Every Tuesday morning

Christine hosts a weekly Parents & Toddlers group at the Methodist church in town. Caroline helps her as well. So, since I've been here, I've also been helping out. Typically, this is how it goes:

1. Mothers (and sometimes fathers) and their little one(s) slowly start filtering in around 10:00AM. We have a big open room with chairs around the perimeter and toys galore in the middle.
2. The little tykes hang out and play for about an hour. SO PRECIOUS!!!
3. At approx 11:00AM, we have coffee/tea/snack time. Christine and Caroline provide healthy snacks for the kids and biscuits (cookies) for the adults.
4. The parents and children sit together, eating and socializing for about a half an hour.
5. At 11:30ish, the guests bring all the toys into the storage room and go back into the main meeting room for a sing along time.
6. Caroline leads the group in universally known childrens songs - acapella. The Wheels on the Bus....etc.
7. The fun ends around 12:00PM. Caroline, Christine and I wash up all the dishes and reorganize the toys and put them away in a closet.

The job I've enjoyed taking on is checking each parent into our log book as they arrive. This has given me a chance to talk to every person and (slowly) memorize their names to their faces. Today, I remembered nearly every one!! I couldn't believe it.....and being that there were 31 adults present, that wasn't too bad if I say so myself. They all laugh incredulously when I greet them by their names from memory. It's fun.

I decided to stay in town today after the group and hang out at the Killarney Outlet Centre. The centre has free wi-fi, so I grabbed a little lunch and I figured I'd take the opportunity to sit and write a new blog.

The great thing was that the woman in line ahead of me to buy a sandwich was one of the new moms today! Her name is Noreen and she was invited by her friend, a regular attendee named Shirley. They were eating together with their adorable kiddos at the same cafe I chose. I said hi to Noreen and she couldn't believe I remembered her name too (thank you, Lord) and Shirley waved to me from across the courtyard.

Anyway, I thought it was fun to run into them today outside of the group. I'm hoping that I can make enough of a connection with some of those women and see what God will do. At the minimum (which is major in a spiritual sense), I can just take this opportunity to pray for them and ask that God seriously blesses their lives and shows them just how much He loves them.

Love, Katy

What about Jesus?

I realized today that I hadn't mentioned much about what I'm doing here in Ireland, except for the brief mention of "a girl following Jesus to Ireland" in my blog title.

First...a little history lesson for anyone who is unaware of the basics about "faith" in Ireland. The island we all refer to as "Ireland" is split into two parts. The larger part is the Republic of Ireland and is not a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is the north east section of the island and is a part of the UK.

The Republic of Ireland is mostly Catholic, whereas Northern Ireland is the epicenter of the Protestant vs. Catholic discord. Typically, the Catholics there wish to see Ireland become a unified country again and the Protestants consider themselves British and are happy to be a part of the UK.

Of course, this explanation is an oversimplification of the issues and, as with most controversy, I am certain there are many sides to the argument.

Being in the Republic as a "Protestant" is not always the easiest road to travel. This is the fundamental reason why I don't mention that word. Personally, I have never associated my belief / love / commitment to Jesus with that term anyway, so this is not a problem for me. Also, I didn't come here to try to get people to stop being Catholic. There are plenty of Catholics who genuinely love the Lord and are serving Him faithfully.

My purpose in being here is simple. I recognize that everywhere, even in a "religious" place like Ireland, every person needs to know these truths:

1) God loves us immensely and His desire is not to punish / condemn / hurt us.
2) Good works are important, but God is not weighing our good works against our sins to see if we measure up and deserve His salvation. Because, let's be honest, we know and He knows that none of us will never be able to measure up.
3) So, instead, Jesus laid His life down in our place to balance out an otherwise unbalanceable scale.
4) Submitting our lives to Jesus is completely worth it. He is the most faithful and powerful friend we could ever find in this life.

What is true about Ireland and the Irish is true about pretty much every other country on the planet. People respond to relationship-based truth. That is why I chose to come here for 3 months, instead of 3 weeks. I have never been a fan of walking up and down the street, handing out a booklet on "how to get saved". Not that God hasn't used those things as conversation starters from time to time, but it's not my personality to do things that way. Jesus stepped into people's lives and struck a personal chord with them. Yes, He preached to thousands at times and did miraculous things as well, but mostly he invested in people. He had dinner with them, sat by a well and talked, cuddled a few kiddos, healed people....loved people. I love that about Him. He had the perfect balance of doing these amazing, huge things and also touching people's lives in very personal, practical ways.

While I'm here, I am blessed to not only help with church-related stuff (worship on Sundays, prayer/worship on Wednesdays), but I'm also helping with a n0t-overtly-evangelistic ministry to Parents & Toddlers on Tuesday mornings...a great place to connect to people.

Also, I love that I can just be myself and talk about life with the Lord with my hostesses. God has already done some cool stuff within those friendships. AND I have the freedom and time to walk into town whenever I want, praying and looking for a chance to meet people and just get to know them....and see what God will do!

