The west coast was simply beautiful!!! The team was so creative with ministering and loving the people that we came into contact with over the course of the past few days. There was a really neat afternoon for prayer walking as well as acts of kindness for the community.

We are back in Dublin until Tuesday when the trip is over. Tomorrow we will be heading to another L'Arche community here in town and look forward to seeing what other things that Lord wants to teach us while we are here.

Please pray for the team as they are tired and trying to end well here.

rain.

it rains here quite often. it continues to remind me of the replenishment that the earth requires. and so today we trust the rain to do what it was created to do.... make things new.

we are in dublin and arrived here Monday night. our hostel has been a funny experience, teaching all of us a little bit about cleanliness.

today we will travel to Galway which is on the west coast, please pray for guidance as we travel to a new place in ireland. we have been having a great time and been following where the Spirit guides.

We finished out our time with L'Arche last night with a BBQ. We played baseball. We roasted s'mores. It was a good time. There was some sadness in leaving people who had quickly become friends, but so much joy in how easily this community of people let us into their lives.

And though we said goodbye last night, this morning we got the chance to say hello to new friends. We were privileged this morning to worship with a kind and welcoming group of believers and were loved well by Ian, Pat, and Laura who spent their afternoon with us. They were our tour guides, they bought us lunch, and they allowed us to enter into their world as they engaged with us in ours. We also had the opportunity to meet Jenny and get an idea of what her ministry at the Friendship House looks like. While we won't get to spend as much time with her in that ministry as we would have liked, we are excited about the chance to spend time there tomorrow. Finally we attended a service tonight (yes we did church twice in one day) that is connected to the Emergent conversation and got to interact some with Peter Rollins who we hope to sit down with more tomorrow as well.

Tomorrow is also the day that we leave Northern Ireland and catch a train to the Republic. We will be out well before midnight when our pass to the UK expires. We have decided to head to Dublin and are praying for the Lord to show us what He has for us there. We are not sure what our internet access will be in days to come, but we will try to write when we can. Keep praying!

Oh, hi.
Here is a little snipet of our time here in Ireland.
Besides never really knowing what day it is, none of us have any sense of time
because the sun never really shines for an extended amount of time. So it can be 11pm at night
and still bright outside! Crazy, yes.

We have spent the past few days working with this great community L'arche. They are a community who have committed themselves to creating love in a world addicted to misery. They house people with special needs and dedicate themselves to caring for them and being their friend. While we have been with them we have been filling our days working outside helping to paint and garden. And walking, lots of walking.

We met with the community director for L'arche, Maria. She had such inspiring, beautiful things to say that seemed to resonate with all of us in a different way. Speaking about not condeming ourselves for who we are not, but loving ourselves for who we are. She also challenged us to actually do what we are deliriously happy about. So fitting for all of us as we are all entering a time of transition.

Ok, that's all for today. Its 22:49! Time for bed.

We're Home

Hello everyone!
We just wanted to let you know that we have all made it back home safely after a long few days of traveling! We have only been home a few hours so we're not quite sure if the jet lag has kicked in yet or not. :)

We had a wonderful time serving and getting to understand the Kiwi culture better. The five of us really bonded throughout this trip as well and have had a wonderful time getting to know one another better. There was definitely a lot of laughter throughout our trip as well. :) Props to Matt as well for putting up with 4 girls for 3 weeks straight haha go Matt!

All in all, God really proved His hand on this trip and spoke personally to all of our hearts.

Thank you SO much for your support and prayers!!! We could not have done this without you!

In Christ's loving hands,
New Zealand Team 2009

(this picture was actually taken on the streets of Sydney, Australia. We were able to travel there for a week as well after our amazing time in New Zealand)

we have arrived....

family and friends... it has been a really long few days with many layovers, delays and unexpected stops for all of us. there was quite a bit of rain in new jersey which delayed all of our flights into our connecting flight to belfast. and then angie, justin, bethann, lucy, jess and julia were the last 6 people on the airplane last night. there have been quite a few close calls that made us think that we would not make it into ireland. once we arrived into ireland at 10am this morning, we ended up getting detained for 8 hours in the belfast airport at customs with much fear that we would not get into the country due to visa issues.

