Preparing for Ireland...

Over the past few months the team has been meeting weekly at our house where we've been going through a book by Francis Chan called, 'The Forgotten God'. We've been learning about the Holy Spirit whom we as Christians often forget about or neglect. God desires for us to invite the Holy Spirit in to our lives to guide us and fill us with His love that in return we may spread it to those around us. It's about letting go of our pride and control and relying on God in this moment, right now.  As Galatians 5:22 reads: 'But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.'
For the first two weeks we'll be in Belfast at the South Belfast Friendship House run by Jenny Robinson (the aunt of John Bryan from Eden's Spiritual Life Department). You can see what it's all about at: http://www.presbyterianireland.org/pw/localmissionsbfh.html
During this time is term break for the schools so we'll be running a vacation bible school, performing skits, sharing testimonies and building relationships. There are various other programs we'll be involved in such as a men's breakfast ministry for a nieghbouring men's hostel, a single mom's ministry and after-school activities for kids.
The last two weeks we will head to Down Patrick where Jenny's husband, Harry, pastors a church. We will be involved in sharing testimonies with the church/youth and leading worship in the services. The church is involved in the community with a reconciliation program aimed towards the catholics and protestants who have had a long history of tension. We will know more when we are there how we will be involved with that ministry.
Each individual on this team, uncluding Kev and I are going to find ourselves in situations where we're out of our comfort zones, we'll be stretched and we'll be challenged. May you as family and friends pray that God's love would be evident in our interactions with people, in our willingness to serve and our open-ness to learn and most importantly that our motives will be fully reliant on the Holy Spirit. Thankyou for your love and support!