In reality, now that I'm here, I see that 3 months is hardly any time at all. This is a place that takes a serious investment and so I hope that God will use me in whatever way He sees fit while I'm here, for this short time.

Al and Christine Dreher (the pastors I'm working with here) are truly invested. They've been in Ireland for about 15 years now and they're in it to win it. It can be discouraging at times to follow the Lord into a place that is tough, but they have been faithful to that calling and I am praying that God blesses them more than they could imagine.

So, pray for me while I'm here, but mostly, please pray for the Drehers. They are the committed and called believers that the Lord has planted in Killarney and they desire to see the Lord magnified on this island and help so many people discover the abundant life that comes from following Jesus!

Love,
Katy

Finally, I have some pictures!

Well, I finally have some pictures to share so you can stop holding your breath! Hopefully I'll get the chance to take more scenic shots, but for now....enjoy!

I can't tell you what a pain in the butt it is to try to upload these darn things to this blog!! If I'm able to have better success with my Facebook account, I might add more photos there. Sorry if you don't have FB! :)

Love,
Katy



My Irish Homestead
I am staying in a house on Flesk Grove. They call this little neighborhood an "estate". It seems like a friendly, safe place and there are a bunch of kids that play together in a nearby "green".

















Donkey
He's a quiet fella...except that one time I heard him braying loudly at the crack of dawn. This is on Ballycasheen Road, which is the first right I take out of Flesk Grove to get downtown.

Flesk Grove to Ballycasheen to Rookery Road to Countess Road and on into the heart of Killarney.


















Town Centre
As the picture shows, take a left to get into the town center of Cill Airne (Killarney to you English-speakers). There are many roads that make up the downtown, but this is the main one.

















The Cineplex
My new fav movie theater. :) Tickets are very expensive though. E8.50, which is about $12.50!!

















Proof that I'm Really Here
I wish my camera was better. Those mountains in the background are amazing.
This is a lovely country!

Feeling Irish like.....

We had lunch at McDonald's after church today. I feel compelled to mention that McDonald's is a rather recent addition to the city of Killarney (well, at least it wasn't here 14 years ago when I first came here). There was a part of me that hoped beyond hope that Mickey D's wouldn't make it to this corner of the world, but who was I kidding? It was just a matter of time. Their menu is limited, but tastes just the same. Well, except for the blessedly delicious Coke. Don't get me started on the Coca-Cola here!!!! Y-U-M!!!!

My meal today: The Big Tasty with bacon. Holy COW - literally - it was a HUGE hamburger. I was only able to eat half of it. I felt like the entire restaurant was staring at me with looks of disapproval and/or amazement. I'm now pretty sure the only people who order that meal are construction workers or some other hard labor types. I started to wonder if I was standing out more than ever as an American in that scenario....just like an American to order the oversized hamburger! Haha....oh well. Lesson learned.

Later on today, to work off some of those undoubtedly numerous calories, I took a walk. The afternoon was lovely. The temperature was quite nice and the clouds even cleared here and there to reveal patches of bright blue! I figured I should try walking into downtown Killarney by myself, for the first time! It was a surprisingly quick trip, which I will now happily repeat multiple times per week.

Once I was there, in true McDonald fashion (my family, not the restaurant this time!), I decided to see a movie. I was a few minutes late to Surrogates, but I was okay with it. The movie was pretty good, but mostly, I was just excited to see my 2nd film in Ireland. Yesterday, I saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with my friends and their kids. (Cute movie, by the way.) Being a McDonald in my family basically means you love movies. So I knew that I couldn't live without them, even here in an interesting place like Ireland. Good thing they built a nice new, but smallish, cineplex right in Killarney! How fun!!

As soon as I left the building to head home, I popped in my earbuds to listen to some tunes from the new iPod. I was relaxed and happy. Feeling quite adjusted to life in Killarney and having just enjoyed a movie, I must have had a look of satisfaction and confidence on my face. A young man with an Irish accent (but not a Kerry accent, I'd say), came up to me and asked for directions to a local pub!!! (For Steve - "pub" is short for "public house", as you had guessed from seeing that place in DC.)

It was a great moment, erasing all my earlier angst from eating that enormous hamburger and feeling like I was waving an American flag over my head. Don't get me wrong. I love being an American and feel thankful to call it my home. And, mostly, Irish people love Americans. But, Killarney is literally crawling with tourists most of the year and I don't want to be perceived that way. I'm not here on vacation, I'm here for other reasons. So, needless to say, I really hated to disappoint this guy with my American accent which confirmed the accuracy of my response, which was "Sorry, I have no idea."

But, he just smiled and laughed when he realized I wasn't a local. I wanted to hug him for thinking I was, though. It made me feel right at home.

I have this feeling that it's going to be really difficult to leave in December.......

Love,
Katy