Those are some of the beautiful flowers in Mount Usher Gardens in Wicklow, where I went with a woman named Justine, from the community here, and her 4 boys. It wasn't the greatest weather, but for Ireland it wasn't bad, considering it only sprinkled on us for a total of about 10 minutes. We had a great time walking around and enjoying the natural beauty of the park. A lot of the pretty flowers had already gone away for the summer, but I was thrilled to get the pictures that I did. :) Thanks Justine for yet another wonderful outing! :)
The "mini-camp" that I ran for the younger groups in the youth programme a couple weeks ago went really well! For three afternoons I did some activities with the 7-9ish year olds and they loved it! I got a lot of help from some of the older kids in the youth programme as well, so that was extremely helpful! Check out some of the pictures:
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| Playing some games outside with the kids |
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| The kids were hard at work on the posters we were making for On Holiday 3 coming up in Belgium! Well...most of them... |
The kids had a great time over the 3 days and I loved spending time with them. I didn't get to work with this age group much during my GAP year, so it was nice to get to know some of the kids.
The next event in July was the young adult camp in Avoca. There were a total of 36 of us that went, and we spent a week studying the book of Philippians and just having fun together. The theme of the week was joy, and I felt SO filled with joy throughout the course of the week. We had some really great discussions in small groups, some wonderful self-reflection times, and really great worship times every morning and evening (okay...I'm a bit biased because I was on the worship team...but I actually heard from the youth that they enjoyed the worship times!). We had a couple of really good speakers too. One of them, Damian, was so very inspiring to me! The love of Jesus was practically jumping out of his skin. Everything about him...his smile, his positive attitude, the way he carried himself...was just all Jesus. When he finished sharing some really powerful personal stories with us, I just sat there...stunned. It was like someone had just knocked the wind out of me. I honestly couldn't move, or even really speak. I just sat there and tears started coming to my eyes. Tears and a big fat smile. I was so overwhelmed by the incredible joy of Jesus Christ. It felt like the scripture verse about the "cup overflowing" (Psalm 23) was actually happening with my heart. That's the best way I can describe it. It was like the Lord was just pouring joy upon joy into my little heart and it was overflowing! Mmmm...I really loved that feeling. Another thing I enjoyed about the young adult camp was working with Hugh, the young adult group leader. We ended up getting along really well, despite the fact that his personality is quite different than mine. It was a good learning experience for me...I went through an entire week without worrying about "what's happening next?" or "what's happening tomorrow?". Sure I asked those questions, but I didn't ever feel worried about them. You might be thinking, "What kind of camp doesn't have a schedule?" The simple answer: a camp run by Hugh. You might also be thinking, "Well...isn't that kind of unproductive?" The answer: nope! We kind of went with the flow of how things were going with the young adults...how they were responding to the talks, how the small group discussions were going, what they needed to hear, etc. This was a completely new approach to me, but it worked really well! Plus it pushed me out of my comfort zone quite a bit, which is what a GAP year is all about. :) Another highlight of camp was the cooking. I loved it when my service team was on for cooking the meals. One night we had planned to make spaghetti bolognese, but when Hugh and I were in Tesco buying some of the food, the Mexican section caught my eye. Living in Ireland you don't get much Mexican food...and I forgot how much I really like it...and crave it. When I saw the Mexican food section in Tesco, all I could think of was enchiladas. I've made them for the Mahonys a couple times before and they were a pretty big hit. Hugh seemed to think it was a good idea for camp...plus it was something different. So into the trolley went the enchilada sauce, the tortillas, and the refried beans. Oh yes! :) The enchiladas that my team made that night were a HUGE hit among the young adults. Everyone was talking about how good they were and I couldn't help but feel proud of myself for making them (and directing my team helping me in the kitchen). I wish I would have gotten some pictures of them, but I guess I was just too excited. Enjoy the other pictures from camp though! :)
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| This is Densmore Lodge, where we stayed |
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| The beautiful view from the lodge! |
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| Me with some of the young adults |
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| All the crazy young adults diving into the ice cold water! |
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| Me talking to Hugh about something... |
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| Small group time! |
The week at camp was full of all kinds of crazy activities...a mud slide, a swing over one of the dirtiest, smelliest rivers, a game involving people being covered with flour and eggs, a slack line (like a tightrope), and much more. Although it probably goes without saying, I didn't participate in any of these things...except the slack line. But NOT when they stretched it across the pool! That was a bit too much for me. I enjoyed watching everyone be crazy though...that was fun in its own way. :)
The day after we got back from camp we had a Community BBQ, which was really nice. It was nice to see everyone from camp in fresh, clean clothes! The weather was perfect for it too...not too hot, not too cold. And no rain! :) Here are a few pictures, photo credit to Caoimhe! :)
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| Me with some friends Lidia and Stephen, and my host siblings Paul and Ellen! :) |
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| Me with Anthony, one of the Clarke twins |
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| With some of the girls from Community/camp... Naomi, Almu, and Ciara |
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| Me with Cathy. Love her! |
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| Everyone kept saying Almu and I looked alike... I don't really see it though. Maybe the hair? |
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| Me with one of the cutest babies ever...John Paul, my friend Pat's baby |
I'll be in Belgium for two weeks...the first of which is a week of Bible study, training, and formation with other 17-25 year olds from all over Europe. I'm leading a morning meditation for the first morning (Saturday), so if you could please say a prayer for me that that goes well I'd really appreciate it! I'm also leading a women's small group that week, so please pray for a fruitful group and that we all get along well. :) The second week in Belgium is called On Holiday, where I'll basically be on vacation with families from all over Europe (and a few randomers from the States!). I have a few roles during this, including leading a cottage of five 17-25 year old women, but mostly I'll be "on holiday" myself. I'm really looking forward to seeing Belgium and having fun with some of my international friends that I've met over the course of my GAP year, plus meeting some new ones!
When I get back from On Holiday I have exactly 8 days left before I go back home to Michigan. Ahh! How crazy is that?! I'm starting to miss Ireland already...
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