......but we have arrived at our host home, with very welcoming people.

our team is exhausted. a lot of uncertainty arose today as we were questioned by security guards and a long day of waiting. please pray for clairty for our team and deep meaningful rest.

we are glad to be here, realizing that there is a lot of opposition to us being here.

off to eat pizza and then go to bed!!!

Safely arrived...

I'm sitting here at my favorite restaraunt in Kratie, Cambodia, 11 days after my left for America, informing you that they have safely arrived. =) If you were waiting to hear this news from me, I appologize for the delay. The team left Friday May 22, and arrived home the following evening. I am staying 3 more weeks to minister.
Thank you for you prayers and support! It really was an incredible trip, and God worked in amazing ways. Everyone learned and was changed. I wish I had more time to write, but when I return to America, expect a short trip summary with a few more pictures. Oh, and a poem too!
Please continue to pray for me and my ministry in Cambodia. I am now in Kratie, teaching English and ministering with the youth. On Friday I will return to the Bible college in Phnom Penh, and then I will fly home on Friday, June 12. I have a 13 hour layover in Seoul, and I'm not looking forward to that. =)





A group photo in Kampong Cham, the first province we visited in Cambodia. Pastor Paroath (younger Khmer man in back) and his English students stole our hearts.

A group photo at Ankor Wat. (It will be worth your time to search Angkor Wat on google images!)

Our team with our Buddhist van driver Om.


Saying goodbye to good friends in Kratie.


With our favorite waiter at U-Hong Restaraunt, in Kratie.

Malawi

The Malawi team reports that "all is well".

We have arrived!!! :)

We have safely arrived in Cape Town, have showered, and attempted to catch up on some sleep. Our plane landed around 9:00PM Cape Town time, which is 2:00PM for most of you. We have gotten settled in at our 'home' for the next two weeks. We have great accomodations, and are staying in a very safe neighborhood. This morning our group got up at 9:00 and went with one of our hosts, and some friends, to Table Mountain. There is a cablecar to the top, but today the top was covered by the clouds. The group began the journey up the mountain on foot, but not everyone was successful. There was a great view from where we started the hike that everyone enjoyed. We will see a little more of the city today, and then begin our volunteering tomorrow at the children's home.

Please continue to be in prayer for our team as we minister and learn througout the next few weeks.

Dominican Republic

!Hola, amigos! ¿Que pasa?
As you can see, we have learned some Español since we have been here (You might think it is weird that I am not using any word contractions, but Henrys keyboard is different, and it is hard to figure out how to make commas. I apologize!)
Right now we are packing up and getting ready to leave at 4am tomorrow morning. I would say for most of us the feeling is bittersweet- we are ready to go home, but also want to stay here forever with the kids. We spent our last day with them on Saturday. We went once again to Pajarito, a Dominican and Haitin village. Orginally we were going to stay for the majority of the day, but something fell through with one of Henrys friends being there. So sadly, we were only able to be there from 10am to about noon. We had fun coloring, painting fingernails, throwing balls, making oragami, playing beisbol, and filling water balloons. Some of us had little friends we recognized from last time- it is so special when one of the kids actually remembers one of our names. A few of us have decided to sponsor the kids we have built relationships with.
Right before we left, we passed out clothing to the kids. We were able to make a lot of the kids happy with the new clothes we gave them, but we ran out towards the end. To make up for it, we gave toothpaste and toothbrushes to the ones who were not able to get clothes. I know- that does not really compare to new clothes...does it? We were sad that it had to be that way.
The past two days have been a break from our work week. On Sunday, we spent most of the day a la playa (at the beach). Though it was super fun, most of us ended up with pretty bad burns. I know so far Jenny and Jeff have reported blisters, and all the nastiness that come with it- ¡Gross! Other than that, the beach was awesome!!
Today was our shopping day. We went to about 10 different stores looking for different trinkets for our friends and families. I was a big fan of the DR coasters- I think I bought about 4 sets. By the end I think we were all pretty tired...and hot...and sunburned. I think we liked playing with the kids more than we liked shopping.
Anyway- We are at the end of our trip. I want to go home, and I want to stay here. We have made so many good friends. Some of which are Henry, Aneudy (his nephew), Juanita (his mother), Katherine (his neice), and Jasmine (a family friend). We are going to miss them soo much.
Thank you for praying for our team, and for those of you who have supported us financially.
From the Dominican Team- Rachel Reynolds