The One Year-iversary

We're Baaaaaaaack

Hey everyone,

Exactly one year ago yesterday, Molly and I arrived in Ireland for the very first time. We smelled like a smorgasbord of airport food, stale airplane air, stress, and the American dream. We made it to Enniscorthy and promptly collapsed in a heap on the floor of our apartment. And thus, this Irish season of our lives began.

Looking back now, I really cannot help but feel humbled. As many of you know, this past year was not a cake walk by any stretch of the imagination (what is a cake walk anyway?). Pride, bitterness, loneliness, confusion, impatience, and fear all became our daily enemies, along with a heavy dose of cultural acclimation. YET, God gave us the Church, the warmest community/family of believers that we could have asked for here in Alive Church. He provided continually through prayers and finances sent to us from across the Atlantic Ocean. He has abundantly refreshed us when we feel exhausted, and has begun to show us what we were put on this world to do. What more could we ask for? Thank you so much for your continued support, lets see what God does this next year!

Also, I apologize for the lack of blogging this past month. August was a crazy month for us. Early in the month we went to a Children's Ministry conference put on by Gateway Church and then a week later we flew away to Croatia for our Sabbatical. Both of those were so refreshing in so many ways, and we can't wait to share more about the Sabbatical. But sadly, we will probably wait till it is cold and rainy here in Ireland to reminisce about the sunny beaches in Croatia (so you'll only have to be patient for a few more weeks, mom).

Now that we are all rested up from our Sabbatical, we have jumped straight into the swing of things with new vision for this next year. So in celebration of our 1 year Irish anniversary (year-iversary?), I'm going to share with y'all one of my favorite things to happen in Alive Church since we returned to Enniscorthy.

The 1st Worship Night

Back in February I felt like God wanted to break out in a new way. My desire for Alive Church has always been to build and grow a worshiping community, but in February a more specific idea came to mind. What if we gathered people in the church to meet in someone's home, and we took a few hours just to meet with God together, the only agenda being to each connect personally with Him and submit our lives, families, jobs, and church to Him? What if we started to take worship out of the church building on a regular basis? What if we took worship out of our "Sunday service" schedule and dedicated an evening to seek Jesus for as long as it takes to encounter Him? What if we worshiped Jesus, not to get us in the mood for the message, but just because He is worth everything we have?

Our head pastors loved the idea so we got to work planning the event. So many months later, on the last weekend of August we had our first Alive Church Worship Night, and it was incredible. About 30-40 people from our church squeezed into a living room to break bread, pray, and worship Jesus together. The Holy Spirit came in power, prayers were answered, laughter filled the room, tears were shed, and a new season began in Alive Church.

Let me explain why this was such a pivotal moment for our church. Only a year ago Alive Church started having organized live worship for the Sunday service. No one in our church has ever received any training/teaching on worship outside of how they see it modeled by other Christians in the church, and most were raised in the Catholic church. So while a worship pastor providing exhortation/shepherding during worship is quite commonplace in American churches, they had never seen anything like that before. Can you imagine that? A church, redeemed and in love with Jesus, with limited understanding/access to connect with Him through worship. It's like a 10 year-old child who was never taught how to read or write struggling to pen a letter to their father to tell him how much they love him. Heart-breaking.

All of that to say, one of my biggest burdens and delights this past year has been to shepherd this church into deeper worship with their Father. Week after week we read scripture, explained why we worship, the character of God, and so much more. How did the church respond? They grew exponentially, falling head over heels in love with God! Why? Because we were created to worship, it is the most natural thing on earth for us to do. So after a year of shepherding, we put on the church's first ever worship night. Can you imagine how excited everyone was? Can you imagine the sweetness of the worship that night? Can you imagine how my mind was blown by the faithfulness of God? It was incredible!

And the most exciting thing? Our church loved it so much we will be doing another worship night in about a month.

Praise God. Get excited for this next year everybody.

Irish Miracles

Hey everyone, We just want to give you a quick update on our lives here before we leave for our sabbatical.

Irish Residents

About a month ago we asked you to be praying for our approval to be Irish residents. Just to clarify, this allows James and I to legally serve in Alive Church for another year.

