Special Delivery

I am really excited to share with you all a pretty amazing story about what the Lord has just done in my life.


On Monday when Chrissy and I went to Dundrum Shopping Centre, we heard a pretty cool song playing in one of the shops.  We were both humming along and snapping our fingers to the music...even dancing a little bit.  It was one of those feel-good songs that just makes you happy...you know?  Peppy, light...just...happy.  Anyway, the only words we could pick up were "la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la, la-la"...we figured that'd be a little difficult to search for on YouTube, so I decided to see if one of the store workers knew the song.  The song ended before I got to ask one of the ladies, but I asked her anyway if she knew who sang the song that had been playing.  You know what she told me?  "Oh, I wasn't listening."  I was a bit disappointed but not really surprised.   I thought, "Oh well."  Chrissy and I left the shop and continued humming the "la-la-la-la" tune that was still stuck in our heads.


I got back to the Mahony's house and later Monday evening I tried searching for the song.  I thought maybe it'd be on the shop's website if they had a music playlist or something.  They didn't.  I gave up rather quickly because I didn't know any words besides "la-la-la-la".  I figured if I was meant to figure out who sang the song, I'd hear it again someday.


Last night, three nights after the whole song-incident, I was checking my email and saw that I had an email from NoiseTrade, a website where I frequently find new (and free!) music.  The email was letting me know that Matt Wertz, a favorite artist of mine, had uploaded some music on NoiseTrade.  I was excited to be getting some of his music for free, so I clicked the link in the email.  Immediately after I clicked the link, a song started to play.  Not just any song though...the "la-la-la-la" song!  I'm not kidding.  That peppy, catchy, happy tune started playing through my speakers and my eyes popped out and my jaw dropped.  I looked across the table at Chrissy, who had a similar reaction to the music.  She goes, "Where did that come from?"  I just started laughing and said, "I don't know!  It was just in my email!"  Chrissy didn't understand so I began to explain.  Except I didn't really understand it, let alone did I know how to explain it.  It was no coincidence.  It's like God special-delivered this song to my email inbox because He knew it made me happy and I wanted to hear it.  I was so delighted...not only because I now could listen to the song, but also because it's sung by one of my favorite artists and I didn't even know it!  Here's a link to the song, because I bet after all that you want to hear it.  :)  Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9df1ql8ImhQ.  Don't mind the misspelling of "Wertz" in the beginning of the video.  (and if that link doesn't work, copy and paste it into your browser)


 I hope all my friends and family back home had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration.  I did get a chance to celebrate here with a couple of different families, and it was really nice.  Chrissy and I made the mashed potatoes and all the rest of the food was delicious!

  

In addition to enjoying a tasty Thanksgiving meal and good fellowship with the Johnson and Ascough families, I also got to join in (via Skype) on my family's Thanksgiving celebration.  Most of my mom's side of the family was there, so I got to see my parents, my brother Joel, my aunt Julie and her two kids, Julie's boyfriend and his kids, my Uncle Mark, and my grandparents.  I took some pictures of my little cousins Julian and Nolan on Skype...they were being so silly!  It was great to see them.  :)

this is Julian

and this is Nolan

If I could only pinch their little cheeks on Skype....

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Ireland, seeing my family on Skype, and finding that "la-la-la-la" song specially delivered from the Lord to my email inbox made for an especially wonderful day.  "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."  :)

Now for a couple more pictures from my birthday celebration at Spirit Radio.  This week has been my birthday WEEK!  :)

The birthday cake that Anne brought in for me :)

Some of the wonderful Spirit Radio gang 

(Carole, Chrissy, Rob, Aine, Garvin, Anne, Jim, me, and David)

The Three Musketeers.  Love these guys!  

(David and Jim)

Okay now I'm really done.  I apologize for so many posts in one week!

Continued Birthday Blessings...and a Pretty City

I know I just updated, but I had to upload some more pictures!  :)  Chrissy and I had the day after my birthday "off-work", so we went on a little shopping adventure to Dundrum Shopping Centre, the largest shopping centre in Ireland!  

Here's me making a pretty typical "Chrissy face"...

...and here's Chrissy making a typical "Rachel face"...

