	29.80 i	Pressure Tendency	Rising

Weirdest week so far..

2008-10-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

another short one.

This has been a strange strange week for me. Trying to readjust to life here.. even though I was only gone for a week.. has been very tough. Sleeping schedules screwed up and my mindset has just gone. Please pray that I will get back to normal England Rhoades soon so I can continue doing what I believe I was put over here to do.

Also please please pray for our first bible study which is Tuesday night at 8pm my time (2central/3eastern for readers). We want it to be exactly what God wants whether its 50 people or 2. Just pray that it would speak to everyone who is there.

I promise to be better the next few days. I'm just trying to get back in the swing.

soon!

International Traveler..

2008-10-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Back in England.

Another day of traveling remarkable distances in short amounts of time, makes me realize how little understanding of time and distance I actually have.

Needless to say the rest of my week in the states ended well. Ben gave me the greatest compliment of my life.. Which I hope I can keep bringing true in England. The funeral for Granny Cleo Hughes was excellent as it turned out. She looked beautiful and I got to meet a few people that knew her late husband and even father in law... who I was named after (Rhoades-- possibly the best name in the world). Thanks mom and dad.

I hung out with the fam and did a lot of guitar heroing III. I have beaten all but 3 songs on hard now so how about that accomplishment. I am going to keep this short and just say that I am glad to be back in England. Will type for you guys soon.

Back to the U S of A for a few days...

2008-10-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

So today was the day for Granny. It was a sad one.. She passed on from our world about 3:30 on this Tuesday at the ripe age of 87! I can only hope I get that many years on Earth. I figure by the time you get that age you have some things figured out. Hmm.. I just want to say that it's so strange how experiences like this are always bitter sweet. It's so exciting to know that right now Granny is goofing off in a much better place than we are in. But it's certainly sad to lose someone you love and even more sad to see your dad and aunt (who I am ultimately closer to) lose a mother. To see an uncle who thinks of her like his own mother.. lose a mother in law. It's been nice though to reminisce with cousins and family. Cleo lived a great life and she is certainly happier now.

As for my last couple days.. They have been exhausting. It was Sunday about 3:00pm.. my English time. which is 9:00am central time. I got the call saying I should jump home as soon as possible. So the next 3 hours was spent finalizing plans with my buddy pass (Thank you so much to ACF's Kristin Gray and her wonderful mother who helped me with flight plans).. packing, showering, and finally booking a coach ticket to London's Gatwick airport. I then went to my Sunday night meeting with fellow exchange student best friends and Natalie. Afterwards we all went down to Canvas where I got to hang out with a few of my favorite Brits before getting a ride from Chris to the coach station. I hopped on my bus around 2:30am.. got to Gatwick at 6:10am.. checked my bag.. wondered around the airport for 2 hours then got lucky enough to snag a business class seat on the plane to Atlanta. Cheers to Annie for having such great conversation with me while we were awake on the plane. I got to Atlanta a little early.. around 12:30 cst.. got out of customs around 1 and hopped in a car for Auburn.. where I met my little sister and came straight to my Aunt's to see Granny before the inevitable happened. I'm so glad I made it in time. I got to talk to and pray with her and it was excellent even though she couldn't speak back.. I know she could hear me! I've been able to spend wonderful time with my Dad which I wouldn't trade for anything and it's been nice to see family in this time. Monday night we all just hung out. Today was long.. but ok. Everything is starting to look up. It will be hard to get past al the sadness quickly but we all know it's for the best.

I am getting rest tonight.. and I guess going to venture to Auburn tomorrow for a few visits with friends while my sis goes to class. That will be weird. Thanks for those praying for the family and please pray for a friend of mine as well. Josh Jacobs a buddy of mine in Auburn lost his dad a couple nights ago. I haven't been able to learn much of anything about the situation but I know he could use our prayers.

Thank you loyal readers!

much love.

Catch up post.

2008-10-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

So.. It's been a few days.. and a few very eventful days they were.

