I wanna stay

"I don't know why I love this place so much but I wanna stay.  I don't know why I love these people but I do and I wanna stay.  I do, and I wanna stay."

Those are some of the lyrics to a song called "Stay" by Jake Ousley.  Click (here) to listen to the song.  "Stay" is a song about leaving a place that you love and how it breaks your heart.  I don't know where Jake Ousley was leaving when he wrote the song, but he talks about how he loved the people and the town and how he wanted to stay.  When I first heard this song, it made me cry.  I thought, "That's probably how I'm going to feel when it's time to pack up and leave Ireland."  I wanted to learn to play the song on my guitar, and my first thought was that I'd play it for the people in community here when I was saying goodbye at the end of my GAP year.  Then I thought about the fact that Chrissy (my fellow GAPper) was leaving earlier than me on June 6th.  I could play it for her!  I searched online for the guitar chords for the song, but I couldn't find them anywhere.  I found Jake Ousley's email address on his website and sent him an email asking if he could please send me the chords for "Stay".  After I sent the email, I thought that he probably not going to send me the chords in time...or at all, maybe.  It was just another email.

On the morning of June 3rd, I checked my email to find quite a surprise.  June 3rd was the day of Chrissy's last Community of Nazareth prayer meeting, and in my email was a message....from Jake Ousley!  He actually responded to my email!  He wrote, "Of course you can have the chords!  I'd love to hear your version of it sometime.  Thanks for the email!  Keep in touch, and thanks for listening!"  I couldn't believe it.  What perfect timing!  I got to practicing straight away, as I only had a few hours before we had to leave for the prayer meeting, and I wanted to play the song for her then.  When we were saying goodbye to Chrissy at the prayer meeting, I stepped up to the mic and played "Stay" for her.  I think I saw a tear in her eyes while I was singing. :)

So Chrissy has gone back to Michigan and I've got a couple months left of my GAP year here in Dublin.  I've got some fun stuff planned for the summer, including a big travel adventure with my friend Amanda, some youth activities, a Young Adult camp, and a trip to Belgium for something called Kairos Summer Academy and On Holiday 3.

First things first....my big travel adventures with Amanda!  Amanda is a friend from Florida.  We've kind of lost touch over the years, but our parents have been friends for as long as I can remember.  Amanda's parents actually came to Dublin with my parents just after Easter this year.  Amanda said she wanted to come to Ireland as well to help out with some of the work I do here, and also to travel.  I was so excited that she wanted to come, because I've been wanting to travel but I haven't had anyone to go with.  I'm taking two weeks off and using some of the money I've saved from all my hard work at Costco the last couple of years (not my fundraised money, don't worry!!).  Amanda and I are spending about half a week in Dublin doing some volunteer work with the International Eucharistic Congress, and then we're heading on to Glasgow, London, Paris, and Barcelona!  We've got quite the itinerary planned!  I can't wait to tell you all more and post the pictures when we get back.  Please keep us in your prayers for safety!  :)

As for the summer youth activities, I've already spent an afternoon with the NYPD (Nazareth Youth Programme Dublin) Middle Group (10-12 year-olds) last Monday.  A guy named Mike came down from Belfast to help, and we took the kids to the nearby park to play some games with them.  We had perfect sunny weather, and the kids had a great time.  Here are some pictures:

Mike explaining one of his crazy games

Jessie explaining a game to the kids

Haha....love human pyramids!

Another highlight of last week was having a sleepover with Leanne.  Leanne is 8 years old and is the youngest of my host family.  Up until last week, she had been sharing a room with her brother Stephen, but Stephen just moved into Joe's room, so now Leanne has the room to herself.  She was excited to show it to me, because she had so much extra space in there.  I said something like, "Wow, Leanne!  You have tons of extra space to play in here!  We could even have a sleepover in here!"  I was kind of half-joking, but the look on her face was priceless.  She said, "Really??  How about tonight?"  I couldn't back down...she has such a cute face that is pretty hard to resist.  I agreed, considering she had the following day off school and we might not get another chance like that for a while.  She helped me bring my blanket and pillows down to her room, and she kept saying how excited she was to have a sleepover with someone older than her.  :)  She told me I could choose whatever film I wanted to watch, so we sat down together with some sweets and watched The Princess Diaries until Peter and Ciara came in to tell us it was "time to go to bed".  I obeyed their orders and went to bed when Leanne did....except I had the intention of sneaking out when she fell asleep and then coming back in a few hours later.  After all, it was only about 9:00!  I ended up falling asleep when Leanne did, though!  It was awful...I kept waking up every hour and feeling all disorientated...and then I ended up waking up with her at around 7am to some loud construction noise outside.  I got up and got some work done for a couple of hours, but the rest of the day I was pretty groggy.  I might have to resist that cute face next time...

