The Down and Outs

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope this season finds you travelling to see family members of all generations, singing songs you would never sing any other time of the year, wearing an excessive amount of green and red clothing, and hugging people you do and don't like. That, of course, is what Christmas is all about. Just kidding, Jesus. I wish I could send y'all a picture of a snowy Irish Christmas, however the weather in Ireland remains the same brisk/windy/wetness that encompasses 9 months of each year (and the last time they had snow was 2010). Enniscorthy itself does not look altogether different, except for the severe lack of sunlight (the sun sets at 4pm) and the beautiful Christmas lights filling the city. It is almost as if Enniscorthy is trying to make up for it's Vitamin D deficiency with a city that radiates led lights and Christmas music the moment kids get released from school.

No complaints here. Ask anyone: I am a huge sucker for lights.

Christmas blessings and misgivings

One of the biggest blessings God gave us for Christmas was Molly's father coming to visit us this last week. Honestly, you forget how wonderful and comforting having family around is until they are here with you. Now, I am a lucky man who has a great relationship with my father-in-law and respect him a lot; so while you may imagine a visit from your father-in-law as rife with awkward moments and subtle threats, my experience was more like a week with a kind, adventurous man, who loves to tell stories (especially embarrassing ones about Molly growing up). All in all, we had a blast and we are so thankful he got to visit us. One of the places we got to explore was Belfast where we saw the Giant's Causeway, crossed an epic rope bridge, and drove under the Dark Hedges.

On a more personal note, this Christmas has also been quite weird and awkward for us in a few ways. Last year every day was new, we never knew what to expect, we had just began to work in Alive Church and there was little time to actually miss home. Now, a year later, we know how the Irish do Christmas, what our schedule will look like, and we have found ourselves missing our friends and family back home much more. I often find myself imagining what time with both of our families would look like if we were there. Every sentimental commercial about being with loved ones seems to hit a little harder. And if I can be honest, for me it hasn't entirely seemed like Christmas. Molly has been in full Christmas swing: watching holiday movies, listening to Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole, and of course, incorporating "Elf" quotes into everyday conversation. But no matter what we do, we cannot replace what we feel when we're in Texas, and maybe that's alright. This will be our last Christmas in Ireland, as far as I know, and I want to savor every second of it with the people we love. This year I'm going to celebrate the birth of my Savior with the global Church, the family God has adopted me into from all around the world. I will sing, play, feast, and rest with my African and Irish brothers and sisters as only they can. It will be something to behold.

"Let's go find them, James."

Last week Alive Church did our annual candy cane run. This is where a few of us take about 200 candy canes and hit the streets of Enniscorthy, inviting the people we meet to join us for our Carol Service and wishing them a Merry Christmas. This year the event went so much better because Molly and I were lucky to get Paul Murphy to join us for this little adventure. For those of you who don't know Paul, he is one of the strongest, most cheerful, caring, courageous, and humble men you will ever meet. When I imagine the Irish people redeemed by Jesus, I imagine Paul and his family. Here's a picture of Paul with my father-in-law, Kevin.

Suffice it to say, when we left the church to invite the Enniscorthians, Paul ended up showing us the Father heart of God even as it applies to this Christmas season. Paul's whole goal was, "Let's go find the 'down and outs'. Let's go find the people God has placed in Enniscorthy today. Tell them to come taste and see." No one was exempt from his invitations. Even those who were busy with their shopping received the shock of being warmly greeted and a cheerful handshake from a complete stranger. Whether in high standing with the community, or looked down upon others, everyone came face to face with an Irishman who genuinely asked them how they were doing. From oldest to the youngest, rich or poor, happy or those feeling alone, all were given an invitation.

That is the kind of God we get to celebrate, right? No matter what stage of life you are in right now, God is welcoming you in to be in his family. He wants to shock you out of your holiday routine and invite you to come and meet with Him. No matter where on the globe you live, He's broken through time and space to reach out to you in a personal way, face to face. No matter how alone you may feel, He is "God with us". No matter how dark your situation may feel, He brings hope through tidings of great joy. No matter how much I may miss home, He has made it His mission to welcome the "down and outs", including me.

