Finishing Well

Hi friends and familia, We miss you, love you, and are thinking of you often! I heard you are getting a crazy ton of rain dumped on you right now, which sucks currently but is going to make days on the lake a beautiful thing this summer.

So for those of you who have been following us through this journey of being in Ireland you may have realized that we are in our final stretch here. If you haven't, well then here's the big news, we are officially in our final chapter here in Ireland. Since we arrived in this final season, James and I have been chanting the matra "we need to finish well," ad nauseam. So much so that it became all we thought about, what we dreamed about, all we talked about and asked advice on. Slowly but surely, we were falling into this sinkhole of this idealistic expectation that finishing well meant everything had to go just so, just how we planned. It was not fun, and we began to feel ourselves kind of slipping away the past few weeks, into these machines whose one task was to "finish well."

But our God who is full of loving kindness decided to save us from ourselves. James and I realized that we were in a place of making ending well our everything, and so we began to give it to God. We laid down our expectations for how this was to end, we broke off the lie that it was all up to us, and began sharing our struggle with friends here.

This past Sunday we skyped with some dear fellow missionary friends of ours who have walked this journey with us every step of the way. We get to the end of the conversation and Logan goes "you know this whole conversation has been so easy, light, and full of laughter. It's been really different than all of our other conversations when we were working through challenges together, or confessing the things we were struggling with." And then he came out with this brilliant piece of wisdom that changed it all for us,

"you know I think that it's a sign of what your last 3 months are going to be here, ending is going to be light, joyful, and full of laughter."

We received it, and just like that the pile of bricks that were labeled "finishing well" that was tied to our ankles dragging us into this abyss fell off. We were free. Free to fill these last months with laughter, free for things to look differently than what we thought they would, free to enjoy every moment here.

So if you are thinking of us in these next few weeks or months, know that this is what we are believing for in this final chapter in Ireland. There are things that have yet to fall in place here, a huge one being finding the next worship leader, and we'd love for you to be praying for that with us as well.

In the midst of it all though, even the unknown, this verse has been reverberating in my head "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Luke 12:32

That's what I am receiving.

That's a short and sweet update on us. We love you guys!

The Re-naming of Ruins

Hey beloved friends and family! Today I want to do something a little different by starting with the update and then finishing with a few of the things I have been learning about as a result. So here we go!

FRREEEEEEEDDDOOOOOOOOMMMMMM

(Just for fun, try reading it like you're William Wallace, straight out of Braveheart. Bonus points if you yell it out loud.)

Back during Spring Break in March, we were so blessed to have a team visit from Beltway Park Baptist Church to host a conference for Alive Church for the whole week. The theme of the week was "Freedom" and the guest speakers talked about how to experience freedom from sin, healing of past wounds, forgiveness, the father heart of God, and so many more topics. During the week the team met individually with members in the church to counsel them, pray with them, and work through what God wanted to do in their lives. It really was such an incredible and life-giving week. People were saved, set free, and healed in a way that spurred them on in their spiritual walk with Christ.

Really I cannot understate how amazing that week was. One of my favorite moments was when we met up with the team to worship and pray over Enniscorthy IN THE TOWN SQUARE. Even though my hands nearly froze off, I will always remember the joy I felt, welcoming in God's presence over our little Irish town to literally change the atmosphere. For Molly and I, the whole week was one huge breath of fresh air. As a missionary it is always so comforting to hear people talk in your own accent, know the people you know, but it is even more refreshing to meet people for the first time who you instantly connect with because their hearts long for God to do the same things you long for. Molly and I were prayed for so many times, encouraged, and mentored in just one short week. Beltway team, you were the whole package, THANK YOU GUYS.

1916 Easter Rising Centennial

The other big event was the remembrance celebration of the 1916 Easter Rising that took place in multiple cities all across Ireland. Major celebrations were held on Easter Monday in Dublin, Enniscorthy and a few other towns. There were reenactments, speeches, tons of food trucks, and more people than I have ever seen in our little Irish town. Just take a look.

