safe home

We're back in Muncie now. Yesterday was my 25th birthday and our friends threw me a big party. It was great to see everyone again. Pray for us as we try to make sense of all this.

Mark

last post from this side of the atlantic

Well folks, our time in Ireland has come to an end. These last few days have been jam packed. We met with a couple in Dublin who are planting a church, another couple there who are working with local churches (and who worked at Taylor, our alma mater), and with one of my dad's former students. Then we were off to Cork where we spent two days and met another guy who has a house church there. Then we were off to Shannon, where we're staying the night with the Duffields, a missionary couple with a church there.

So tomorrow we turn in our car, get on a plane and fly to Boston then Chicago. Pat and Lezlie are picking us up at the airport and then we'll be back in Muncie. We can't believe how quickly it's gone. We'll keep posting occasionally over the next few weeks and months as we are thinking and praying through all we've seen. It has been quite an experience. We are so grateful to have been able to come.

So this is it--the last post from this side of the pond. See you in a few hours, Houston.

Team Guinn, signing off...

Cultural Capitol of Europe...

Here we are in Cork, Ireland. Can we say we love it? Because we do.

goodbye mullartown house

Today was our last day at Mullartown. We got the place all cleaned up, vacuumed, and waxed. We deleted all our stuff from the Widman's computer and put their furniture back in the right places. And we cried a little bit...in our hearts anyway.

Yesterday we sang in the evening service at the Annalong Presbyterian. It was really a fun time and I don't think anyone was offended that we decided to just wear jeans. I hope not anyway. So I guess we just had our audience wrong; our niche is old people in ties and uncomfortable shoes. :) We also had some good times saying goodbye to our friends. We've made some good ones--as much as one can in three months of not being around much, anyway.

So tomorrow we turn our eyes to Dublin and then Cork, then we set our faces like flint towards Shannon, Boston, Chicago, and Muncie at last. We'll try to post again before we leave, but no promises. After we get home, though, we'll keep posting our thoughts and reactions. We have a lot to pray through. Thank you so much to all those who supported us financially or by praying for us.

Mark

N.Irish phrase of the day: "Safe home." = "Have a safe trip home." We've been hearing this a lot lately. So sad.

thanksgiving giving giving

ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

So yesterday we met with Tommy Nelson, the Northern Ireland representative for World Gospel Mission. He was almost immediately trying to get us to go teach music at their Bible college in Kenya. These Mission Agency guys are really salesmen, whether they mean to be or not. I think they're just that excited about what they do.

After that we went to a big Thanksgiving shindig at the Oasis, which is an old pub that John Moxen (of Project Evangelism and Murlough House) was given and recently renovated into a coffee shop youth outreach. It was fun and we got to see Erin and eat pumpkin pie (well, actually butternut squash pie, but it was close enough).

After that we played music for their youth outreach and it was pretty rough. I think the kids were bored out of their minds to be honest and I tried to talk too much which didn't help. It's kind of humbling to know that we're not "cool" anymore (or maybe ever...). I guess the way you learn is by being bad at something for a while though. We're not giving up.

So that's us. Cheers.
Mark

Embarassing moment of the day: Last night they made all the Americans stand up and sing this song about Ireland to the tune of "America the Beautiful". It was awful. The song lumped Northern Ireland and the Republic together (which can be very offensive in the north), but after the last verse some of the Americans decided to sing the first verse of the real American song. If no one in the room was offended it was a miracle. Hopefully there were no Orangemen in the crowd. It was desperate.

genesus and exodus and numbers

We had a great time on our latest round of visits. The meeting with our accountant friend went well. Aside from being a great chap, he was very helpful and gave us some good input. After that we drove north and west to the little town of Buncrana, where we met Mike and Aster Mullins of Operation Mobilization. They are doing some really neat things up there. They have a big red double-decker bus that they take around and do Bible clubs and stuff for the kiddo's. They're also really neat people. Mike is so enthusiastic about everything that I think he could sell anything. We enjoyed talking with them and meeting their team. Those four couples make up the only evangelical church in Buncrana. That's pretty wild.

On Wednesday, Mike took me along with him on a visit to the Exodus, a "Christian nightbase" for young people in Coleraine. It was really slick. They have bands playing every Saturday night and all kinds of kids come in. They do classes similar to the Alpha Course, and they also organize lots of summer missions trips for the kids that are interested. It was pretty neat to see. I took a bunch of pictures which are on the online photo album.

I feel very priviledged to have been there. It was neat to see the Exodus, but also neat to listen in on the conversations in the car ride of over an hour. The reason for the visit was that a wealthy businessman in Buncrana is opening a similar kind of keep-the-crazy-kids-from-boozing-their-brains-out center for youth to hang out. He wanted to talk with the Exodus guys about a partnership for the purpose of getting EU grant money. It was fascinating, though, because he is a staunch Catholic and very suspicious of anything that's not.

