I was 11 years old. My parents had just applied for a job at a Christian youth centre.

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

‘I was 11 years old. My parents had just applied for a job at a Christian youth centre. I was finishing primary school and I never thought it would happen. But I found out that they got it and we were moving to Bala in Snowdonia. My world came crashing down. It meant leaving my friends.  

‘I couldn’t understand why God would make us move. My parents had planted a Welsh-speaking church and we were seeing evident blessing of young families and adults who were coming to faith. Bala felt like the wilderness to me.  

‘We went to Spring Harvest in France, I refused to go to any of the youth stuff. I wanted to be miserable and to make their life miserable too. One evening I went to the celebration with my parents. There was a speaker who opened up Acts 8 and the story of Philip and the Ethiopian. It was the first time I heard the Bible taught as if it was for me.  

‘The context of the story blew me away. Philip was seeing evident blessing before he was called to go to Gaza, which was the desert. It must have made no sense. But Philip explained the gospel to the Ethiopian and that’s how the gospel was taken to Africa. So much blessing came from that.  

‘I realised that Bala wasn’t just my parents’ calling, it was my road too. Living in Bala was very formative. I wouldn’t be who I am without it. I couldn’t see it at the time, but I love it now and have a real heart for that part of Wales.’ 

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