Ireland...continued

Alrighty...so now we're to Sunday. Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. All of us in NBL wore khaki and black. Anyway, that's trivial....the real story of the morning is that we all get ready and get in the 'vans' and get ready to leave....but one of the vans won't start! We finally figured out how to pop the 'bonnet' on one, but couldn't on the other. So we go in and ask Rachel (who was late heading in because she wasn't feeling well) what to do. She suggested we go ask the neighbor to come help. We did, and he did. We ended up jumping the van off of Rachel's car and then FLYING to service! Remember, the roads there are mostly 2-lane roads (but about the size of our smallest country roads...).

Anyway, we finally arrived about halfway through the Bible Study portion of the morning and then church started. It had been decided that P. Chad and P. Kevin would share the morning. P. Chad talked (taught some good ole Texan phrases) and then we did NBL. It really touched some people. (We did sign lanugage to Now Behold the Lamb by Kirk Franklin). There was a deaf boy in the service that morning. He knew Irish Sign and S. African sign - but was truly touched by our American Sign!!! Praise God!

Pastor Chad bringing a good word and Now Behold the Lamb

Praise and Worhsip - Irish Style!

Pastors Chad and Amber and Keven and Heather

Abby Sanford - growing up

After church we had tea and biscuits (my fav!) and changed clothes. Then we headed out for the Cliffs of Moher. Jenn and I had been to the Cliffs when I went to Ireland 8 years ago, but we hadn't been allowed out on the Cliffs because of Hoof and Mouth disease. Now I was going to get the chance to actaully SEE them up close! I was soo excited! We had our 2 vans, Sara's car, Alan's car, Daron's car, and another man's car that we all seperated ourselves between. James and I rode with Alan on Duigan Airlines. What fun! We stopped at a castle on the way...Again, Jenn and I had been here 8 years ago! Then we drove on. We stopped 2 more times - once because it was a good photo op and once because Rhett, James, Nicole, and I needed to make a pit stop! We finally reached the Cliffs with about an hour and a half before they closed. We wondered far out on one side and had a blast taking pictures. Sadly, I still didn't see the castle on the other side, but the trip was amazing. Then James and I climbed back aboard Duigan Airlines and we 'flew' (ok, maybe not) back to Galway for a dinner at Supermac's. After that, we went home and chatted with the girls before crashing! Some of us, though, didn't make it through the chats!

On the way, the castle, and the cliffs

same pic as 8 years ago!

The little blue thing is one of the church 'vans'

Kait totally crashed out when we got back!

Before we went to bed Amber pulled all the girls together. She felt we were beginning to see divisions among the group and wanted to nip it in the bud. We started 'the hot seat'. One person sat in the middle of the circle and we had to tell what we noticed or appreciated about that person. It was fun, but tough too...most of these people I hadn't known long -- but I soon learned there was MUCH to appreciate! We did about 3 or 4 people and then decided to call it a night. Amber told us we were going to do this to John and Jenn in the morning so I started thinking about what to say. Most of what I could come up with was sarcastic and joking and I didn't want to do that so I went to sleep praying God would give me something to say.

Monday morning dawned after some much needed rest and we headed up to the church. When we walked in the guys were in the middle of Bible Study/quiet time, so we just joined in. We girls (and Chad) just walked around and prayed. Finally Chad pulled us together and we had a small Bible Study time together and then we seperated again for prayer time and to do the "hot seat" with Jenn and John. As I sat there praying about going out in the streets and what to say to J and J - God started showing me his awesomeness! He showed me things to say to people (which I think was more to ease my mind than anything because I didn't actually use anything I found!) and then he revealed to me what to say to Jenn and John.

Let me tell you what God revealed to me/reminded me of. You see, about 5 1/2 years ago at Jennifer's baby shower for Hannah, Angie Schum talked about All Things Are Possible and how God had a plan for both Jenn and Hannah's lives. She asked us to write one thing we would commit to pray for that we wanted to see happen in Jenn's life. I wrote, and prayed, that Jenn would continue to do missions. I must admit that at some point I stopped praying for that, but the seed had been planted! This trip was the answer to that prayer!!! And...not only did God answer it - he answered it bigger and better than I could have dreamed! The person who planned the trip with her -- her HUSBAND! Wow! Now, I've known John since they married, but I'd never gotten to see the 'Christian' side of him. I must admit, I was very impressed!