And let me just tell you, this process is harder than we thought it would be. We met with our immigration officer a few weeks ago, one of the loveliest Irish men I've ever met, who told us that he had a couple in recently who had been waiting for 3 years to get their residency. He wasn't trying to be discouraging, he was really just bracing us for the reality that the Irish government doesn't always move at the pace we would hope.

Then a week ago we were skyping our missions pastor, Josiah, and were telling him our predicament with our residency and asking for prayer. We also talked about what we would do if we did not get approved before we left for our sabbatical. In his usual Josiah way, he said he'd be praying and that visas are always difficult. He did not seem worried in the least. Josiah, if you know him at all, is one of the most solid, unshakeable people I think I've ever met, which pairs well with James and I who rest slightly on the dramatic side of life.

Literally, the next morning I came out of the bathroom and James sits me down to tell me he has some news. I was bracing for the worst but had no idea it had anything to do with residency. When he told me we had gotten our permission to remain as residents, I flipped out, as anyone would who just found out they are going to be a legal resident of the country they are living in and get to go on their much anticipated sabbatical. We are now officially Irish residents and get to fulfill our 2 year commitment here, legally.

We want to thank you so much for praying into this with us. It is a miracle that it came through so quickly. I know that you partnering with us in praying for it made that miracle happen, exactly when it needed to happen, and we are so grateful!

Sabbatical

So next week we get this awesome opportunity to go on a sabbatical which will mark the halfway point in our 2 year commitment here at Alive Church. We are going to Croatia which will make it our first time to travel to mainland Europe. We are really excited for this sabbatical, we literally can't go a day without talking about it. Here are a few things you could be praying for our sabbatical:

• For everything travel wise to go smoothly, especially our flights since we are taking multiple flights to get to Croatia.
• For this sabbatical to be exactly what we need to go into this 2nd year strong, envisioned, and filled up.
• For it to be sunny and warm the entire time we are there. This Texas girl misses the sun and the heat and most days feels like a cold and very pale version of herself.

This Breathtaking Country

Last but not least I wanted to share some pictures from our recent trip to the west coast of Ireland in County Kerry. My mom and sister came to visit and we took a quick roadtrip over to Killarney and the Ring of Dingle to see Ireland's beloved west coast. It surpassed all that I could have dreamed or imagined. There are moments living here when I'm not sure if I'm on earth or seeing glimpses of heaven and the west coast did that for me countless times.

Inch Beach on the Ring of Dingle. My favorite beach on the west coast now. We took a pony trap ride to see a waterfall in Killarney National Park. Our pony trap driver was Robert. He had been doing it for 50 years. He told us about his long lost love and why he never married, his favorite pony named Sally O'Brien, and even sang us some traditional Irish songs and Elvis Presley of course. Meeting Robert was my mom's favorite part of her entire Ireland trip. She was smitten. Muckross House in Killarney National Park with my momma and Marissa.

Small beach along the Ring of Dingle. This view was out of this world.  Ring of Dingle, I don't know if the Atlantic Ocean has ever looked prettier. 

James and I also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Tuesday this week. He, being the awesome husband he is, surprised me with a trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belfast is a fabulous city with a lot of history and culture, including the Titanic Museum. He had the entire day planned out for us and it rivaled any of the date days you see on The Bachelor!

In Due Season

After The Walking In Between

{About two months ago I wrote a blog post called The Walking In Between, and in it I mentioned that I was really struggling with not seeing the fruit and change that I had imagined here in Enniscorthy. This blog post is most definitely a testimony and follow up to where I was then. So before you keep reading, it may help if you go back and read that one if you haven't already.}

The Principle of Sowing & Reaping

6 months ago my parents sent me the book "The Blessed Life" by Robert Morris. Since I grew up in Gateway Church I had heard Pastor Robert preach the principles of biblical giving many times. This time reading it through the principle that stuck out the most to me was the principle of sowing and reaping. It's a principle sprinkled throughout the bible from start to finish, and one that applies to every area of our lives. As a missionary here in Enniscorthy with Alive Church it was a principle that was becoming more obvious to me than I had ever known before. I found myself pouring into the church day after day but I wasn't seeing much growth from it. I wasn't seeing people saved left and right. I wasn't seeing large numbers of people joining the church. People would come up to us and say "you know you may not see the fruit of all you're doing while your here in Ireland." While that statement is true, let me just tell you now that it is not the most encouraging thing to hear when your the one plowing the fields.

