Our Ireland Mission

We went to Ireland on mission around the end on January, to a medium size town (30,000
occupents), fortyfive minutes southwest of Dublin, called New Brigde. Paul, a fellow student who is from Ireland, told us to expect a lot of rain, but for the ten days that we were there, it barely rained, maybe twice. So we got there on a Friday afternoon, and right away the we were introduced to our host families. It was Yvo who is from France, Paul, another guy name John who not from the school, and I who were hosted by the Donaghue family. The were grand, we were treated with so much hospitality, they had a beautiful house on this large plot of land.
So the second day in New Bridge we went door to door evangelizing, where we just tried to inform the people of the mission that was taking place that week and its upcoming events. Yeah at first it felt kind of wierd, I felt like Jahovah Witness' at times, but for the most part we were welcomed at some places, and even invited for some tea and crumpets. Most of Ireland is Catholic and the local parishes informed the parishiners that we were coming. So that was Saturday during the day, then at night it was sweet, we went pub evangelizing, where as you can guess, we went to the local pubs and went evangelizing. Now, let me explain how we evangelized, we DIDN'T go in there throwing the bible at people trying to hate on their good time, we went in there chilled, rapped with people, and listened to them, maybe even share with them our faith if they wanted. It was pretty cool, and man they know how to serve that Guiness right. Guiness..... taste the richness. It was nice to drink a couple of beers and walk home at the end of the night, everything was pretty much walking distance in that town. During the weekday we went to the local schools, primary/secondary, equivalent to our elementary and high school, they don't have a middle school in most of Europe. We broke up into teams of 4 or 5 and went to around over a hundred classes to share the faith. We first started out in the first and second grade classes and taught them a childrens church song with hand motions (some sort of little dance) It was funny and cool because these little kids ate it up, and they loved us. Just imagine the cutest little kids singing with all their heart, and the biggest smiles at the top of their lungs a song about Jesus. It was very uplifting, and I see why they started us of at the young ones because as soon as we got to the high school kids they weren't as open and responsive. For the secondary classes we were there for a class period or two. We would have one person share their testinmony, then try to answer any question they might have about the Faith or in general, and then towards the end try to pray with them. It was at this mission where I realized what it meant to be a missionary. Going in the classrooms, as missionary we weren't there to act as if we had all the answer to try to convert and push our beliefs, but as missionaries we are to just talk about God and how we have experience Him in our lives.
In the evening during the week, after dinner at our host families, we would either have pub evangelization or for the most of us we were assigned in groups of three or four to an open-house. An open house is where someone from the parish would invite there friends, family, or neighbors over to their house for a time a sharing. The open-house wasn't a time for teaching, mostly just listening on our part and letting the people converse about what they believe or dind't believe. Then afterwards we would have tea and crumpets or cake. That was how the mission mostly went for ten days, it was tiresum with such a hetic schedule, but it was altogether amazing. It really is in giving that you recieve because we gave our all in that mission, and coming back from that mission, we seriously felt like we recieve more than we gave. We recieve so much in grace, growth in faith, knowledge, love, you name it and more. It was awesome, and the last night of the mission the parish thru a party for us at this reception/pub, the food was grand (Irish Slang), beer was mighty grand, music was grand. They had a dance floor out there and we tour the place down, we had the dance floor packed. What's funny is that you think students at our school of mission wouldn't know how to party, but it's the complete opposite, we got a bunch of crazy catz at our school.




This is me openin' it up on fourth gear on my host families quad. That thing was sweet, I've got to get one of those when I get home. "Cherpin' gears, pulling brodies. Wooooohh!!!!" (Dude, can someone Fedex me my Joe Dirt dvd, also maybe a wiffle ball and bat, and a Carne Asada Burrito con cheese.)