On the first and the second, we still didn't have anything to do except wait for camp to start. So, I went for more runs, talked to my family, and watched movies with the girls.
Camp started today! For the next three days, about 60 high schoolers will stay at Castledaly to learn more about Jesus and play games! It was a little weird being a counselor and not a camper, since a lot of the kids are my age. I don't really feel like I'm old enough to be bossing them around. In the morning, we got to meet the rest of the staff! They're all so nice and so welcoming! In the afternoon, the campers arrived! We helped them sort their bags and get into rooms, then we started with games! Allie was in charge of running the games, and Annaleigh, Molly, and I were team leaders! (red team for the win!!!) We played some team building games, like team charades and this one game where Allie would call out an object, and they had to bring it to her. (it got really heated) It was so much fun! My team is so funny! After games, we had dinner with all of the campers, and then had SQUID meeting. SQUID stands for Sword, Quiz, and Dorm reports. Sword is a competition of who can find Bible verses fastest, and the quiz is just trivia. My team absolutely dominated of course!! Then, we went outside to play four way capture the flag in the dark! It was so chaotic! Because it was so dark, we couldn't see who was who which made it so fun! (My team won, of course). Then, we had a snack and some free time, and went back to the meeting cabin to start on the lesson for the weekend! The lesson was given by one the the leaders, and was about being a social exile as a Christian, and how we can accept that.
On the fourth, we had our devotional with the leaders before the campers got up. Today it was based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, and how we, as Christians should be striving to love everyone in a godly way. Then, we got the campers up, and had breakfast. After breakfast, we all had SHH time, which is just a time for the campers to get in the word. As a leader, I had to patrol and tell them to be quiet which felt so weird since most of them are my age! Then, we went outside for a game! It was kind of like the opposite of capture the flag, where the campers had sticks and had to put the sticks in a certain cup, and all of the leaders were on defense! It was so fun! I honestly have no idea how my team did though, because we played in this giant yard and I couldn't see everyone. After the game, we had the morning lesson, which was a continuation of what the Bible says about living as exiles. Then, we had lunch and charades, which is where one dorm room acts out a certain Bible story and the rest of the camp has to guess what it is. Then, the campers had time to memorize their memory verses, which get more points for their team. Since they're teenagers, they didn't actually do their work, and instead we played trivia for an hour. It was really fun to get to know the campers and the leaders outside of the organized games and lessons. Then, we had our afternoon teaching, which was about sin holding us back from what God has planned, and how to let go of sins we are still protecting. Then, we had free time and just played more card games with the campers until dinner time! Tonight's dinner was a banquet, so all of the campers got to dress up and we decorated the dining room with candles and garland! The leaders served the campers as tried our best to act professional. It was really fun seeing all of the kids get so excited about getting to dress up! After dinner, we had another round of charades. Then, we had a giant two hour long session of team trivia. The questions were actually so funny though! Like, some were about pop culture and sports, and others were about politics and science. Then, we had SQUID and evening worship again! This is the first time in three over three months that I've gotten to worship with other people in English!
Today was supposed to be a full day, but it got cut short because of a snow storm that was supposed to make the roads really dangerous. So, the leaders decided to contact the parents and have them come get their campers in the afternoon. We started the day with our leader's devotional, and then got all of the campers up. We had breakfast and SHH time. Then, we had our final SQUID meeting, worship, and the last lesson. We ended up spending like three hours sitting in the meeting cabin, which made everyone super energetic. Then we had lunch and sent all of the campers home. It was a really rushed day, and I really wished the camp would've been longer. I feel like everyone was just starting to get in the camp spirit when they had to leave. It was still really fun, I just wish it would've been longer.
Today Allie and I went to a Baptist church, while Annaleigh and Molly went to a Pentecostal church. A man named Mic picked us up and drove us to his church in Athlone. The congregation was only like eight people! He said it was a small church, but I wasn't expecting that small! The service was still really nice though. It was a study on the first chapter of Revelation, which I don't think people talk about enough. I think the idea of the Final Judgement scares a lot of people, but I think it is so important to discuss because, at the end of the day, Jesus is coming back, there is no point in ignoring the fact. The question is: are you going to be caught asleep when He returns? (Mark 13:37) After the service, Mic took us to lunch and we got to talk about Jesus and basically Mic's whole life for the next three hours. I had a really good time. It was really fun getting to speak with someone so on fire for the Lord that he didn't want to talk about anything else. Mic is the kind of person I will remember. His quiet love for the Lord led me to look at myself and realize: the coolest thing about me is that I know Jesus! That He not only took my punishment, but He defeated death and sin, and lives today! I don't know about you, but I don't know anyone else who has accomplished that!