Let's start with a prayer request. My Granny Hughes is coming close to an end of her life as I hear. She has lived a long one so it's one of those times when you want to not be sad for her being ready to move on. I ask that you pray for her health and pain and peace over the next few days/weeks until that time comes and if it possible and right that she be completely reenergized and more alive til I come home and see her again! I also ask that you pray for my family.. just because these times are hard.. and especially for my Dad who has had a life that I can't really imagine completely.. having grown up without someone like himself to me in his life (without a dad I mean) and having lost a brother a couple years ago. I just want him to be happy in some way through all this. and I wish for you to pray for me because, shit, let's be honest, it's hard to be over in England when this is going on when I want to be there with my dad more than anyone, and because I would love to see my granny one more time. I did atleast get to talk to her the other night so that was good.. Anyways.. yeah just remember us in this time please.. I'll be updating--- It's been a blessing that it was a busy week because I definitely needed to stay busy and be around people.

We can start with Tuesday through Friday day time in a few sentences. We worked our butts off. All the Canvas staff and students worked sooo hard. Preparing ultimately for the kickoff party. Yard work, cleaning, painting, handing out fliers, welcome project bags, etc. etc. We were promoting the event and preparing the building for it.

In the evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday I did a bit of out reaching. haha.. by that I mean I had the typical nights of going out to pub/club/what have you and getting to know people here and there. I met a few people.. even a couple that made it to the party.

Thursday night was poker/movie night. It was excellent. I was still a little out of it at that point so not talking to many people except mrs. leah miller who was so kind to me this week. We sat in the back and talked and had excellent spill time for me about everything important on my heart and it was just excellent and I hope she knows that I love her bunches for that.

anyways.. afterwards I went to the Soak to watch Tom and Lou play a few songs each (which were awesome) I even helped lou name my favorite song of hers.. postcards.. It really is a great song I think.

Anyways.. Friday night rolled around after lots more preperation and we had a very serious meeting time before the party.. for prayer and discussions about last minute preperations. We discussed how we would not be sad if only 20 people showed up.. even if only 10.. we prayed that God would bring the people that He wanted at the party to the party and that they would be open minded to learning what we were about. Earlier on Friday I talked a bit to Nathan about how I felt like maybe I was getting greedy with God. Expecting these awesome things to happen over and over after so many awesome miracles the first month I was here. Then I thought to myself.. maybe that's selling God short.. I know he's up there just waiting to make big things happen when people put in the effort towards them. So.. the party.

Let's just say it was incredible, amazing, awesome, unbelievable, crazy, fun, exciting, awesome again.. and in all reality.. was one of those things that no words can describe. We had roughly 100 people come through the doors for dinner, live music, xbox, playstation, darts, foosball, conversations. It was just unbelievable. I was so excited to see friends bringing friend bringing friends. I think everyone I invited made it except for 1 guy who just didn't have the time. And a couple people I invited brought lots of friends. It made my life. haha... nothing short of this party couldnt have brightened my week. The highlight was definitely a theological debate that busted out near the end.. it was 2 christians, 1 athiest, 2 agnostics and it was awesome. Matt burns.. A former canvas-er was the main voice of reason at the table. And you wouldn't believe the type of encouraging things he said. He explained how Canvas was changing his life. making him think differently about how he wants to live, how he thinks, and ultimately how he feels about God. He was saying all this to people who don't believe which was astonishing. Outside of that.. I just got to meet a ton of new people.. some of which I feel certain will be back again. I know there will be pictures surfacing soona nd I'll add them but I didn't have time to take pictures myself.

anyways.. thank jesus for that party along with me.. it was just ridiculous. Saturday has been excellent until auburn proved that they are really done for the year as a football team.. It's such a great thing that I have better things to be doing here :) But I sit here now with old canvas folks sitting around and playing cherades. It's like I'm one of them.. they love it here.. They love an environment covered with God and Jesus and Christian Spirituality.. Maybe one day.. maybe one day..

Wish I had written this one better for you guys but honestly I am still too tired from the week. If you want to know more details about the party feel free to ask.. It really was brilliant.

much love!

Jesus was a dude..

2008-10-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Oh Pete.. That's what he thinks of Jesus.

Props to Wild Sweet Orange for a good album.. We have reason to be uneasy.. i think thats the name of it and I really like it. Either/Or and Sour Milk are great songs strung together in the middle.. been killing those two the last few days. Someone needs to help me get the new Great Book of John.. because I really want to listen to that!

I have a couple days to catch up on. So.. here we go..

