Irish Family Study
Recently an in-depth report was published about changes in Irish families over the last 20 years. The study itself is huge, but this article gives some of the highlights. Some of the findings are surprising!
Life In Ireland: The Car
Of course, the most obvious difference about driving in Ireland compared to America is what side of road you are supposed to be on. A lot of times we are asked if switching sides was hard. Honestly, it wasn't - the hard part was getting used to which side of the car to get in to. Every now and then we still walk to the wrong side first. It's been a long time since either of us got in only to find the glove box, though.
There are two things that were much harder to get used to than driving on the other side of the road. One: parallel parking. Two: narrow roads. In the cities, two-lane streets are often one-lane wide. People still parallel park on the side. But the city planners rode horses, so how can you blame them? As you can see below, the roads don't get wider in the country:
Finally, the vocabulary: trunk = boot hood = bonnet windshield = windscreen (and you wipe them with the windscreen wipers) turn signal = indicator gas = petrol highway = motorway parking lot = car park
Still Learning...
We may have a year under our belts, but that doesn't mean we always know what's going on. Last week Seth was outside with a kid's Sunday School class and they suggested that we play "catch". Seth: "do we have a ball?" Kids: "no, you just run around and catch people" Seth: "Oh! ok, well I'll be 'it'" Kids: "Ok, you're 'on'!"
Weather
Some of you may be reading this from snow-covered wonderlands, but it's raining today in Youghal. Yesterday there was some snow on the ground when we woke up, but it didn't last long. Before the snow even showed up here in Youghal, the government had closed all the schools in Ireland until Thursday (the country was almost out of salt for the roads). Now that things have warmed up, they changed their minds and some schools have re-opened. Students are not happy.
It was cold. The pipes froze in the building we usually meet in for church, so there was no heat or water. We met in a house and had warm, close fellowship.
an excerpt from an article by Sheila Flitton on ireland-fun-facts.com:
“Nollaig na mBan” or “Little Women’s Christmas” is an old custom that’s still celebrated by women all over Ireland. It goes back to the days when large families were the norm. Men never lifted a finger in the house to help, and were never expected to. If a man washed the dishes, he would be called an “auld woman” by other men. No full blooded Irish man was prepared to risk that!
But each year, after the Christmas holiday, tired women finally got a break – for one day, at least. On January 6th (the same day as the Epiphany), men would take over of the housework, offering women a chance to go out to relax with each other.
We did celebrate, although Seth forgot about it until that evening, so we celebrated on the 7th. There's some pretty good take out food in Youghal...
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!
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!
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.
Another Church Scandal
Not long ago I posted a link to the Ryan Report, which detailed abuse that had happened in Catholic boarding schools in Ireland. Another report that came out this week is making headlines now - this time about abuse in the Dublin area over the last 30 years and how Church leaders consistently covered it up. If you want more information, click here for an article from the Irish Times.
Speaks For Itself... Actually, it's not just clouds. We've had so much rain recently that some of the cities around us have flooded severely. Ireland is used to rain, so when I say "so much" I mean it!
Last Factory In Youghal Set To Close
Youghal used to have so much manufacturing that there were not enough people in the town to fill the jobs. Things have changed! You can read about it here.
The Boys In Green Yesterday Seth got the opportunity to go with a friend to see Ireland play Montenegro in a world cup qualifier soccer match in Dublin. It was a lot of fun to be there, even though the game wasn't overly exciting in itself... 0-0! Still, Ireland has done well enough that they will go into the play-offs. Just so you know, Irish fans sing more than any fans I've ever been around.
So Many Eatings
Daniel is getting used to his daddy saying things like: "I'm going to a meeting, I'll be back soon, I love you". In fact, he's so used to it, that now when he sees daddy putting on a coat or heading for the door he says "Daddy's going to a eating".
The fact is, he's right! Every meeting has food. Pretty much anytime anyone gets together there is food involved (and a cup of tea or coffee, of course). And it's yummy food, too!
Life In Ireland: Shopping
Just to give you a taste of how daily life is a bit different in Ireland than it is in the States, we'll give you a quick overview of some of the differences in shopping here vs. shopping in America.