Today we started our maintenance work on the Manor House. We got to meet the maintenance team: Ollie, Ian, Evan, and Linda. Our job this week would be to paint one of the guest rooms in the Manor House. We started by moving all of the furniture out and laying tarps over the deep green carpet. Then, we started sanding and patching the uneven parts of the walls and wainscotting. At first, I was kind of intimidated by Ollie and Ian, but we figured out that they make fun of people they like, so we just had to get used to insulting them. After a few hours of good work, we took a tea and prayer break. Then, we got back to work! We finished the day after the sun set, but the room was looking great!
Today, I got to help Linda with the house cleaning. I just followed her around all morning making beds, cleaning bathrooms, and vacuuming while talking about her life and her kids. It was really fun getting to know her! She has a really powerful testimony and absolutely loves the Lord. A lot of the people I've met remind me of tent makers (like Priscilla and Aquila) in the Bible, or people who have regular jobs, but use every opportunity to spread the word of God. It always just reminds me that you don't need to be a missionary, a preacher, or anyone who works for the church to share the gospel. I also learned the most efficient ways to make beds quickly! All around, it was just a big learning day. After lunch, I got to clean the kitchen, which came with a giant list of tasks. Luckily for me though, I love getting to listen to music and scrubbing things.
Today we finally got started on painting the walls the new color. Annaleigh and I picked out a light, dusty pink to go with the green carpet and green and pink drapes (it's not as ugly as you're thinking). We spent the morning working on touching up the wainscot and the trim. To be honest, we didn't get that much work done because we were busy sharing embarrassing stories, but a little work is better than no work! After lunch, we finally started on the first layer of paint! I had to leave early though because I had my one on one with Eva! I miss Caleb and Eva so much! They had really become our family! After my call, I came back and stayed late to finish up touching up around the ceiling and the trim.
Ollie, Ian, and Linda weren't in today, so it was just the girls and I and Evan (who is the intern, so he's our age). It was so fun! No one really knew what to do, so we got to listen to music and do busy work. We cleaned some of the rooms left over from Linda, and did some touch ups on the first coat. It was so fun! Evan's the first actual friend we've made in Ireland! That afternoon Doug got in! I missed Doug so much! For anyone who doesn't know Doug, he was our coach over the summer! He's like the goofy grandpa everyone loves! That evening, Annaleigh made chicken and we brought everything over to Evan's apartment and ate and talked until late! It was so much fun!
Today was our last day working, and it was just the teenagers again. So, naturally, we blasted our music and did the work we could. Somehow, that afternoon I got stuck scraping paint off of hardware with white spirits in the basement. Let me paint you a picture: the basement of the Manor House is this little concrete hovel that was used as a cellar, so it's really cold, dark, and damp (kind of dungeony). I paced up and down the dark room, listening to worship to scare away any ghosts (don't make fun of me, you would do it too if you were in my shoes). After about five hours of scraping and pacing, everyone had finished painting and brought me their brushes and rollers. I washed everything in an even creepier room with ice cold water. I was in fact chanting "I'm suffering for Jesus. Do it for Jesus!" to motivate myself. By the end of the day, my hands were raw and freezing, and I was soaking wet. However, Doug texted and said he was going to take us and Evan out to an American themed BBQ place for dinner! It was so much fun! There were covered wagons and statues of cowboys! Evan appointed himself our personal leprechaun, and gave us our Irish names- mine is Caomhe!
We get to officially move into our apartment today! We spent the morning cleaning and packing up all of our things and said goodbye to Evan. Then, Ludie picked us up and drove us to Longford where we will be living and working. Our apartment is so nice! It even has a dishwasher!Then, we unpacked all of our things and went grocery shopping.
Today we went to Ludie's church, Hope Community Church, where we will be doing most of our work for the next few months. I haven't seen this at any other church, but Ludie offers a "Sunday School" class for adults for an hour before the actual sermon. Right now, we're studying justification and sanctification and what that means in our walk with Christ. I really enjoyed it, I think it's a great resource for people that actually want to understand their salvation and the truth of the gospel on a deeper level than what you learn in the sermon. Today's sermon was based in the end of Mark 12. Ludie spoke on who Jesus truly is and how it is not enough to just admire Him. That admiration will not get you a relationship with Christ. The only thing that will truly get you a relationship with Christ is really internalizing His teachings and learning to really surrender.
Doug took us to Galway today! It was so fun! We took the train from Athlone to Galway in the morning and spent the day just shopping and exploring! Doug has a fascination with historic pubs for some reason, so we had to hunt down the oldest one we could find. One thing I love about Doug is that he can make friends everywhere we go, so he chatted with every single shop owner we came in contact with, and even a decrepit man on the train who definitely did not want to talk to Doug. I don't know why that's important, but I just really admire that about him. It reminds me of my dad. (Shout out Dad! You're the best!)
