International
On Sunday our church had an international service where everyone from different parts of the world shared Christmas songs or traditions from their countries. Besides Ireland and America (Seth sang "Sweet Little Jesus Boy") we also got a taste of Christmas in Hungary, Romania, Zimbabwe, Armenia and Poland! Not bad for a little church in Youghal!
Yesterday evening a good friend of ours (who is also living abroad) flew in to visit for a few days. It's great to have an old friend here to celebrate New Years with us!
Labels: family, our ministry
Christmas
We had a wonderful Christmas here in Ireland. On Christmas Eve, our neighbors invited us to come by and hang out with them in the evening. Christmas Day our church had a service in the morning, but we did manage to get some presents opened beforehand! The service ended up being in our teammate's house because the heating had broken in the building we usually use. It was nice to be in a house, though. We were home in the afternoon, opened the rest of the presents and played with them some before going to our teammate's house for a fabulous Christmas feast featuring a few traditional foods we hadn't had before (it was SO good!). The day after Christmas is also a holiday here - St. Stephens Day. It's a great idea. Gives you time to play with your new toys!
Labels: family, Ireland
Christmas Happenings
'tis the season for lots of events! Last weekend the Ladies Christmas Dinner went very well, and was well attended. The youth girls ran the evening for the most part and did a great job on the program. The food was also excellent and everyone enjoyed themselves! On Sunday, our church had a carol service in the evening that was broadcast live on the local community radio station! This week we'll be caroling some more, going to Christmas parties, and our church has a service on Christmas Day.
Labels: our ministry
Christmas Play
Yesterday we got to go to a Christmas play put on by our neighbor boy's play school (4 year olds). He was a great-looking wise man and it was tons of fun watching all the angels and shepherds wave at their parents and dance to the music. They sang a lot of songs, but mostly in Gaelic, so we couldn't sing along very often!
Labels: Ireland
Baptists
A teacher at the local Catholic secondary school asked our teammate Mervyn to present to a couple of classes what Baptists believe. Part of the curriculum for religion class is that the students hear from a different faith community. That happened this morning, and Seth went along to help make the technology work. It was fun!
Labels: our ministry
Party Time
Today Seth and the boys are going to a party for kids 12 and under at church. This evening, our teammate will stay at the house while the boys sleep and Jess and Seth will go help with a youth Christmas dinner/party. Jess is making the turkey and stuffing, Seth is helping with the games. Should be good fun!!
Labels: our ministry
Six Months Of David!
David is six months old today!! Hard to believe that it's gone so quickly! He is a very alert baby - which can make him a bit hard to entertain at times, but his brother helps with that sometimes. David has eaten a whole (albeit small) sweet potato in one sitting and he loves playing with and tasting anything he can get his hands on. He recently started turning pages in books when we read to him. He's a joy to all of us and it's cool to have a baby boy around at Christmas time!
Labels: family
Sunday
Yesterday after church we had a guy from the youth club for lunch, then he and Jess went with some other folks from church to sing at a retirement community in Youghal. After that, Seth went over to a teammate's house and spent some time with a couple of the youth guys - watching American football and playing wii. Busy day, but fun!
Labels: our ministry
Lisbon Treaty
The Lisbon Treaty, which re-organizes the European Union in some significant ways, came into legal effect yesterday. Ireland had voted it down once, but voted for it in a second referendum in October.
Click here for an Irish Times article about the treaty coming into effect.
Labels: Ireland