Oh wait I'm sure now that my blog has a second reader.. Dr. Hodel is the first and I'm sure he is reading because well.. I just know and please friends pray for him. He's a great Professor who taught me systems and signals, and who probably doesn't realize how much he's helped me to realize God wants me to do well in school. I still haven't gotten good at school but I'm hoping it will happen soon. Anyways, Dr. Hodel is fighting cancer currently and I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers. Heck.. I'm not sure if he would mind (and he'll probably tell me if he does), but here is a link to his blog and such.. Dr. Hodel's Blog/Update/What have you!
And my second reader who I promised to subtly mention.. KAMI BURNS! thanks for reading Kami.. miss you! She is an intern at Georgia Tech Campus Christian Fellowship and a pretty cool girl too.

The last two days have been pretty awesome honestly..
I've gotten really excited because something new is happening.. I've not done a cold walk up in a pub which is usually how I meet new people, but instead I've been lucky enough to run into people I've met who incidentally introduce to their friends and so on.. It's starting to seem like I actually know lots of people in the community which is great! And (because British people don't generally say hello to you here.. just in passing I mean) It's great that the last couple days.. people who notice me as the American guy, who says hello to everyone, have actually beat me to the punch and said hello first.

My list of people I've met and remember names of is up to 50+ so hopefully from those new friends I can branch more and more until it's like I'm just wondering around Auburn and know everyone :)

So Sunday was great. Everyday has been recently. I went to a church that's just a few steps away from my house. It's the home of the Pastor who came by Canvas to call us brainwashers and say we were evil or something. It was actually a pretty decent service. And afterwards I met 5 different college age kids.. who all were very interested to hear about our new campus ministry. Church led to lunch at Ellen's family's house. Enjoyed some pasta and bread followed by American style cookies! which were excellent. Thank you Mary!
That evening we had our first exchange student bible study/meeting/whatever you call it. I've been realizing that we just call anything and everything in campus ministry bible study. Which I think may be a little bit wrong.. I think it could be reconsidered.. changing the name to something like Christian Value teachings.. or learning.. I don't know because it is about the Bible a bit but also about Biblical values teaching.. ehh.. anyways.. it freaks Brits out. After our "bible study" I ran down to Canvas (literally.. about 3/4 a mile) because people were waiting for me to get there. We had a late night jam session. Lou came and hung out with us again.. it was just great.. Tom, Lou, and I are definitely planning to do lots of musical things soon. I'm excited.

We ended up watching knocked up. It was just brilliant. Everyone laughed and loved.. good stuff.

Monday was eventful as well. except not really. It was a lazy day but great the same. We had people hanging around Canvas just being really lame and people still stopped by to say hi. In the evening I went to be interviewed by Lou and her friend Sarah about sports psychology.. something to do with group sports and self esteem. Interesting. Later a bunch of us went out to the pub where we had a blast and eventually made it back to Canvas for a jam session and then to Lou's for sheesha (huka). Hung out until 2:30.. it was excellent except that I had to be up at 7 this morning. But I made it.. and making it today..

Until later.

3:57am

2008-10-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

What an interesting night.. It's now Saturday the 4th of October here in England..

most of you readers (if reading immediately) have a couple of hours left on the 4th.. make them count.. it's a good day

I went to a quick party and quick trip to the Soak because well the French, like me, were turned off by the weather and it called for an early night for them. The Soak with Jenni was quite nice.. she's a member of the church we go to here in Birmingham called Pavilion.. we had good conversation about how I go about meeting random people, and about people watching in general. Afterwards it was back to Canvas where Pete and I were the lone survivors of a long Friday. We sat around for a bit to see if anyone would wander in. And a couple did..

Meet Elly and Jim. Two Brits that were quite interested in the sign that said come in and visit.

They did.. I made them a black coffee and a tea with two sugars, respectively. It wasn't long before the regular questions came. What is the place about, how is it funded, are you a Christian, how do you feel about me not being a Christian. etc. etc. This is normal conversation, but that soon faded. Pretty quickly Jim was hitting tough questions. He started asking me how I could believe in a God that would let two of his best mates die before they saw 23... Shit happens right? What can you say to a guy who asks that.. It's all in God's plan..yeah right.. It was kind of sad for me because he was blaming the God he didn't believe in for the things that happened that made him not believe... but it's not so easy to tell him that and I would like for him to come back so we just chatted a while through all those questions and the ones that followed. But it really made my wheels turn.. thinking about why it's such human nature to have a concrete reason or explanation for everything.. I guess that's mostly just the fear of the unknown but it was rather interesting the time we spent with Jim and Elly and ultimately they said they'd like to come back by another time so here's hoping they do.

