As we enter into the new year I thought I would give you all an update on what is up on the ministry side of things.

Since we have come to Ireland in July, Gary has tried to get into the groove of preparing his sermans and leading the people of the Lee Valley Bible Church. He had a slow start as you know because it was hard to work out of the house and boxes and no office. Well he is now into the groove, preparing sermans, meeting with the elders of the church once a month to help give directon and a new vision, and getting going and following up on 5 small groups, 4 adult and 1 youth. There have been a few Christian people that have not had close ties to the church lately because of different negative things that Gary has had the opportunity to give a few fresh insights to.

We have tried to connect with some people in the neigbourhood by going to the local rugby club and selling Avon. Some of the people we managed to connect with were the people who had children that the girls met, children are a great connection to other people. We have tried to feel out where they are at spiritually but being a very guarded type of people here it is all very polite and not much depth to the conversation. They are more interested in socialising and good craic(crack),that means having fun. Gary did however have a couple of great spiritual conversations with one of the neighbours and another fellow in the rugby club recently.

Gary has met with the denomination heads here in Ireland and tried to share his vision with them only to fall a little flat. He also meets with the other area pastors once a month to share prayer requests and how things are going in each others churches. He had also tried to share his ideas here but is often told most of his ideas will not work here or they seem not too interested. There seems to be a very traditional approach here and a resitance to change.

He has also become involved in a prayer meeting every Thursday at a couples house that live close to the University of Cork. Their names are Jo and Frank and they have 5 children. They are from Canada and the USA. They have been called to serve in a ministry where Frank teaches at the university and tries to introduce people to Jesus. They have given up much in the way of material items, nice home, cars etc to serve here. I know that is not suppose to be important but if you could see the extremly old row house they are living in so they could be within walking distance of the university you would understand the sacrifice. They have also gone almost 2 years with no car as they have nowhere to park. We had to adjust our thinking of our house being small and not what we were use to after we saw their house. It is literally falling apart and for 7 people only 3 bedrooms and the kitchen is the size of a trailer you pull behind your car with no counters at all. But if they were anywhere else they could not open up their house to who they are trying to reach. They are trying to buy a better place but because of the locality they are having to pay over a million Canadian just to have a decent place. They are getting some response but unfortunatly it is mostly foreign students.

There was another couple here from Canada named Terry and Laura. They were planning to be here for 1 year but Laura got pregnant and they had to go home but, while they were here Terry ran around like a mad man searching out every possible connection he could find and hoping in turn to hook them up with either Gary or Frank and Jo. Not much was accomplished in the 7 months they were here except with foreigners as the locals are very guarded and don't take to outsiders. They visited just about every church here before we came and gave Gary a good idea what is going one here in the local churches.

Well it has been difficult to connect as we knew it would be but it is still difficult to accept that it is so hard. Gary was talking to the guy who runs the local Christian book store and he said there was a family from the US that has been here 3 years and has felt they could get no where and is going home. Ireland is a tough nut to crack!

Well as most of you know now we are heading home. Not because Ireland is a tough nut, because we were ready to give it a serious go, but because we have exausted all avenues for any kind of programs or respite care for Kirbey. She has mostly sat around the house and we have had to take turns caring for her 24/7. This is hard because Gary is trying to help me out and this limits him in his ministry. But more importantly Kirbey needs some things to make her life special too. We have taken her swimming on a regular basis and to town when not raining and out to the rugby club even but it is not what we feel works for her or the family. Gary will give more details when he comes home in Feb.

Even though we feel we have not made a huge difference we have been told that we are a breathe of fresh air and caused some new ways of thinking.

We will carry on as best we can hoping to make a difference while we are still here.