So, just to let everyone know, I am typing this on a bus in Ireland that has Wifi on board, cutting edge I know. We just finished our 5 days of Launch training and are now about to begin ministry at a church in Galway Ireland. From what I’ve been told about Galway is that it is a fairly young and artsy type area. The only thing I really could think of to compare it to would be like a cross between Austin and Taos, but for all I know I am completely off. I am very excited to get there and actually find out what it will look like and will put an update out soon as to what all we are seeing and doing. We are staying at a camp ground in Galway, supposedly similar to the one in Dublin we stayed out. We have been so lucky so far because it has only really rained one night and morning. I stayed completely dry when it rained all night, making me feel pretty good about my tent putting-up job. One of the married couples tent’s got completely flooded with about 2 inches of water….awful! But they are getting a new tent sent to them and they will be alright I think.
The two squads have now officially split up. For those of you who didn’t know, there are two squads of about 40 or so and the other squad headed north to Northern Ireland(duh) and we are heading south to the Galway area. I will be sure to keep this updated with what is going on. We just finished a two day screen fast, where we weren’t allowed to get on a computer or ipod. I think it was to encourage us to just use the time to really process what was happening, and what we had committed to. It’s a little overwhelming to think about and my first 36 hours were a little rough. Felt somewhat in a daze due to both a lack of sleep and lack of familiar frontier I think. But after I got to take the next afternoon off and process a little bit, I was able to find a little bit of center in the whole deal. That’s all I can really think of right now. Below is a picture of our “tent city” at the camp ground we stayed at. It’s a good one.
So I was going to stop there but we have since arrived in Galway and so I have a bit more to say. Our campground has a gorgeous view, but it is incredibly windy. We are literally right on the coast on the Bay of Galway. We spent the day going into town to try and find some landmarks, aTm, grocery store, internet, and things of the sort. We also hiked 15 minutes to a small cliff, where we had yet another gorgeous view. It has been a bit crazy and the wind blows at a constant 25 mph. We are supposed to start work at the church most likely tomorrow. Our team leader is speaking with our contact as we speak to iron out details. I seem to always be a bit hungry, but good news is its Jen Flavin, my teammate’s birthday in 2 days and we are all going out to eat. If you get the chance wish her a happy birthday, she REALLY loves her birthday, more than I can explain. That’s all for now, hope all is well at home. Please keep me updated and hope to hear from everyone soon. Cheers!
Picture of Dan, Aaron, and I.