Anyway, so God showed me that. Then he reminded me of how I'd sort of flippantly prayed for good weather in New York...and we'd had it. And how I'd prayed a similar prayer for Ireland...and it was BEAUTIFUL while we were there. Wow! He can and does answer prayer above and beyond what we think the answer will be. It excites me for my future because I know I've prayed for things to come....and I know they will and it'll be AMAZING!

Anyway, back to the Ireland story:

hot seat/prayer time ended and we got busy working on the St. Patrick's Day stuff again. More tentacle work. More sling work. More fish work. That continued 'till early afternoon. At that time we split into groups and went into the City Center to witness to people. I went with Gwen and Barbara. On the way down Barbara peppered me with questions about what to say and who to talk to. I kept telling her it had to be of the Spirit and not herself! God would show her! She continued to worry once we were down in the square. Don't be fooled, I was intimidated myself! Finally I suggested we stop and pray. We did - we prayed that we wouldn't be scared b/c God didn't give us a spirit of fear. After that Barbara was off! She talked to several other people and even wanted to tell P. Chad to shut up and let her talk! I was SO proud of her! I will also admit I was a bit discouraged by my lack of courage in talking to others - but here again God showed me something later...and gave me a chance to redeem myself!

Witnessing in Eyre Square

Praying the Sinner's Prayer with a Galway woman

Barbara - sporting her garland of clovers

After about 2 hours in the city center (while the temp. dropped!) we headed back for prayer. We prayed and then moved into a work night where we tried to finish up all the stuff for the parade. At about 9 or so they sent us home and to bed. We were pretty drained so we agreed!

Tuesday morning was St. Patrick's Day!! We woke up and got ready. We weren't sure what the weather was to be life so I had on several layers (a tank, a long sleeved shirt, a sweater and my coat!). We got to the church and by the time we left for the parade I was sweating! When we arrived at the parade I shed my sweater! It was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! Oh, we also got to paint our faces blue and then add white scales. We all looked a bit fishy! So, we got ready for the parade. We moved places in the parade about 3 times and finally ended up in the 'right' place. Each of us handing out tracts got a stack of 100 to start with. I remember thinking, Wow that's a lot! But by the end of the parade we had handed out around 7,000 tracts! WOW!!! I literally walked along the route smiling and passing out one after the other! It was amazing to see soooooo many people lining the streets. Even more amazing was to see them open the tract and read it! Of all the tracts we handed out, less than 100 were thrown on the ground! Can I get an Hallelujah!?

Anyway (I say that alot!), after the parade I had the joy of walking back to the church hand in hand with Abby Sanford. When we went last time Abby was a baby - almost one! Now she is a beautiful 9 year old! We walked back and just talked. It was a very sweet time! We got back to the church and decided we would have Subway instead of the sandwhiches we had packed. We sat around and ate those and then headed out to the Ceili (pronounced Kaylee). This is a traditional Irish party. We jumped on P. Kevin and Heather's trampoline, ran around in the back yard, rested on the couches, sang Irish music like Rattlin Bog (I'm so sure that's misspelled!!!) and Fields of Athenry (say: Athen Rye). We learned an Irish dance called the Siege of Innish and watched the news for coverage of the parade. Now, let me back up...For the music Alan played his according and Paddy played both flute/pipe and spoons. Joann picked up the pipe when Paddy moved to spoons, and Sara/Jacinta played the drum. It has a specific name, but I've forgotten...Rattlin Bog is a traditional song that mirrors our song that goes, "The tree in the hole and the hole in the ground and the green grass grew all around all around and the green grass grew all around". It goes on about as long and gets faster every verse! It was fun watching Daron sing it! Then Paddy gave us some Irish history and Alan sang traditional fireside music for us. Then Hannh and Abby did some Irish step dancing and then we all learned the Seige of Innish. Wow that made me laugh! I can tap, but I can't step dance! :) We also did make the news! Our big happy fish bobbed along! At about 9 we all headed out. We had to repack because tomorrow was our last day in Galway! We went back, I repacked my suitcase and went to bed!

