Our teams are so very blessed to be working with an amazing church this month, Causeway Coast Vineyard. This is a phenomenal church that is doing amazing work in so many parts of their community. The church was started 13 years ago by Alan and Kathryn Scott. If you know the song Hungry (Falling On My Knees) then you know who Kathryn is. She led worship at church the first morning we were there and it was amazing.
We are so blessed to be staying at a huge, amazing building that we have to ourselves for the next two weeks. Its a Scout Hall that has a giant gymnasium, kitchen, six showers, several bathrooms, and countless rooms. All of us girls aside from Abby are staying in the same room, so its like a giant, awesome sleepover. We also have a ‘worship’ room here that we use as our meeting room.
We attended and helped at church on Sunday and it was one of the most wonderful services I’ve attended. They allowed the kids to basically lead the service after worship, and it was incredible to watch kids pray for healing for adults. It was a powerful service! We also helped serve coffee, tea and donuts during church. After the two services, we helped at a weekly event called Sunday Food Pantry, which gives food to needy families in the community while building relationships with the people. I was able to talk to two elderly ladies that were there to befriend people as well as a women who was there to receive food. I also got to pray for one of the ladies, and it was such a touching moment! God is so thick and present at that church.
After dinner, we were split up and had dinner with host families. KJ, Em and I went to the countryside and had dinner with our new friends Paul and Jackie. They live in an amazing old home on a beautiful property, and even have a miniature pony! The dinner they served us was amazing: roast beef, mashed potatoes, crispy potatoes, mashed veggies, dessert and as much coffee and tea as we could handle. Paul and Jackie were so hospitable and it was wonderful to meet a proper Irish family and enjoy some time in the countryside.
We are starting to work on our projects, including an event that is like a giant garage sale, working in recovery groups, doing healing on the streets, working with the elderly, and so much more. This church has so many different outreaches that we will barely scratch the surface while we are here, but we are getting so much amazing support from the staff! After two weeks here, we will work for a week with a Vineyard church plant in another town.
Overall, this is going to be an incredible way to spend our first month on the World Race. It is very intentional that we have been placed in a mature ministry such as this to start off the year; everyone we work with has been so encouraging and has so much wisdom and love to impart upon us! This city and country is also amazing. The people of Northern Ireland are so friendly and of course have amazing accents. I’m so excited to continue to walk out this month and see what God has in store for us!