***good quotes from cigarette time with Pete..
generally this would be Pete quotes but in fact tonight, it's quotes from people we overheard from passers by.
the first I loved most.. 2 guys and a girl walking by and I heard one of the guys say to the other 2
"this is the God place I was telling you about" to which the girl simply responded "I think that's kind of cool" I'm sure there was more to the conversation but in general it was cool and encouraging.
The second just left me so hopefully I can get back to you on that one as it was very good as I halfway remember.
and just for fun here's a Pete quote.. "I don't generally go for the Eastern Europeans, but she is something beautiful" **pete may make me edit this out.. but I hope not. If only you knew him you would be laughing now like I am

Anyways.. after a bit Pete decided to go home and I sat for a few more minutes at Canvas before getting a message from Ioana my old couchsurfing mate.. inviting Pete and I to a party across the street from her house. She promised it would be worth it as I was very skeptical in response. I called up Pete and we met and walked down to the party.

Quite a scene.. rave party.. with really loud music from a pretty good dj.. and tons of drunken people.. I'm pretty sure lots of people were doing ecstasy as well because, well, I heard someone say.. "we all did ex" luckily though.. I found out for sure it was a good idea to go.. because there is this guy, who we'll call Tom, because he introduced himself as Tom. He always passes Canvas house on Tiverton Rd.. I see him at least 3 times a day. I always say hi and he usually nods and smiles but never says much. Tonight he was at the crazy rave party.. who would have thunk it.. Tom looks like the most reserved guy. Maybe the most reserved looking guy I've seen in Selly Oak. Last place I would have expected to meet Tom formally was at this party but oh well.. I did.. And he Promised.. (I get a lot of these here) to stop and have a tea next time I catch him in front of Canvas house.. So I'm hoping that's tomorrow haha..

Anyways.. it definitely made the trip to the party worth it.. Pete and I stayed until about 3:30 when I came home.. and now I'm here.. Anyways.. It was a wonderful rest of the evening.

Hope everyone is well.

good night.

what a day and night. :)..or perhaps a night and day

2008-10-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm not really sure if I should address readers with a greeting everyday.. but since it's only day two I feel I can get away with it for at least a bit longer.. (screwing up I mean). Anyways.. Here we go..

Last night was excellent! I have to admit the number of turn outs was a little low for my expectations, but it turned out to be the perfect number.. Someone seems to know more about these things than I do. Hmm.. Anyways.. We had a couple of randomers come in off the street to play poker because they saw the sign, and then we had a few expectees as well. I am making up lots of words today. The expectees as we are calling them were so excited and enjoyed themselves quite a bit. I hope the randomers did as well, but unfortunately we lost one in the second hand of the poker game. Not before we had very interesting conversation though. He posed the question to me "What do you think your friends and supporters would think of you having a guy like me who is not a Christian inside your building when I don't ever see myself becoming a Christian?".. to this of course I laughed and said they would be thrilled. He didn't completely believe me I think but when the night ended and he headed away, he personally told me he was really excited about what was going on in our building and thought it was really a good idea to teach values of Christianity although he didn't really ever plan to be a Christian (this because he lives by the same codes as he calls them). Eh I butchered that story and have no time to retype as I'm supposed to be somewhere soon but be thankful for a guy from Manchester named Todd.. and maybe say a little prayer for him if you'd like.

As far as the rest of the night.. it was filled with conversations a lot like that.. and after poker was said and done with.. Tom and I (Tom is a brilliant musician) went down to the last of the open mic night at the Soak where we had a pint and he played a couple songs. It was brilliant. I would suggest everyone check out a musician named Foy Vance- heres a taste and one of the songs Tom played.. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uL8A-b9XZaI --

After the pub it was a night at Canvas with students that have been around the last year or so. We had a wonderful time.