In downtown Youghal (like every other town, village or city), there are rows of small shops:
These shops sell all kinds of things - electronics, clothes, furniture, hardware, jewelry, etc. There banks, butchers, bakeries, book stores, toy stores, and restaurants. Downtown is where you go for most things - you just have to know what store has the thing you want. The cool thing is that after you go a few times you start getting to know the shopkeepers.
There are also supermarkets for groceries. Youghal has three, and the biggest is called Tesco. It's just a couple blocks from the shops downtown. Tesco is not as big as a Kroger in America would be, but it's big enough to have pretty much anything you'd need - unless you're looking for graham crackers or Ranch dressing. And some things have different names here, for example: baking soda is called bread soda, diapers are nappies, ground beef is steak mince, and "squash" is a concentrated drink. Meats and veggies are sold in Kilograms, not pounds. When you get a shopping cart (trolley) you have to put a Euro coin in it to release it, but you get it back when you put the cart away. You also bring your own shopping bags - but if you forget, you can always buy new ones when you check out. Oh, and the carts have four-wheel steering. It sounds like a little thing, but it really changes the way you have to push. On Saturdays there is a fresh market in a parking lot downtown. We get a lot of our fruit and veggies (or just "veg" here) from there. Yum.
In bigger cities like Cork and Dublin, there are department stores that sell clothes plus housewares, etc. They would be more like a Belk than a Wal-Mart, and not as big. Bed Bath and Beyond would be considered a big store here (and it's called Homestore + More). There is also something like Home Depot that's called B&Q. Seth likes that one. The closest mall to us is almost an hour away in Cork, and you can walk the length of it in a few minutes. But you know... it's starting to look big to us...
Dublin
OK, so the train mentioned in the last post started in Cork and ended up in Dublin. We did get David registered at the Embassy, which is nice. We thought it would be cool to be on American soil for the first time in quite a while, but the Embassy is not a particularly exciting place... it's just a regular old government office: take a number and wait a long time to hand forms and money to a lady behind thick glass. I guess it's unreasonable to think they would offer us burgers or something, but it wouldn't hurt to be a little welcoming, would it?
Dublin was fun. A friend in Youghal gave us a coupon for a discount hotel stay so we were in the heart of the Medieval part of town and could walk to most of the historic stuff with our amazing double buggy (stroller).
Some Highlights: Christchurch Cathedral (across the street from our hotel) The Book of Kells St. Stephen's Green (a big park - Daniel loved the ducks) Starbucks
Driver Theory Test
We are allowed to drive in Ireland on our American driver's licenses for a year, but time is passing, so Seth went today to take his driver theory test. It's a basic multiple-choice test and you can even buy a book that has all the questions in it to study beforehand. We had the book, but the test was recently updated, so it turned out our book didn't have most of the questions in it. Still, Seth got 36 out of 40 questions right, and you only need 35 to pass, so he can now send in the application for his "provisional license", or learner's permit. After that, he can start working on getting a full Irish license... but that takes a driving test and more fees. And we thought we were through with all this when we were 16...
Life in Ireland: Around the House
It's not that living in Ireland is completely different than living in America, but there are so many little differences that it sometimes feels like it is. From time to time I'd like to highlight a few of those little things. Today we'll focus on the house...
In the country, houses stand alone, but in the cities most of them share at least one wall with another house. Lots of them are in long stretches of row houses. We share one wall.
It's very rare to see a house built primarily out of wood in Ireland. Since lumber is limited and rock is everywhere, houses are made of concrete.
Summers aren't very hot, so no-one has air conditioning. If you want to cool down, just open the window. Oh - and the window won't have a screen. There aren't enough bugs to need that.
Heating is not central - it's usually done with a boiler and radiators (or the fireplace). Only brand new houses might have thermostats, ours is ten years old and just has a dial where you set the times when you'd like the boiler to come on.
We have two electric showers. They heat their own water because hot water is not a given - if we want it in the sinks/tub we have to flip a switch and wait half an hour (unless we're using the boiler for heat, then we have plenty).
The fridge that came with our house was dorm-room size. We got a bigger one.
To own a TV, you have to pay a tax of 150 Euro/year, which goes to support public broadcasting.