The next couple of days we just focused on getting settled at our apartment and settling into our new schedule. Sundays are for church, Mondays are Sabbath, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are classroom days, Thursdays are open/prep days, Fridays we have Moms and tots and youth group, Saturdays are free days. We signed up for a gym membership too! One thing I have really really missed about America is getting to workout, so I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to come somewhere where I can workout every day. On the 17th, Doug showed us this podcast about the Bema Seat (it's called The Bema Seat of Christ, by GNWChurch, it's on Spotify). It was really really good! I would encourage everyone to listen to it and to share it with your families because it genuinely changed my whole perspective on what salvation is and God's boundless love for us. It has encouraged me to live every moment for the Kingdom and find ways to serve the Lord in everything that He has given me. It reminded me that as a servant of Christ, I have the amazing chance to see every single opportunity for the betterment of the Kingdom, I don't have to wait for divine intervention! Jesus has given us authority to work beside Him in the Great Commission! Doug left on the 18th which was so sad! I love Doug so much and he reminds me so much of America and everything familiar and it was so sad having to watch him go.
On Sunday, we had Sunday School and church! I got to work the slides for the service today and it gave me flashbacks to being a kid, helping my mom with the slides for our church in Alaska. (also shoutout Mom! I miss you!) The sermon was based in Mark 12 again, but was about false teachers and how to spot them. Ludie really reminded me that you can't trust everyone, even when they sound credible, but what you can do is check everything with scripture. God has given us an amazing resource that will lead us through every aspect of our lives, and we should use it to filter everything we hear, read, and see.
Monday was our Sabbath, so I just got to go to the gym and spend extra time in the word. I've been doing a study called The Rise of The Messiah on the Bible Project app and reading the book: The Great Love of God by Dr. Heath Lambert. I really enjoy a lot of the Bible Project's classes, this one in particular, is a study of how the first generation after Jesus' death and resurrection received and reacted to the gospel. I find it very insightful, and it has helped me to understand more of the teachings in the gospel by being able to put myself into the shoes of the people at the time. The Great Love of God is a book that Ludie recommended and has really helped to shape my idea of who God is as my loving father.
On Tuesday, we just did chores and housework.
Today we started our class on apologetics with Ludie! Basically, it's just a class to help us defend our faith while evangelising. We started with a video by the pastor and author Voddie Baucham, who was the Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Zambia. The video just went over what expository apologetics is, and how as believers, the Bible tells us it is our job to educate ourselves in order to properly defend the God we follow. It was really good, Voddie is a great speaker and he is just really knowledgeable about evangelism and apologetics, I really recommend looking into some of his teachings.
On Thursday things got pretty interesting. Molly and I were at the gym, when Allie called me (mind you, this was at like 7 am, and Allie's usually sleeping) and she said she was feeling really sick and needed help. So, we ran home and I gave her a bunch of medicine, water, and got her an appointment at the doctor's office. Later, Barbara (Ludie's wife) and I took her to the doctor, where they gave her more drugs and sent her home. On top of that, there was a massive storm coming in (the biggest Ireland has seen in decades, the wind blew up to 90 miles per hour). So, I took her home and got her settled, and then made sure we had some extra supplies, water, non perishables, and candles for when the water and electricity would go out. Allie had been running a fever, and was really cold, and we don't have any extra blankets, so I gave her my comforter, and we tried to sleep while the wind picked up. Allie didn't seem to be getting any better, and honestly, I was tired of trying to wash out puke buckets without any power, so I called Barbara and asked if we could take her to the doctor again later that day. Power was out all over the country, but thankfully, the downstairs lobby had a generator, so we were allowed to use that space. Honestly, I don't know how we would have made it through the weekend if we didn't have such kind people watching out for us! That night we were finally able to see a doctor who prescribed Allie some different meds that immediately helped! The next afternoon, we got power back and were able to care for Allie a little better. We spent that day and the next at home, while the rest of town slowly regained power. On Sunday, we all gathered at the church for the service. Many people still didn't have power back, so they used the power and water at the church. Annaleigh and I got to sit with a lad named Jeannine, who just came to charger her generator, but I really hope the Lord will work within her heart to bring her back. After the service, Ludie and his family came over to use some of the little water we had before it ran out. Despite not having any water, we had so much fun that night because I made a soup and we all sat on the ground together and ate out of the giant pot!
The week after the storm was still pretty slow. We didn't really have anything to do except our own studies and classes, since everyone was still struggling to regain power and water. There was so much storm damage, there were giant trees that had blown over, and powerlines had been ripped out of the ground! There were tiles from the roofs of buildings laying on the ground, and signs ripped off of store fronts.