Chrissy treated me to ice cream, new lip gloss, and a cute fushia-ish cardigan.  What a nice GAP roomie/friend/sister I have.  :)  Thanks Chrissy for making my birthday special and for extending it an extra day!

Our super yummy ice cream from Rainbows in Dundrum.

I loved the Dundrum Christmas decorations!

So pretty and so Christmas-y!

I thought the sky looked AWESOME on the way back from Dundrum!  

Had to document it.  :)

A beautiful birthday bracelet from Justine, a woman in community.  She invited Chrissy and I over for dinner after our shopping adventure.  We had a lovely time.  :)

Justine also made us strawberry daiquiris...my favorite!  They were delicious!

Me at Justine's with my wonderful ice cream cakes.  Mmm!

Here's a close-up of the mint chocolate ice cream cake.  Pretty huh?  

Not too pretty to eat though.  I had two slices.  :)

Today Chrissy and I were sent out to the Dublin City Centre for Rob, the CEO of Spirit Radio.  He asked us to post some fliers advertising the latest Spirit Radio Deal (10 trips to the gym for 10 Euro).  Needless to say, we got a little distracted by all the pretty lights in town...

Beautiful Dublin in November :)  Love this city.

Christmas time is here!

Gorgeous Grafton Street :)

Rob & Anne, if you're reading this, don't worry...we DID post some fliers!  :)

That's all for now.  Just a quick photo-update.  I hope you all are doing well wherever you are.  I love and miss all my family and friends and supporters back home!  I pray for you every day and constantly thank God for your support.  I have a super busy week ahead of me, so please continue praying for peace and strength for me.  Thanks!

Belfast, Bray, and Birthday Blessings

Oh my goodness, it's been far too long since my last update!  I do apologize for the delay.  Things have gotten so busy here, and Chrissy and I were in Belfast, Northern Ireland all last week helping out with a youth organisation called Youth Initiatives (YI).  They celebrated their 20th anniversary and had a big conference on Thursday with a bunch of youth workers from all over Northern Ireland.  Chrissy and I did a lot of prep work for that.  We printed name tags for everyone, photocopied handouts and brochures, and stuffed folders.  It was a lot of little tasks, but it felt good to be able to lighten the load for some of the YI staff.  The conference went very well and there was a show afterwards by a group called Crosslinks.  Crosslinks is, according to their website, "a cross-community, cross-cultural arts-based youth project that seeks to break down barriers and address misconceptions pertaining to race, faith, culture, and community."  They're a group of 14-18 year olds that meet once a week in Belfast and do music, dance, and drama workshops.  We saw their show once on Thursday night after the conference, and a second time on Friday night after the YI 20th anniversary dinner.  It was really nice to kick back and relax and see a good performance after a busy week.  Oh--I almost forgot!  In Belfast there's a place called Clements!  :)  It's a little coffee shop and cafe.  I was so excited to see it, I just had to get my picture taken by the sign!

Pretttyyyy cool.  :)

Last night Chrissy and I had dinner at the Fletcher family (from the Community of Nazareth)'s house.  We had a delicious meal, a wonnnderful ice cream cake (with a few candles for my birthday), and some seriously good hot chocolate made with the best Belgian chocolate.  Mmmm!  We also enjoyed getting to know the family a little bit better and laughing over a silly game of Munchkins.  Unfortunately I was a bit too tired from our trip to Belfast to fully participate.  It was still fun though.  Thanks Ciaran and Els for hosting us and for showing us the silly side of your family!  :)


I'm nearing the end of a 30-day devotional challenge called Thirsty.  I mentioned it a short while back...it's a really great book that I picked up at a Christian book store here, and it's been a great part of my personal prayer life for the past couple of weeks.  I really love the writing prompts...they've given me some really interesting things to write about in my journal.  One day it asked me to list some people who I knew that didn't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and to then write down ways I could personally influence their lives.  This made me really think about the people I've come across or become friends with, or even people in my own family, and it challenged me to think of ways I could bring them closer to Christ...even if that meant just loving them.  The prayer prompt was asking God to reveal people to me who need to know His love and hear His message.  I prayed that God would help me to pray for those I don't know that need to know Him...that through my prayers they would come to a revelation of God and the plan He has for their life.    I'm on day 25 now, so I only have 5 days left.  I wish the challenge was longer than 30 days, because I've really enjoyed it.  I've had some sweet conversations with the Lord and He's revealed some great stuff to me.


