Creative Way to Share the Gospel

My Welsh friend Catrin is working here in Dublin with IFES. IFES is a Christian ministry that works with college and university students and is similar to the U.S. student ministry of Intervarsity but is worldwide. She recently loaned me a book all about the IFES movement called "Shining Like Stars" with a subtitle of "The Power of the Gospel in the World's Universities." The book holds many, many encouraging stories on student movements around the world. In the third chapter "Holding Out the Word of Life," a short story of a student group's creativity to share the gospel on their campus is related:

Students can be very creative in their evangelism. I recall hearing about a small group of Christians in the Polish university town of Rzeszow. They were only a small group so how could they make an impression on a large university? They settled on an unusual idea to publicize an evangelistic event.

Three of them dressed up and went visiting in the student dorms, knocking on doors. As people opened the doors, first came the student dressed up as "Death," scythe in hand, announcing, "It is appointed to men once to die, and then the judgment." Then he ran off.

The poor students were shocked! Five minutes later, another knock came. As student after student opened their doors, they met a student dressed up as an angel. The angel asked, "Has Death come here recently?" "Yes," the student would say. "Well, I want to tell you that Jesus Christ has died and risen from the dead to conquer Death. Tomorrow night the Christian student group will explain how Christ's resurrection gives hope in the face of death." Then the angel would run away.

Students went back into their rooms, and five minutes later a third knock came. This time the students found someone dressed like the devil. The devil-look alike said, "Psst! Has an angel been here telling you about a meeting tomorrow night?" "Yes," would reply the student. "Don't go. It's nonsense."

Of course the one thing you never say to a student is "Don't" because then they do! Hundreds went along, the meeting was overflowing and fifteen professed faith in Christ that night.

WHAT A BRILLIANT IDEA!

On Living in Ireland

I find myself analyzing life in Europe and in Dublin more and more. There has been a turning point over the past several weeks in my feelings towards Dublin. I think this is the result of two things in particular. One is that we have finally made some friends here in Dublin and two is that, ironically enough, now that we have finally made some friends we may be moving in the next couple of months. Having said this I would now like to tell you what I like about living here.

• I love meeting and getting to know international peoples.
• I love being able to travel so easily and inexpensively.
• I love being a housewife- taking care of our little apartment and having all the time in the world to cook.
• I love the fact that Europeans value time off so that Matt's work schedule allows for us to be together and travel much more than we could if he was working in the U.S.
• I like the mild temperatures in Ireland.
• I like how it is almost always perfect weather for soup.
• I like walking to the store for groceries almost everyday and finding the best deals between the four stores in my neighborhood.
• I like having the time, energy, and resources to have people stay here with us (sometimes even complete strangers).
• I like being more physically active because we don't have a car.
• Life seems simpler here.

There are also a number of things I don't like:

• I HATE the frequent & ferocious winds of Dublin.
• I hate how expensive things are in Dublin-especially going out to eat.
• I don't like how there are no good Christian bookstores here.
• I don't like 4 seasons in one day and the general instability of the weather.
• I don't like not having a car when I want to go to a friend's house who lives far away.

So, these are just some minor thoughts on the matter. I like living in Europe on the whole. Ireland has slowly grown on me because of the great people I have met and the familiarity of it now as I face the unknown in a possible new city. I surely wouldn't stay in Ireland forever but I think I will miss it when I leave.

Manchester

Matt and I spent the weekend in Manchester, England as Matt was to receive his certificate from the Society of Perfusionists of Ireland and Great Brittain for passing his recent exams- WAY TO GO, HONEY! We stayed at a really nice hotel (our hotel room tv screen said "Welcome, Mr. McReynolds" on it!) in the city center. During the day time Matt attended conference lectures while I milled about the city. On both of the nights we attended dinners, the second one being formal, and I got to wear a long beautiful dress! I really like England and even though the pound is stronger than the euro and we lose out on the exchange the prices in England are so much better than Ireland. Everything feels like a great deal. Whilst I was nosing around Manchester on Saturday afternoon I came across a great Christian book store called Wesley Owen. I must have spent 2 hours in it just browsing the books and music. It was so refreshing! I know I don't need any more books but I can't help it- I love them! So I treated myself to 2 new books I can't wait to read: "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels" by Kenneth Bailey and "The Uniqueness of Israel" by Lance Lambert. I also got to eat Millie's cookies, Baskin Robin's ice cream, and go to Sainsbury Market. Oh, how I do love England...

Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains

Recently we had a friend of a friend of a friend staying with us. Her name is Beth and she is from PA but is living in Vienna currently. She came to see Dublin and be refreshed with some English speakers. It is good to have a fellow American around and while she was here we were able to take her on a little road trip up to Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains which are right outside of Dublin. This trip was made possible by our American friends Betsy and David who are living here in Dublin. We met them at Grosvenor Church a few months ago and I am so glad because they are such a fun couple. We hung out with them once before this trip and had a really good time. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a long and blessed friendship!