There is a lot that I could say about the 1916 Rising, but instead I'm going to post a link to Enda Long's Easter Sunday sermon where he explains what the 1916 Rising meant for the Irish people then and what it means for the Irish nation 100 years later.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J9MqejZPVM[/embed]

Can a town have an identity?

Coming out of that week of freedom and the 1916 Rising in Enniscorthy there are a lot of things I have been reflecting on. One of these things came up as Molly and I were praying together after work a few weeks ago. A couple times each week, Molly and I take time after work to pray while walking around and through Enniscorthy. Usually as we pray anything and everything is fair game: our marriage, families back home, friends, Alive Church, strangers of Enniscorthy, anything really. There's nothing super-spiritual or mysterious about it, just us talking and listening to our Father God.

So as we were walking I felt like God was telling me to pray for Enniscorthy, the town itself. Since I had no idea what to pray for, I turned the question back to God, "Ok, what do you want me to pray for Enniscorthy? What do you think about Enniscorthy?"

The answer I got was pretty shocking: "I made Enniscorthy to be a city of life."

City of ... what?

After living in Enniscorthy for over a year and a half, I can say that I have a pretty good (still incomplete) idea about what Irish people think about the town of Enniscorthy. Enniscorthy itself resides in Wexford county, which is known throughout Ireland as "the sunny southeast", and also has another nickname among Irish churches and pastors: "the graveyard for churches". Wexford county is one of the toughest places for the gospel to take root and for churches to actually grow. Go anywhere else in Ireland and there are many well-known healthy churches in every county, but Alive Church in Enniscorthy is one of the only churches known by pastors outside of Wexford. It is almost as if we represent all of Wexford. Now when we get to Enniscorthy the demographics look pretty bleak as well; in all of Ireland, Enniscorthy ranks in the top 5 for both unemployment and suicide.

I think there is something written into our DNA that says there is a meaning behind what you name something. The truth of the matter is that we often see a name as the indicator of the person or thing's true identity. Sometimes I wonder if we were to ask an Enniscorthian to describe their town in a word, if we were to ask them to rename their town, what kind of words would we hear? "City of Life" feels kind of out of place right? We would expect to hear something more like "boring", "dead end", "small town to escape as soon as you graduate", "it is not what it used to be", "stuck in a rut", or  "nothing good can come from here". These sure seem to be the names most people believe and operate under in the town.

You see, I think that just like people can have identity problems, so can nations, cultures, and even cities. Just like you and I will often take on names that other people or situations have given us, assuming that they are our identity, we can do the same thing with our cities, schools, and families. We then live our day to day lives frustrated because we are trying to live out an assumed identity, when we were created to live out of another name entirely. And just like the answer for "Who am I?" can only be found in relationship with Jesus, so to our cities can only be redeemed when a new identity from heaven begins to be spoken over them. We need someone to rename us, our families, and our cities. We need a new identity and a new way to live.

The new name

So here is what I have been thinking. Just as we are in the naming business, I believe that God is in the renaming business. But God's renaming is both a brand new name AND a re-establishing of the identity that was lost in the fall.

Now that I am hearing God proclaiming "City of Life" over Enniscorthy, I'm beginning to partner with God's vision and pray into that identity as well. The more that I pray and dwell on it, the more I see it ring true in the town. Here are two ways that I'm seeing this new identity flesh itself out. Feel free to pray into these with me:

1. Honestly, I was hoping "Enniscorthy" translated into Irish would mean City of Life, but sadly it doesn't. The direct translation of "Inis Corthaidh" is Island of Corthaidh (which is weird because there are no islands around here). However, running through the center of Enniscorthy is the River Slaney. Translated into Irish "Abhainn na Slaine" literally means River of health, wholeness, and healing. Just like we see a river running into and out of Enniscorthy, this city of life is both receiving healing/wholeness and then giving healing/wholeness to the world. God has made Enniscorthy to be a refreshing, healing, and life-giving place that receives life from God and releases life to everyone around it. 
2. The motto of Wexford county is "Exemplar Hiberniae" which translates to An Example for Ireland. Even written down in a basic motto for the county I think we see God's plan for Enniscorthy. Throughout history Enniscorthy has been a part of the major revolutions in Irish culture. You could almost say, where Enniscorthy goes, so goes the rest of the nation of Ireland. The key to any cultural revolution in Ireland has involved Enniscorthy, and Enniscorthy will set the example for another spiritual revival in Ireland. 