One morning in particular I was just feeling discouraged about it all and the Lord led me to this verse, a verse very clearly about the principle of sowing and reaping in Galatians 6:9,

"And do not grow weary in doing good. For in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

Youth Retreat

Here's where the story gets good. That due season for me began about 3 weeks ago when we had our first ever youth retreat with the 16-18 year old teens in our youth group. I came into that retreat with a heart full of expectancy to see God move in their lives. He showed up, big time. So many of the things that we had been discipling and teaching for the past 10 months at youth, clicked. Many of them listened and heard God speak to them personally for the first time or in a way they hadn't experienced before. They grew in community with each other. They would just start encouraging each other during small group time and free time. We had an absolute blast swimming in the Irish sea, eating s'mores, and playing cards. I left that camp knowing that the 10 kids we came with were leaving changed.

SuperKids, Teen Camp & Beltway Park Baptist Church

Then Beltway came, which if you don't know Beltway is our sending church back home in Abilene, Texas. They come each year to help put on a kid's and teen camp with our church as a community outreach. Again, I had incredible expectations for this camp. James, I, and the whole church had been praying into this camp for the past 6 months. God came through once again in HUGE ways.

• Monday, 5 people, from our church were baptized in the Irish sea while it was pouring rain and the sand was blowing across the beach. It was a pretty crazy baptism scene.
• Wednesday night, Sherrie Saltzgaber, came and preached on our identity in Christ and the Holy Spirit showed up and encountered people in mighty ways. That night I watched as one of my closest friends who had come with the Beltway team led a young girl to Christ. Her father had been saved a few months before. I watched as teens and kids I've been ministering to the past 10 months encountered the Holy Spirit for the first time and every day since I've been amazed at the change I see them.
• Thursday, Diane Monteith, our incredible administrator began counting up the kids and students we had attending the camps for the week. We found out we had over 400 kids between all 3 camps, which happened to be the number our pastors heard from the Lord back in January when they were praying into the year.
• Friday, in bible story, the kids learned about the prodigal son and heard the gospel message taught and many of them were saved.
• Our Teen Camp was the biggest and best yet. There were 64 teenagers that attended and there was more spiritual breakthrough in small group discussion and the teachings than we had had ever seen before. We even had 5 new kids show up this Friday night at G-force (our youth service) that had attended Teen Camp.

On top of all of that, James and I were just ministered to and loved on by our Beltway family in ways that our hearts just needed. We had so many incredible prophetic words spoken over us, and people praying for us. We were filled to overflow by the end of it and were utterly exhausted.

It was a sweet answer to prayer. I remember just sitting down in a chair on Wednesday night, sobbing, as I watched a few dear friends being prayed over. I was talking to someone about all the emotion I was feeling at that time and they said "it's just the breakthrough you had been needing to see and you're finally seeing it." That was exactly it and my heart was exploding with the beauty of finally getting to see the harvest in due season.

For all of you who have been praying for us and prayed for camp, thank you! For every person that came with the Beltway team that reads this, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for giving of your time, energy, and finances to come and invest in our church and community. The seeds you sowed and the harvest you brought in during your time here will not be forgotten. Every little thing you did this week, every sacrifice you made to be here, was seen by Father God and the impact of it will resound for eternity.

Major Prayer Need

One more thing we could really use your prayer on. We need you to be praying that our immigration paperwork goes through and we get our stamp to stay here for another year in the next 3 weeks. It would take a miracle for that to happen seeing that we have been working on this for the past 9 months to no avail, but that's okay because miracles are what my God specializes in so we are believing it is going to happen!

Here are some pictures from our camps! Enjoy!

Detained!

Hello everyone! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement over the past several weeks. Life has been very hectic, yet quite fulfilling lately, and it is only going to get more so with the Beltway team coming in less than three weeks! So here is a story and a few updates I want to share with y'all.

