December

On Friday, we went to the market in the morning, and then I went home and worked on my lesson plan for Summer Camp Replay! I put a lot of work into this one, I think they'll like it! After doing all of our homework and chores, I started working on dinner, which was a red lentil and sweet potato soup (I made WAY too much! this is foreshadowing). After dinner, we went to middle school group where I played foozeball with one of the newer kids, and then we had a discussion about science vs the truth of the bible. 

On Saturday, we had Summer Camp Replay! It was Christmas themed, so all of our games and lessons were about Christmas and the true meaning of why we celebrate. For my lesson, I put out a bunch of task cards in English, where they had to do whatever the card told them to. When they finished with that, we played Christmas themed charades! It was so fun, they actually loved it! After camp, we went to lunch at Caleb and Eva's with Mario and his sister Camila. It was so much fun, we sat around the kitchen table and talked about everything under the sun! We didn't leave until the sun had gone down! Camila had spent 10 months in China, so we had to pick her brain about the reality of living in China. She said the Chinese culture is so warm and inviting, which a lot of people don't expect. After lunch, we had a team meeting, where we went over our weekly plans. 

Today, we got to sleep in until CIAO in the afternoon. CIAO was Christmas themed today, so we did some Christmas themed dances and games. I love CIAO because it reminds me that you don't need anything to be happy. The people at CIAO have so little, and something so simple as a few new faces and some dances brings them so much joy. Their joy is so infectious too! It's shown me that I can choose to be happy with the little things in order to make those around me happy. 

On the 19th, Allie and I went to Turin with Eliseo! First, we went to the warehouse and untangled blinds for about two hours. Then, we went to pick up donations from a real life nun! She was very nice. We also picked up a washing machine, and a young man who apparently was part of a packaged deal with the washing machine, and started playing Arab music from the trunk of the car. After dropping off the donations, and the young man and his washing machine, we went for kebabs! Then, we ran so many more errands that it was 9 pm by the time we finally got home! 

On the 20th, we just cleaned our space to get ready for the next couple of days, and had our last Middle School group before leaving for Ireland! It was actually pretty fun! We played games and then had some pizza and talked about Jesus!

On Saturday, we had brunch with David and Becca! It was so fun! We got to talk about our family Christmas traditions! It kind of made me miss America though. I absolutely love living abroad, but sometimes I get tired of all the new. New people, new places, new languages, new traditions, and a new culture I'm trying to fit in to. After brunch, we went to Pinerolo to finish our Christmas shopping. We did secret santa, and I got Caleb, who wanted accessories for all of his tech. However, I couldn't find anything even close to that, so I bought him a bonsai tree from a very nice Italian nonna, who let me hide under her table so Caleb wouldn't see me. 

On Sunday, we had church at Forterocca! We got to sing Italian Christmas worship and hear from another missionary who had spent time in the Middle East! It was a really good service. I could really feel the Holy Spirit's presence. After the service, we had an agape, which is just a potluck. It was so good! That afternoon, we took little Christmas "presents" full of food and other donations to local government housing, and sang Christmas carols. Since I'm not a very good singer though, I got to deliver all of the donations. I got invited into one lady's house, who was here taking care of one of her friends from London. She was really nice, and she let me pray for her and her situation. The donations and the prayers touched so many people in that apartment complex, it made me so happy seeing the Lord working right in front of my eyes! By the time the sun had gone down, we had finished handing out the donations and had to say goodbye to our whole ministry family, because that was the last time we would all be together before the girls and I left for Ireland. 

The 23rd was our sabbath, so I got to go for a run, call my family, and spend extra time in the word. 

Merry Christmas! Today we got to get the space ready for a Christmas party for those who don't have family to spend it with! So, we spent the morning decorating, cooking, and cleaning. The party that night was great, we had a family from Australia, a mom from Bobbio who has cancer, and lots of others from the valley who our ministry team has been pouring in to. We ate dinner, sang some songs, and shared the true story of Christmas, and why we all need a savior. Then, we played some games to get to know each other! I loved getting to know the Australian family! They had two kids in their 20s, so it was really nice to get to talk to some people close to our age! Everyone stayed and talked until almost 1 am! Even though we were tired, it was so much fun getting to see everyone connecting so well and getting to see how the Lord can continue to work through those connections. 