I made my second visit to the Dublin Zoo last Tuesday with Justine and her boys and her niece, and we had a great time!  It was supposed to be rainy all day, but we lucked out with just cloudy gray skies and a few brief showers.  Not bad!  During this visit I particularly enjoyed all the random facts from Justine---she knows a LOT about the Dublin Zoo animals and zookeepers!  She goes once a month with her kids, and they watch the Dublin Zoo tv show at home, so they're full of all kinds of great info.  I also enjoyed taking photos of all the cute baby animals!  I just couldn't get enough of them!  :)

Babbyyyy hipppooo!  :)

He was my favorite baby!  :)

And I can't forget the sweetest baby of them all....Justine's youngest boy, Charlie.  :)

Again, the words from "Stay" are echoing in my head....  "I don't know why I love this place so much but I wanna stay.  I don't know why I love these people but I do and I wanna stay.  I do and I wanna stay..."

Don't worry!  I will come back!  I hope you all are doing well and that the Lord is blessing you richly.  Please let me know if there's a way I can be praying for you!

Butt Kickings and Blessings

God taught me a very interesting lesson the other day.  When I say He taught me a lesson, it was more like He kicked me in the butt and called me a hypocrite.  You see, even though I deserved it, it still took me by surprise a little bit.  Let me explain...

It was a typical evening for me.  I had finished my work for the day, had dinner, and was just relaxing in my room.  On this particular night I had my laptop in front of me, and I was on both Facebook and Pinterest...wasting a few hours of my evening away.  I knew I should be doing something else, like writing in my journal, reading a book, or opening my Bible, but I was just too drawn to my computer screen.  A couple of hours went by and I soon felt my eyelids getting heavier.  I thought about calling it a night, but then I saw my bright pink Bible cover on my bedside table.  It was almost calling my name.  I thought, "When was the last time I opened my Bible?"  I shamefully admitted to myself that it had been at least a few days, if not a week.  Don't get me wrong...I'd been reading a couple of spiritual books, but I hadn't opened my Bible in a little while.  Feeling kind of guilt-tripped, I pulled my Bible off my bedside table and unzipped the cover.  I opened it up and flipped through, wondering what God might have to say to me.  I felt drawn to the book of Psalms, in particular Psalm 16.  I began reading in verse 2...

"I say to the Lord,
you are my Lord,
you are my only good.
Worthless are all the false gods of the land.
Accursed are all who delight in them.
They multiply their sorrows who court other gods."

As I read this, I started thinking about people in the world who worship false gods.  I thought, "Yeah...there's people out there that worship the gods of the sun, gods of the moon...it's a good thing I'm not like that!  Accursed are those people.  They're only multiplying their sorrows!  No wonder they're not happy."  Almost immediately I felt God pushing all those thoughts out of my mind and saying, "Um...those people?  You think you're not one of them?  Did you not just spend several hours on Facebook and Pinterest and give none of that time to Me?  Anything you spend excessive time on (apart from time with Me) can be considered a false god.  You hypocrite...how dare you make this about other people when I wanted it to be about you."

Okay, so maybe God didn't word it exactly like that.  But that's sure what it felt like.  I felt so awful about not having spent time in His word...and then when I did, I tried to take His message intended for me and make it about other people.  I apologized for offending Him and proceeded to have a great conversation with Him that ended with me realizing that I need to be careful how I spend my time and I need not be judging and condemning other people.  So overall I learned (or re-learned) an important lesson.  I could have done without the butt-kicking, but sometimes that's what it takes!


Last Sunday a couple from the community took Chrissy and I away for the day to show us around the beautiful County Wicklow.  We had heard that it was a beautiful area, but we've only seen a couple glimpses of it since we've been here.  The Ascoughs kindly took us to a beach called The Silver Strand, a place called Glendalough, and another place called the Sally Gap.  We had BEAUTIFUL weather for the day...I'll let my pictures do the talking.  :)

This is Silver Strand.  We spent time time here
soaking up the sun, then we had a picnic lunch.

