I know it’s a little late to be posting a blog like this, but I function under the motto of “better late than never” especially when it came to my Old Testament final exam freshman year of college when Liz and I showed up 25 minutes late I mean we were still able to take the exam, so yes better late than 0%!
Anyway, if you didn’t know already, my team, Team Crash – is staying in Ireland for the month of September. There are other teams around Ireland, but there are also teams in Moldova, Romania and Czech Republic. We are just outside of Dublin, about 45 minutes by bus, in a suburban-type town. This week we are living in a house right next to the church (in Bray), but for the other weeks we are living with a missionary family in Greystones. Jim and Kathy are their names and they are missionaries here in Ireland, Kathy is originally from Chicago, IL and Jim is from Ireland. They work primarily with the Travelers’ a group of indigenous Irish people who are most comparable to gypsies. They are similar to the Amish in their strict set of guidelines and societal structures, but they are as they call themselves, Travelers. Most Travelers’ live in caravan (RVs or trailers) and don’t necessarily have a permanent address. Due to this, a generation of Travelers’ are illiterate because without a permanent address one cannot enroll in school. Within the last 10 years there has been an effort to get Travelers’ schools up and running to educate the children so there isn’t a perpetuation of illiteracy. While we are living in the Greystones house with Jim and Kathy the majority of our ministry is around the house and delivering bread to the Travelers’, while we are here in Bray though, we are painting the house and ministering at a drug rehab clinic.