So there's that. We're wrapping things up here. Cleaning the house and getting ready to pack our things. On Tuesday we're heading south for some time in Dublin and then Cork before making our way back to Shannon for our flight on Saturday. It will be bittersweet.

Mark

Taste-of-home of the day:
We didn't expect it, but it happened. Like a thief in the night.

one year ago...

On Sunday Ange and I celebrated a year of marriage. A good year. A couple of our friends had us over for lunch and we ate too much and had some craic. It was fun. After that we went to a prayer meeting at the Christian Renewal Centre, which was very powerful. It was a little different than most of our experience, but it has stuck with me over the past few days. I have seen a grown man kneeling on the floor and genuinely weeping over his country, asking God to change it. Lord, I pray that I could care about anywhere that much--this country or my own. Or how about my own neighbors as a start?

Anyway, we also had some beautiful time together to celebrate. Yesterday we put on some Sufjan Stevens and just started driving, ending up at a great little beach right by a prime example of today's "Northern Irish word of the day." We had a little picnic and walked on the beach. It's funny because we talked about going to Ireland for our honeymoon, but decided to do something simpler. At the time we said, "maybe we'll go for our anniversary..." Little did we know. Little did we know.

So in a few minutes we're off to have lunch with an accountant friend. We're hoping to bounce some of our ideas and the church's ideas off him and see what the practicalities might look like. Probably if he says "agh, you're mad!" then we'll know they're God's ideas. :) After that we're going to visit Mike Mullins who is working with Operation Mobilization and doing some cool stuff. Should be a good time.

We love you all and we'll see some of you in a week and a half. God bless.

Mark

N.Irish word of the day: caravan park = luxury trailer park. This is the funniest thing to me. Many people hear own trailers in these caravan parks, usually located close to the beach. In the summer, they may come down for weeks or months and live in the trailer. Actually, it doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. It's like a cheaper version of a summer home.

meetings and greetings

We've had a good couple of days here and had some exciting conversations. On Monday we had breakfast with a guy who felt that God was leading him to open a music school in Lisburn. It's done really well and he's looking to help other people open similar schools in other towns. He was an idea guy, really fun to talk with, and gave us some interesting things to think over.

After that we drove to the Belfast International Airport and flew to Bristol, England (gotta love EasyJet) to meet the UK director for Bible Centered Ministries. BCM is the organization that owns Mullartown House, so we wanted to meet our bosses and learn about BCM and what they do. It was a good time and we enjoyed them very much.

This morning we had coffee with Keith Neill, who is the youth pastor at Lisburn Cathedral, an Anglican church. We were refreshed and very encouraged by the things they are doing. They have a nightclub for youth called Fusion which attracts a lot of the goth kids in town. They also do pub ministry when most Protestants won't even go near a pub. On the whole, they're just really progressive and open to whatever they see God doing.

So there's that. We've posted more pictures on the photo site if you haven't found them yet. God bless.

Mark

N.Irish word of the day: mangin' = nasty; Pronounced like "hanging." Example: That milk is mangin'. I think it's starting to curdle. Noun form would be manger; as in "Girls are mangers. Some of them didn't shower all week last summer at camp."

soon and very soon

Another good week under our belt. We met Ange's parents at the Shannon Airport and then drove down to the village of Tralee. It was beautiful and we heard (and participated in) some great traditional music. The next day we toured the Dingle peninsula and saw lots of ancient huts and forts. We also saw some "unreclaimed land" - land that had not been made fertile by removing the rocks. It's amazing how rocky the terrain used to be. It occured to me that we have no idea of what it would be like to work on one field for one's whole life, gradually taming it and making it useful. It makes the Irish bitterness towards the English seem a bit more understandable. What would it be like if my father or grandfather poured their whole life into a plot of land, making something out of almost nothing, and then some foreign power came in and gave that land to a rich foreign man.

After Dingle we drove to the Rock of Cashel and then on to Kilkenny Castle and Glendalough (an ancient monastic site). That one was interesting too -- what was once a vibrant community of Christians is now literally a huge graveyard where people fight to bury their loved ones near the grave of a saint (Saint Kevin). Ironic, I think.

This weekend has been fun. Lot's of little children running around and leaving doors open. I wrote a song for the weekend about 1 Samuel 16:7 - "Man looks at the outward things but the Lord looks at the heart." It was a fun challenge to write a children's song and then teach it to them. I hope it was as fun for the kids...

Anyway, we now only have three weeks left!!! What in the world?!? Pray for us as we try to squeeze every drop from these last days. We love you (well, most of you, probably).

