This is Margaret. She’s a traveler here in Ireland. It’s a bit hard to describe travelers, but generally they are a tight-knit community of people who live in trailers without a permanent residence and make money by doing odd jobs such as collecting scrap metal. Travelers are characterized by their unique culture and set of laws by which they abide by, largely due to the fact that their traveling nature makes it difficult for authorities to enforce rules and regulations. Travelers also tend to have limited education and be a very spiritual group of people.
In one moment, this past week feels like a whirlwind, and in another moment it feels like we’ve been here for more than a month. We’ve been spending a lot of time with our teams, getting to know one another and growing together in God. There are three teams (21 people) staying at this one big house in a coastal village called Graystones, which is about an hour south of Dublin. Our role this month is basically to do whatever we can to serve and help the church we have been assigned to work with. Thusfar, we’ve been asked to pass out flyers with scripture in malls, neighborhoods, and city plazas. One day we passed out 5,000 of these in downtown Dublin! We’ve attended a few church services where we have had the opportunity to share our testimonies, read scripture, and lead the group in song (there are some very talented musicians amongst our squad!) Below is a picture of our team at the traveler’s meeting on Sunday. Lo and Bryan are at the front singing their hearts out in beautiful chorus.
Steven is a local traveler here in Ireland, and he has been leading us on some of our evangelism escapades during the day. Margaret is Steven’s wife, and last week, we were blessed to come home to a potful of Margaret’s homemade Irish stew! It’s my joy to pass along this recipe, so you can travel with me to Ireland from your kitchen. This recipe will fit in one big pot and serve about eight. It’s simple, but super tasty.
Authentic Irish Stew
- 2 pounds stewing beef or lap of lamb
- 5-6 carrots
- 2 yellow onions
- 8-10 potatoes
- other vegetables (optional) – peas, parsnips, etc
- 1 quart beef stock
- 1 thyme leaf
- salt & pepper to taste
1. In a large pot of water, add the raw lamb or beef. Turn on medium heat and boil for about 25 minutes.
2. Add all of the vegetables and bring to a boil
3. Add beef stock and thyme leaf, then simmer for three to four hours.
4. Take out thyme leaf, salt and pepper to taste.