So let us drink deep this week, reminding our souls of a God who would not let anything separate us from Him. Let us ask Him to shatter our holiday expectations saying, "Jesus, what do you want to show me this year?" Let us see the gift-giving not as a distraction, but as a shadow of the fullness of generosity that is Jesus. Let us join with our adopted family and sing our hearts out to the Son of God who came to make us sons and daughters of God. Let us come and adore Him.

Merry Christmas, everyone. See you in the new year.

One Big Irish Family

Hi ya'll, I just need to start out by saying how much we miss all of you during this Christmas season. We are surrounded by the greatest friends and family, both in America and around the world, but not getting to be with you face to face during the holidays tugs at our heart strings. Even though we won't get to hug you tight and spend hours on the couch chatting about life these next few weeks, you are continually loving us so well from a far. Just today I was messaging with a dear friend who was encouraging us and asking how she could specifically be praying for us and the church. Two days ago, we got to skype with our hero/big brother in the faith Jeremy West, which always leads us to a better place. There are countless moments in between where we receive messages, e-mails, and even replies left on our blogs just to say we are missed, loved, and covered in prayer. Thank you!!! What may take 2 seconds for you to type out completely changes the state of our hearts for the rest of the day. Being a missionary and a good plane ride away from home isn't easy, but with you as our cheering section it's so much better!

The Church

One of my all time favorite subjects/things/words in the entire world is the church. When I say "church" there are dozens of images that come to people's minds: for many it's a building or beautiful cathedral, for some it's an image of a bunch of old ladies with too much makeup carrying a casserole fresh out of the oven. Sadly, for too many people in my generation, "church" can conjure up an image of a place they used to belong but no longer need or desire. Throughout my 24 years, there's been a good few pictures that would have come to mind regarding church.

Nowadays my job/my life/my 24/7 is the church. That's sorta the ways things go as a missionary. Not to say we live in the building or don't take sabbaths, cause we do and we need to, but the line between church life and home life is very thin. When I ask myself now what image comes to mind when I think of the church, it springs to mind so quickly and vividly there's no question, it's family. Now that's a word that the Bible used to describe the early church over and over again in the New Testament. I always read it and thought, "Man, that's what the church should be, that's what it should feel like: family." When I was in college I was a part of this amazing college ministry that began teaching me what that looked like for the church to be family, except that the extent of the "church family" I did life with were almost all between the ages of 18-24. However I began to understand then that the people I saw at church, hung out with, asked hard questions with weren't just church friends. No, we were WAY deeper than that; they were my brothers and sisters. Our relationship was way to strong to be named anything else.

And so at the ripe age of 22, I think I would have said that I understood the church being a family. At that point I would have understood what Paul meant when he referred constantly to his brothers and sisters in Christ in his letters.

But then...

I moved to Ireland and stepped through the doors of Alive Church. It was just me and James. We were friendless, familyless, and we knew no one in a town of 10,000, not to mention the entire country. The faces we saw our first Sunday welcomed us and embraced us. They cooked meals for us, called to check on us when we were sick, and always made sure to ask us about our families. They never missed a birthday, holiday, or important date for us and consistently found the craziest and best ways to bless us.

And pretty soon, before I even knew it, I had a family here in Ireland.

They are a family that include younger brothers and sisters, older brothers and sisters, moms and dads, even grandparents. They are a family made up of not only Irish people but people from all over the world who have ended up here at Alive Church.

Even though they aren't perfect and we aren't perfect, man, the way they love is relentless. It's Jesus, ya'll. Purely Jesus letting his love spill out into each other's lives. 