Going backwards in time a little bit---last weekend (on Friday 11-11-11) we were invited to a wedding for Paddy & Michelle, a couple in the Community of Nazareth.  Their wedding was really nice and I loved the church we were in!  Here's a picture:

Holy Trinity Church in Ratoath, Ireland

Gorgeous, huh?

There's the bride and groom...Michelle and Paddy :)

I had a blast at the reception...I hadn't danced in a while, so I danced the whole time and loved it.  The party went on quite a long time...much longer than American weddings, for sure!  We left the place at about 1am when the live band ended their set, but the dj was just getting started as we walked out the door.  I couldn't believe it!  I'm glad I got to experience an Irish wedding.  :)

Chrissy and I had the Saturday after the wedding off, so we went out to do a little sight-seeing.  We went to a place called Bray Head and did a cliff walk.  Here are some pictures from our adventure (more on Facebook)...

Bray Head

A view from our cliff walk

We didn't quite make it to the top, but this was close enough...

What a pretty sky on the way back down!  :)

Okay...now back to present-time.  My 23rd birthday was today (November 20th), and although it was wonderful, it was a little sad.  Last night just after midnight, it struck me that it was my birthday and I wasn't home with all my friends and family.  I teared up a little bit, but Chrissy came to the rescue and read me my favorite childhood book, Lily Pig's Book of Colors (which of course I brought here with me!).  This cheered me up significantly...it's amazing what a silly story can do.  I think Chrissy's expert narrative skills did the trick.  :)  Anyway, today was really nice.  I got to help with music ministry at the community prayer meeting this afternoon, so that was fun.  Playing guitar and singing for worship is one of my favorite things to do, so I was really blessed with the opportunity to do it on my birthday.  After the prayer meeting a couple of girls (the only two near my age) took me out for ice cream at a place called "Bits & Pizzas".  I got a realllly yummy chocolate sundae:

Soooo good!

Leah, me, and Rachel at Bits & Pizzas :)  Thanks ladies for making my birthday special!

When I got home, Peter and Ciara had prepared a delicious dinner per my request.  I asked for chicken with pesto, and mashed potatoes.  They made just that and it was wonderful.  It was really nice to have everyone home for dinner as well.  

Leanne, me, Stephen, Joe, Paul, Ellen, Chrissy, and Ciara

We had to have one with Peter too!  Aren't we a good-looking family?

Some of them made me birthday cards, and I got a couple of gifts from Ellen and Peter & Ciara, so it was really nice.  During dessert time, they did the "Mahony family birthday tradition" of honouring, and they all went around the table and said something to honour me.  It was nice to hear such kind things.  :)

A scrumptious chocolate cake for dessert!  Thanks Ciara!

Thanks all for reading this awfully long post!  Some more thank-you's are in order:  Thanks for all the birthday blessings I received via Facebook or email, thank you to everyone here in Ireland who participated in making my birthday special, and thanks for the lovely Skype calls I had this evening with Jennifer & Sittie, my parents, brother, & grandparents, and my "sister" Ashley.  You all made my evening so special!

Coming up:

Day off "work" with Chrissy tomorrow (Mon)

Irish-American Thanksgiving Celebration with the Johnson and Ascough families (Thurs)

Irish-American Thanksgiving Celebration with the Mahonys (Sat)

Dromantine Retreat

I got back yesterday afternoon from a lovely retreat at Dromantine in Northern Ireland.  It was a nice relaxing weekend, and I got to know some of the people in community a bit better.  Here's some pictures!

I took this one on the way up to Dromantine.  The sky was beautiful!

We each had our own room at the retreat!  It was nice, besides the fact that my room was freezing cold!

There's Chrissy and I with our matching braids.  I thought we should be twin GAPpers.  :)

This was the view out the front door of the retreat centre on Saturday morning...gorgeous!

This is the retreat/conference centre

Pretty cool looking place!

Now that's what I call Ireland...   :)

Look at that pretty orange sun!

