Ireland (Part 1) Why Ireland?

   For a long time I have wanted to go on a family mission trip. I had been on one as a teen (to the Dominican Republic) and it had been super eye opening and has affected the rest of my life in a positive way and I really wanted my family to experience that too and I really thought it would be fun to be with them (Mara did go on a couple on her own which I was pretty excited about). For various reasons it hadn't happened in years past but recently whenever I was able, I put money aside in hopes that it would work out to go. On New Years Day of 2022 we had a family gathering where we talked about goals and dreams and that was one of mine that we decided to work towards. I wanted to do it soon before the family got much larger (through spouses or grandkids) as that would make it more complicated and before people got busier and perhaps moved away.

   I had always kind of assumed that we would go to a 3rd world country on a mission trip but in the summer of 2021 we were out at a camp in Colorado and we met the Tuttle Family (or part of them anyway) and heard about there goal to go to Ireland as Missionaries. Mara and I thought that sounded really neat and we had fun visiting with them about it. I said "If you make it there it sure would be fun to come over and visit for a mission trip." 

    It took a little while for all their paper work to get figured out but they made it over to Ireland in August of 2022. This winter I started e-mailing with them about the idea of coming on a mission trip. We knew that Ireland is majorly different from a 3rd world country but we hoped there might be something that we could do to help out. 

  Ireland does need Jesus badly. The amount of Christians there is a super small percentage. A large majority do not go to church anywhere. But it is not a 3rd world country. You don't go over there and help build homes or church buildings and then share the gospel. They are skeptical of the Gospel and so you need to build relationships and things can move slowly. Also you aren't allowed to work with kids (with some sort of program) unless you have passed a background check or something like that. 

  So as we discussed things the Tuttles said they didn't know what "Mission work" that we could do but they thought our coming would be an encouragement. So that thinking behind our trip changed a little. We would go with the hopes of encouraging the Tuttles and the other Christians there, Jonathan would do some filming to make a video for the Tuttles that they could use to send to supporters back in the states (He did do that but hasn't been able to get it edited yet as he moved recently), we would learn more about what was going on there so that we could pray more effectively and we just prayed that the Holy Spirit would work in us and use us however He wanted. 

    We were all pretty excited to be going to Europe in general and Ireland specifically. Jonathan was happy we were going somewhere that they spoke English, I love Irish music and I think the others do to. The girls have been very interested in Ireland at various times and so it was just pretty neat to get to go there. 

We really enjoyed our time with the people there. We spend a lot of time with the Tuttles and were so blessed by that. We also enjoyed visiting with others at the small congregation there. We hung out the most with Blake who is actually an American university student there. I believe he may have become a Christian while in Ireland but I am not sure. We had some great visits about spiritual things. 

  We were able to attend church two Sundays while we were there and it was just a blessing to be worshipping with Christians on the other side of the world from where we live. That was something else that I wanted my kids to be aware of and I wanted to understand more fully myself - the church as being a body of Christ world wide. We together make up the Bride of Christ. It is pretty fun to think about people in every place who love the Lord and seek to follow Him.

I am afraid this only whetted my appetite for spending time with Christians in other places. I would love to go back to Ireland again and I want to go more places too!! All in God's time. And any that I can't meet and spend time with here I will look forward to meeting in heaven!

 

Please Pray

For those of you that pray - would you please pray for my Sister-in-law, Holly? She was diagnosed last fall with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, a rare breast cancer. She had surgery and they said they removed it all. It doesn't respond well to Chemo or Radiation so they thought the surgery was the best course. They didn't actually get it all and it has spread a lot. She has tumors on her backbone, sternum, hip and also has it growing in her liver. It is not looking very good and she is in a lot of pain. She is pictured above with my brother Peter and their daughter Jaten. They also have an adult son, Nick. Please pray for them all as they go through this challenging time. We would love to see God work a miracle in her body- may God's will be done! Pray for wisdom for them as they consider various options in treatment.

I thought this song below was appropriate. We may go through the night sometimes but there is still hope!

