Day 62 in Ireland

Cliffs of Insanity

                     So at this point in my adventure in Ireland that God has sent me on, I have now seen 3 of the coasts of Ireland: the north, east and now the west. This island is so beautiful that I cannot pass an opportunity to pray everytime I see the beauty that is around me. The northern coast is beautiful and the east is amazing but nothing compares to the east. This past Saturday I took a day to tour the western coast of Ireland with the TEAM(ers) here in Ireland. We headed out to the Cliffs of Moher (aka the Cliffs of Insanity). The cliffs were amazing, at least a half a mile high and you can walk right up to the cliff side. There is a section that isn’t a public part, it’s a private farm that has no fencing on the edge and you can literally walk right off the cliff if your not careful or if there is a strong enough wind.  While walking there were some amazing sights that you could only marvel at the beauty that God has created before us. You didn’t quite see the scale of the cliffs until a tour boat went by and it looked like an ant from the top of the cliff side. I took an opportunity to save both a rock and a shamrock from the cliff side as a reminder of it.

The Burren

The Place I stopped to Pray

            From there we drove north to the area in Ireland called the Barren. It was an impressive sight. There are literally more rocks on and in the ground than grass. Ireland is known as the Green Isle but here was a spot where it was more grey from the rocks that there was a wee bit of grass around. As we pulled over in the car, I headed directly for the coast. I looked back and everyone else was close to the car still. We headed to the cliff side there and there was this one spot that had a deep ravine that you could climb down, I went down a wee bit but when the rocks started to get a bit sharp, I stopped. Then looked around a bit and headed back to the car. We stopped in the barren area one more time, where the other short termers were chasing the sheep. The lady who took us out had to remind them to not chase the sheep over the Cliffside. While they were going after the sheep, I found the absolutely most beautiful spot by the sea and cliff side. All I could do was go on one knee, pray and recite scripture as a prayer. It was absolutely beautiful; I could easily spend hours in that spot on a lovely day like Saturday.

All of this occurred as a relaxing day after a week long of helping out at SBC’s Kids clubs. They operate 2 clubs at 2 different locations where the leaders play with the kids for about an hour. We mainly played futbol (soccer), but some leaders played skipping rope with the kids, and we played with a parachute as well. The kids had a lot of fun playing the games except for Wednesday morning, the kids got a bit aggressive where one of the leaders had to stop the game and have the pastor on sight address the kids to calm down. Then after the games we would gather the kids in the tents to do the memory verse and sing a few songs. WE sang a song called jump, another called Superhero (A hillsong kids song) and a song about dancing for the lord. It was so much fun when I got to lead the kids through the songs and keep them entertained. Then they broke up into 3 different groups the red (youngest kids), Yellow (the middle age group), and the blue group, which was the older group, which I was the leader for on both days. The morning session I was more of the helper but the afternoon I was the main leader for the blue group. We shared 5 stories of Jesus from the book of Matthew (Calling of Levi, Calming of the storm, healing the Pharisee’s daughter, the crucifixion and the resurrection). None of the kids accepted Christ as we would know it in the states but that all heard about Christ during the week and we had some good conversations with the kids and the leaders as well.

            It has been excited to see God introduced to the kids and seeing the conversations that have developed over the week from the kids club. I haven’t seen someone straight out say they accept Christ but I have seen many people move closer to the cross, which is all we can actually do as Christians. We can share with them about Christ but the work remains to the Lord. I’m now on the closing stretch of my adventure in Ireland before returning to America for a family reunion before returning to Dallas, Texas. I have been seeing how God is working in Ireland and I am convinced that this is where God wants to use me. I’m planning on working to keep my contacts over here as much as I can. I have fallen in love with the people here and wish I could develop my relationships here more but I have less than 2 weeks left. I love this country; these people and I will never forget these people. I’m praying that God will bring me back to this green Isle one day.

 

Please continue to pray for me as I finish my time here and as I transition back to America on the 1^st of August.