Mark

N.Irish phrase of the day: "Flip! That's a brave distance!" = "Wow! That's a really long way!" One of the girls at camp said that about the distance an ambulance would have to drive to get to our village (24 miles, about 45 minutes). I thought it was hilarious.

junior teens weekend

I can't believe it's already been another week. Four more and we'll be sitting on our couch in Muncie eating Papa John's pizza and drinking a frozen Coke. We've had several good meetings this week. On Tuesday we drove over to Murlough House to visit the other girls from our church. While we were there we started talking to John Moxen, who runs the place, and ended up staying for a good chunk of the afternoon. He has a pretty unique perspective and it was actually really encouraging for us, apart from being good information for the trip.

The next day we had lunch with Hadden Wilson, who was a pastor in Ballynahinch for 15 years. He and his wife Betty are wonderful people, who were also very encouraging. Then we drove to Lisburn to turn in our beloved rental car. While we were there we walked around the downtown area a bit. It's a cool town.

This weekend was huge and crazy. We had 61 kids (12-16 years) from the summer back for a reunion weekend. They had a lot of fun (including kicking a soccer ball through one of the dorm windows) and we did too. I got to play bass in the worship times, which was a blast.

Ange's folks will be here tomorrow so we're going to go meet them in Shannon and have a few days of touring in the South. Then it's back to camp for another reunion weekend with the younger kids. On the whole, we're in good spirits. We'll miss this place, I think.

Mark and Ange and Tigger too!

N.Irish word of the day: raking about = clowning around. Usage: There'll be plenty of time for raking about this weekend, but pay attention for now.

north coast and donegal (updated)

Hello, long lost friends. Happy All Saints Day. We all made it through Halloween, which could be saying something over here. People get crazy and break stuff and shoot fireworks all night long. It's pretty wild.

We've had quite a week. On Wednesday we rented a car and drove to the north coast. It's one of the most beautiful areas on this island and home to such attractions as the Giant's Causeway, Dun Luce castle, and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It was supposed to be rainy the whole week, but we had almost nothing but sun every day. We stayed at a great little B&B in Port Ballintrae called The Manor House. I would highly recommend it. Good food, clean, comfortable rooms, and it's only a few miles of beautiful coastline to walk to the Giant's Causeway. Check out the photo site to see it all.

We found a Baptist church up in Port Stewart that is doing some cool stuff. They bought a pub/nightclub and built their new church building next to it. The night club was converted into four little chalets that they rent out to tourists and use to house missionaries. The pub is not operating as a pub anymore, but they left it pretty much as is and use it for community events, youth stuff, and small group meetings. During the world rugby finals they had breakfasts every morning to watch the game and eighty men came, half of them non-Christian. We thought that was pretty cool and we were encouraged by our visit.

We didn't have a camp this weekend, so on Friday we just kept going west into Donegal, which is actually part of the Republic. It's a wild and beautiful place where you still hear people speaking Irish (Gaelic) on the street. Supposedly, it's also one of the best places for traditional music, but we didn't get to find out because both nights we were foiled in our attempts. Bummer.

Now we're back at the camp gearing up for the two biggest weekends we'll have. We're nearly two-thirds of the way through the trip now, which is both exciting and terrifying. We will certainly be glad to get back to Muncie but we will also be sad to leave, I think. We were reading in Acts 14 today about Paul and Barnabus returning joyfully to Antioch "having completed the work which they were entrusted to the grace of God to do." I pray that like Paul we could finish well and come home with no regrets.

Mark

Amazing fact of the day: Ange is one of the best left-side drivers I know. I couldn't drive because I was too young, so she had to do all of it and she took right to it. She never once turned into oncoming traffic or anything scary like that. I was quite impressed.

another long week

Phew. It's been another long one. Wednesday night we went to a small group meeting of the local Presbyterian church. It was kind of neat. It was led by the pastor. There are other groups led by the other elders in the church.

Thursday we went to Belfast again to see Queens University which we did. It's a beautiful campus in downtown Belfast. We got some good info for anyone who might want to go to school there. Once again we had hoped to meet new people and failed. One thing that we're learning a lot about is our personal limitations and, if God does call us here, what sorts of people to pray for to join us. Extroverts and easy conversationalists would be high on that list.

This weekend has been totally consumed by a big group being here. Once again we did many hours of dishes and are quite tired, even a day later. I had no idea kids could generate so much dirt and clutter or break so many things or paint all over the windows and mirrors with spray deodorant. But they can...

Keep praying that God will keep us on track with His plans. We're feeling homesick and a little tired. We also have less than six weeks left and still plenty that we would like to do. We've posted two new photo albums on our photo site.