Almost every neighborhood (called "estate" here) has a green. The green is big grassy field that everyone can use. The individual yards are usually a bit smaller than their American counterparts, and are called "gardens". Daniel asks regularly if he can "go play back garden?"
The power outlets, besides having a different voltage, also have on/off switches next to them. It can be handy sometimes, but also attractive to little fingers... Daniel turned off the fridge from the outlet a couple of times.
Medieval Radio
No, there is no such thing. But both will be in this post.
On Saturday we went to a "Medieval" festival at a nearby castle. It was fun - they had demonstrations of cooking, sword fights, jousting, falconry and other middle-ages kinds of things. But they also had WWII soldiers, Romans and belly dancers. Interesting. Oh, and the local radio station was there playing all kinds of things - we even heard some Shania Twain. So yes, evidently medieval and radio CAN go together.
But the main reason "Radio" is in the title of this post is because Seth's mom was interviewed on our teammate Mervyn's radio show last night on Community Radio Youghal. They talked mostly about her work with a crisis pregnancy center in Alabama. The show will not actually air until the 16th.
Weather
The weather here is certainly not what we were used to in the States, and now we've found a website that shows just how different it is - click here for some interesting graphs that show some of the weather averages for Cork. You'll find, for example, that Cork gets an average of 2 hours of sunshine each day from November to February and that the average high for the summer is 64 degrees...
Corpus Christi
Today we went on our second trip as a family out of the house since the arrival of David. While we were driving through downtown, we noticed that things were different - almost every shop window had a shrine to Mary, Jesus, or both in it. There were also songs and prayers coming through loudspeakers. Turns out, today is Corpus Christi - a major Catholic feast day that celebrates the Eucharist. Shortly after we drove through downtown, there was a procession that went through with the main attraction being a Eucharistic wafer carried by priests. If you'd like the history/more info on how Corpus Christi is celebrated, click here.
Church Child Abuse Report
A new government report (almost ten years in the making) says that thousands of children who attended Catholic institutional schools have been abused in all kinds of ways. This article might make you sick, but the issue is sure to make an impact on a lot of people in Ireland, so click here if you'd like to read up on it.
Seth, Mervyn and the Barnabas Players had a great trip to Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom, as opposed to the Republic of Ireland where we live). Seth was introduced at the missions conference for the organization Mervyn and Karen work with, and the Barnabas Players performed as well. Actually, they performed more than they thought they would - one time we stopped for lunch and they got a chance to do a skit about Jonah in the resturaunt! Seth got a little bit recorded so you could get a taste of it:
We were tourists for a little while and got to see some of Belfast and the Giant's Causeway - check the gallery for pictures!
People and Blasphemy
We may not have house guests anymore, but we're still around people most of the time, it seems. Everyday this week we've been with other people - sometimes at our place, sometimes at theirs or in town. As Seth types this, Jessica is downstairs with a bunch of teen girls watching a movie. He's never seen it, but it seems to have a pretty good soundtrack.
On a totally different note, here's an interesting article from the Irish Times. It's written by the Minister of Justice and talks about the difficulties in honoring the Irish constitutional requirement that blasphemy be punished. Click Here to read it.
Also, thank you for praying for Jessica's folks (see April 21 post). The insurance company is covering repairs and expenses for a furnished apartment while they wait. Friends from church have been a huge help and God is clearly working in the whole thing. Your prayers are definitely appreciated!
Monastery
Seth's dad was coming to Europe for a business trip anyway, so stopped in for a few days. Today we went out to the middle of nowhere to see a working monastery. It was one of the first in Ireland to be built after Catholics gained back most of their freedoms in the 1800's. For 300 years before that, Catholicism had been suppressed by the English and things like monasteries were not allowed. Inside, the most prominent places were given to Mary, but there was also a shrine to St. Thérèse of Lisieux:
Why is that noteworthy? Well, it just so happens that her earthly remains, or "relics", are touring Ireland as you read this! If you'd like an itinerary, click here.
