I’m in love…with Ireland. In typical World Race fashion, our travel day (more like days) to Ireland was quite eventful. It began with our flight being delayed for 2 hours in Santo Domingo, which meant that most people’s plans for the lay-over in Orlando had to be revised. I was able to spend time with my sweet friend Chance during our lay-over; it was great to see a familiar face and be reminded of home. He waited patiently for us to arrive since our travel plans changed several times (thanks again Chance!). My family was able to send me a few things that I needed (including a computer since mine took a nose-dive off the balcony in the Dominican Republic…but, that’s a whole different story haha).
We set off for Ireland around 6:45pm and arrived here around 8:30am. I felt like St.Patricks day threw up on the plane that we flew on….there was green everywhere. I began to doubt whether I would even like Europe and then decided that I can understand Spanish easier than Irish accents. I was blessed with motion sickness yet again, (who knew you could get motion sickness while flying…seriously?), but was able to hold back my nausea by taking some of your great advice and drinking Ginger Ale and taking Dramamine. In my medicated sleepy stupor, I woke up to one of my teammates saying there was a problem with the plane and we were landing in Boston. I had no clue what time it was or what was going on, nor did I care since the medicine made me so drowsy, so I just went back to sleep. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn’t a great idea to take that medicine since there could have been a real problem, but oh well…I’m alive and well :). (Apparently they thought a door on the plane wasn’t closed completely, but it ended up being a faulty emergency light or something…a 2 hour stop to figure that out).
We were met with a few hiccups in immigration at the Dublin airport. Just like everywhere else, the normal reaction is for immigration to freak out when there’s a large group of people with no return flights. Now I’m beginning to understand why they told me I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I agreed to be a logistics person for the squad :). The first man I had a conversation with was less than friendly so I was convinced it would be a long morning, but the Lord blessed us with talking to a supervisor that was helpful and eventually allowed us through.
We had arranged for a bus to pick us up at the airport, which was waiting for us in the correct location and with the correct amount of seats (yea!); thankfully they were gracious about the fact that it took us an eternity to exit the airport because of the immigration issues. After driving a short time, we arrived in Clandalkin where we are camping. We spent the week at the Awakening, which was an amazing time of renewal and rejuvenation.
It has been an extremely busy but also restful week. I have learned so much through the speakers and worship that we had, but am still processing through most of it. I’ve been challenged in a lot of areas and beliefs that I’ve had my entire life, so I’m trying to figure out what I truly believe about grace, love, and the church. Not in an anti-church way, but in an “oh, now I get why things are falling apart and people are turned off by Christianity” way. I’m so thankful that I came to these realizations only a few months into the Race, rather than at the end. It’s overwhelming. I have a lot to think about and communicate to you all about what I learned, so please pray for me as I sort through everything.
We will be traveling to Galway, Ireland on Monday, where we will be working with Discovery Church. We will be camping for the month, and baby it’s cold outside! I’ve pretty much been freezing, but I still love it here. We aren’t exactly sure what we will be doing, but there has been mention of working with the homeless and in a teen program.
My sweet teammate Rachel was in and out of the hospital this week with an infection in her foot; she had a lot of mosquito bites from the Dominican Republic, which somehow became infected. The swelling in her foot is continuing to go down and she was able to leave the hospital, which is great. Please pray for her continued healing. Love you all and miss you!