Hang tough,
Mark

N.Irish word of the day: Ulster Fry = traditional Northern Irish breakfast. Ulster was one of the five provinces that divided Ireland of old, and is now the country of Northern Ireland. An Ulster Fry consists of bacon (more like our canadian bacon), sausages, fried soda farls (bread), fried potato farls, fried egg, fried tomato, and sometimes blood pudding (which is like a bit of sausage but grosser and, thankfully, we haven't had to deal with). It is not for the faint of heart or the fat-conscious.

halfway point, part 2

On Sunday we finally made it to Maude's Ice Cream Shop in Newcastle for some "sinner watching". It was actually a bit disappointing, because we had hoped to meet and talk to some of the godless masses but they didn't seem interested in us. If I'm truthful, I was also disappointed in my own shyness. We took a card game (Phase 10) and played cards until we got dirty looks from the people behind the counter, then went for a walk on the beach. I didn't expect there to be so many people out and about during the church hours. I wonder if any of them were thinking about "the things of the Lord and eternity." I imagine they would have plenty of thoughts if we listened. Lord, help us. Lord, help me.

On Monday we went down to the village of Rostrevor for the night. We visited a place called the Christian Renewal Centre, which would be similar in outlook to an International House of Prayer, but not 24/7 prayer meetings, just several times a day. We really connected with them, though, which was refreshing. We also stayed at a really nice Bed&Breakfast called Glenbeigh. They won't have a website for several months, but one could probably google "glenbeigh rostrevor bed breakfast" and get them. It was £50 for the night for an en suite room with a great view of the Carlingsford Lough. We would highly recommend them. Also, we got one of the best Ulster Fry's ever for breakfast. Mmmm.

Tuesday night we went to visit a young couple in the village. I'd met Andrew when I went to Mannafest with the local youth group a couple weeks ago. We just went by to say hi, but ended up eating our dinner there and then talking for three hours. They are really nice people and it's so nice to talk with someone our age. Andrew's wife Talitha is from the Netherlands and they met on an OM ship. It does take some getting used to, though, to just go to someone's house and stay for hours without phoning first. Feels rude, but it's not here.

Today we sang for a "seniors group" at the Presbyterian Church. We did some folk songs and some hymns. It was a hoot.

Well, I think that's enough for now. Keep praying for us, that we be sensitive to God's voice.
Mark

halfway point

I think today might be the halfway point of the trip. That's wild. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. It does seem like a long time since we've posted. Too long, I guess. Sorry about that. This week has been pretty action packed. Wednesday we met up with one of Ange's college buddies who just happened to be here on vacation and she took us in to Belfast for the afternoon. It was a fun time, especially for Ange. We went to the Starbucks downtown for a (bad) cup of coffee and a rest. It was a great atmosphere, though: comfy couches, big glass windows with scenic views of the city, teenagers making out in the corner...

Thursday we took the bus into Newcastle for some groceries. While waiting for our return bus we met some bizarre old women. They were dressed all fashionably and one of the first things they said was that I looked mexican and that I had nice teeth. The next thing was that I was cute and should be a chippendale dancer (mind you, Ange was standing right there). After a few random and racy stories, they asked us what we were doing and when we told them about the camp they said "Isn't that some kind of religious place? Are you like, mormons or moonies or something?" And then they laughed and talked incomprehensibly about "moonies." They didn't seem to want to talk to us any more after that, though. That's two for two meeting strange characters at the Newcastle bus station. Shocking.

Friday we went to Newry with our friend David and just walked around the town. It's a nice place--probably about the size of Marion, IN. Saturday David and his wife Sandra had us over for fajita's. They were really good, but we thought it strange to fly across an ocean and still eat Mexican food. We had a really great time with them, singing and talking well into the night.

More later, I've got to run now, though.
Mark

the end of a long week

Well, YFC leaves tomorrow. It's been good having them here, if a little exhausting. Last night I went to an event in Belfast called Mannafest. It is a big "worship event" in Belfast for teens. There were probably 800 people there and they sing for 30 minutes, then have about 30-45 minutes of teaching, then another 45 minutes of singing. I must admit that I was a little skeptical at first because of the lights and stuff, but the music was so joyful (and ROW-DY). I really felt uplifted as I walked away. There's something pretty cool and infectous about people who are really happy about worshipping Jesus and pretty free to show it.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it over to Maude's for ice cream today (so we can't give an official answer to the survey question) because the group wanted breakfast an hour later than we thought. We decided we would stay home and pray and read the Bible on our own, so we did. We invited the cooks to join us and one of their daughters did. I was amazed that any teenager would want to come read the Bible with a couple of old folks like us. We found out that she actually met Jesus a few years ago here at summer camp and that she likes the book of Revelation, but she also thinks it's scary. She believes that God still talks to people like he talked to Philip in Acts 8 and now she knows what an Ethiopian eunich is. I'm sure her parents are glad. :)