This morning I decided to sleep in a bit, so I got to Canvas around 10:30 as we had a welcome project to take care of. We spent an hour in assembly lines packing canvas Canvas bags filled with a Canvas mug, a pen, a flier, two teas, and two coffees. See picture. We put together 1000 bags for students all in Selly Oak.. which we will deliver next week in hopes of spreading the word about our new establishment. :) Brilliant idea I think. Anyways. I suppose I use the word anyways a bit too much but oh well.

After assembly we took lunch as a group of 8 on Birmingham uni campus.. then I had a nice chance to do some scouting for people to meet. I ended up chatting with three British guys named Harry, Jamie, and Phillip. I think I may go out with them tomorrow night. But let's be honest I've been told by lots of people we'd do something and it hasn't panned out. So I'm just working on being patient. After lunch and a short stint in the university pub.. that's right a pub in Foy.. the equivalent of that. I ended up back at the Canvas house resting on the couch and then another pleasant surprise. 4 visitors wondered in and so one of the British regulars woke me up. I had wonderful conversation over 3 cups of coffee.. with Kat (a German girl), Nina and Kevin and Samuel (French guys), and Simone (a local!) for over an hour and a half. They were so stunned by what we were about. And very open to the idea of Christianity and in fact two of them had just been to church for the first time in years the week before because they said they were really ready to explore their faith a bit more. I traded numbers with these guys and I am for sure going to see them tonight because we are all going to an Italian/French party tonight.. which should be really interesting for me because I only speak English.. Anyways.. now I'm going to chat my dad on skype to tell him how to read this thing. Talk to you all tomorrow. :)

cheers

First post.. Trying hard here.

2008-10-02T03:02:00.000-07:00

So this is the first post ever for me on a blog.. Me and my blog.. maybe some how we can form a relationship that will be entertaining for readers everywhere.

Let me start by saying its freaking cold here today. I went outside this morning to temperatures around 4degrees Celsius. Which, in case you were wondering, is around 40degrees Fahrenheit, and that is very cold. But needless to say, I arrived at Canvas house around 7:30am, because we are giving out coffee for the first two weeks of school (from 8-10:30ish). Yeah that's right as well.. this is the first two weeks of school here. Be jealous Auburn kids. Anyways, it was a good morning all and all.. We had a smaller amount of students walking down the streets, but larger and larger percentages everyday are becoming ok with the idea of us just handing out free things in love. It's quite nice. I've just finished washing dishes from the event and thought I would take this time to write.

Today is our first official have people inside event at Canvas. We are playing poker in the back room tonight.. while whoever doesn't want to play poker is watching a film in the front. I'm quite excited. Number 1: I get to use all those skills I learned from the infamous Duke (Luke Taunton), Justin Totty, and Ryan Funderburk to take people's money which is good because I'm gonna need the money. Number 2: I think we are going to have lots of students around that we haven't really gotten to spend time with yet, and what a better way to do it than drinking a few brewskies and playing poker. It should be wonderful.

Afterwards I think I'm going to head out to a club called Gatecrashers with a few guys I met at the Soak the other night.. (The Soak is a pub, my favorite pub, the best pub in Selly Oak in my wonderful accurate opinion) I'm going to attempt to make this readable even if you haven't read updates previous to this. And hell maybe if you've never even talked to me.. so having said that..

**for those who have never met me**
I'm Rhoades, and I am working at a campus ministry in Birmingham, England called Canvas. We just got an awesome new facility, given to us by an awesome group of people... formerly Tiverton Christian Church. I plan to use this blog to keep family/friends/supporters involved in what's going on here. Feel free to ask questions or make comments.
******

Anyways.. the best thing just happened.. and this is an example of what Canvas is doing. I'm sitting here just having finished the last section of my blog when three gents walked in. Adam, James, and James said "hello guys-- we saw the sign and wanted to have a coffee or tea" So for the last 30minutes, I've been sitting and talking with them about what they are doing here, what they are studying, where they are from, what they want to do with their lives, etc. etc. And I think they are going to come to poker tonight. So it was a very nice occurance.

Anyways.. I think this should be a pretty solid first post and hopefully an enjoyable read. Cheers for reading. That means thanks in English ways. Wonderful days to all.

I'll add some new pictures of the Canvas house soon so be looking. :)