Cobh
Jessica's parent are staying with us right now, and besides playing with Daniel, we've also had time to explore our area some more. One of the places we visited was Cobh (pronounced "Cove") which used to be called Queenstown, and was the last stop of the Titanic before it sank. It was also a major port for emigrants during the potato famine. In those days, so many people wanted to leave that they started using boats that were not really seaworthy, which earned themselves the title of "coffin ships". Cobh lost a lot of it's importance when airlines started becoming affordable, but we did see a nice cruise ship in the harbor. It's a beautiful town, and we had some great fish and chips while we were there.
Tourism
That's mostly what we've been up to the last few days. Jessica's friend Melissa went home yesterday and now Seth's uncle and cousin are with us over the weekend. Since my last post, we've been to Blarney castle (yes, we kissed the Blarney stone to get the "gift of gab"... is it working?), and Lismore, the Irish home of the current Duke of Devonshire (but he usually stays in his house in Britain). We also took a walk along the cliffs by the sea in Ardmore. But you really ought to just look at the pictures in the gallery!
Waterford
Yesterday we took Jessica's friend Melissa to see Waterford. The first thing we tried to see was closed, but of course, the main attraction there is the Waterford Crystal factory, and none of us had seen it before so we were pretty excited. Unfortunately, Waterford Crystal is no more! The company went out of business recently and was purchased by an American investment group that has decided to close the Waterford factory. Apparently, they intend to continue making crystal in Germany or something like that, but it just doesn't seem right to make Waterford Crystal anywhere else!
Anyway, even though the tour and show room were closed, they did still have the employee gift shop open so they let us go in there and we got a couple of the last pieces made in Ireland - at employee prices!
The rest of our day was spent trying to find other things to do, and we ended up stumbling on a very cool castle ruin as well as a quaint little coastal town with an ancient stone tower built by monks and an amazing hiking trail that ran along cliffs by the ocean. It was a good day after all!
Company
Last week we had 15 people at the house and next week we'll have some more - plus we'll be going to some other folks houses as well. We love it!
We'll also have several visitors from the States in April (a friend and some family) so we're going to take the opportunity to act like tourists for a little while and get to know the area we're in. I'm sure we'll be posting pictures before too long!
Being American
We may be able to blend into an Irish crowd without too much trouble, but once we open our mouths there's no doubt about where we're from!
One lady heard me (Seth) talk and said: "where did you come from?" When I answered "America", she said "I knew that - what state?"
I also recently met some teens who'd been drinking and it wasn't long before they said "hey - you're from America!" which was quickly followed by: "are you a gangster?"
Usually, it's hard to tell exactly what people are thinking when they see (or hear) that we are American. Most folks are curious and tell us about relatives they have there or times they have visited. Others seem wary of us. The danger is that people could think that the message we present is American - something new and foreign - when in reality it came to Ireland first! Please pray for wisdom for us to be able to clearly communicate the good news without cultural differences becoming a barrier.
Troubles
The Irish refer to the historic violence in Northern Ireland as simply, "The Troubles". Some folks in America think they were all about the Catholic/Protestant divide, but there were actually strong political tensions as well - Northern Ireland is under British rule, and there were those who were willing to kill to end that rule. In fact, they are still willing to kill, as today's Irish Times reports:
Creche
Jessica got to keep the nursery at church today for the second time. It's not called "nursery", though - it's the "creche". Along the same lines, if someone is "nursing" a baby, that just means they are holding and loving the baby - not feeding it. So Seth can nurse babies now.
To give you a taste of our church here, last week the creche had children who spoke three different languages!
concert in Youghal
the "Youghal Baptist Community", which is the group we'll be working with, recently sponsored a concert in Youghal. click here to read more about it from the youghalonline website.
quotable
The Irish Times today included an article by a Polish immigrant who had been in Ireland since 2002 and is now about to move back to Poland. In her comments about Ireland, she talked about making friends:
"To befriend an Irish person is a different story. Coming from my culture, where you say what you think, it was a mighty challenge to understand what was really said in a conversation. Freud was right in claiming it was impossible to psychoanalyze the Irish. That barrier of polite, yet distant, friendliness seemed impregnable. To my delight, I found out that it was actually soluble in alcohol. In that way, I was privileged to enter 'an inner circle of trust' and gained a few good Irish friends."