I find that it can be really hard to learn how to incorporate spiritual life--reading the Bible, praying, living as if God is actually who He says He is--into daily life with other people. We're so used to spiritual things having a certain amount of affectation: taking a certain tone when we pray, using (overusing?) weird words, needing to always have answers. I want to learn how to share spiritual things with people naturally. I can talk about music or relationships or even sports naturally--why is it so hard to talk about spiritual things, which are just as real if not more? Maybe it's because we in the West have accepted this crazy idea that "religion" is a private matter which should only stain certain spheres of life. Maybe it's because the Truth of Christ hasn't permiated every aspect of my permiated every aspect my personal life like it should. Maybe it's because it's always scary to share the things at the core of you. Maybe it's just a lack of practice. I don't know. But that's something we've been thinking about recently and, I think, something that's really important for a generation (including myself) which doesn't want the Bible to be confined to "Bible studies" and prayer confined to "prayer meetings" and the Way, the Truth and the Life confined to only a nominal or superficial influence on how we live. I guess we don't want preaching confined to pulpits either... :)

Many of you have prayed that we would have joy and the past few days we have really felt that. Thanks. May God bless you.

Mark

N.Irish word of the day: class = really cool. Usage: If I were coming from a party that I really enjoyed, I might say: "I had a really good time. That was class." if I were Irish or Northern Irish or an American posing as Irish.

irish sunrise and a funny story

So we've got a group here now from Youth for Christ. It's actually the first group that we've had to do totally on our own, which has been a bit nerve-racking. The guy that's running it is actually the director for Europe and Africa and his name is John Duncan. Now when John Duncan first came here, I'm pretty sure he thought I was an idiot and here's why:

After a string of simple mishaps such as forgetting to turn the heat on to his dorm, forgetting to give them anything to drink with their dinner, and putting two salts on one table and two peppers on another, they came and asked if I could turn up the heat in the meeting room. So I did that and as it was a little after noon I thought I would go up to see if it came on ok. It didn't even occur to me that the meeting might still be going on, so I just barge noisily right into their teaching session, mumble something inane like "Oh, sorry, I thought you were at lunch..." and back out the door from whence I came. In my frenzied embarassment, I also bolted the door from the outside out of habit. So as it turned out, I had locked them in the meeting room and they had to use the fire exit to get out. I didn't find any of this out until I was serving them their vegetable soup at lunch. Boy did I feel stupid.

So there's your funny story for the week. It still makes us belly laugh to talk about it. And John Duncan seems to think I'm ok now, which is nice. May you have joy today.

Mark

ice cream and eternity

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. There was a group here but they were self-catered so we just stayed out of their way. Sunday we went back to the Presbyterian church here in Annalong for their "harvest service." They had a guest minister from another town preaching and he mentioned that he had driven by Maude's Ice Cream Shop on the way down and was saddened to see it packed out with people who didn't care about "the Lord or eternal things." Pretty stiff judgment to make, eh? So I think Ange and I may catch the early bus over to Maude's next Sunday.

This week, however, will probably not be uneventful at all. Youth For Christ is doing training here all week, so we'll be working pretty hard. They seem really cool and we're excited to get to meet them.

We're missing you guys pretty badly these days. Not so much culture shock as people-we-love shock. How about you all just move over here? The chocolate is better...

-mark

Survey of the day: What flavor of ice cream do you think Jesus would order on a Sunday morning at Maude's?

strangford lough and murlough house

After a few days of cleaning up smelly dorms and dirty floors, we decided to take a little trip up to Strangford Lough. Our first order of business was to master the Northern Irish bus system, which turned out to be pretty simple. Aside from being time consuming (one hour trip by car, three hours by bus because of two change-overs) and a hair on the expensive side (about £10 a piece each way--that's roughly $18, by the way) it was a really enjoyable experience. We met some slightly intoxicated old chaps at the station in Newcastle. One was named Barney and his opening line was "You have such nice teeth...and she does too!" He told us how he remembers when they used to clean their teeth with soot and salt. Ugh.

We took the ferry across the lough and stayed at a hostel in Portaferry called Barholm. It was right across from the dock and it was really nice. We were a bit disappointed, though, because the only other people there was an older couple that came in late and went straight to bed. In fact, there were very few people anywhere in the town. We did hike up to an old windmill overlooking town, though, and the view was amazing. The next day we tried breaking out the guitar while waiting for our bus. People seemed to enjoy it, although no one came up and introduced themselves.

In the afternoon we went to Dundrum to see Erynne. For those of you who don't know, she goes to our church and flew over with us, but is working just up the road at Murlough House. We ate lunch with them and she showed us the grounds, then we drove over to the Oasis, which is an old pub that they've bought and converted into a coffee house. They've done a really great job on the building. It's massive and the upper floor has probably five or six nice bedrooms, furnished B&B-style. We worked for a couple hours on getting the coffee equipment running since they are wanting to open this weekend.