Thanks everyone! I promise the next update won't be sooooo long!

When You're A Missionary Who Needs Your Mom

Hi folks, I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, and I hope you Texans aren't taking for granted your lovely spring-like weather. I say that only because it snowed here in Ireland this week. Right about when I was getting done with it being winter, Ireland threw that chilly reminder in our face. So enjoy it, soak up the sun, smell the flowers, cry your eyes out with allergies, and appreciate an early spring in Texas.

This past week was not our week to say the least. If any of you have worked or volunteered at a summer camp you all know that every cabin has at least one camper where it is just not their week. They are usually the same campers who are also terribly homesick. I remember the summer I worked at Camp John Marc, and one week I was buddied up with the youngest boy's cabin (so we're talking 6 and 7 year old boys). This one kid in the group was crying from day one; I mean for every event, every night, every meal he was miserable and wanted to call home. Finally, we get to the big cook out, where they get to sit around a campfire, help cook the meal, and sing songs under the stars. It was at this point that this kid's face slowly turned from a tearful grimace to a smile for the first time all week. And after 5 minutes of that smile lighting up his face, a big ole nasty bumblebee decided to sting him on the arm, and all hope of giving him a happy memorable week at camp was lost.

I tell you that story to say, James and I were the homesick kids at camp this week. We felt really done in and were ready to call home to our moms too many times to count. It all started off great with one of our best friends Marcus coming into town, delivering magical packages of goodies from America, lots of encouraging notes from friends, and stories of what we've missed (he's our friend who thrives on story telling). We were going to start this week with a quick trip over to London together, and it just seemed like it was going to be the best week ever!!!

Trouble started brewing on Sunday, James and I were having one of those days in marriage, the not so good kind. We put on the face of "there is definitely stuff going on below the surface here, but we have a friend staying with us right now and we probably shouldn't unload at this moment." James' stomach had been giving him trouble for the past week, feeling kind of queasy off and on, but we headed off to London on Monday with hopes for his stomach to feel better and to see as much as possible of the city. Thankfully we did, we took the Metro to Big Bend, Westminster Abbey, Harrod's, the West End, and Piccadilly Circus. It was marvelous and so much fun, but the downside was James did his own personal tour of the bathrooms at each of those locations around London (if you get my drift). Tuesday morning, James woke up with a sore stomach, and I woke up feeling like my body was on fire. We found a thermometer and lo and behold I was running a fever. Marcus, who had been planning and excited for this trip to London was a champ. We canceled the rest of our Tuesday plans and dragged our tired, sore, sick bodies and caught the bus to the airport.

We made it back home Tuesday and slept it off, we have an amazing group of intercessors/prayer warriors who started praying for healing for us. I wanted to call our moms, I wanted somebody taking care of the both of us, but I still had hope for a quick recovery and no doctor's visit (we hadn't been to the doctors since we arrived in Ireland). We worked all day Wednesday catching up at the church and Marcus again, being the incredibly faithful friend he is, spent a second day of working and helping us out at the church.

We finished Wednesday with the hope of going to eat one final dinner together when we walked down the stairs to go and James slipped, sprained his ankle, and couldn't walk on it. That moment was when I was ready to throw in the towel, call it quits, just like my sweet little camper when he got stung by the bee. I went to bed with thoughts of how I could send James home to America for his mom to take care of him or how I could sound desperate enough on the phone so that one of our moms would drop everything and get on a plane right then to take care of us. I was finished.

So we ended Marcus' visit, not with a day in Dublin, like we had originally planned, but with our first visit to the doctor in Ireland and re-cooping at home with I Love Lucy marathons.

