If you want to be a weatherman, you should look into getting a job in Galway, Ireland. Easiest job ever. If you predict wind and rain every day, you’re bound to be right at least 90% of the time.
So like I said previously, we’re working with a church called Discovery Church. They’re an Assemblies of God church that formed six years ago. Actually, today (September 12) was their 6th anniversary. Strangely enough, today was also the 9th anniversary of my home church, Crossway Church. Crazy coincidence. So anyways, let’s recap the week so far.
So like I said previously, we’re working with a church called Discovery Church. They’re an Assemblies of God church that formed six years ago. Actually, today (September 12) was their 6th anniversary. Strangely enough, today was also the 9th anniversary of my home church, Crossway Church. Crazy coincidence. So anyways, let’s recap the week so far.
So we arrived to Galway on Monday. It was a rather uneventful travel day. Praise Jesus. After about a 2 hour bus ride (during which Jake and I watched I Love You, Man), we arrived at Galway in the early afternoon. We were met by Sean Kelly, a member of Discovery and our unofficial tour guide. Haha. We then rode a city bus to our camp ground where we’re staying for the month. Our camp ground consists of our tents where we sleep, a small room (you might call it a kitchen except it has no stove or oven or refrigerator or any of the normal kitchen-like things. Because of this, many of our meals have consisted of PBJ sandwiches, soup in a mug (put powder in a bowl, add hot water. Amazing!) or noodle snack in a cup (see directions for soup in a mug). Although now that people of the church are being made aware of our presence, we’re starting to line up home cooked meals. Such a blessing!) that has sinks and a washer and dryer (which costs 5 euros to wash and 5 euros to dry), showers that cost a euro for 5 minutes of water, and bathrooms. So we arrived and set up our tents in the wind just in time for it to start raining. Oh Ireland weather. On the plus side, there are a lot of rainbows. Anyways, we got set up and left to go to the city and buy groceries. Later that evening, when we were at a bus stop, we met three college guys who were “pre-gaming” for the clubs and bars. Jake and I talked to them for awhile. Just small talk about why we were in Ireland, what they did, and about a poor injured pigeon that was sitting next to us. Even though nothing special in particular happened during the conversation (the highlight of the conversation was the talk about the pigeon. Haha.), it was still a cool remind that that is what it’s all about. Talking to people and sharing the love of Christ with them (even if you don’t actually get a chance to talk about Christ). That’s one thing that God has been teaching me throughout the first three months of the race. Ministry can happen anywhere. It’s not some assigned task where I go up and have a scripted conversation with someone about Jesus. It’s just simply hanging out with people and sharing the love of Christ with them. That’s one thing I’m excited about for this month. We have the freedom not to just share Christ during our scheduled ministry events but also just to go out to the city both day and night and just meet people and start to form relationships with the people of Galway.
So on Tuesday, we had the day off. I did some laundry and some shopping during the day, and then that night, my team and I went to the movie theater and watched Inception. Entertaining movie. One complaint though. They don’t know how to do movie theater popcorn here in Ireland. Barely any butter on it. Oh, how I miss popcorn drenched in movie theater fake butter sauce.
On Wednesday, we got together and began some training for our ministry. Jimmy Earle, our ministry contact for the month and the outreach ministry director for Discovery, taught us about the cultural and spiritual aspects of Ireland. Did you know that because of St. Patrick, Ireland was actually a large source of Christianity for Europe? Did you know that today, less than 1% of people in Ireland are Evangelical Christians? I plan on writing an entire blog about this and related matters soon, but I just wanted to get the point out there. Ireland is clearly a nation in need of the hope of Christ. Be praying for us and the people of Ireland as we continue our ministry here of sharing the love of Christ to these people. Wednesday night, Jon and Cinthia,Stacey, Sammie, Daniel, and I went with Sean to a local pub to listen to some traditional Irish music. It was cool to experience some Irish culture.
On Thursday, we had some more training. Ken, who is from Nigeria, talked about healing prayer. Ken is a single father of 5, whose wife died a couple years ago. He shared about how after his wife died, his kids questioned why she still died after they had prayed. Ken took the opportunity to share with his kids about God’s sovereignty and about how their mom was now at peace. Ken’s faith is so inspiring. Even after all he went through, he is still a great man of God who serves God wholeheartedly and is still fully faithful about healing prayer. After Ken spoke, Padraig talked about evangelism. He also taught us how to eat hobnobs and drink tea, a crucial part of Irish culture. Haha.
On Friday, we officially began ministry. We went into town and practiced Community in Action (C.I.A.). Basically, it’s a way to break the ice/build a bridge between the church and the community. Rachel and I partnered up and picked up trash and cleaned graffiti. It was an awesome day of service.
On Saturday, we were supposed to do street evangelism, but the weather did not allow it (Shocking!). So instead, Padraig had us over to his house. We enjoyed tea, fajitas, ice cream, high-speed internet, and a flat-screen TV. Such a rough life! Haha. But for real, it was such a blessing to be served in this way. Padraig has such a servant’s heart. It was so humbling to see how even though he barely knows us, he was still willing to serve us in such a way.
On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. A worship group from Christ Church in Nashville, TN was there to lead worship. It was an amazing morning of worship and hearing from God. That evening, Ken had us over to his house to eat Indian food. Delicious! And again such a blessing to be served in this way.
Wow. That was a long and random blog. Sorry about that. Just a lot to recap. Guess I should blog more often. Haha.
P.S. Stay tuned for three future blogs: “Wake Up!” “So Much More than 11 Months” and “Travel the World to Find My Own Backyard.”
