So the Journey has begun. I have just completed my 1
st
day of orientation with TEAM here in Wheaton Illinois and loving every moment
of it. Staying in the apartments they provide here, I have been placed with a
roommate from Knoxville, Tn who is going to a horse ranch in Baja California
Mexico to help at the ranch there. Just having this guy by the name of Nick has
been very encouraging. The main way he has been encouraging occurred so far
last night. We started talking about theology when the discussion of
Predestination and free will came up (David Or does this sound familiar) when
he spoke from a normal American perspective where God is all knowing but allows
us to choose. I made the point that if we believe that God is all knowing
(which I do) then God knows every decision we will make and free will is in the
present moment we believe the actions we take are fully from our own decision
and not and outside force. I believe completely in the Sovereignty of God and
how he makes everything work out for God. This one situation made me really
appreciate Dallas Theological Seminary and how they have been training and
developing me. I especially have to thank Dr. Horrell for teaching me
thoroughly about the Doctrine of the Trinity and my Friend Rob Scarbro for
beginning the year long discussion into this idea of Gods sovereignty which is
mentioned often but rarely mentioned solely.
I
am becoming more and more excited to see how God is going to use me and mold me
this next summer. My prayer this summer is to depend on God more each and every
day and allow Him to lead me and guide me to the people I am to meet with.
Also, I am thankful for my Church in Dallas, Northwest Bible
Church, for their last 2 years support and for the children’s ministry for
sending me out. I cant thank you enough. Also, I am very thankful for the very
special person Go
d has blessed me with this past few months.
Thank you
----------------
Prayer Requests
For the People of Swords Ireland, Swords Baptist Church, For
me to become culturally sensitive to the Irish culture.
So
upon arriving to Ireland I met with my TEAM field supervisor Linda who has
helped me a lot to become acclimated to the Irish. Also, I have spent the
majority of my time wandering around swords and have begun to become accustomed
to Ireland. At least I hope so. I’ve already learned so much about the Irish.
For example, when referring to the date when I leave, normally I would say
august 1st but here I have been saying the 1st of August.
I love learning about the Irish and how the Irish say things. If by the end of
the summer God still wants me to continue to Ireland, I plan on purchasing the
Irish Rosetta stone to learn the Irish language. 
I’ve had the opportunity to go to 2 different castles here
in Ireland, The 1st was by the coast and the second was in the
Dublin area. These are beautiful castles and they show the rich culture that is
within Ireland. While I was touring one of the castles I witnessed the
superstitious nature of the Irish. These people believe ghosts are within the
castles. Through a conversation with my field supervisor I learned that the
Irish were never really Christian. You see back when Patrick introduced Christ
to the Irish, he used the mysticism of the Irish into the Christian faith so
they never really had a pure understanding of Christ. An example of this was
when I attended a retired group called the pillars, the group was working on
choosing a date to meet and when the mention of Friday the 13th he
asked me, Do you go out on Friday the 13th? I was amazed how
superstitious these people were. 
Also, last night I began working with the youth here in
Ireland. These young men and women have little activities to do here. They
recently ended school and now they are on holiday. Most of them find stuff to
do so they look to find some alcohol for themselves. The church I’m working
with holds a youth group and they use Friday nights to hangout with each other.
I met several great men and women at the event who I think God has brought to
meet to befriend and hope to share the gospel. There was one young adult there
by the name of Jim who attends the Wednesday men’s group because he wants
community so he goes to the church. I’m not sure if he is a Christian but
hopefully will find out soon. God has been blessing me with so many different
things and I’m excited to see how God’s going to work in these next 2 months.
