Sincerely, Kelly

"Stories of Banter, Craic and being Norn Iron"

Notes

Heya Everyone! September’s here and I can proudly say that I am terribly excited for Autumn to arrive. The weather is changing, the days are getting shorter and I find myself wearing wool more often than not, but Autumn is my favorite season in Northern Ireland. I decided to include a picture from the beautiful weather we had a Camp Shamrock, because I know that the gray days will be here to stay soon.  These past two weeks, I’ve been rather busy getting back into the groove of things again (like I wrote about in the post below this one). My teammates and I have been putting major effort into working on our church building recently, which is a new but much-needed work project, and we’re very pleased with the results of our time there. We’ve updated the building’s sound system, painted a room (which involved the removal of several layers of old paint) and tidied up our classrooms and kitchen in order to be ready for the winter.  We’ve also started back to teaching the children and youth Sunday school classes, which has been a blast! My teammates and I rotate around the different classes in order to share the workload and this next Sunday is my turn with the children’s class. I absolutely love teaching and spending time with the kids in that class and I am really looking forward to my turn this week.  We’ve also started our Small Groups back up for the coming year. We had a “Fun Night” two weeks ago, which included bowling and stopping by McDonald’s for Ice Cream, and it was great! We had several new people come along to hang out and a bunch of our regular members joined in as well. We start our normal Bible Study again this week on Thursday, and I’m very excited to get back into it.  Last, but definitely not least, we’ve been doing our regular visitations again! The girls and I have been out to Robert and Eva’s (an older couple who attend church with us) to garden and eat lunch with them a few times now and I’ve loved getting to spend time with them again. They are a joy to our lives and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to minister to them. I have also started meeting with my friend Jessica (she’s one of the more active youths at our church) again on Friday afternoons for tea, and it is such a blessing! Jessica is one of my closest friends here on field and I really look forward to our weekly meet-ups together. In other news, I am going to try to start posting weekly about what has been happening in my life here in Northern Ireland. I want to included you all more in my life here and I honestly feel that my monthly newsletter just wasn’t performing that purpose any more. I find it easier to share more information here on my blog and I hope that you will have a better picture of what life here is like for my team and I.  Prayer Requests: My Ritchie Family- My coordinator’s family has been going through a very hard time recently. I know that they would really appreciate your prayers during this time.  Our New Ministry in the Heights- We’re starting a new Ministry that involves serving food to people who are in need of a free meal tomorrow morning. The program runs both Mondays and Fridays in the Heights neighborhood. Please pray that it will go smoothly for us and that we’ll be able to show Christ’s love to the people of the neighborhood.  Changes- At this time I’m not going to share about the changes specifically, but I ask that you pray for my team in the coming months as we begin to make plans for “After AIM” and as we plan our exit strategy for leaving the field. It is a very frustrating time for us all and we would definitely appreciate your prayers during this time.  Small Group- As we start the Bible Study portion of our Small Groups back up again, we would really love prayers over this ministry. Pray that the people who attend will grow in their relationships with the Lord and that we will be a shining example of Christ for them.  The Powers Family- Please pray for this family as their oldest son Rory (whom I wrote about a few weeks ago) has moved to Wales for University. Pray for him as he adapts to this new change and pray for his family as they adapt to him being away.  Thank you all for you loving and faithful support while I have been here in Northern Ireland. I honestly could not continue on without your emails and letters, prayers and the constant encouragement you send my way. You all mean the world to me. Sincerely, Kelly

Heya Everyone!

September’s here and I can proudly say that I am terribly excited for Autumn to arrive. The weather is changing, the days are getting shorter and I find myself wearing wool more often than not, but Autumn is my favorite season in Northern Ireland. I decided to include a picture from the beautiful weather we had a Camp Shamrock, because I know that the gray days will be here to stay soon. 

These past two weeks, I’ve been rather busy getting back into the groove of things again (like I wrote about in the post below this one). My teammates and I have been putting major effort into working on our church building recently, which is a new but much-needed work project, and we’re very pleased with the results of our time there. We’ve updated the building’s sound system, painted a room (which involved the removal of several layers of old paint) and tidied up our classrooms and kitchen in order to be ready for the winter. 

We’ve also started back to teaching the children and youth Sunday school classes, which has been a blast! My teammates and I rotate around the different classes in order to share the workload and this next Sunday is my turn with the children’s class. I absolutely love teaching and spending time with the kids in that class and I am really looking forward to my turn this week. 

We’ve also started our Small Groups back up for the coming year. We had a “Fun Night” two weeks ago, which included bowling and stopping by McDonald’s for Ice Cream, and it was great! We had several new people come along to hang out and a bunch of our regular members joined in as well. We start our normal Bible Study again this week on Thursday, and I’m very excited to get back into it. 

Last, but definitely not least, we’ve been doing our regular visitations again! The girls and I have been out to Robert and Eva’s (an older couple who attend church with us) to garden and eat lunch with them a few times now and I’ve loved getting to spend time with them again. They are a joy to our lives and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to minister to them. I have also started meeting with my friend Jessica (she’s one of the more active youths at our church) again on Friday afternoons for tea, and it is such a blessing! Jessica is one of my closest friends here on field and I really look forward to our weekly meet-ups together.

In other news, I am going to try to start posting weekly about what has been happening in my life here in Northern Ireland. I want to included you all more in my life here and I honestly feel that my monthly newsletter just wasn’t performing that purpose any more. I find it easier to share more information here on my blog and I hope that you will have a better picture of what life here is like for my team and I. 

Prayer Requests:

  • My Ritchie Family- My coordinator’s family has been going through a very hard time recently. I know that they would really appreciate your prayers during this time. 
  • Our New Ministry in the Heights- We’re starting a new Ministry that involves serving food to people who are in need of a free meal tomorrow morning. The program runs both Mondays and Fridays in the Heights neighborhood. Please pray that it will go smoothly for us and that we’ll be able to show Christ’s love to the people of the neighborhood. 
  • Changes- At this time I’m not going to share about the changes specifically, but I ask that you pray for my team in the coming months as we begin to make plans for “After AIM” and as we plan our exit strategy for leaving the field. It is a very frustrating time for us all and we would definitely appreciate your prayers during this time. 
  • Small Group- As we start the Bible Study portion of our Small Groups back up again, we would really love prayers over this ministry. Pray that the people who attend will grow in their relationships with the Lord and that we will be a shining example of Christ for them. 
  • The Powers Family- Please pray for this family as their oldest son Rory (whom I wrote about a few weeks ago) has moved to Wales for University. Pray for him as he adapts to this new change and pray for his family as they adapt to him being away. 

Thank you all for you loving and faithful support while I have been here in Northern Ireland. I honestly could not continue on without your emails and letters, prayers and the constant encouragement you send my way. You all mean the world to me.

Sincerely,

Kelly