Ireland's abortion ban
the Family Research Council and Alliance Defense Fund from the US will be defending Ireland's ban on abortion before the European Court of Human Rights. Please pray for them! Click here for the story.
also, check out our movies page for our latest video: "A Word from Daniel"
Ready, set...
this week we've mostly been getting ready for our upcoming "southern tour", since we're leaving on Friday. but since prep and packing aren't all that exciting to hear about, here's some interesting numbers I ran across in the Irish Times:
Europe in 50 years ...
... by the numbers
6.7 MILLION: The projected population of Ireland in 2060, up from an estimated 4.4 million.
77 MILLION: The projected population of the UK in 2060, making it the most populous country in Europe.
7 MILLION: The projected population decrease in Poland, which is expected to fall from 38 million at present to 31 million in 2060.
521 MILLION: The projected peak population for Europe in 2035, after which time it is expected to decline to 506 million by 2060.
30 PER CENT: The projected proportion of people aged 65 or more in 2060, up from 17 per cent at present.
48 YEARS: The projected median age for the EU population in 2060, up from 40 years at present.
Source: Eurostat report on population trends.
• The report is available at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
dollar comeback
the US dollar hit a six month high against the euro on Friday. Right now, one euro is worth about $1.47 dollars. Part of the reason for the dollar's gain is that many European Union countries are struggling economically. Ireland is one of them, as their "celtic tiger" boom of recent years has slowed to a "meow". But what's bad news for some of the Irish is good news for us, because our money is worth a bit more there now.
Daleville VBS
This week, God opened the door for us to help with another Vacation Bible School! This time it's at our Virginia home church, Daleville Baptist. Like we did at Southwood in Alabama, we get to present the missions project and this time the kids are raising money to help a church in Killarney, Ireland. We'll be paying for the printing of 5,000 cards that look like this:
and a team from another church in the States will be in Killarney soon to distribute them to the city of Killarney.
busy week in Ireland
This week is a busy one for our teammates in Ireland! There is a Sr. High camp going on that involves a lot of CrossWorld missionaries, backyard Bible clubs for kids, distribution of evangelistic magazines (called "4you", and also available on the internet), as well as various other ministries. I'm sure they would appreciate your prayers as they seek to spread the good news in Ireland!
188 countries represented in Ireland
Ireland is becoming more multi-cultural, and that fact is certainly effecting the churches we'll be working with. For the full story from the Irish Times, click here. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how churches in Ireland can respond to this trend!
Ireland shakes up the EU
Ireland recently voted down a far-reaching European Union treaty that had to be ratified by every country in the Union to be passed. Ireland was the only country that put the treaty to popular vote, and the only country (so far) to reject it. For more, check out this article from the NY Times.
Jessica: Older. Irish Economy: Slower
Jessica had a birthday yesterday and she may be older, but she's got a looong way to go before qualifying as "old". We had a great day celebrating her - Daniel and Seth are both very thankful that God made Jessica!
How The Irish Saved CivilizationHow The Irish Saved Civilization is a fun little book that describes how, after the fall of the Roman Empire, when much of western literature was lost in barbarian invasions, the Irish were copying all kinds of books in their quiet monestaries. Later, when the Irish began to send out groups of missionaries all over Europe, they brought their love of literature with them and helped in a big way to re-introduce the continent to their own philosophical history.
Seth has enjoyed reading this book recently and thought you should know that. He does, however, caution the reader to read carefully - not all of the author's opinions or even stated facts are entirely correct. Still, it's a fun (and short) read and makes a good point.
Videos
Some fellow CrossWorld missionary appointees (to France) have made some great short videos about ministry in western europe... check them out here:
Christmas Candles
Did you know that putting candles in the windows of your house is originally an Irish tradition? It is usually explained as meaning either that the home welcomes Joseph, Mary and Jesus (unlike Bethlehem) or that the home is Catholic and welcomes priests who preform mass. Why would you need a signal to welcome priests? Because there was a long time in Ireland's history when mass was not allowed by the English rulers of the island. Now the tradition has come to America, where it usually means something more like: "I'd rather put a few candles inside than climb on the roof with icicle lights".
The Darkness of Europe
I've been doing some research on the state of the evangelical church in Europe.