The Fruit of the Spirit is.... Patience

 

A recent family picture in Ireland. I love this family of mine
but the honest truth is that wherever people are in your life - 
some patience is needed too.

What is the definition of patience? "1.The bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain without complaint, loss of temper or anger. 2. An ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay. 3. Quiet, steady, perseverance; even tempered care; diligence."

  We understand that patience is a part of the fruit of having the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22 & 23). With this trait especially it seems that I see the need for the other fruits as well if we are truly going to be patient. It is pretty hard to show patience without love or kindness. Gentleness is needed as well and peace can play a big role too. Just a reminder that we want to truly be living by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) so that all of those fruits can work together in our life.

 I want to share first this verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 "We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone."   As I was meditating on this verse one day earlier this week starting thinking through how I could personalize this. This was written to the Christians in Thessalonica many, many years ago but it is still applicable to us today. This is something that we as Christians should do. So, is there any unruly people in my life that I should be admonishing? I was easily able to come up with some fainthearted people that I could work to encourage. I also could easily think of some weak (and I think either weak physically or weak in faith could apply here) that I could help. Then we go to the last section of the verse: "Be patient with everyone".  So, no need to wrack my brain on who should get patience from me - it is everyone! We all need patience from others because we all mess up, are at times annoying and we cause others to wait. When we are faced with being patient with others remember that they are also having to be patient with us.

 1 Corinthians 13:4 & 5 says "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered."  I think I need to meditate on this one for a while. 

  We that are Christians are called to tell others about Jesus. That isn't always an easy task. In 2 Timothy 4:1 & 2 we are told to do that with patience: "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction."  Don't give up on this! Have patience with people!

This verse in 1 Peter 3:8 & 9 does not actually mention the word patience but in my opinion it kind of defines it for us: "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing."   

We (me anyway) so often struggle with waiting on God's timing. James 5:7-11 addresses that: "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."   What a good reminder to spend time reading the stories in the Bible and see how God was working in the lives of people in the past, how over time He worked things out and how they had to patiently wait. Hopefully we can learn to do that too!

 I have heard many times people saying "Don't pray for patience!" but I would disagree. I think we should pray for God to give us patience and help us to learn it and I think we should pray for that often.

Decluttering Challenge

Good morning!!

 I decided to challenge myself this month to the decluttering challenge where you get rid of as many things as the number of the day. So on May 1st you get rid of 1 item, on May 15th you get rid of 15 things and on the 31st you get rid of 31. It gets progressively harder.  

    Knowing that life gets busy and there are some days I just don't have an extra minute or two to spend on decluttering I do allow myself to work ahead. I keep track of it by tally marks on my wall calendar. So this morning I have already decluttered 5 items. I marked 1 in today, 2 in tomorrow and 2 on the 3rd (which I obviously need to do one more for that day).

   It is pretty simple and shouldn't be that hard. It doesn't have to be a "Big" item to count (such as a piece of furniture or a pair of pants). This is a great time to go through any piles of paper/mail, magazines, craft supplies. I don't know what builds up in your house but you do. 

   I just wanted to touch quickly on the motivation for decluttering. Here are some reasons that I do it:

• It saves me time in the long run. Having less stuff means I don't have trouble finding stuff so much and I don't have as much work when I clean.
• It helps me to have more mental peace and clarity. Getting rid of clutter really helps to reduce the feelings of stress in our household.
• It is easier to have company on short notice.

This is embarrassing to share but this is my big motivator this month. My office closet is in desperate need of some TLC. Especially with wedding season starting. My flower fridge is in this closet (to the right) and a lot of flower supplies are too. I had my first wedding of the year (see top photo) this past weekend and it was really frustrating to have to deal with this mess while I worked. Craft supplies are probably the thing that I have the most trouble decluttering so I am hoping and praying this goes well. :-)

I will try to post some updates this month on the challenge but I also have a lot of other things that I would like to blog on -including a recent family trip to Ireland ! - so we will see what time allows.

Happy decluttering!