Dublin Airport

A few weeks ago Molly and I were returning from a 24-hour whirlwind trip to explore London with our visiting best friends, Leanne and Jacob. On the flight back from London we were all so exhausted we promptly fell asleep, and woke up, as most of us do, having the overwhelming urge to relieve ourselves. "No biggie," I told myself, "We'll find a place before we leave the Dublin airport for Enniscorthy."

How wrong I was.

One of the things Molly and I had been praying about prior to the trip was for the customs process back into Ireland to go smoothly. Our immigration officer in Enniscorthy had assured us that since our Residency was in process in Dublin, we would be allowed to travel wherever, as long as we returned to Ireland. As we proceeded through the Non-EU Resident queue we said a quick prayer and got out our paperwork. I was hoping for a quick smile/nod/stamp so I could excuse myself to the loo.

Sadly, as our Customs officer informed us, we were in fact travelling illegally and should never have left the Republic of Ireland while our Residency was in process. After hearing this, my face quickly turned red (a very Irish reaction) not out of anger at the customs officer (because he was doing his job well), but simply out of disappointment, realizing that our immigration officer in Enniscorthy had ill informed us. It was an awkward moment. So we handed him all of our bank statements, along with letters from Alive Church and the Irish government, and were taken back to their holding cell while the officer went through our papers. Not surprisingly, we also had to give up our cellphones with no way to contact Jacob or Leanne. Getting detained is the worst.

The Holding Cell

Lets be real guys. What picture comes to mind when you read the words "holding cell"? A dark smelly room under the airport? Strong iron bars to hold the international fugitives? A man playing a harmonica in the back corner, while other inmates do push-ups? Sadly, our holding cell was less theatrical and more awkward. Essentially it was a glass partitioned room just to the side of the Customs queue. Everyone who was welcomed into the Republic of Ireland got to parade past us, getting to observe the criminals serving their time like animals in a zoo. Only when they walked past the holding cell that day they got to see two Americans praying hard, all the while desperately trying to hold their bladders at bay. Our fellow inmate was not amused.

About 10 minutes in, I asked our inmate (a man of indecipherable nationality) how long he had been waiting. When he turned to me, I noticed that his left eye was blind with a scar above and below the socket, which only escalated whatever fears I had at that moment. He muttered, in a clearly indignant tone, "Two hours. This is madness". Looking back, I think I must have been really freaked out because I forgot to say, "This is Sparta". Coulda, shoulda, woulda.  So what else could we do? We resolved to pray and not imagine waterfalls, rivers, brooks, or anything related to water. I should have brought a book.

It was a long, long hour.

Sweet Relief

I was pacing the cell when our Customs officer returned. He led us into a back room where he was going to deliver the verdict, when I asked him if we could use the restroom first. I am nothing if not a man of priorities. Unfortunately we were ushered into the bathrooms at random and Molly's turned out to be a nasty prison bathroom while mine was only used by the airport staff.

With our internal torture relieved, the officer then gave us the news and we left Dublin, arriving exactly on time for G-Force, our youth service. God provided guys! Not only are we legally allowed to travel wherever for the next two months if we need to, the customs officer also gave us information to send our residency papers directly to the head of the department, expediting the whole process! So we will find out soon what they decide. Molly and I were talking about it afterwards, and we both agree the whole 'getting detained adventure' was worth it if it means getting our Residency faster. All that to say, please be praying for favor with the Irish government and that we will be allowed to stay here doing what we do in the church!

Summer Camp is Coming Up!

Please be praying for the Alive Church summer camp that is coming up in about 2 &1/2 weeks. Beltway brings a team over every summer to put on a week-long camp for the city of Enniscorthy. Each year more and more kids attend and last year over 350 kids came to camp! For the last few months everyone in Alive Church has been praying and preparing for this week, and we expect it to be our biggest camp yet. Molly will be working with the children that week, and I will be working with the teens. Please pray for safe travels for the Beltway team, for more kids to receive Jesus Christ as their savior, and for new families to get involved in Alive Church as a result.

Also, for the first time ever in Alive Church, we are doing a Youth retreat the weekend before Summer Camp starts. Geoffrey Turner himself is going to be heading up the retreat, so you know it is going to be ridiculous. Pray for the youth to bond together, for their identity in Jesus Christ to be solidified, for healing to take place in their life, and for a passion for Jesus to be rekindled in their hearts.