I already knew that Ireland is only about 1% evangelical, but it turns out that statistic is not uncommon for Europe. If you take Europe as a whole, it's still only about 1-2% evangelical. Some countries are as low as .04%.
To put things in perspective, North America is about 30% evangelical. The evangelical church is growing 50x faster in Africa than Europe. Even in Asia, the church is growing 43x faster than Europe! If you go by continents, Europe has the lowest percentage of evangelical Christians in the world.
Yet Europe is powerful global influence and many people from restricted nations are moving there in search of better jobs. A strong church in Europe could easily have a global reach! Pray for us as we seek God's wisdom and power to reach Europeans with the good news of God's grace!
Irish Statistics
Many say that Ireland is a Christian nation. The Irish Times just published the results of a Religious Knowledge Survey in Ireland. Interesting results. Check it out:
5% of 15-24 year olds could quote the 1st of the Ten Commandments.
32% didn't know where Jesus was born; 35% didn't know what we celebrate at Easter.
52% could name Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as authors of gospels, but only 38% knew that there are four gospels.
47% could name the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the members of the Trinity.
48% could name Genesis as the first book of the Bible.
According to the 2006 census, out of a total population of 4.2 million, 3.6 million claim to be Catholic (86%). The Church of Ireland is the next largest with 125,600 claiments (3%). Muslims came in as the third largest religious group, numbering 32,500 (.7%), which is probably slightly lower than the number of Evangelical Christians (estimated at approximately 1%). And yet, most young people don't even know the most basic facts about Christianity. Is this really a Christian nation?
In the car: "boot" = trunk "hooter" = horn "indicator" = turn signal "flyover" = overpass "windscreen" = windsheild "setdown" = drop off "collect" = pick up "top-up" = fill up "petrol" = gas
At the table: "serviette" = napkin "cutlery" = silverwear "rashers" = bacon
Other stuff: "lads" = young people (guys or girls) "hoover" = vacuum "trolly bay" = shopping cart return "knackered" = tired "trousers" = pants "pants" = underwear "puffed" = out of breath "craic" (pronounced: crack) = fun
that's a bit of what we learned, anyway. Have craic!
Youghal come back now...
I am updating this from Washington DC - we stayed here overnight so we wouldn't have to arrive home at 1 in the morning (which would feel like 5am to us). Thursday (22nd) we spent with the Tromsness' and Jessie finding out about what they do there. They are partnered with a church in Middleton, east of Cork (planted by Cork Baptist Church, just like the Douglas church). The Middleton church is looking to start a new church in Youghal. Besides the Tromsness' and Jessie, there is a family from Dublin that is also helping with this work. They have a youth group started and a weekly radio program, as well as other outreaches. However, the only way to really see things happen here is through relationships - which takes time. Pray that God will open doors for the Gospel there!
Tenerife to Cork to Youghal
We have been traveling a lot lately, so it's been hard to update. Here's the highlights: Sunday and Monday (18-19th) we were in Tenerife - Sunday we went to two different churches and heard a couple sermons in Spanish... it was hard to fill in the blanks on the note sheet. We also went to lunch with a Spanish pastor and his family, which was very tasty (even the rabbit), but conversation was difficult. On Monday we we went to the university in La Laguna and looked around. There is a huge opportunity there for people to work with students (who are eager to practice their English). The Sells are partnering with a church in another city to plant a church in La Laguna, and are working on finding a place to meet right now. Monday was Jessie's birthday, and the Sells gave her a surprise party! But most of the day we spent in a less celebratory way - flying back to Ireland. Eventually we did get to Cork and stayed the night at the Freeces and Tuesday we met the rest of the Cork team (three families) and heard about their ministry. They partnered with Cork Baptist Church to plant a church in Douglas (just south of Cork) and they are now working on developing a plan for the Douglas church to plant a new church somewhere else. Today (Wednesday, 21st) we are in Youghal with the Tromsness'. Jessie is at a ladies Bible study right now and tonight we're going to another meeting. Thank you for your prayers, we are learning tons about what ministry here is like!
