With all of the excitement of getting to Swaziland and, of course, getting engaged…I didn’t want to neglect our wrap-up in Ireland. On Wednesday the 15th, our team loaded up and left Wexford bound for Dublin for a time of debrief–ie: relaxation and processing through the month.
Most of Thursday we spent on a tour bus. We were able to see some pretty amazing sights around Ireland, driving all the way to the other side of the “island”. We saw the Treaty Stone (I’m not sure what the significance was, but I bet it’s a good story), the Burren (a huge, protected stretch of stoney fragments at the edge of the sea–it was pretty incredible), and the best of all…drumroll please…the Cliffs of Insanity (known as the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland). Being that the Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time, that was kind of a dream come true. Trust me…they were pretty insane!
Friday we began with some questions for the girls to work through to help them process all that took place this month. They spent about two and a half hours on their own before we regrouped at good’ole Starbucks for a light lunch. We spent a while talking through some of the their answers, and I was both delighted and impressed by all of the things God had taught them or revealed to them through the course of the month. Though this trip was shorter than the others I have done, there was still a lot God showed them and me. For one, it turns out I have some control issues. This was nothing that the girls pointed out, but rather, I just realized it one day. I would, by no means, call myself a “control-freak”, but there were just some areas that I recognized I had not completely given over to God, or that I just wanted to have my way. Whoops!
After a break in the afternoon, we gathered back together to go out to our big, final dinner, care of the Hard Rock Cafe a few doors down from our hotel. That was great! We spent much of the time talking about our favorite memories and making some new ones.
I gotta say, I have enjoyed these girls so much! They were a ton of fun to be around, and I learned a lot from watching them step up to the plate and extend themselves well beyond their comfort-zones at times. I am going to miss each of them, and pray that God uses this past month to push them on to even greater things.