It's 1 John 4:12 coming to life "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

In Mark 12:49-40 Jesus says it this way "And stretching out his hands to his disciples, he said, 'here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Coming Home

A month and a half ago I got to go to Florida and visit my sister Mackenzie. It was such a sweet time for me. But one of the harder things about going was leaving James alone at the house and church, with plenty of ministry stuff to do, missing his partner in crime, while I was at Disney World with my family. It was looking to be a rough week for him. Everyone at church assured me that they were going to take care of him. I trusted them, completely!

We had been talking early one day and he had said that one of the families at our church had invited him over for dinner that evening, so they could make sure he was well fed and loved on. One of the most beautiful moments that came out of that whole week was a text I received from him later on that day once he arrived there. It was a picture of the house belonging to that family at our church, and under it he had simply wrote "Home."

Just like that, all my worries about him vanished, because I knew he was safe at home with our Irish family.

Giving It Another Shot

Some of you may know exactly how we feel here in Ireland. Your church may be your family right now. Others of you used to know what having a church family felt like but have since lost it, either through your church changing or even finding yourself in a new church. And then there are others of you who may read this and think "I've never known a church to be my family, not even close."

Wherever you may be on this spectrum, I just want to encourage you that the church can be a family. This is what Jesus created the church to be. A place where anybody can come, with whatever crap they are carrying, and lay the burden of it all down and run into the arms of people who will embrace them no matter what. I believe there are still local churches who look like this in the world, for you and for your family. Alive Church in little Enniscorthy, Ireland isn't the only one but they are one of my favorites.

So my challenge for you would be to find a church family if you are without one. To create this where you are if you find it lacking in your local church. To pray this into your church if you feel like it was a place that once looked like a family but no longer does. I promise, it will be worth it, when one day you step through the doors of your church, gaze at the faces of those around you, and say to yourself "I'm home."

Bravely saying "Yes"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! While we were not able to join you for the festivities that make up Thanksgiving, Molly's favorite holiday, know that we were with you in spirit. While you were putting on elastic pants in preparation for your bountiful feast, we too donned our battle-attire in anticipation. While you rehearsed in your head what to communicate to your grandparents about your life trajectory, we also provided very vague answers over Skype as to what we will do after our Ireland adventure ends. While you feasted on a bird most fowl, the fabled turkey, we slaved over a hot stove to make what has become a delicacy for us: Mexican food. And while you reminisced for the days of the 1992-1995 Dallas Cowboys team, we reminisced on how great the tv show "Friends" is. Thanksgiving is indeed a magical time.

And so at last, as y'all gradually awake from your Thanksgiving food comas, I thought I would take some time to update y'all on the happenings here in Enniscorthy.

Meet the interns!

You guys have no idea how excited I am to tell you about this! One of the greatest ideas that we got during our Sabbatical in August was to create a role for young adults in college who wanted to serve and volunteer in Alive Church. Thus the Internship was created. For the past several months these 6 incredible men and women give of their time to lead the youth group, children's ministry, and worship ministry with us all the while being full time in college! They have each bravely said "yes" to Jesus, giving their all to the advancement of the church in Enniscorthy. These 6 have taken our church into a whole new level of ministry with their passion, service, ideas, and leadership. Molly and I are so proud and privileged to work alongside them. John, Amy Jade, Emma, Nicola, Erica, and Mary: y'all are the best!

If you are faithful in the little...

What has blown me away about all of this is how as the interns sacrifice, pour into the youth, and serve in the most basic of tasks, they are growing at such a rapid rate at the same time! While they lay their life down for their church, God Himself is teaching them, maturing them, and building an even deeper relationship with them. It is almost as if they have entered the fastlane of spiritual growth. Isn't it crazy how God works? One of the primary ways that God matures us isn't just before we are given responsibility, but while we are given responsibility. God equips us for the adventures that we jump into. Just ask anyone who has gotten married or had a child; you can prepare all you want, but some things you can only learn on the job. When we are faithful with the little menial tasks of serving others that God has entrusted to us, God gives us an ever deepening relationship with Him and then gives us even more responsibility. It is a continuous cycle of increased responsibility and increased dependence on God. Just like David, these interns are learning how to become men and women whose hearts beat to the rhythm of God's heart. It is the most incredible thing to watch, and it give us incredible hope for God's mission here in Enniscorthy.

