After a ten hour wait in the airport, a horrible seven hour plane ride, a two hour bus, a three hour wait at the bus station, and then another two hour bus ride, we made it!
So I made a video about where we are living.
Jealous much? I forgot to say some other things during the tour, but I didn’t want to make another video. One, we were blessed to have big five inch foam mats provided for us. Two, there are three squads combined this month, and we are all living in this 8000 square foot Boy Scout place. There is a rock climbing wall somewhere, but we have yet to find it. We were blessed enough to have the church that we are working with donate plenty of tomato soup and chicken soup and bread for us. I made a schedule for everybody on who cooks and cleans on specific days, so it doesn’t get chaotic on certain days.
The place that we are exactly in is Coleraine Ireland, which is in Northern Ireland, but the UK owns. We are working with a Vineyard church who I consider non-denominational. Worship on Sunday blew my mind. The church is about a ten minute walk from the place we are staying. We got there early to find out what everybody’s jobs were. Me, Cassie, and Courtney all managed a table to give out coffee and hot tea and donuts. The first service, around 800 people showed up, and the second service had about 400. After they worship, they have a break, which is when they get their drinks and snacks. It was crazy, but amazing at the same time because everybody wanted to come up to you and find out why we were here, and excited about us telling our stories. Worship here is almost the same as worship in America. Everybody is on fire for the Lord, and shows it proudly. This week they did their service differently. The pastor did not speak, but the children’s minister did. This week they decided to talk about the children, and what they were doing all last week. Children from ages 4-10 did something called Treasure Hunt all week. They went into the city, and walked around until they heard God tell them to go to a person a pray for them. Also, some kids had chairs out, and adults would come to them and sit down if they were sick, or injured, and the children would pray for them, and heal these adults! Children!!!! It blows my mind. This church is not only feeding the adults with God, but is sending these tiny kids out to be Disciples of Christ, and to heal the sick. There were a few kids that came up and told their stories, which made me cry at times. They were so powerful. After the kids told their stories, the Children’s Minister asked people in the audience if anyone was sick or injured, and some people stood up. He then had all of the children go out and pray for them, which they did. (A part of me wanted to stand up just to get prayed over by an eight year old) After both services, we stayed behind to help the church do their ministry called Feed the Hungry. They feed an average of 30 families a week, and they get a snack, and some food to take home. They celebrated their third anniversary last week, and they have helped over 900 families. This church is beyond a blessing for this group, and I know it is not a coinsidence that AIM put us here first. We will be here for 15 days, and then go to another church that the Vineyard has planted a few cities away. God is here, and you can tell.
Today, we stayed inside and learned about the culture, and Ireland itself. We talked with a few people from the church, and they are fully committed. Even though Ireland is alot like America, it can be different when it comes to religion. For me being a conservative Christian, it is a little bit of a struggle to see so much openiness on spiritual gifts. This church is all about spiritual gifts, and this is going to teach me how to connect to God more, and be able to find all of mine.
Tomorrow is our day off, and my family has planned to travel to as many places as we can. We always have Tuesdays off, as well as some nights. Everything closes early, and there is not alot of internet.
Please pray that tomorrow is semi nice weather! Also pray that whenever I start my ministry at the local thrift store, I will remember how to sew dresses! Nana should be so proud.