Killarney, Part II
Wednesday (14th) we got to go to the midweek service of Grace Fellowship in Killarney. They meet at Patrick's farm house, and there were 11 people there (including us and the missionary couple). This is the only Evangelical church for an hour in any direction. Wednesday night is very informal, and we had a great time sharing our testimonies and teaching from Psalm 37. The people love to talk, and we got into some fabulous (they would say "brilliant") discussions. and had some great tea, too.
Killarney
On Monday (12th) the Nickel’s drove us down to Killarney, which is in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. There are mountains and lakes and sheep – and lots of tourists. There is a beautiful state park that has an old castle, an abbey and some gigantic old houses that we have walked by. All of this is very close to where the CrossWorld missionaries in Killarney, the Scheleen’s, live. Lest you think they are too much at ease in the Lord’s work, I should let you know that it rains all the time here – in February there were 58 hours of sunlight the whole month! The weather people say things like “there will be rain clearing to showers” and everyone just gets wet. The only Evangelical fellowship in Killarney is tiny. They meet in the “cultural centre” downtown, which is a small building used for dancing and music lessons, alcoholics anonymous, and whoever else wants to pay to meet there. The Scheleen’s are new to this church, and their primary ministry now is to teach and to build relationships both with the people in the church and in their new community. They are currently taking Irish sign language classes because there are several deaf people in the church, and there are some people in the class who are beginning to express interest in the church. If we were to come and help at the church in Killarney, we would probably share in the teaching and develop ministries that would reach out to the younger population in the area. Tomorrow we will get a taste of teaching, because we are giving our testimonies and leading a Bible discussion for their Wednesday night service – pray for us to be an encouragement! Today (13th) we met Patrick, the man whose house (on a farm) the church meets at on Wednesday nights. He came over to the Scheleen’s to help them cut down a large tree that started to fall over in the last storm – so our morning was spent felling trees in the backyard and chatting around tea (you can’t come over to someone’s house and not have tea). At least we didn’t have it six times today.
Limerick
Sunday (11th) we got a taste of the work around Limerick. It tasted like tea. We had tea (always with some kind of food) six times! Breakfast with the Nickels, then at church we had tea between communion and the service. The church (which is a half hour from Limerick in Charleville) meets early for communion every Sunday, then tea, then the service. The Nickels (the only CrossWorld folks in Limerick) are working with the church in Charleville because they do not have enough help (and barely any Christians) to start a church in Limerick (yet). Right now they focus on street evangelism, door-to-door work, and one-on-one discipling of both believers and non-believers who are willing to meet and talk about the Bible. They also have kids clubs all year, but especially in the summer. The church in Charleville was about 30 strong this Sunday with a family from Brazil, a family from Slovakia, and a good number of Irish women, but very few Irish men. The Nickels work with a missionary couple from Canada and another couple from Northern Ireland. The three men take turns (monthly) preaching on Sundays, teaching on Tuesday nights (Bible study), and leading the songs on Sundays. The couple from Northern Ireland had us over after lunch at the Nickels (tea number three and four) and we had a great time with them. They have a two-year-old girl and moved the Ireland when she was 10 months old, so they were eager to share with us about how God has provided for them and what it takes to get settled in Ireland with a family. We went with them to the evening service where the church at Charleville and another church about 30 minutes from them combined. We had tea again (number five) at church, then went to the house of a man who was recently saved after 50 years in the Catholic Church. He showed us real Irish hospitality, which included tea (number six), sandwiches, and huge homemade apple tarts. Needless to say, our taste of Ireland was… filling!
Safe (and adventuresome) Trip
On Friday (9th) we drove to Washington, had lunch with Jessie's old roomate Melissa, then flew to Boston. We discovered that we had a problem: Jessica's name on her passport was her maiden name, and the tickets said "Lewis". In order to make sure we could get through customs, Jessica's manager at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea ran to our house (which he had never been to before), found our marriage certificate, and faxed it to us in Washington just minutes before our plane left. Because of that one piece of paper, our lives in Boston were much easier, and we made it the rest of the way without any problems! We are now in Limerick with the Nickel's (CrossWorld missionaries in Ireland for 20+ years). This morning (10th), we went in to the city market, where there are people selling all kinds of things on the street!