We dressed up for the Lord's Day Meal on Saturday night.  

Thanks to Rachel M, Chrissy and I both had nice dresses to wear.  :)

Thanks to you all for your prayers for me over the weekend!  It was a great retreat and it was very relaxing.  I'll post more of an update soon.

Thirsty

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more..." (A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God).


I'm still going strong and walking in the light of Christ after the YES retreat.  It seemed to really put some spring in my step...and in my prayer life.  One thing that's been a key factor in staying strong is spending about 45 minutes to an hour every day in prayer.  I've been following a 30-day devotional challenge called Thirsty that I picked up at a Christian bookstore here.  I'm into the second week now, and I'm really loving it.  Each day has a short passage of scripture to read, some writing prompts, some thoughts for prayer, and then a Christian song to look up and listen to.  Thankfully the song is the last bit, so it's not too big of a deal when I get distracted while looking up the song on YouTube.  :)  The first week of the challenge was about God's faithfulness.  Two of my favorite scriptures in this section were Psalm 89:8 ("You are mighty, O Lord, and Your faithfulness surrounds You.") and Proverbs 3:3 ("Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.").  I've learned that God is always faithful, even when times are hard and it seems like He's not around.  This next week in the Thirsty challenge is about the peace of God.  God is challenging me to think about all of the worldly things I turn to to find peace...and then remember that only in Him can I find true peace.


Another thing that God has been doing in my life is speaking to me in themes.  The first theme that God used (and is still using) is spiritual thirst.  At first I noticed a dry, scratchy feeling in my throat and a little cough.  I started to drink more water, and naturally those things went away.  I think the Lord was trying to teach me about physical thirst first before He moved on to the much deeper spiritual thirst.  Aside from the 30-day challenge devotional I mentioned above (Thirsty), God has been teaching me about this concept of spiritual thirst in several other ways.  I got an email notification from the Christian bookstore back home telling me that Casting Crowns has released a new album (it hasn't come out here yet, but I was able to buy it on iTunes).  The title of the album is "Come to the Well".  Coincidence?  I think not  "There is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven"  (Ecclesiastes 3).  One of the songs on the new Casting Crowns album struck my heart pretty deeply.  It's called The Well (look it up on YouTube!)  I love the lyrics...and I love the idea that Jesus wants us to leave everything behind before we come to Him to be filled.  He wants us just as we are...without our "pursuit of perfection", our "fear of rejection", our "temporary pleasures", our "dried up empty religion", our "rusty chains of addiction", or our "guilt that weighs us down".  He just wants us to come to Him and let Him fill us up and quench our thirst.  


As far as Spirit Radio goes, I spent my days last week mailing out thank-you letters and prizes to those who supported us during our pledge drive.  This was quite a task, because not all 180 people got the same letter.  Some made a once-off donation, so they simply received a thank-you letter (and a prize if they won one).  Others made a monthly pledge, so we had to mail them a slightly different letter as well as a standing order form to fill out.  My "boss" Anne and I spent an entire day doing this...and we still didn't finish.  I tried to keep in mind that it was a good thing that we had so many letters to send out---that means there are so many people supporting us!  I think I mentioned this before, but I really want to stress how blessed I am to be a part of Spirit Radio.  First of all, it's a great way to reach out to so many people throughout Ireland.  Another reason I love it is because of the people I work with.  The CEO and his wife are part of the Community of Nazareth, so I know them pretty well.  I'm still getting to know the others, but I can already see that they're very passionate Christians.  Just about every conversation I have with someone at Spirit Radio involves our faith---what God's been speaking to us, what He's doing in our lives, etc.  Plus we, as staff, gather together in the board room a few times a week for prayer and worship.  I love love LOVE that I am part of a workplace that prays together!  One of the men, David, invited me to hear him preach at his church this past Sunday.  It was only a short ride away on the Luas (the light rail tram), and I really had a great time.  When I walked in I was immediately greeted by a young woman named Krista, a student from the States (Oregon) who is staying with David and his family.  She was very friendly and we got carried away in conversation right away.  :)  David's talk during the church service was really great.  He talked about how God wants to draw us close to Him first before we can reach out and share His word with others.  This "drawing closer" is referred to as intimacy...and we can obtain that by putting to death our worldly lives and living instead for God and the things of heaven.  David ended his talk by quoting Psalm 118:  "This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it."  He emphasized that this is the day that the Lord has made.  Today is the day.  If we wait for tomorrow, we miss our today.  Mmm...pretty solid stuff.