Glendalough literally means "glen of the two lakes." It is a beautiful area of Irish countryside nestled in the Wicklow Mountains just outside of Dublin. It was a monastic settlement established by St. Kevin the 6th century. There are many ruins including a cathedral which is one of the oldest Christian churches in Ireland. The Round Tower is also very impressive. Along with the ruins are a mass of beautiful Celtic tombstones. There are many hiking trails around this area. We took a short walk and then headed further into the beautiful Wicklow Mountains where we saw a magnificent waterfall, many fluffy sheep, and rich landscape. Thanks to Betsy and David for taking us!

Re-post: Celebrating 1 Year Overseas!

Ok, here is a re-post of a video celebrating 1 year of living overseas. This upload should be available for all to see this time. This slideshow is of favorite places we have seen and things we have done since living in Europe over the last year. Before moving to Ireland I had been to a handful of states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Florida, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Georgia, Lousianna) and just three countries outside of the U.S. (Canada, Mexico, & Thailand). This was over 27 years of life. Over the last year alone I traveled to 7 countries and multiple cities- Praise God! Here is where we were able to go over the last year...

• 
  
  Dublin Ireland
• 
  
  Ring of Kerry, County Kerry, Ireland
• 
  
  Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland
• 
  
  West Coast, County Mayo, Ireland
• 
  
  Belfast, Northern Ireland
• 
  
  Edinburgh, Scotland
• 
  
  The Highlands & Loch Lomond, Scotland
• 
  
  London, England
• 
  
  Cambridge, England
• 
  
  Paris, France
• 
  
  Rhine River Valley, Germany
• 
  
  Mainz, Germany
• 
  
  Rome, Italy
• 
  
  Kusadasi, Turkey
• 
  
  Miletus, Turkey
• 
  
  Ephesus, Turkey
• 
  
  Samos, Greece

There are still so many places we want to go to and, God willing, we'll make it. We love to have visitors over to travel with so feel free to come to Ireland or meet us somewhere else in Europe!

Also of note in this slideshow are the few pictures we have of our Spades World Tour with the Jankowski's. From the first time we played Spades with them we were hooked and enjoy non-stop games of Spades everytime we are together. Since they are our traveling buddies we have played Spades in a few different countries and hope to travel and play with them all over the world! So far we have played in...

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Tucson, Arizona

Strawberry, Arizona

Dublin, Ireland

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Edinburgh, Scotland

Kusadasi, Turkey

...hence the title "Spades World Tour." I am hoping for Spades World Tour Cairo, Athens, Petra, and Jerusalem while we are over on this side of the world (hint, hint Jankowski's)

Fun With MercyMe

In my unquenchable thirst for music I recently stumbled across these brilliant covers by MeryMe. Below are just 3 of quite a few videos which can be found on you tube so if you like what you see search you tube for "MercyMe cover tune grab bag." ENJOY!

Going Back to My Roots

After 12 years of being a "bottle blond" I am going back to my roots. This is mostly because the cost of upkeep is rediculous and I am tired of having roots! This past May I started putting my natural color back in- along with a few other colors. I just had my hair re-highlighted yesterday and with 5 months of growth this is how it turned out. Most of what you see now is my natural color with a little blond highlighting to jazz it up a bit. What do you think?

Chili's!

Last week we found out one of our favorite restaurants has recently come to Belfast- Chili's! Our associate pastor who is Canadian but lived in New Mexico for a while is as big a fan of Chili's as we are so the three of us made the trip up to Belfast- 110 miles- today just to have lunch. Two other guys from church also came and we met up with more friends of my pastor who live up in Belfast. Bottomless Cokes (unheard of in Europe), bottomless chips and salsa (REAL tortilla chips and YUMMY salsa- also unheard of in Europe), chicken crispers, and molten chocolate cake- I thought I was at home! This was the real Chili's with the same menu, ingredients, and atmosphere of a Chili's at home. The Irish LOVED it and could not get over the free refills on pop and chips and the molten chocolate cake with it's "rivers of chocolate that keep coming!" They had been to Chili's in the states while they were on a missions trip to Mexico last year and were just as pleased as we were that the Chili's that has come to Belfast is the real deal. Thanks for the treat Lord!

Horton and "Christless Christianity"

God has given many gifted men to this generation. One of those such men is Michael Horton of The White Horse Inn (radio show discussing theology and current trends in the church) and Modern Reformation (in my opinion the BEST Christian magazine out there by far!). If you are not familiar with his writing or preaching you are missing out. He is one the clearest communicators of the gospel I have ever heard. For those of you who have been taught to believe the gospel is just simple and once you believe it you can get on to the meat and what's really important you would do well to read Michael Horton! Reading his many articles on the gospel in Modern Reformation is the richest feeding my soul does outside of the word itself! He is also very gifted at diagnosing what is going on in the church and culture and why. A new book is about to be released by Horton called "Christless Christianity" which looks great. More information can be found at http://christlesschristianity.org/index.php

64 Days and Counting!

This morning I received an email from my nephew Jace. In it he told me he and his brother made a chain- one of those chains you used to make in school to count down the days to Christmas where you tare a ring off each day- only this one is to count down the days til Matt and I come to Minnesota in December. My heart melted upon reading it! Then I saw a picture of my nephew Levi holding it on my sister's blog today.

I can't wait to see you guys!!!