On Wednesday I got up early because we had to go to the church in shifts due to luggage. I had the privelege of riding in with Rachel, who had been under the weather most of our trip and I hadn't had much time to get to know. It was fun to ride with her! She is so sweet! She dropped me at the church and then went to work. Gwen, Missy and I walked around the corner to a coffee shop while Sara and Reagan slept. The pastors had called and cancelled school for the day so they were napping! Gwen, Missy and I enjoyed some relaxing time while waiting for everyone else. When we went back to the church we found Nathan asleep on the floor with suitcases around him, but no one else! Soon after everyone came in with all their luggage. Man we had a lot! Then we headed out to go souvenir shopping. Somehow James and I ended up together for the day. We drove each other about batty! For lunch we had McDonagh's again! Oh it was WONDERFUL! Pastor Kevin, Alan, Sara, Reagan, and Lucia joined us. Lucia is a girl I had met Sat night at prayer. She is a singer in Ireland (she has a big concert in Galway this Saturday!) - she won Ireland's version of American Idol! Anyway, we walked and talked and she got a taxi to take me to the church! Oh I miss her too!

Once back at the church we quickly packed our souvenirs and headed for the bus station where we said our good byes to Mark, Alan, and Daniel. We hopped on the bus and headed to Dublin. I slept some, but not all of the trip. We got to Dublin, raced through the streets (2 suitcases per person) and got on a bus to the hotel. We arrived at the Ardmore, checked in and went to our rooms. About the time we were getting ready to settle in we got a call that we were going into the city for dinner. Off we went! We ended up at Eddie Rockets (or as Alan and Sara called it Eddie Rob-me-pockets). It as ok food. Then back to the hotel where I repacked (I had used the 'suck-the-air-out-and-save-space bags, but I didn't feel like they were saving space so I revamped and it worked better). Then took a shower and at about 2 went to bed. I got up at about 4:45 and got everything together, met everyone downstairs at 5:30 and headed for the airport. Got to the airport, got checked in, thru security, thru customs, and onto a plane and headed out around 8:30. Tamara and I were in an exit row, meaning leg space! Yeah!!! Also meaning the chair wouldn't lean back...boooo! 7 hours later we landed in Newark. Our flight there got delayed so we had quite the layover, but at about 5:30 left Newark and headed to Tx! We landed in Tx, got our stuff, loaded vans back to Burleson and headed back. We arrived in Burleson, I got my stuff in the car and headed home! I arrived at my house in Granbury about 11:30 and went to bed about 12....thus ending my amazing trip!

Now, for the part about being discouraged and all that....when out in the city I was a bit discouraged by the lack of talking to people. I asked God about it and He showed me that I had a) planted some seeds. We talked to a man who was near tears. Someone had talked to him the night before about a church meeting and then we were there. We told him we knew God had a plan for him - but he wasn't ready to hear! He wouldn't tell us his name so I call him "Paddy from the Square" and figure God knows who he is

b) I was an encouragement to teens who were scared to talk to people! I prayed for Barbara and her fears went away. Many years ago God told me he wanted me to be a prayer warrior...seems he meant it!

c) on the plane from Ireland there were 9 of us. John, Jenn, Chad Amber, Missy, and Kaitlyn were all in a row. Tamara and I sat behind them, me in the middle. God allowed me to talk to the person next to me. Now, they didn't claim to be a big sinner, accept Christ and it rock their world, but I did step out of my comfort zone and talk to her about the trip and ask if she was a Christian and in church. She is and is and I felt like I had taken a big step and jumped over a hurdle in my life...Isn't God good?!

So - there ye have it! My week in Ireland! I miss the people there so bad! I mean, when we got there I didn't know Rachel, Reagan, Nicole, Stefani or any of those girls - but when I left I was almost in tears telling them good-bye! Flying Duigan Airlines with James....woulnd't have traded it! I simply can't wait to go back...and I can't wait to see where Jenn plans to take us next!

PS -- It's almost 11 and I've been working to load pics. I'm tired now and going to go to bed...I will finish loading pics tomorrow in a seperate blog and will caption them all so you know what they are and which part of the story they go with -- mostly I have parade, Ceile, and Dublin pics left...but again, I'll put em up tomorrow night! Hope you've enjoyed hearing about my trip! :)