Birthday visitors

About a week and a half ago I turned 25. Recently, with the holidays fast approaching, I have been missing home in a real way. So God provided the best birthday gift I could have ever asked for: my wonderful parents came to visit for a whole week! Now, I know what you are thinking, "I can imagine a thousand things I would rather have for my birthday, James, somewhere along the lines of one of those two-wheel electric scooters." However, if you know my parents, then you know whoever they spend time with gets lavishly blessed and then some. It was incredible getting to see my parents again, show them around Ireland, and get to talk deeply about the things of life. And best of all, I actually got to physically hug them EVERY SINGLE DAY. I am so thankful for my family and I cannot wait for the next time they get to come visit us.

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

You Haven't Seen Anything Yet

As I was writing this blog, I stumbled across this moment of worship with Steffany Gretzinger. It perfectly captures what God has been teaching my heart this past month through all of these miraculous things he's been doing. My suggestion is to take a listen while you are reading, you won't regret it. Click Here

Pulling Off A Surprise

A week ago I got to level up in the surprise category and pull of an international one with my sister Mackenzie, who was in Orlando with my family celebrating her 22nd birthday.

Although, I hoped/wished/prayed that Kenzie would be completely excited, go crazy, scream with the happiness of seeing me for the first time in a year. In my heart of hearts I knew that it would in fact go something like this...

Click here for Kenzie's reaction video

Because James is her beloved brother. Sometimes, more beloved than her sisters.

It really was an incredible time to be with my family! Every morning Kenzie would be awake long before the rest of my family and due to my body feeling like it should be later it would be ready to wake up around 7:30 a.m. So we would sit out on the balcony, with this as our view (thank you God for Florida) and talk about life for about an hour.

Just to clue you into how big of a deal this was, it's been awhile since I can remember being able to have such a "normal" conversation with Kenzer. Due to her number of seizures, or the amount of medication she was on, her aggressive/obsessive behavior, or just sleeping all the time, she didn't always want to have a conversation with you and if she did she wasn't always able to really track with you. So to have her sit down with me and just casually bring up the things going on in her life, her best friend Krystal, her boyfriend Conner; was so sweet. But then to have her also just ask me about what is going on with me; for her to ask me about Ireland, about when we are going to start popping out babies for her, and how James was doing, was miraculous. Those were moments that in the past 12 years haven't been all too frequent and because of that those are some conversations I have a feeling I will be treasuring for a long long time.

Mini Pulse Epicness

At the same time as all of this was happening in the U.S., my incredible husband was back here in Ireland with our youth about to go to our fall event called Mini Pulse. Mini Pulse is hosted by the Assemblies of God Ireland and is open to youth groups all over. Our youth group had been attending it for the past few years, and loved it! This year it was to be hosted at one of Dublin's night clubs due to the large amount of kids they were expecting, which they ended up having over 400!!! Shout out to Daniel Malone and AJ O'Neill and all of the other awesome youth pastors who made this happen for youth across Ireland! This year was especially exciting for our youth group because of how much it has grown and changed since last year. Last year at Mini Pulse we brought around 19 teens from our youth group. This year we brought 25 teens and 6 college age interns we are raising up to lead and serve in youth and other ministries in the church. Over half of the kids attending this year we're new to our youth group or had never been to Mini Pulse with us.

Everybody had such a fun time this year, you could definitely tell the shift it made in friendships when I saw them the next Friday after the event. Most importantly, it provided an opportunity for them to choose Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and receive prayer, and over half of our youth group did go up to either receive prayer or make that decision during this event. This Friday at G-Force we will be taking time for our youth to share what God did in them specifically during Mini Pulse and we are incredibly excited to hear all the stories.