Again, thank you guys so much. You are all amazing.

PS. Here are some pictures from London.

The Walking In Between

The Good

Hello beautiful people,

As of Monday we have been here for 8 months, officially a third of the way through our two year commitment. Whoa buddy!

In this season, we've seen so much breakthrough personally in our burden for Ireland, for our region, and our town of Enniscorthy. We love these people. We love the opportunity we have to sow into the Kingdom here.

Also in the past few months we have expanded our outreach as a church and as missionaries. Two months ago, I finally got to start volunteering in the pediatric unit at our local county hospital on a weekly basis. It's been such an awesome opportunity to be back in a hospital setting, which is one of my favorite places to work, and to meet the patients and families that come through our playroom doors. Additionally, our church has launched an outreach of doing random acts of kindness around our town during the week. It has been amazing to see the church grab hold of that and many testimonies have come out of it.

This past month, the incredible tour of people coming to Ireland to visit us began. It still overwhelms me when I think about all of them. Our friends and family visiting are reminders of home, of the sweetest parts of community, and of the people that are running alongside us in our mission. Logan & Johanna Cole came and stayed with us this past week, after finishing up their year long mission in Gulu, Uganda, and we got to travel with them to the Aran Islands off the West Coast. I'll tell you something about Logan & Johanna Cole, try as you might to give to them, to bless them and to pour into them, THEY WILL OUTDO YOU. They came and poured into us so much that we were bursting at the seams when they pulled away on the bus. It has been an honor for James and me to walk alongside them in their mission and we are SO excited to see what God has in store for them in this next season.

The Bad

At the same time as all of that GREATNESS and GOODNESS is being poured out into our lives, I find myself at times so discouraged. Discouraged that I don't get the Irish people; what goes through their minds, how they understand the world, how to minister to them. Discouraged that seed being sown is oftentimes caught up in the thorns of life circumstances, being taken by the devil, or just that the gestation period is longer than my impatient heart can handle. And boy am I homesick for Texas. So homesick that I've resorted to upping my intake of country music and buying various Texas t-shirts online.

It's hard. No one ever promised it would be easy. BUT MAN is it hard sometimes to not grow weary in doing good.

The Mommas Who Help Us Through It All

And in the midst of me ruminating on the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all the Lord sweetly reminded me on Mother's Day of the mommas he has provided James and I during this season who are constant through it all.

The mommas who have loved us for over two decades now. Who despite being an ocean away never cease to pour out wisdom, to answer questions about adulthood we're still not sure about, and continue to speak truth in love. Mommas who have handled their children being away from them, for two years in another country, with so much grace and understanding.

Then God brought to mind our Irish mommas. The ones he has blessed us with when our own moms aren't a drive away. The ones who walk in on a Sunday morning, look at us with those piercing eyes, like they are looking inside of you, and ask "how are you?" The ones who read our homesickness like a red flag and come over to give us a hug. The ones who invite us into their home and push food and tea on us til' our bellies our overflowing (since our own food pusher moms can't do it themselves).

To our moms back home, boy do we miss seeing you! We love you so much!!!

To our Irish stand-in moms, thank you for taking us in under your wing.

To all of the people who continue to speak life into us, who intercede for us, who give to us financially, THANK YOU!!!

God, thank you for providing during the sweet mountain top moments of this season, low valleys, and all the in-between.

This Beautiful Country

P.S. Here are a few more pictures of all of our travels recently across Ireland...

Glendalough-we got to hike here with Drew.

St. Patrick's Park in Dublin-it was a sunny day in Ireland so everybody was sun bathing.

A pub on the small island of Inis Oirr.

One of the dolphins that hangs out around Inis Oirr and a scuba diver that was swimming with it.

He's some of my favorite scenery, always.

The sweater market on Inis Mor, wool is one of the island's major exports.

This is my friend Ole' Bess, she lives on Inis Mor, one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. I don't know if she realizes how blessed she is compared to the cows that live in West Texas.

Overlooking Inis Oirr; it is such a beautiful little island, where everybody speaks Irish, and the culture is so wonderfully preserved.