Last Friday I got to spend some time with Pat (and his wife and kids), Oonagh (Pat's sister), and Mary (a young woman from Oonagh's Christian community in Scotland).  Chrissy and I met Pat and Oonagh a short while back when we helped them run some day-retreats in an all-girls school.  I was invited over to Pat's house for dinner on Friday night and it was so wonderful to meet his wife and three children (plus one on the way!).  We enjoyed fish & chips and some lively conversations with the kids during dinner.  They are adorable.  :)  When the kids went to bed shortly after, we watched a movie.  We settled for Legally Blonde, and all five of us huddled around Pat's laptop to watch it (he doesn't have a TV).  He made loads of microwave popcorn, and we had some fizzy (pop/soda) and sweets (candy) as well.  It was just like being in a movie theater (minus the laptop, of course)!


I didn't dress up for Halloween this year, but I did enjoy seeing my host family all dressed up.  They really got into their costumes!  Here's a picture of all 5 of them:

From left to right:  Joe, Leanne, Paul, Stephen, and Ellen.

Joe dressed up as Piri Weepu (click for a picture), a New Zealand rugby player.  Leanne is Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Paul is an army man, Stephen is James Bond, and Ellen is Snow White.  

I apologize for such a long post.  Thanks for reading though!  An extra big THANK YOU to all of my supporters back home.  Without you I would not be here in Ireland experiencing God's presence so deeply and sharing it with others.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your financial support and prayers!  Please say an extra prayer for me this weekend as I am going to Dromantine (http://www.dromantineconference.com/gallery.php) for a Community retreat.  I am looking forward to some rich blessings and some fellowship with the others in Community.  God bless you all!

I said YES

"I'm afraid of losing friends.  Of giving up something that I don't want to give up.  Of being uncomfortable.  Of surrendering my time to Him.  Of not being in control.  I'm afraid of not doing what I want.  Of rejection by my peers.  Of not being 'enough'.  Of letting God take control."

These are just a few of the things that were said by the 14-16 year olds at the YES retreat this past weekend in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland.  It was so amazing to hear these things being spoken so truthfully and wholeheartedly.

The YES retreat is for 14-16 year old kids in the Sword of the Spirit communities.  'YES' stands for Youth Equipped to Stand.  It is a weekend-long opportunity for 14-16 year olds to get away, get a chance to meet kids their age from the other communities, and most importantly, say "Yes" to Christ.  The YES retreat happens annually in the United States (and I think other regions as well?), but this was the first YES retreat in the European region.  I was so blessed with the opportunity to be on the planning team (as well as the worship team) for this event.  It was cool to be a part of the first European YES retreat and be with teens from Ireland (Dublin), Northern Ireland (Belfast), England (London), Scotland (Glasgow), and Belgium.  It was also cool to hear all of their different accents...and finally feel like I'm not the only one with a "weird" accent.  :)  I think my favorite so far is the Glasgow accent...especially the way they say "girls".

Anyway, it was the second day of the retreat and Andy, the MC, was talking about some things that hold us back when giving our lives (saying "Yes") to Christ.  Fear, shame, pride, and guilt were the four main points he talked about.  These are just some of the things that keep us from giving our all to Christ...things that keep us from saying "Yes" to Him.  When Andy talked about fear, he gave the kids an opportunity to speak up about some of the fears that they had.  I don't know what my expectations were after Andy said that.  Would anyone have the boldness to say anything?  Would the kids really be honest about their fears?  Would there just be a long silence during this time?  Ha!  How dare I put limits on God like that.  These kids had so much to say during this time.  They were so honest that it nearly brought me to tears.  (Read the quotes at the beginning of this post again.)  The next thing that Andy talked about was shame.  Then pride.  And then guilt.  He gave the kids an opportunity to stand up (topic by topic) if they were experiencing any of these things.  I was impressed by the number of teens that were humble enough to stand up and admit that they were burdened by these things.  We all then layed hands on those who stood up and prayed for them.  We prayed that God would release them from all of these burdens that they had and that they would then be free to be able to say "Yes" to Christ.  What an awesome experience this was.