This is a glimpse of Glendalough

Chrissy and me at the old church in Glendalough.
Note...we're not wearing coats, and Chrissy's got
sunglasses on!  Happy Summer!! 

Me with the 2 younger Ascough boys.  Such big smiles!

In the church.  Again, note:  I'm wearing shorts!
In Ireland!

Lovely green EVERYWHERE!

Glendalough (Gleann da Loch) means
 "glen of two lakes" in Irish.  This is one of the lakes.

Part of the cemetery in Glendalough

We spent some time walking around beautiful Glendalough.  It is a monastic site founded by St. Kevin, a hermit priest, in the 6th century.  There's so much history and so much beauty there!  We ended our time in Glendalough with an ice cream cone.  It really hit the spot on such a warm, sunny day!

Next stop, the Sally Gap.  All I can say is WOW.

Life looks pretty good at the Sally Gap.

Yesterday I got to see a little more of Wicklow with another woman, Justine, from community.  She brought her three youngest boys with us as well, and we went to Powerscourt and had some delicious hot chocolate in the Avoca cafe, and then we walked around outside for a while.  It stopped raining for just the perfect amount of time, and started again as we were walking back to the car to head home.  Here's some pictures from yesterday!

Such beautiful gardens!

I really liked this flower.
Don't know what it's called...

Ohhh those silly Donnelly boys!

Pretty view of the Sugarloaf Mountain

I feel so blessed to have seen so much of this beautiful country.  A big thanks to everyone who has taken time out of their busy schedule to show me this spectacular place!

Up next on my GAP year:
   International Eucharistic Congress 2012 in Dublin
   Visit with my friend Amanda and traveling!
   Youth Programme summer activities
   Young Adult Camp
   Kairos Summer Academy in BELGIUM
   On Holiday 3 in BELGIUM
   Flying back home to Michigan!!

Stay tuned for more updates!  God bless you all!  Thanks for your prayers and support!

Oh Happy Day!

Since my last post, I've booked my flight home, cooked some yummy new recipes for my host family, and witnessed two days in a row (with more to come!!) of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s (Fahrenheit)!  Happy days!  Oh, AND....I finally got a package from my wonderful friend Jennifer.  She sent it nearly 2 months ago for Easter...and I just got it yesterday!  I think it was a good thing that it was delayed so much though, because all my Easter candy is gone now...so this was really perfect timing.  :)

About my flight home...
No more "I'll be home sometime in mid-August" nonsense.  It's official:  I'll be flying out of Dublin on Monday August 13th and will be home later that evening.  Get ready, Michigan!  Only about 3 more months until I'm home again!

About those yummy recipes...
Peter and Ciara are away in the States for a little vacation and some meetings, so I've been on "cooking duty" for the kids a few times.  On Friday I wanted to try something different that the kids hadn't had before...so I thought Mexican food was the way to go.  :)  I got some strange looks from Leanne and Stephen when I opened the can of refried beans...but I told them "Trust me...you'll like it."  They ended up loving them!  Stephen even asked for seconds, and he's the most picky eater of them all!!  The best part was that I pretty much just made up the recipe and they turned out wonderfully.  I may do it again sometime!  Email me or leave a comment if you want the recipe for the enchiladas.

I tried a new recipe again tonight.  The kids loved it!  Even Stephen & Leanne!  They're the most difficult to please...so when they like something, it's a huge compliment.  :)  I made kind of a beef pasta-bake thing...here's my recipe that I made up!

You need: 

1 large package (800 g / 1.75 lbs) of ground beef
2 scallions (spring onions/salad onions), chopped
Salt
Pepper
1 can Cream of Tomato Soup (plus 1 can water, as directed)
1 can chopped tomatoes (use juice from them too!)
3/4 bag of pasta (any kind works...I used 3/4 of a 1 kg (35 oz) bag of Conchiglie...the little shells)
1/2 bag of frozen green beans
Cheddar cheese
1 scallion (spring onion/salad onion), chopped (for garnish)  

 

What to do: 

Cook the ground beef in a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat until brown.  Drain grease.
Add the 2 chopped scallions and let them simmer for a bit with the beef.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Pour in the contents of one can Cream of Tomato Soup plus one can of water (per directions on the soup can), and stir into the beef and scallions.
Pour in one can of chopped tomatoes (no need to drain the juice).
Let this simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F.
Boil a large pot of water and cook the pasta as directed on the package.
Cook the frozen green beans in a smaller pot at the same time.
When the pasta is cooked, drain off the water and pour the pasta into a baking/casserole dish (9"x13").
Drain the water from the cooked green beans and pour the green beans into the baking dish with the pasta.
Add the beef mixture and mix well.
Grate enough cheddar cheese to cover the top, and sprinkle with 1 chopped scallion. 

