Ireland (week 1)

I love Ireland!  It has been amazing!  There is so much history in Londonderry involving conflict between Catholics and Protestants.  We are learning so much and getting a chance to interact with the youth of the city!  Everyone is so welcoming here and excited to have us here!  We do have to be very careful how we present the gospel though because this area has been so rich in religious conflict.  Even the name of the city is an issue!  We have to be careful because some people don't want to be associated with Ireland so they want it to be called Londonderry while others want it to be called Derry because they don't want to be associated with England.  It is a confusing thing that not a lot of Irish people are open about talking about because the conflict is still so very recent.

I ate fish and chips...it was really good.  There is also weird but yummy candy here that alot of the Irish kids have given us!  I will try and bring some home.  There is a store called Primark that is amazing!!  It has scarves for 1 pound!  I love it!

We are working with a church in Londonderry.  One of the challenges is that our schedule packed with ministry opportunities. Last week we worked with the high school age youth during the Identity program, and many relationships formed then are continuing this week as some of our group hang out at a local park and talk to the kids. Some of the students accepted Christ into their lives which is really cool.  This week, we’ve also started ministering to the primary age students (ages 5-11) during the evenings for the Holiday Bible Club.

Keep praying God will open opportunities for us.

Update (at long last!)

So sorry for no updates... no time to hunt out a computer and even then internet access is sketchy.  (Thanks to my mom for getting this update up.)

Training Camp
  Who says I am a girly girl!  Not any longer.  My parents dropped me off in a hay field in 90 degree heat.  No buildings, no air, no mirrors, no electrical outlets.  For two weeks (in 90 degree heat) I slept on the ground, used porta potties cooked outdoors, did my laundry outdoors, brushed my teeth outdoors....and oh yeah, took one shower a week!  Everything we did was designed to make us all on the same level as a team...plus students going to third world countries do not get shower much so it is good practice. (Everyone reeks so you don't even mind after a while)   Training camp was intense....lots of physical stuff, spiritual stuff and worship.  The first week was just the staff disciplers so we worked to get ready for the high schoolers.  My ministry on this trip is not only to Ireland, but to the high schoolers I am discipling..  I had a little trouble at first because the heat combined with my medicine made me not eat which drove my blood sugar really low.  Solved that problem by keeping food in my pack to eat throughout the day.  I have learned to love roughing it.  One thing I will never learn to love......malt-o-meal.  We have it everyday for breakfast.  Here are few shots of training camp.

Tent City

Meal Time

Prayer Time

Large Group Teaching Time

Team Building

The Trough