First week in Ireland

Tuesday June 2, 2009

 

In the morning we helped out with toddler group. This was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for us to meet some of the women in the church, as well as those who aren’t members but come to bring their children anyway. Not all of the women that come are even Christians, but it’s a place to connect with other women, and certainly a safe place to bring the kids. The team and I were able to interact with the children, and get acquainted with the women…basically just start a foundation for building some relationships and being their to serve the church and watch the little ones so the moms could relax and have fellowship for a few hours. It doesn’t seem like much but as a mother a few hours break must be a great relief. We helped serve tea and coffee (with biscuits of course) and clean up after.

 

We then got to do our big grocery shop (a proper shop as they would call it) and get our staples as well as food that we needed specifically for dinner. We managed to work out a system where we prepare dinner on designated nights in pairs. Caleb and I have Tuesday, so we went for the down-home cooking approach and did a pair of roast chickens, broccoli with cheese, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. YUM! It turned out great and was a hit with the team, but we had a little difficulty figuring out the temperature conversions into Celsius as well as what the symbols meant on the European oven. No worries we got it all figured out.

 

After dinner, we were invited by Heather to play badminton at the church with a few of the members (which is a weekly event on Tuesdays) and met a few more faces. Not all of us went but I was glad I decided to go. My serve needs work but I caught on well enough, since I’ve never played before.  Very fun game I recommend it to everyone.

 

Wednesday June 3, 2009

 

Had our first devotional this morning. Ande is such a gifted teacher. We went over Psalm 19 and Isaiah 55:6-12, and it was very encouraging for us in being reminded that God’s law is perfect, that his Word does go out with purpose and it does not return empty and his ways are higher than our ways. So often I strive to do things according to my plan and my way, and the result is failure because I am selfish in my efforts to be in control of it. But it is so freeing to know that God is in control and while I may be disappointed when I don’t see fruit, or when things don’t go according to my plan, I am reassured that God’s will is being fulfilled and fruit will come according to his timing and purpose. I don’t have to see it to know He is working. My plan will always fail, but God’s plan never fails. How amazing is that? What great news to be freed from having to be in control, and to simply serve!

 

After devotional we walked to the church to meet with David and Heather for our first official staff meeting. They gave us an outline for the coming week and David was gracious enough to cover a bit of Ireland’s history. This gave us all a much stronger understanding of how the culture developed into what it is today.

 

Once the staff meeting ended, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Kilkenny castle to hang out with some youth from the church. Not a big group, but they’re hungry for fellowship and for something more than what this world has to offer and it’s a great place to be. Hannah, David’s daughter has such a beautiful relationship with Christ! It’s very encouraging to the other teens as well for her to have such a strong walk and steadfast faith in our Savior. Anyway, we introduced them to a little American football, and had a great game of touch football going. Then they taught us how to throw the football like a rugby ball, and we have been promised to be taught how to play hurling!

 

We met some older teens while we were there, who were intrigued by our football game and chatted with them for a while. We asked them questions and got to know them some, and they were really curious about our Americanness. Ha they had a lot of questions for us also. I love how God provides opportunities like that. We told them about what we were doing here a little and invited them to the church and to the rock (a teen gathering put on in the city to keep them out of them bars or from dodgy activity) and headed back for dinner.

 

After dinner we headed back to the church for midweek Bible study and met even more members of the congregation. We prayed over several things and people and then headed home for some well earned shut eye. Great Day!

 

Thursday June 4, 2009

 

Another devotional today. Went over Philippians 2, talked about the humility of Christ and what it means to really humble ourselves, to be “foot washers” and follow Christ’s example. “…but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3) I pray that God would continue to humble me daily so that I am able to serve in the way He has called me to serve, and love these people in a manner that shines His light and glorifies Him.

 

This afternoon we had Bible study with the teens from the Rock committee and got them to play a great game called pantyhose gladiators. I’ll post a video when I get a chance but it really is a hoot! Then Ande went over Luke 7:36-49 where Jesus forgives the sinful woman who washes his feet with her tears. It went over really well with them and some of them made great observations. We are starting a series on shocking stories about Jesus with them this summer that we will rotate teaching within the team. Our hope is to show them just how exciting and surprising he was and is.

 

We ate dinner with them after and hung around for a bit and I helped Heather clean while the team played with the kids for a while outside. Then back home to regroup and a quick trip to Dunnes for groceries. Kelli enjoyed getting out of the house. I hope we will be able to make it easier on her and give her as many breaks as we can. It’s hard to have to watch a baby all the time so we try to help with Owen as much as possible. She has such a great heart and tons of patience!