Bake uncovered at 175 C / 350 F for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and slightly brown. 

This recipe served 6 generous portions, with leftovers.  :)

I've been keeping busy trying not to let the house burn down while Peter and Ciara are away, and so far so good.  The kids are pretty well-behaved (aside from the "My mum lets me do this..." stuff...typical), and they've actually been pretty helpful in keeping the house clean and helping with the wash-up after dinner.  So Peter and Ciara, if you're reading this, don't worry---your house isn't a total disaster!  :)

Now...about this wonderful weather I mentioned...
It's so not typical for Ireland!  Sunny skies?  Temperatures above 50 (Fahrenheit)??  No rain??  Yeah...doesn't happen very often.  Check out the forecast for this week!

Ahh...I love everything about that.  :)  I love the little yellow sun pictures...I love the temperatures...I love the "Chance of Precip"...it only gets up to 20%!  :)  Yayy thank You, Lord!  What a mood-booster!

Here are some pictures I took yesterday, which was another absolutely gorgeous day:

At a little park in Dun Laoghaire

Dun Laoghaire harbor...
only about a 20-minute bus ride from my house!

I've been taking pictures of the sun lately...
to prove that it actually shines here!!

Now for a little update on my work:
Aside from the youth program stuff I've been doing (we're actually almost done--next Friday is our last session!!), I went to check out a place called The Lighthouse last weekend.  It's about a half-hour DART (train) ride from my house, but I had heard some good things about them and I decided to check it out.  The Lighthouse is an outreach for homeless people.  They give food and clothing to the homeless in Dublin a few days a week.  I went there last Saturday to meet some of the staff and see what I could help with, and they put me right to work.  They gave me a task to do before they even asked my name!  I was thrilled!  I spent a few hours there on Saturday making sandwiches, washing a big crate full of grapes, putting the grapes into little plastic cups, and then sorting some of the donated clothes.  I met a few of the ladies (and one of the gentlemen) on staff, and they're all really friendly. I'm hoping to go back maybe once a week and make it a regular part of my service until I leave in August.

Things at Spirit Radio are still moving along.  I was in last week on Thursday doing a bit of website work, so that was fun.  I'm getting better at doing what they ask me to do without completely destroying the website!  Score!  :)

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I hope you all are doing well.  I am looking forward to more blessings in these next 3 months.  I know the Lord has many great things in store for me, and I can't wait to see what they are.  Please continue to keep me in your prayers, and know that I am keeping you in mine as well.  :)

All the girls in the Senior Group (my group), plus the Young Adults group
and a few college-aged girls.  :)  This was taken two weeks ago at our
Nazareth Community women's event.

Up, Up, and Away!

Oh my goodness, I am far overdue for an update!  I apologize to all my avid readers!

Since the last time I posted, quite a bit has happened.  Here's an attempt to fill you all in without boring you with endless ramblings...

All the family, plus both sets of grandparents,
at Stephen's Confirmation celebration dinner

The end of April was busy with my host brother Stephen's Confirmation day and celebration dinner.  The Confirmation Mass was quite interesting---the entire Mass and ceremony were spoken in Irish.  Stephen (along with the rest of my host siblings) goes to an all-Irish school.  So all day long the kids are only allowed to speak Irish, and all of their subjects are taught through Irish.  Needless to say, I didn't understand a whole lot of the ceremony except "Amen" and parts of the "Our Father".  I had Leanne sitting next to me and she translated whatever phrase or word I threw at her.  What a good little Irish student she is.  :)

On the day of Stephen's Confirmation, Joe (another one of my host brothers) had a hurling (an Irish sport) match.  Here's a link to the wikipedia page about hurling, in case you're curious about the sport!  (About Hurling)  I was pretty excited to go watch Joe play, but in the end I was slightly disappointed by a couple of things:  (1) it was freezing cold outside and it poured rain during the entire match, and (2) Joe didn't even get to play!  He was a sub!  On the bright side, I got to experience the thrill of a hurling match in some true Irish weather.  We all came home soaking wet and cold, so we put on dry clothes and had hot chocolate to warm us up.  :)

The Spirit Radio pledge drive ended up going really well---we raised 1,500 Euro OVER our goal of 35,000!  Praise God for providing!  We had some really generous donors and quite a lot of people signed up to be monthly donors for us.