(Photos courtesy of Rebekah Long)

James and I say this to each other all the time but we absolutely LOVE getting to serve and be a part of reaching the youth here in Enniscorthy. It's kind of secretly (but not such a secret) our favorite ministry! The kids that God has placed in our youth group this year are just hungry for more of God and more of real community. It's an honor to get to be a part of raising and equipping this next generation in Ireland.

Answered Prayer

In my last blog post I asked you to specifically be praying for salvation to happen in our youth group. I just want to say to all of you who partnered with us in that, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts! There are more being added into the Kingdom here in Ireland because of your prayers!!! I also, have to thank everyone who cared, prayed into, GAVE money for my plane ticket so I could go see MacKenzie during this missionary stint. Thank you! Thank you for caring about James and I in every way, through every situation, in every circumstance. We are surrounded by the best of the best!

Party Time

I have to end by showing you our Holly-Ween Party (it was a Hollywood themed Halloween party) for our youth group and our Family Fun Night! Both couldn't have happened with the legend that is Paul Murphy. For those of you who have come over with Beltway or to visit James and me, you may have had the honor of meeting this man and his wonderful family. I had a vision of what I wanted these two parties to be; a vision way beyond what I could make happen on my own. Paul totally came through and made my vision a reality, part of which looked like him standing in the rain, at night, trying to start a fire so our youth could roast marshmallows over it. He pulled it off with a smile on his face and even figured out how to position it so they could stand inside the church and roast them. I just have to give credit where credit is due!

(Photo courtesy of Alive Church)

Taking Care of Business

Hello folks, Autumn has arrived, the leaves are starting to turn already here in Ireland; the nights and mornings hold a crisp chill to them. There's still been many days in September where the sun shines down and the flowers are still magnificent; it's a beautiful time of the year to live here. I know for most of you Texans autumn is on display all around you at every store and on every pinterest board, but it hasn't felt like it quite yet. Well, I'll try to send some cooler weather your way but enjoy your Texas version of autumn for us, I even hear via facebook posts that our sports teams are doing us proud at the moment! Praise God!

Time For A Testimony

I have a testimony for you that has been burning on my heart to share, it's a testimony that illustrates a much bigger testimony of what the Lord has shown us since we've moved to Ireland. A few months back we were at the home of one of our spiritual moms here. We were getting ready to leave and she stopped me and said, "Molly I felt like God wanted me to tell you that if you take care of his business, he'll take care of yours." Taking care of God's business is the sum total of what we do as Jesus followers on this earth, I mean it's the whole point of the great commission. As a missionary with little to no lines between ministry and home life, doing God's business is at the forefront of your mind 24/7, it's not something that's easy to ignore. Since I was given that word God has illustrated it for me time and time again here in Ireland, through our finances, relationships, and ministry breakthroughs. Recently though, he illustrated it in a way that left me in complete awe of how good he is!

A few weeks ago I was walking and talking with Jesus. It was one of those days where homesickness had crept up and punched me in the gut out of nowhere. I was lonely, mopey, and sitting at home that evening wasn't cutting it for me. So I got up and walked around for a little bit, ran into people I know (because living in Enniscorthy, a town of 10,000, it happens all the time). I was lamenting to God about how I missed people, specifically my people, the people that are our best friends/lifers/brothers and sisters. We have lots of friends here in Ireland, we have our Irish family, but very few people our age that are going after God with us. As I was walking I noticed this girl walking towards me, I had never seen her before, but she looked right around my age. Right then I told God "I want her to be my friend." I kept walking, thought nothing of it, other than I was not only incredibly homesick and lonely that day, I was losing my mind as well.