It really wasn't our week. But I did learn a few things from it

1. You can be an adult in your mid 20's, living in another country as a missionary, and still need to call your mom. That's perfectly acceptable.
2. When you are at your lowest is when God sometimes does the most. Friday night of this week happened to be the largest turn out to our youth group we have seen since we arrived. We had 29 youth, 5 interns/small group leaders, and 5 adult volunteers (including us). Even when I am at my lowest, God is still bringing in the harvest.
3. And "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) I'm thankful that James and I continue to be the humble recipients of this kind of love. Thank you Marcus for loving us so well at every turn this week.

So far this week, we are continuing to nurse a really bruised and sprained foot, a continually sore and upset stomach, and the remnants of a cold that doesn't want to vacate the premises. Prayers for continued healing and rest would be greatly appreciated. Also, this week, Alive Church is hosting it's first conference ever. Sherrie Saltzgaber, an incredible Freedom pastor from Beltway Park Baptist Church, is bringing over a team of 14 people to put on this conference and minister freedom to the local churches. We could use your prayers for open hearts and new levels of freedom for every person that attends this weekend.

Thanks for sticking with us friends and family! We love you and appreciate you! Here's some pics from before our crazy week commenced...

Let's Get to Work

Howdy folks, First, I want to thank y'all for bearing with us this last month. We had no intention of going MIA, but that just how it happens sometimes. So here we are, lets get down to business!

Building with the Beltway team

In January, Beltway sent a team of eight men to travel to Enniscorthy and upgrade our church building. They had one week, three major projects on the agenda, and they got to WORK. This week was really fun for me because I just got to jump in with them and help out any way I could as one of the guys. These are incredible men and I was so blessed just to get to work beside them. Honestly, I was blown away. They built a whole new soundbooth, a new stage backdrop, and reconstructed our attic space. Here are a few pictures.

Lifegroups

One of the reasons that February has been such an amazing month is because Alive Church has officially started their first in-home lifegroups EVER. I cannot emphasize how big of a step this is for the church; never before have they done any kind of small-group community-building event that met in someone's home on a regular basis. So to start off, our church has organized into two primary lifegroups, one based in the town and one based in the countryside, both of which will eventually grow in to many others.  Molly and I have the joy of leading the town lifegroup, and it has been so encouraging. We are going on our fourth week of meeting together, and it has already grown from 2 people the first two weeks to now around 10 adults and teenagers!

Please pray with us for mature and consistent lifegroup members who want to grow and will sacrifice their comfortable schedule to see God's kingdom come to earth in Enniscorthy.

Look, Mom, I'm on stage!

Three weeks ago I had the honor of preaching, for the first time in my life, on a Sunday morning. Truth be told, I have been "preaching" and teaching our youth group for a year now, as well as leading midweek services and bible studies, but preaching the Word for the church is a wholly different mountain to traverse. I got to work closely with and learn from Enda Long, the head pastor, who decided for my first time it would be best not to write the sermon, but to focus on getting the message deep inside of me and delivering it in a clear and encouraging way (and I completely agree with him). All in all, I really enjoyed the experience and I could not imagine a better place to begin growing in this particular ministry than here at Alive Church. Before and after the service the church I have come to see as my dear family embraced me and offered words of encouragement, joy, and constructive criticism (which I definitely need). The plan is for me to preach at least a couple more times at Alive Church before our time is up here, so please pray for my growth in this area of ministry. So here's the sermon, feel free to check it out.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOWYbMozhbo[/embed]

We're into the fourth quarter now

I thought about providing a link to "The Final Countdown" by Europe, but if you're like me, you're already humming the tune in your head from reading the song title. Here we are, guys! We have about six months left of our mission here in Ireland, which if I'm honest, brings a lot of conflicting emotions and thoughts to greet us each and every morning. Our goals in the months we have left are to be even more invested in Alive Church and the people we have come to love here, continue setting up the church to be in a healthier place than when we first arrived, and continue to raise up leaders within the church. Simultaneously, we are also to begin praying about where God is leading us after Ireland, where we will live, what we want to do, etc. And balancing between the future and the present is hard.