So it was a good trip. Keep praying that God would bring the right people across our path and that we would recognize the opportunities He brings our way. We have a group in this weekend and all next week Youth for Christ is doing training here, so it could be tiring for us. Hopefully purposeful, though.

You can go to our online photo album to see lots of pictures from the trip.
-mark

N.Irish word of the day: torch = flashlight

first camp :: trip to lisburn :: online photo album

We are tired. This weekend we hosted a group of 68, a Baptist youth group. It was pretty wild, but we actually had a pretty good time. Well over eight hours of that time was spent doing dishes, though, and wasn't as fun. Comes with the territory, I guess. The other folks that work at the camp are really characters too, so we've loved getting to know them.

I spent Friday morning walking around downtown Lisburn. It was pretty uneventful. I had hoped to meet someone interesting, but I didn't even meet any boring people. I did find the church where Keith Niall works (he's the youth pastor that Cheryl and Dawn met on their last trip), but he wasn't around. It's a beautiful city, though. In the downtown area there's a coffee shop about every 200 yards, mostly paired with a restaraunt, bakery, or ice cream shop. One thing that you can be praying about is that God would bring us into contact with some people who aren't part of the church culture. It can be hard to get out of the bubble, especially for shy folks like Ange and me. One thing we're hoping to try is playing music on the street. We'll see how that goes.

One last thing: we're taking a lot more pictures than we could feasibly post on the blog, so we've created an online photo album. You can see all the pictures that didn't make the cut and even order prints if you're super crazy (in other words, if you're our parents). Here's the URL: http://guinns.myphotoalbum.com/.

We've been here for three weeks today. That's pretty wild, eh? Thanks again for praying with us. May God bless you today.

-mark

N.Irish word of the day: craic = a good time. Yes, it's pronounced like "crack." They use it in some funny ways. Some examples:

• "That was some good craic." = "I had a really nice time tonight."
• "Hey, Tommy, how's the craic?" = "Hi, Tommy, how are you?"
• "Give me some of your craic." = "What's going on in your life."

All of which would mean something very different in the States. The real question is, what do you call it when a bunch of plumbers get together at the pub?

update and pictures from Germany

Hello! We're officially on our own now at the camp. Scott and Johanna left us on Tuesday and we have our first group coming in this friday. It should be a good time. We've been getting settled into the house and getting things cleaned up around the camp this week. Tomorrow we're going to go into Lisburn and walk around. We'll let you know how that goes. Here are some pictures from Germany:

Chris's house church. Chris is second from the right, and his wife Jenny is second from the left.	Bumming around Kandern. Everything closes from about 12:30-2:00pm for lunch. Which happened to be the exact time we went shopping...
Chris let us take his scooter out for the afternoon. It was great fun once we got the hang of it.	This is the view from the top of the mountain they live on. Yes, those are vineyards. They were all over the place in that part of Germany.
mmm... ice cream...	This is Scott and Johanna and the family before they left last week. They normally run the camp and we're taking over for them while we're here.

Bad news of the day: We've all heard the rumors and now I can confirm from personal experience that the mullet is making a comeback. I've seen three this week--mostly on stylish-looking young people. Unfortunately, I failed you and didn't ever get a picture. Be forewarned though, it's only a matter of time before the Euro-mullet hits the States...

good news

Short story: After many hours of trains, planes, and automobiles, we have arrived back at Mullartown House with a pair of wonderful new stamps on our passports. They say "Permission granted to stay six months" and we are very thankful to those of you who prayed with us through this and to our God who turns the hearts of kings and passport control agents.

Long story: Though Ange was very calm, I kept wanting to do things to make it work--things like creasing our passports to a different page so they wouldn't see the stamp from Shannon and checking all our papers fifteen times or even praying "enough." But as I was praying on the plane, I was reminded of Brother Andrew (I highly recommend his book God's Smuggler), who smuggled Bibles into communist Russia. He would often leave Bibles in plain sight on the seat of his car just so that his success couldn't be due to his own cleverness. I thought, "if Andrew can trust God in that way when the stakes are so much higher, surely I can trust Him now." God has promised that He loves us and will go ahead of us. Do I believe Him or not?

So with new peace in my heart (though still a bit of nervousness if I'm honest) we walked off the plane, down the corridor, and up to the passport desk. The agent was very pleasant. She asked us some of the same questions, although she never tried to make us prove that we had money. She looked through our passports quite a long time (so much for my little creasing scheme) and flipped through every page. On Ange's passport she probably looked at the stamp from Shannon three or four times, but never said anything about it. She asked to see our return tickets and after a few more questions, stamped us with the beautiful stamp and waved us through. As we walked towards the baggage claim, we were overcome with thankfulness.