Chrissy and me at The Brazen Head

I had a nice date with Chrissy a couple weeks ago and we spent a Saturday hanging out in Dublin city centre.  I showed her the Ferocious Mingle Market that my parents and I discovered during their visit, and Chrissy really liked it.  Here's a picture of my treasure from the Ferocious Mingle Market.  :)  Chrissy and I had dinner at The Brazen Head (Ireland's oldest pub), and the food was delicious!

Beautiful beautiful Dublin city!

On May 1st, a couple of friends from Ann Arbor (I knew them from University Christian Outreach) came to Dublin to visit!  They were kind of "Community-hopping", so they started in Dublin, then went on to Belfast, Glasgow, London, and then back to Dublin...all in a matter of 2 weeks!  I welcomed them to Dublin on their first day by showing them around the city centre...in the pouring rain!  You might think, "That sounds like absolute torture!"  It kind of was...but they had told me they were only going to be in Dublin for just the one day!  So I tried to squeeze in as much as I could that day...even though it was pouring rain.  :)  We still had fun though!  Chrissy joined us for dinner at the Buckley's that evening, and then we all went out to Temple Bar (a cool section of town with lots of bars and cobblestone streets) for the evening.  It had stopped raining by then.  :)

Chrissy, me, Chris, Sarah, and Dave at Temple Bar

Chris and Dave ended up staying for another day and a half, so they got to see a little more of Dublin...and this time in a bit nicer weather.  :)

We had a Community-wide football (but really soccer) tournament in Belfast last weekend, and it was really great to see everyone that I had met from the other Communities.  I didn't realize how many people I had actually met until they were all together in the one place.  I had fun catching up with everyone and just enjoying their company...and oh yeah, watching the football matches.  ;)  On the Saturday evening we had a big communal Lord's Day Meal, and then on the Sunday evening after the tournament was over we had a big party.  Fun!  Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Me with Sarah and Chrissy at the tournament

Leanne (my youngest host sister) and me

A bunch of my Senior Group girls cheering on the guys!

Jessie, Sarah and me being silly

The (almost!) winning team. Great job guys!!

After the football tournament, Chrissy and I stayed on in Belfast for a few days.  We checked in to the Belfast International Youth Hostel for a couple of nights and enjoyed one day in Belfast, a day trip up the North Coast to Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, and then one final day back in Belfast before heading back down to Dublin.  What a great trip!  I can't begin to explain how much the Lord blessed our time together...so I'll let the pictures do the talking:  (get ready...there's a ton!)

Day 1:  I got to see Brittany, a friend that
moved to Belfast about 5 years ago!

Lunch with Dave and Chris
before they left for Glasgow

Day 2:  Day trip up the north coast!
This is in Carrickfergus...like the SONG!

In Carrickfergus, looking for my handsome boatman
to ferry me over...LIKE THE SONG!  :)

Out of all the great views out of the
bus windows, this was my favorite :) 

Dunluce Castle.  SO GORGEOUS!

I love the contrast of the colors...

Near Giant's Causeway!

We couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day!!

Giant's Causeway

The Causeway stones

The last stop of our day tour,
the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge

Crossing the bridge!  :)

View from the other side of the bridge!

Ohhh beautiful Ireland!

Oh you know, just sitting on the cliff edge...

Now back in Belfast,
at Queen's University

Can you see what the name of the place is??  :)

At the Botanic Gardens in Belfast

I just HAD to take a picture of the sun to prove
that it DOES shine in Ireland :)

A gorgeous day to lay down on the grass...

...and look up at the trees :)

I couldn't resist!

Haha...look at the name of the place!
Chrissy and I met up with the Belfast GAPpers
and some of their friends here on our first night in Belfast

This is one of the Belfast street murals.
I took this photo during the Black Taxi Tour

I couldn't help but laugh...
Do the rotten 'maters go to the Mater Hospital??

Belfast street murals

The peace wall

We got to write on the peace wall!  Cool!

This monastery was absolutely gorgeous!

The wall in the monastery...beautiful!