In closing, please be praying for us in this final season of being missionaries to Alive Church. God has done so much in the past year and a half here in Enniscorthy, and we are so excited to join in on what He's going to do in the next several months. Pray that we will be able to BOTH pray into our future after Ireland AND be fully focused on pouring ourselves out in Alive Church. Pray with us against worry, anxiety, and fear about the impending future. Just as we are fasting a few things for lent, I fully intend for one of them to be 'worrying about the future', who's with me? Pray for leaders to be raised up, and for a new season of growth and committed members at Alive Church. Lets see lives changed and comfort zones shattered!

Restoration

Hey Friends and Family, Ya'll have been on my heart and mind often these past two weeks. I seriously cannot thank you enough for all you do to make our mission here possible, from giving, to praying, to skyping us, to visiting my family when my sister was in the hospital. You are incredible. James and I know we are blessed to have each of you in our lives. Thank you for all you do for us and the people here at Alive Church in Ireland.

Kenzie's Hospital Stay

This past week my sister, Mackenzie, who has special needs including epilepsy, began experiencing just a burst of uncontrolled seizure activity. She was pretty much having a seizure every 10-15 minutes, causing her to not be able to sleep. When they tried her usual round of emergency medications to stop her seizures they didn't work this time. This resulted in her ending up in the hospital with a lot of medical staff, along with my parents, trying to figure out what to do next.

James and I were finding out about this pretty much as it was happening. For our family, these moments of Kenzie's seizures getting out of control aren't uncommon but also aren't something we relish, especially when it lands her in the hospital. I had started off pretty calm, cool and collected about the whole thing, even once I had heard she was in the hospital. But after the neurologists tried a new medicine and it failed to work on Monday I was starting to get a little more desperate.

On Tuesday, I texted a few close friends back home to let them know about the situation and they immediately jumped in to pray, take care of my family for us, and visit them. When worry and fear started to grab hold about not being present with our family, they became our hands and feet for us, doing what we wanted to be doing at the time but could not do. By the end of Tuesday another new drug had been introduced and yet the seizures had continued to persist, and this was pretty much new territory. In the past, for the most part once Kenzie was in the hospital they were able to get the seizures under control after a few hours and it had been 48 hours at that point.

& the goodness of God

During this James and I were both praying like crazy and asked a few women who are gifted in intercessory here at our church to be praying with us. It was Wednesday, things hadn't really begun to look up and I was just talking to God about this and all of a sudden there was this line from a worship song I had sung a lot back in college being sung over me. It wasn't something that I remembered all of a sudden, it wasn't a song I had in my heart even, but I literally felt like the gap between Heaven and Earth had gotten a little bit thinner and I could feel God singing it over me.

The line was "you bring restoration to my soul."

Restoration, it happened to be the word he had spoken over my 2016 since the start of January. When I was reading the bible, doing a bible study, or praying it was the word I kept coming back to. Little did I know at the time, that a few short weeks into January He would be singing it over me at a time my soul needed some restoration and reassurance, but He knew. It was Zephaniah 3:17 in live action,

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

Thursday morning I woke up and got a call first thing from one of our Irish mommas here. She told me they had been praying for Kenzie and she woke up feeling like today there would be improvement. And that's exactly what happened, they had introduced a new drug into her system later on Wednesday night and it began working giving her a full 5 hours of sleep uninterrupted by seizures for the first time in days.

Kenzie was released from the hospital on Thursday, has continued to have no seizures since then, and every one has caught up on much needed sleep. It was nothing short of a miraculous turn around.

Just a friendly reminder

I say all of that to fill you in on how Kenzie is doing and everything that happened. More importantly though I wanted to remind you of a God who is here among us, living inside of us. He adores you and he is in the details, working things for good, even when you can't see it yet.  He is a God who when things get bad, doesn't back off, hide, or go away but is right there in the midst of it all calming our fears and singing over us. He's a good God, whether your 2016 has started off a little shaky or has been nice and steady, he is good. You can trust him with this year, he won't let you down.

New Modern Day Video!

In other news, one of the organizations we work with as missionaries, Modern Day, has begun compiling video resources for missionaries preparing to go on the mission field. The videos are done by missionaries currently doing ministry and they are incredible. We had the honor of getting to create one of the videos. So here's the video!

Modern Day Resources

[embed]https://vimeo.com/150738492[/embed]