Sunday in Ireland

Hey folks!!! It's Mike again, and I'll be writing all the rest of the blogs from now on for Ireland 2008! Everyone over here liked the way I did my last one, and they asked me to be the team stenographer for the trip! We just ended our third day here in Ireland! It is 10:00pm and it looks like its 8:00pm outside!!

Today went very well, we woke up at 8am, and had breakfast here at home. Ann and Denny came by to pick us up to go to church in downtown Balbriggan. Service started at 10:30, and we opened with worship. Bruce, Ann, Dennis, and Matt all contributed to the music. We sang "Blessed Be Your Name","Sing to the King","Amazing Love","Hungry", and for special music we did "You Are God Alone". I'm not going to lie...it was really weird not playing my trumpet in front of everyone, and it was REALLY weird seeing Bruce in front of just 40-50 people greeting them just like he does at CW. After we sang, my big brother Matt came to us with a message, and I must say he did a fantastic job!!! He made me very proud, he'll be a great Rev. some day!!!

Did you know that Ann has the psychic powers of knowing what people are thinking. There was a little girl named Dina, who has a smile that can light up a whole room, and Bruce started to talk to her. At one point she looked back behind her and then looked back at Bruce, and then she ran off! Bruce asked ,"What was that all about!?!?", and Ann's reply was, "She just told you that she was getting some help..." And sure enough, little Dina brought over her cousin Emily, and together they are like peanut butter and jelly! I'm not going to lie though, those two talk a mile a minute.

After church, a BBQ was held for us at Maggie and John's house way out in the country, called Ashbourne. We met lots of new brothers and sisters in Christ! And it's just amazing to go 25 miles inland and have people have completely different accents!! We met another American and his family. Mark is from Ohio, and I said we probably should not discuss which football team was better...U of M...cough....no we had a great time talking! I never really realized why foreign exchange students freak out when they meet someone else from their own country until today!! I was so excited to see another American that I did not know right away!!! I absolutely LOVE the Irish people here though! All of the team members are starting to pick up a little accent. I catch myself speaking with an Irish accent once in a while! After eating some BBQ and some delicious Rhubarb Crumble Cobbler...yeah, don't you wish you were here...we went for a walk in Irish country. Emily's dad John said there were some beautiful stops were we could go to take pictures, and it was just a half mile up the hill. Ann and I discussed on the way to Puddenhill (the destination) that Irish folk have got to be joking when they say a half mile! The same thing happened yesterday...remember my blog from yesterday? Anyways we got there and we were thinking it was maybe a mile and a half, so we just sucked it up and took in the indescribable scenery that God had blessed this beautiful country with! Hopefully we can get some pictures up on the site. After Puddenhill, John made the comment that there was an ancient castle up the road just a little walk from there...my first thought was, "OH GREAT!!!". The walk clearly not little, and our feet were aching, but on the way we saw some cows, and I mooed to them thanking them for their fine sacrifices that helped us get a filling meal back at the house. They mooed back...I think they said, "No problem, anytime!". I knew I've always liked cows!!! We got to the castle, we could see it from a distance, and we took a photo opp. It was a beautiful castle!!! We headed home and I talked a little with Mark, but I mostly talked to Denny. We talked about the sports teams we have back in the US, like the Tigers, Pistons, Ice Hawks, and the NFL. It was a nice walk back. When we got back to the house, we stayed for about ten minutes, and then we left. We took the way we walked, because we wanted to see exactly how long the "half mile" really was...can i say...FOUR MILES...yeah. That's all I have to say about that. Daily word of wisdom: When an Irishman asks you if you want to go for a little walk, be prepared to go four or more miles!!

When we left our walking trail in the cars, we headed back to Balbriggan. We had a meeting, because we start VBS or Kids Club tomorrow. Ann, Dennis and I are in some pretty funny skits; Jim and Ruth are puppeteering, Bruce and Ann are doing music, and Matt and I are doing games. After the meeting Bruce gave a short devotional and we had a wonderful discussion on our faith. I made a personal observation. It was; how could someone be so foolish and say that there is no God, when you can see here in Ireland, the beautiful land that someone had to have created. Something doesn't just explode and boom it exists. This country did convert C.S. Lewis to believe that there HAS to be a God. God made this world, what else could? After discussion we prayed for Denny and Linda, they are going to Drogheda tomorrow to renew their immigration for the third time, and the Irish government frowns on renewals for the third time. People rarely get them, most are asked to leave the country. So if all of you reading this keep Denny and Linda in yours prayers tonight. They are making a big difference for the Kingdom of God. Goodbye for now and keep on praying!!!
Mike and the rest of the CW team