Christmas was so fun! We went to Caleb and Eva's house for brunch with David and Becca! It was so good, we got to have our classic American Christmas dishes! We had been working on creating our own Hallmark Christmas movie presentations to present on Christmas. Mine included a soundtrack, edited photos, and a dance number. Allie made a presentation about "who's most likely to" questions we all answered. Annaleigh's, Molly's, and Eva's were too unhinged for me to even try to explain. Caleb's was a whole production with a script, and took about two hours! By the end of all of our presentations, we were crying laughing. It was so funny! We did secret santa too! Everyone got such great presents! Caleb and Eva also got all of us little stocking stuffers and presents from our parents!! After that, we watched a couple Christmas movies (I slept through all of them). That afternoon, we went home for a little before dinner, to talk to our families. I got to have a mass call with Jack and my cousins! It was so funny! It was almost as if we were all together! Then, we went back to Caleb and Eva's for dinner and hung out until late into the night! It was one of the best Christmases I've ever had! Even though my family wasn't there, and I wasn't in America, Caleb and Eva made the day so special and we've genuinely become a family. 

We didn't really have anything on the schedule for the next couple of days, except for cleaning and packing all of our things. So, we just put all of our extra clothes and things we weren't taking to Ireland in boxes and put them in the basement, and packed up all of our other possessions into our suitcases. It felt a little weird to be packing up everything after just getting used to living there. I felt like we had finally established ourselves within the community and within the church, and then we had to pack up again. However, I am still so excited to get to spend the next couple of months in Ireland!

We moved to Ireland! We woke up at 3 am, got all of our things ready, and drove to Turin with Caleb and Becca. I am definitely going to miss our ministry family in Italy the next three months. In Turin, we caught a bus to the airport in Milan. From there, we got on our flight to Frankfort, had a little layover, and got our last flight to Ireland. The customs coming into Ireland are a little strict, so I was kind of worried that we would say something wrong. Caleb and Eva gave us a script to say though, so we ended up being fine. Once we got to Dublin, we caught a bus to Athlone, which is about a 20 minute drive from Castledaly, where we would be spending the first two weeks. Ludie, the pastor we work under in Ireland, picked us up from the bus station and brought us to the grocery store. We frantically threw some food in the cart for the next two weeks, because Castledaly is too far from any town for us to get groceries. Then, we drove to the apartment we would be staying in. Castledaly is a manor house from the 1700s! Today, it is used for Christian retreats and camps. We got to stay in a little apartment in what used to be the storage area for the Manor house. When we got there though, the heating and hot water weren't working, and that was the last thing we wanted hear after traveling for 20 hours. I don't think I have ever been so cold before. We could see our breath and all of the water was ice cold. So, I put on all of my wool base layers plus multiple layers, and shared a twin bed with Annaleigh with two comforters and a hot water bottle. Oh, and Allie and Molly were extremely sick.

After a very cold night, Annaleigh and I decided to leave the sick ward and walk to the closest town called Moat. It ended up being a five mile walk on the side of the highway (not our brightest moment). Seeing the Irish countryside in the daylight was great though! It looks exactly like all of the idyllic stock photos online. When we finally made it to Moat, the first stop we had to make was for the bathroom. To be honest, I was so excited to get to speak English to a stranger for the first time in months! I asked where the bathroom was and the cashier was so nice to me! (He did look at me like I was crazy for asking so enthusiastically though) Annaleigh and I then explored the town until the sun was about to set. So, we hustled back to the road, and found a side road, that was a little safer (we also found out it's illegal to walk on the side of the highways in Ireland, so we had to at least try not to break too many laws our first day) We finally got home and our heating was working too!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2025! Since Castledaly is in the middle of nowhere, and we're not allowed to walk on the highways anymore, I decided I would ring in the new year by running around the backroads to explore more of the country side! It was absolutely beautiful! Of course, it rained the entire day, but I like running in the rain anyway. Everywhere I looked there were rolling hills blanketed in thick, green grass (even in December!) All of the pastures were full of horses, dairy cows, or little sheep! It was so cute! I ran 11 miles without even realizing!