 

Last item of the day was organizing a lesson for a local primary school over the “I Am’s” to show David in the morning. We’ll be going over “I Am the Resurrection and the Life” when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Caleb is teaching and narrating the skit for the kids, Matthew is praying, I’m leading worship with help from Suzy, and both Emily and Suzy will be reading the passage. It should be fun! We’ll be doing this next week so I hope all goes well and God blesses it. Heather

 

 

Friday June 5, 2009

 

Another staff meeting this morning. It went well and we talked about our plans for the Assembly among other things.

 

Then we had our first evangelism training session with Tom. Met at two and he talked us through some things for a little while. Then it was out to the streets. Only Caleb and I went this first time, and the rest of the group will go with him next week while Caleb and I team up and go solo (i.e. no Tom). My heart was pounding walking up to those doors. It was entirely unnatural for me and really intimidating. The people are quite friendly for the most part but the whole idea of walking up to a stranger’s house and trying to strike up a conversation about the gospel is very nerve-racking/uncomfortable/scary/fill in the blank. It was also very humbling to find how ill-equipped I really am. The Lord absolutely has to be there! If I’m going to get more than two words out it’s going to be from the Lord because all words were lost from me once that door opened. Tom did all the talking I felt ridiculous! He was great though. Very gentle and humble. What a great man of God!

 

So after the evangelism experience we grabbed dinner and then had to walk back to the church for youth Bible study. We played some games and worshipped some, then Jerry spoke on the prodigal son. After the lesson was over, I gave my testimony (Heather had asked me to earlier) and then they were free to ask questions (which no one did). Haha it felt awkward but later the girls came and talked to me alone and said they really enjoyed it and didn’t have any questions because I covered everything and didn’t leave anything hazy or unclear. So it was very encouraging and they’ve opened up to me a lot since then.

 

Saturday June 6, 2009

 

Prayer meeting this morning! We met bright and early at the church at 8:30 am. After we finished the girls and I went for coffee with Heather and Valerie at this little coffee bar by the Eurospar (local grocery store 5 min walk from our house). It was my first cup of non-instant coffee since getting to Ireland and it was like giving my tongue a sleigh ride! They’re big on instant coffee here so you basically have to go to a coffee bar to get the good stuff. It’s quite tragic but they do have great coffee when you’re able to get it!

 

It rained all day today. Our first Irish rain! The temperature was in the 40’s so we were very cold. We were supposed to pick up rubbish around the city for the “keep Kilkenny clean” project but had to cancel it due to the rain. The paper is writing a story on us too! They’re apparently going to talk about what we’re here for as well, being here with MTW and such to help out Kilkenny Presbyterian Church. So since it was cancelled we went and hung out with the Youth at the church and played badminton and got a little singing in too! It was fun spending time with them. They really are a great group of kids.

 

Oh yea! Almost forgot we also had band practice today because Suzy and I are singing Sunday morning and Matthew is playing his viola. It went very well. We’ll be singing both morning and evening services.

 

Sunday June 7, 2009

 

Sunday service this morning went very well. Suzy and I sang and then headed off to help with the Sunday school classes. Matthew stayed and played the offertory and also lead the Intercessory prayer. I hear it went well.

 

Sunday school was fun. I had the 5-6 year olds. One of the boys is ADHD. He is quite a handful, but really cute. I had to try to fight back laughter at the things he was doing today and remember to make sure he paid attention. He also lost a tooth today, which excited the whole class. We got to color pictures! Such fun I love that age.

 

Lunch after church, we split up into pairs and ate with families from the church in their homes. Matt and I were together. We went on a long walk after eating with Heather (different Heather than one mentioned previously) and her daughter Sarah. They took us along this trail that followed the river, which lead to a field covered with wild flowers, and horses randomly wandering through it. Men were fishing in the river and there were many people walking their dogs along it. It was so beautiful! The weather was spectacular today too. Around the 50’s and partly cloudy. Just enough sun to warm you up when you started to get a chill. 

 

Then we met back at the church for evening service, where we sang again, and had tea afterward. Tomorrow is our day off, so we had a girls night watching Gilmore Girls (not that I’m necessarily a fan) but the fellowship was very enjoyable. I was just happy to spend some time with them all.