This is the character of our God. He is the Redeemer. He took a stupid, inconvenient situation and turned it into a great time with old friends and a chance to see the beauty of the Germany and Switzerland. There is no greater pleasure than walking Him. It makes me think of the words of Joseph (who, admittedly, had a much harder time than we): "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good."

We had a good time in Germany. I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance. Peace.

-mark

Strange fact of the day: In Germany, any street that comes in from the right side has the right-of-way, sometimes even if it's a smaller street. So you really have to watch because they might just pull out in front of you. It's really confusing.

Deutschland, ja!

After a cheap flight to Switzerland and a three hour train ride, we've arrived safely in Feuerbach, Germany. It's been so good to see old friends again. Chris was my youth pastor when I was in high school, which makes it a small miracle that he still wants anything to do with me. We'll post some pictures soon.
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Trivia Contest of the Day:
Ange and I decided to have a little trivia contest. Here's the question we were discussing as we sat on a park bench in town today: Do insects have blood? The first person to give us a correct answer will get a postcard from Germany! So break out your 8th grade science books and get crackin'. Post your answers as comments to this thread.

lots going on - pray for us

Hello again. I wish I had time to write about all the people we met on Saturday night. We got invited over for dinner enough times to fill the rest of the trip if we wanted to. Good times.

Sunday we went to the Annalong Presbyterian Church. It was interesting. They have a little praise band and sing some of the same songs you might hear in America as well as singing out of a two-hundred-year-old Psalter. Lot's of women still wear hats to church (in fact, many churches here still require them) and it was not too many years ago that this church did away with "family pews"--where each family bought it's own pew. It seems like a good church, though. Sunday night we went to the last of seven combined services in the neighboring town of Kilkeel. Five churches in the area went together to have a week of evening worship times going through the book of Ephesians one chapter at a time. It was also pretty neat.

On another note, we will be going to Germany on Wednesday and coming back on Sunday. The reason is that when we flew into Shannon last Monday, they only stamped our passport for 10 days. It was kind of a fluke--probably the agent thought we were going to try to stay and work--and everyone here was surprised by it. The crazy thing is that it was their mistake and now there's nothing to be done about it. Our options are to pay over $1000 to apply for an extension, leave the country and come back, or stay anyway. The last option would probably be fine, but we don't want to endanger our chances of coming back in the future. So we will be staying with our good friends the Greathouses at Black Forest Academy. We will re-enter the country on Sunday night at about 10:30pm (4:30 in Indiana).

Please pray for us! We have full confidence in the loving care of our Father, but it's obvious the our Enemy does not want us here. Pray that we would be able to have peace and rest in Jesus. Pray that we would have wisdom in dealing with the immigration officials. Pray on Sunday night that God would make a way for us. This is a small thing for Him and we are His children. He is the King. That's the truth.

Thanks for praying for us. May God bless us as we press into Him together. We love you all.
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N. Irish Word of the day: pants = underpants (trowsers = pants)

no riots for us

In case you hadn't heard, there was some pretty intense rioting in Belfast today. Just in case you had heard, we wanted to let everyone know that we're okay. I'll post more tomorrow hopefully (it's after midnight here).
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work begins

After a few nice days of resting, we started work on Thursday learning how to take care of the camp. It was a good time. I learned how to buff a linoleum floor and Ange got to clean lots of spider-infested nooks and crannies. We were both a little sore at the end of the day. The camp is gearing up for a big meeting where lots of people from their mission board will come down and hear a report on the summer. That will happen tonight and we're pretty excited about it. We'll get to meet some neat people, I'm sure.

We've been learning a lot from Scott and Johanne (the directors of the camp). They'll be leaving for America in a week, but in the meantime we've been having some great conversations. They're church is doing a "coffee bar" ministry to youth and they took us through that yesterday. It seems to be pretty neat, though not what we would think of as a coffee bar. :)

So we're doing well. Aside from the occasional pang of homesickness or "what the heck are we doing?" we're really enjoying ourselves. Thanks to those of you who have posted comments. It's always neat to hear from our friends. We miss you.

-mark

Wouldn't-happen-in-America Moment of the Day:

Thursday afternoon, Johanna drove us up to Newcastle and on the way we ran across this. Note that this picture was taken from the front seat of our car.

pictures of mullartown house

We're getting settled in here. They've combined several of the dorm rooms to give us a little "apartment." They're taking really good care of us and we're amazed at how beautiful the grounds are. Take a look for yourself:

this is mullartown house

behind me is the irish sea

the dorm where we're staying

the grounds

N. Irish word of the day: autobank = ATM (yes, Paula, they also call them "holes in the wall" here)

mullartown house at last

We arrived this afternoon at Mullartown House after a long day of train rides. Scott picked us up at the train station in Newry and drove us to the camp. It's really a great place. We're so excited! Hopefully we'll post more in the next few days -- maybe some pictures. Peace out.