We also had a time of worship on the second night of the retreat, and oh my goodness...it was powerful.  The Holy Spirit was so present among these teens and it was evident in the way that they were worshipping.  And praying.  And smiling.  And crying.   I was amazed at the way these teens were so expressive in their worship...lifting their hands, jumping for joy, and even singing in the Spirit.  It was a drastic change from the way some of them were worshipping on the first night of the retreat.  The team (including myself) was available in the back of the room during this time to pray with those who needed prayer.  So many of the teens came to us to receive prayer and I was so amazed at the way God spoke through us as a team to touch their hearts.  For me, not having much experience (or confidence, rather) in praying with/over people didn't seem to matter at all.  The Holy Spirit took the reins and I believe that He led me in exactly the right things to say to each of them.  I had an especially cool experience praying over and talking to one girl in particular.  She expressed the need for prayer for strength, and quite a few difficult issues came up in what she said.  She talked to me about not feeling as though she had any support from anyone and that it was hard for her to stand up in her faith.  I had no idea what to say to her, but I found myself speaking words of wisdom and encouragement.  I know they came from the Lord because, like I said, I had no idea what to say to her.  She took what I said pretty well and I felt as though we established a bit of a connection.  I now feel this deep desire to get to know her better and develop a sisterly relationship with her.  Please keep her in your prayers and pray for the potential relationship we may have.

Yesterday morning, on the last day of the retreat, we got into our small groups and I co-led a discussion about the things that the girls had said "Yes" to over the weekend.  "Yes" to handing their control over to God, "Yes" to letting Him be the center of their lives, "Yes" to telling others about Him...and just an overall "Yes" to Christ.  After that the kids had an opportunity to share their experiences from the weekend.  They shared a bit about what their expectations were before the retreat, and how God changed their hearts and minds during the retreat.  This was so inspiring to me...their honest and heartfelt testimonies nearly brought me to tears again, the way it did when they voiced their fears towards the beginning of the retreat.  Here are some of the things that they said:

• "I came to this retreat not expecting anything, but I think last night" [the prayer/worship night] "is going to change my life.  It was one of the most profound experiences I have ever had."
• "I felt so joyful and encouraged here."
• "I am just a normal kid going to school in London, and before this retreat I was struggling with standing up for God.  I was very reluctant to evangelise, even when those around me were saying things about God that were not very nice.  I took some notes this weekend about being bold and courageous, and hopefully I can go back home and change some of my classmates."
• "I came to this retreat not knowing anyone and now I've made some friends for life."
• "This retreat exceeded my expectations by three times over."
• "I got all the words that I needed to hear...everything I needed encouragement for."
• "I came thinking I was fine in my faith, but God really surprised me this weekend.  He taught me about courage and about expecting more from Him."
• "I had been struggling with some things, but this retreat really changed me."
• "I thought I was the only one my age who believed in God...now I see there are so many more."

Amen!  I am in utter amazement of the way the Lord worked this weekend through me, the rest of the YES retreat team, and through all of the teens that attended the retreat.  It was such a great blessing to be a part of the first European region YES retreat and to be a part of changing so many lives...and having mine changed as well!  Praise be to God.  Through Him all blessings flow.  I want to end with the chorus of a song that we sang this weekend...

"Alleluia our King!  Glory to God, we call on Your name.  Give us strength for the fight.  Build us up by Your power.  Make us one in Your name.  Your kingdom come!"

(that was the view from the front of An Cuan, the retreat house in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland)

Good Things are Happening

My host brother Paul had his Debs (like Prom) this week

That's all the kids in my host family plus Paul's date.  :)

From left to right, there's Stephen, Joseph, Paul, Niamh, Ellen, and Leanne (in front)

The Debs is a pretty big deal here.  The kids don't have a Homecoming Dance or Spring Fling dance every year like most Americans in high school do.  They just have the Debs at the end of their last year of secondary school.  Some of the family came over to take pictures of/with Paul, and he also had several group pictures taken at a couple other houses.  It was pretty fun to see all the girls in their pretty dresses!