Fast forward a few days and it's a Sunday, I'm standing at the front doors, and lo and behold that same girl walks into our church. The girl that I saw on the street, that I had asked God for, it took me a moment to recognize her but sure enough it was her. Now you have to understand we have a few visitors each Sunday at our church but none I've ever seen between the ages of 20-25 years old, so this was unexpected in and of itself. I ended up finding out her name, that she was here for a temporary job placement from Germany and she was exactly my age. She was looking for a church to attend because she had grown up in the church, was following after God, and wanted a church home during her time here.  As we hung out for the next few weeks she revealed that she had asked God when she came over to give her someone to hang out with, and that for her meeting James and I was an answer to that prayer. I, after getting to know her, shared my side of the story with her and we were just both amazed at how God works things out for his children.

It was a simple but beautiful reminder for me of that word I'd been given months ago, "you take care of my business Molly, and I'll take care of yours." Your greatest needs and seemingly weirdest requests, I'm on it, I've got it covered. Here's the cool thing no matter who you are, no matter what your day job looks like, he's there doing the same thing for you. He does it for all his kids, he's a good Father like that.

My Miraculous Mackenzie

Back at the beginning of 2015 I wrote in a post that a big prayer request for me was that my whole family would be able to come to Ireland to see us. As you know my mom and sister, Marissa, got to come in the summer. My Dad gets to come over this winter. Which left Mackenzie, as many of you know Kenzie has pretty severe special needs including uncontrolled epilepsy and some crazy mood swings that come as a result of the medication she is on. So I prayed and prayed and it wasn't at all looking like Kenzie was going to be able to make an international trip to see me. This past year of James and I being gone has been especially hard on her. We get notes and texts from her outlining, "how she is proud of us for obeying God but we need to come back to Texas NOW."

A month or two ago my mom told me that Mackenzie was getting a birthday trip to Orlando, Florida to see Hope and Winter, the two dolphins from Dolphin Tale, one of her favorite movies. I talked to James about it and we began praying about if it would be a chance to see Kenzie during our two years here. We prayed for awhile, submitted it to our pastors, and finally came to an agreement for me to go see her. The plane ticket was a good chunk of money for us but we bought it in faith that it was what God was calling us to. Again, God who takes care of my business, provided. This past week we found out that my plane ticket had been completely covered! So in October I'm flying to Orlando to surprise Kenzie for her 22nd birthday (so if you see her don't say anything)!!!

Sabbin' in Croatia

James reminded me as I was writing this that we hadn't shared the beauty of our sabbatical. Our sabbatical really was a week we had set aside to get away, de-stress, and get envisioned for our next year. First off, God once again provided beautifully for every single detail of it. From the drop dead gorgeous place we stayed, to the loveliest of hosts, to catching all of our flights, to providing financially, everything about this sabbatical was a powerful testament to our Jehovah Jireh.

Kozlovic was a beautiful winery right down the hill from where we were staying. It also happened to be one of the best wineries in all of Istria (which is the primary wine growing region of Croatia). Their vineyards were gorgeous and the people were so kind. 

Groznjan, the most beautiful little village on top of a mountain. There's a music school there during the summer so as you walked around you could hear instruments being played from every open window. They also had some of the best pizza ever. We ate pizza everyday for lunch during our sabbatical. 

The little village we stayed in Croatia was called Momjan, it's located right near the border of Slovenia in the far western portion of the Istrian region.  

At one of the restaurants in our town, there were two pet pigs that lived in a barrel. Everybody knew them and loved them in the town and they were right there to see as you walked up to the restaurant! The view from our terrace, overlooking Momjan.

Praying in the Harvest

One thing that James and I would specifically love prayer for this month is for salvations in our church. We are in a 4 part series on what the gospel is in our youth group. We've had many new visitors to our youth group this year, and the kids are really leaning into it. Today James will be preaching on the cross and offering them a chance to receive salvation, so if you could partner with us in praying for them to really get it, and for those ready to receive it to step out and faith and do so. We'd truly appreciate it!

Thank you all for how you completely walked with us in this mission here in Ireland at Alive Church, it's because of you and by the grace of God that we are able to do what we came here to do!