-mark

safe arrivals

Well, we arrived safely this morning in Shannon. Our new friend Brian picked us up at the airport and after napping at his house for a few hours we're feeling reasonably lucid. The flights were uneventful and actually pretty fun. And so begins our adventure...
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four days left

We're packing like mad now. We've been cleaning our little apartment and finding way too much mouse poop. It's a bit unnerving, really. We've also been listening to the newest Harry Potter book on tape during all of our cross-country driving and really enjoying it. There's a scene where Harry drinks a luck potion that causes everything he does to go well and that's pretty much how we feel these days. We are constantly amazed at how God has blessed this endevor in every little detail. I wish I had time to write about everything that has just "worked out" with this trip -- getting hooked up with the camp, finding very cheap tickets, even getting free contact lenses. It's better than a potion, though, walking with the living Lord Jesus. We are so thankful.

So by this time we weren't that surprised when we had a message on our machine last week about someone wanting to rent the apartment while we're gone (we also weren't that surprised that it came at the very last minute :). It seems like it's going to work out great for both parties and it's a big weight off our shoulders. So thanks to those of you who prayed about this. Our Father really cares about us, eh?

The past week has been a really wonderful time of goodbye's. Saturday night some friends threw us a party and we were really amazed at the number of people that care about us. It was a lot of good food, an overwhelming amount of conversation, and topped of with a beautiful and encouraging time of prayer. We have such great friends.

Four days from now we'll be getting on a plane in Chicago. Oh yes.
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how to give money

We've had several people ask how they can support us financially, so we thought it worthwhile make that information publicly available. The best way is to send a check to:

Muncie Alliance Church
5601 West Jackson St.
Muncie, IN 47304

Make the check out to the church and don't put our names anywhere on the check (for tax purposes). Just put a Post-It note on or with the check indicating that it's for us. The church will see that it gets into our bank account (all of it) and it will be a tax write-off. If we raise more than we need, we will put it towards other missions efforts.

We are very grateful to those who have contributed in this way. It means a lot to us. May God bless you all.
Mark & Ange

The countdown begins

Well, we're back in Muncie. We had a great time with our families. It was everything that it should be -- including difficult to leave. But here we are, "setting our faces like flint" for what's before us. We spent most of this morning pre-packing: choosing what clothes to take and cramming the rest in boxes for storage. We're now down to NINE DAYS before we get on he plane. It seems totally surreal that we will be on the other side of an ocean in two weeks. Please pray that this time would be meaningful and purposeful. Pray that God would be preparing us for what's ahead and that we could enjoy each other and those around us in these last stressful days. May He bless you.
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What the next month holds for us

As of 5:00pm, Friday, July 30th Ange and I will both be unemployed (can you say "scary"?). Here's a quick rundown of the next month:

• Thursday, August 4th - leave for Michigan to spend some time with Ange's grandma. Her parents and brother will also be there so it should be special moments for all. We'll be back in Muncie for a short amount of time (like overnight) on or around August 11th.
• Friday, August 12th - head to Arkansas to visit my family. We'll be there for two weeks, hopefully getting rested and catching up with the folks. My dad and I are going to build a deck on their new house. Say 'yes' to male bonding. :)
• August 24th or 25th - return to our tiny apartment in Muncie for a week and a half of scrambling around trying to spend time with people and still get everything ready for the trip.
  
• Sunday, September 4th - we're leavin' on a jet plane; don't know if we'll be back again...
  

We love you guys.
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Things to be praying for...

Here are a few ways that we need God to provide:

1. Someone to stay in our apartment. We're going to keep our lease going while we're gone, so it would be really helpful if someone subleased the four months from August through November. It's not totally necessary, but it would lower the cost of the trip pretty significantly if we found someone.
2. Money for traveling. We're pretty sure that we have enough money to live on through savings and the support of our church, but the purpose of the trip is to learn about Ireland and the Irish Church and for that it would be nice for us to have the freedom to travel.

That's it for now, but we'll update it as stuff comes up. Thanks for praying for us.

-mark

Oh M'Heavens...

We just bought the tickets. It's Ireland or bust now, boys (and girls).
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It's a go!

Well, we just got word from the camp in Ireland we'll be working with. The director is an American missionary and he's going on furlough in September. It looks like the trip dates will be September 4 through December 3. This is so exciting!

Hello, friends.

Well, our new Ireland blog is officially up and going. Thanks to everyone who is joining with us. God bless you.