Two trips to Church.

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Yesterday I went to the memorial service for John Smith at Church. We saw loads of people we hadn't seen in years, and my best friend Yasmin was there! It was a wonderful service. Our pastor, Steve introduced it. Then we had a video about John and his life. Then we had some people talk about ministry memories. John was still going over to help out at the farm in Kenya when he was in his 80's. They've built a school and a Church. The first thing they did when they first went over was dig a well, because they said the one thing they needed most was clean water. We had videos from 2 lots of people who couldn't be there, one from an old organisation John used to work for, and one from Kenya, for which there was a translator (on the video). And Jeremy who used to work with John in Kenya came up and talked about John too. We had a couple of songs, Amazing Grace and I Raise A Hallelujah which is one of my favourites. Then Nigel, John's son, came up to talk about his dad. He said he was a very intelligent person, but could be a bit silly at times. He talked about a time they got stranded on the beach because the tide had come in, and they had to climb up some plant or other and then climb up this steep hill to get away from the sea. Then when they got to the top, John said to Nigel, "You're mother doesn't have to hear about this!" Both John's first and second wives were in the service. His 3 kids, Yvonne, Lorraine and Nigel, were from his first marriage. Then his second wife, Marty, came up to talk about John. After that we had another song which was a golden oldie - I'm a new creation, I'm a brand new man. It was one of John's favourites and he was always singing it. After the service I went to say Hi to my bestie Yasmin and we went and said Hi to all the people we hadn't seen for years! My cousin came and introduced herself to me! I don't know half of my relatives! She says she's my Mum's brother Ken's daughter. Her daughter is married to Nigel Smith, the son of John Smith. And I saw Nigel Smith's son, who must be about 12, and he looks just like him! After a while we went down into the sports hall for some refreshments and more chat. Yasmin's friend Margaret Harrison told everyone that Yasmin had got married so they were congratulating her. (One at a time, not all at once!) Then Margaret kept getting out her phone and showing people the wedding photos! Yasmin's other half, who is also called John, had asked Margaret to be his best man! Yasmin used to be called Smith, but now she is called Young. My Mum and step-dad (who, to my surprise, had actually come!) went home but I stayed to talk to Yasmin and other people. Just before Yasmin went home she started taking pictures of people. I said, "Don't you dare take a picture of me!" When we went outside I saw Nigel Smith's daughter. She must be about 15 or 16, but she's about 2 feet taller than me! Yasmin went home to Tamworth with Margaret and I walked home. I had arrived at the Church at 1:40pm and I got home at 5:20pm! This morning I went to Church again. It was packed this morning. I had my tea in a proper mug as usual. Mum arrived just as the service was starting. We had some good songs this morning. We also took communion but I didn't like the wafer or cracker or whatever it was they gave us instead of bread! It was horrible! It tasted like cardboard! A nice black lady called Leah preached on the series 'What kind of man is this' discussing who we believe Jesus is, and today we were talking about Jesus as creator. After that we had a couple more songs and went home. I went to the toilet first and then I walked home. I put my Sam Ryder CD on again while I was cooking my dinner. I hope you are all well. Have a nice day.