Hey lads, The past several weeks have been a whirlwind and I wanted to give y'all a glimpse into what that has looked like. To add to the craziness, we have not had internet at our apartment, so we have practically been living in coffee shops during the day and at the church in the evenings. Fear not, the internet shall arrive this Friday and we will be able to communicate more readily/easily. So first off lets talk about ministry at Alive church.

Worship

The primary reason for me (James) to journey to Ireland has been to establish a self sustaining worship ministry at the church. Yesterday was, in fact, my first time to lead worship for Alive church and it was a BLAST. To aid the church's gradual transition into completely live worship, the plan is for me to lead half of the songs and the other half will be the videos that they are used to, at least for the next month or so. The worship band was myself and the woman who has been leading with the videos for the past several years. It was awesome. Granted, I had not set up the monitors yet, so we could not hear ourselves at all, but the church eagerly filled the building with their voices as if they had been on the edge of their seats for years. The verse in John 4:23 came to mind

"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him."

No matter where I am, I will always be amazed and excited when the redeemed people of God join together in worship. And it is only going to get better here at Alive church.

Youth

We have also been so blessed to work with the youth group at Alive church. There are about 25 youth from ages 12-18, and they meet on Friday nights. This last week Molly and I were in charge of games (FUMCC youth, of course I taught them keys) and they loved them. Hopefully these weekly youth games and all of the hills will whip us into shape, because we were exhausted after last week's meeting.

Additionally we are starting the very first lifegroup in Enniscorthy, maybe even in all of Ireland, through the youth group. No better place to start than the teenagers, the future world changers in the church, right? We will be meeting for our first time Tuesday, September 30 at 7pm. This will be a sort of trial run for the church and we believe God has incredible things in store for this next generation through lifegroups. Be praying for us on Tuesday!

Children's ministry

Lets be real, Molly is a boss when it comes to working with/teaching/mentoring/playing with kids. It is no different here in Alive church. Yesterday was Molly's first time to teach a bible story in the creche (fun word to say = 3-5 year olds). She was able to use a Children's interactive bible app on her tablet and the children responded so well! It is so wonderful to watch her do what she has been called to do. I could say more, but I'm sure she will say it better in blogs to come.

Exploration and Adventure

For the past few weeks we have been focused on exploring the little town of Enniscorthy, which I love. We recently got to tour the 1798 rebellion museum and the Enniscorthy Castle with Drew Brown, one of the founders of Prepare International. History is such a huge part of the Irish culture and it was so helpful to get to experience it. Enniscorthy is the a healthy mixture of small town, downtown, and Irish green landscape, all into one. Take a look.

However, for our first little jaunt outside of Enniscorthy, we traveled to Wexford town. There we saw the Irish sea again, listened to the street musicians, and walked down streets lined with shops. Here's a cool shot of the shops down by the docks.

Thanks for checking out our blog! We have also updated our prayer requests, so take a look at those.

Cheers!