Chrissy and me with Sean, our Black Taxi Tour driver

Once we got back to Dublin, we were hit with reality---cold, windy, rainy weather....and....the smell of fresh doughnuts??  On the walk back from the bus station, Chrissy and I turned onto O'Connell Street and made our way to the Quays (pronounced "Keys") toward the 145 bus stop.  Almost immediately after we turned onto O'Connell Street, the smell of hot, fresh doughnuts wafted up our noses.  Mmmmm.  Chrissy had told me about these doughnuts before.  They're from a tiny little cart thing and they're only 70 cent each.  And they're served hot and fresh.  Think hot, crispy, sugary goodness on the outside, and warm, soft, doughy goodness on the inside.  Words just cannot explain how wonderful those doughnuts taste, so our smiles in this picture will have to do.  :)  

I went to an amazing talk on Thursday night about "The Secrets of the Eucharist".  The talk was based on the book "7 Secrets of the Eucharist" and was given by an American priest (living in Dublin for the past 5 years) named Fr. Mullen.  He was excellent!  It was honestly one of the best, most powerful talks I've heard in a long time!  And I'd like to say I've heard a good number of talks.  This one went into detail on some things about the Eucharist that we probably know, but that we have not taken the time to appreciate.  As a Catholic, I know Mass can seem boring.  I know what it's like to come in some Sundays, and walk back out at the end of Mass not having remembered a single thing that the priest talked about.  It's terrible, but it's true!  "Over-familiarity can breed indifference, ingratitude, and mediocrity" (Fr. Mullen).  We're used to the same routine of Mass, and if we don't make a conscious effort to listen to what is being said and become aware of the miracle that happens in the Eucharist every Sunday at Mass, we can become indifferent and unappreciative of what Jesus is trying to do in our hearts.  Fr. Mullen quoted a couple of saints, one of them being St. Faustina.  I absolutely love this word from the Lord that she received.  Jesus said to her, "When I come to a human heart in Communion, my hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul, but souls do not even pay attention to me.  They leave me to myself and busy themselves with other things...they treat me as a dead object."  Gosh, that's like slapping Jesus in the face!  He comes to us with His arms wide open with so much love and grace for us, and then we just turn away and don't even give Him the time of day.  I don't even want to begin to tell you the number of times I've "slapped Jesus in the face".  St. Faustina's word from Jesus really convicts my heart and inspires me to be more enthusiastic about going to Mass and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.  Another saint that Fr. Mullen quoted was St. Therese of Lisieux.  On the day of her first Holy Communion, shortly after she received Jesus, she was seen crying in the church.  A couple of ladies saw her crying and said, "Oh, look at little Therese...she must be crying because her mother isn't here on the day of her first Communion."  (Therese's mother had died when Therese was about 4 years old.)  Little Therese heard these women say that, and this is the response she recorded in her journal:  "It was beyond them that all the joy of heaven had entered one small, exiled heart, and that it was too weak to bear it without tears.  As if the absence of my mother could make me unhappy on the day of my first Communion!  As all of heaven entered my soul when I received Jesus, my mother came to me as well."  My goodness, that just breaks my heart, but makes it so filled with joy as well.  I can't believe a young girl (age 7-9 probably) wrote that!  It inspires me that she had such a powerful encounter with Jesus on the day of her first Communion.  **Lord Jesus, help me to be more like St. Therese!  Help me to realize what exactly is happening in my heart when I receive You in Communion!**

On Friday night I had a girls evening for the girls in my section (Senior Group) of the youth program, plus the 3 girls that will be in Senior Group next year.  I made a huge bowl of Puppy Chow (or "Muddy Buddies" or "Monkey Munch"), and it seemed to go over well with them.  I shared some highlights from the talk on the Eucharist that I went to on Thursday night, and we talked about ways to conquer boredom during Mass, and a little bit about how to share our faith with non-Christians...mostly through the way we act, speak, and think in our daily lives (not necessarily sharing the Gospel with them).  Overall I think the girls enjoyed the talk, and I know they enjoyed the Puppy Chow, Skittles, and cookies we had.  :)  Oh and of course I painted their nails afterwards!

I hope you all are doing well.  It's hard to believe that I'll be home in almost exactly 3 months.  My time here has been flying by but I've been learning and experiencing so much.  Thank you thank you THANK YOU for all of your support!  Please continue to keep me and the Community and youth program in your prayers!  :)

God bless!