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly.  Chrissy and I worked hard at Spirit Radio on Wednesday and Thursday...and I had a pretty cool project to work on.  I got to read through a bunch of listener feedback for the radio station and put it into a booklet to be read on-air throughout the day.  It was such a blessing to read all the positive things that people said.  Here are a few of my favorites:

“I love Spirit Radio. I have been through some rough times lately - and found Spirit Radio so uplifting." 

"We are really enjoying the station. The car doesn't work if Spirit Radio is not on!" 

"I was in UHG (Galway) one morning for an M.R.I. The machine can be very noisy and distressing so they put a pair of headphones on me...with Spirit Radio piped through!  I was amazed! Apparently with all the special linings they have around that room, you're the only radio station that can get through!  Go Spirit Radio!”     

I loved reading that last one...it's pretty cool that God has such interesting ways of reaching out to people...like blocking out all the other radio stations except Spirit Radio!  :)  Anyway, I really enjoyed working on this project.  It was encouraging to read about how Spirit Radio has touched not one, not two, but several people's lives throughout Ireland - and throughout the world!  There was some positive feedback from listeners in the United States (via the "Listen Online" feature) too!  I am greatly blessed with the opportunity to help out at Spirit Radio and be a part of touching people's lives.  I think this may be the largest form of evangelizing (as in - reaching out to the most people) that I've ever done.

Last night we had a NYPD (Nazareth Youth Programme Dublin) meeting.  I'm in charge (with two other leaders) of the Senior Group, which is a group of 12-15 year olds.  So far so good---the kids are great and God has really been blessing our meetings.  Last night we mostly just got ideas from the kids about what they'd like to do during the year and what topics they'd like to cover in discussion, so it was a pretty productive night.  We have a bit of a break for a while, until the end of November, but after the break I'll be giving a talk about "Speech that Builds Up".  Keep me in your prayers as I prepare for that.  :)

Today Chrissy and I went shopping in a town called Dun Laoghaire (pronounced "Dun Leary"), and we found some treasures!  We went to a Christian bookstore called Footprints.  I was looking around at all the books and noticed that they were a bit overpriced (after I converted the price from Euros to Dollars).  At just that moment, Chrissy said "Hey, there's more books downstairs."  I turned around and noticed a sign that said "Special Offer Books Downstairs".  I love a good sale, so down I went into the basement of Footprints.  It was wonderful!  There were shelves and shelves of books...and most of them were second-hand, so they were much lower in price than the ones upstairs.  Chrissy came down after a while to look with me, and we ended up spending a good half hour or so looking at books.  I found one really old book (published in 1915) called The Christian's Handy Book of Prayer...it seems like it'll be really good---it's about having solid prayer times and entering more fully into God's presence.  I got another book called This World:  Playground or Battleground? by A.W. Tozer.  He wrote a really amazing book that I've read before (and am reading again) called The Pursuit of God, and I love his writing style.  I was very blessed and encouraged by The Pursuit of God, and I know this new book is going to be just as rewarding!  In addition to those two books, I found an old C.S. Lewis book (Christian Behaviour), plus a really cool 30-day challenge devotional called Thirsty.  I can't wait to get started on reading one of my new books!

Preparations are moving along for the YES retreat that is coming up next weekend.  The retreat is for 14-16 year olds and the theme is committing one's life to Christ.  I've been involved with quite a bit of behind-the-scenes planning, but I'm also going to be on the music team, leading a small group, and giving a short testimony.  I'm excited to see how the Lord will work in the youth that weekend!  Keep me and the kids in your prayers please.  :)

In other news, I'll be co-leading worship at the community prayer meeting tomorrow for the first time!  I will be singing and playing guitar and Chrissy will be singing with me.  I think there'll be one more guitarist as well. Please keep us in your prayers!  We will be very dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit to really lead us into a powerful time of prayer and praise.

Thank you all for reading my blog and keeping me in your prayers during my GAP year.  It means more to me than you know!  Thank you also to everyone who has supported me financially.  I would not be here in Ireland -- serving the youth, the Christian radio station, and the community -- without your financial support.  So thank you, thank you, thank you.  :)