Cheers

Happy 4th of July from Ireland

        Things are starting to pick up here in Swords Ireland. During my last month, I have had the opportunity to build some great relationships around the church and in swords. Within the 1^st week I was here, I had a youth ask to meet up, to simply hang out. We walked all around swords and played some futbol. (More like just kicked it to each other). I’ve also started to build relationships with the leaders of the church like the lead pastor here. He has been such a blessing in understanding how God is working here in Ireland. From what I can understand so far the people of Ireland have a deep wound from the teachings from the Church here. Being a form of Christianity that builds on the foundation of a works based theology the people here have been placed under an extraordinary burden. They were taught that they have to do in order to receive salvation. At the same time, the church here has been ravished by scandals. First in the early 2000s the sex abuse scandals that ravished New England were also taking place here, which greatly damaged the image of the church here. Then when I arrived the church was hit with another scandal where at one of the single mother home run by the church where they discovered many children that died and did not notify the government or anyone. This one particularly took place in the 1920s and 1930s. Also, upon seeing the image the church portrays here and conversations I have had with people, I am beginning to see where God is working here in Ireland and the kinds of people he has been using to bring His glory to Ireland.

         
              One of the conversations about the church here in Ireland took place actually where I got a hair cut. The shop, no joke for your Americans, is “Boston Barber Bars” it is similar to sports clips where it is promoted to cut men’s hair. While we were talking he noticed my accent was not a local one so he asked me where I am from. I said Texas, He said he always wanted to visit America but never had the opportunity. Then he asked why I was here in Ireland. I told him I was here to help out a church off of Feltrim road, which for him was a bit odd. He asked me if there was anything wrong with the church, which I said no, but that I was here simply to help with whatever they needed. He was really nice about it. He went on to tell me how all the priests around the area in Swords and the ones he preferred where the ones that did not instantly condemn his choice of lifestyle and could have a normal conversation with them. I thought that was fascinating, this man who thought I was catholic likes to talk with people who are more interested with him than ones that simply condemn him. John 13:35 does states “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” And I have not seen the verse where we are told to condemn a person for their sin. Obviously God hates any sin but Christ did not come to condemn the world but came in order to save it, to redeem it. My favorite part of the conversation with the Barber was when he told me of his family trip to a church in Argentina. While at the church his father’s wallet was picked and the found the person still in the church. When the confronted him, they heard the priest say, “Give him a good punch” the man dropped the wallet and ran out. They asked the priest why he didn’t say turn the other cheek or something. He said, “ Yes, I normally would say turn the other cheek but sometimes, there are those people who need a good punch.” The man said he loved that type of priest who was simply a normal person who did not try to place himself over others. I’ve loved to meet some of these non-Christian Irish people. They are a hospitable group who are very proud that they are Irish.

Me and Holly at Donabate Beach

          
             Recently, another short term TEAM Serve missionary has arrived on the field and 2 more arriving in the next week. It’s nice to have another person here to see things in Ireland and engage the local area. It’s been great doing it alone but so much better with another. The first day here, we went to the beach in Donabate, Ireland and helped walk the dog of the TEAM missionary here. I love that dog; She actually followed me a bit as I ran on the beach. I have always dreamed of a dog running along with me on the beach and was thrilled Holly ran with me. Also, yesterday I showed the short termer around Swords Ireland from the Pavilion to Swords Main Street, to the Cock Tavern to Swords Castle and then to the supermarket called JC’s.

This country of Ireland is amazing and I have fallen in love with everything I have seen around me. These people are such an amazing group of people who do not yet know who Christ is. With a country whose history is associated with Christianity, (not a pure form but still with Christ) to have so many have 0 knowledge of the Bible and Jesus and God is showing me what kinds of ways to do ministry here long term. I’m looking forward to seeing how God is going to be using me this next few weeks before I return to the United States. I love that I have been here now about a month and a half but hate that I now have less than a month left here. But I know God has a greater plan for me in the time to come.

Cheers

Prayer Requests

During your time through out the day, please keep the following requests in your prayers…

People: Graham, Linda, Jesse, Joanne, Joyce, Nathan, Jonny, Shelby, Robyn, Tim, Leah, Seth, Bill, Julia, Mick, Cian, Luke, Stephen, Clem, Valerie, David, Nialle, Rose, Keith, Fidela, Hazel, Eric, Donna, Ian, Ciaran, Rebekah, Pablo, Daniel, Dave, Dennis, M. Murphy, Esther, Igor, Alan, Davy, Yuri, James, Sylvia, Stacy, the Irish and Me.

Places/Orgs: SBC, Exodus, TEAM, GEM, Men’s Space, Impact, TeenStreet

Please continue to pray for our kids club, which is in 2 weeks as we minister to the kids of Swords through 5 stories of Jesus from Matthew.

Please pray for God to continue allow me to be sensitive to the Irish and the way he is working here in Ireland.

Please pray for my trip to the village of Trim as I meet with a former DTS student to see how God is working over there.