Ireland Update 7-14

We’re just about half-way through our time here in Ireland and it was been so encouraging to see our students jumping into ministry so willingly. Despite a somewhat slow start to our work (mostly due to weather and logistical issues), our team stepped up so quickly!

Our time in Derry/Londonderry was filled with various different ministry opportunities! Our main focus was putting on a Kids Club at the nearby park. We played soccer, danced and shared the gospel with local children, usually anywhere between 5 and 10 years old!

Outside of that we were welcomed to join the church’s youth night, eating pizza, playing games and hearing our students share the gospel story and their own testimonies with the high-school-age students that came.

We also took every rain-less opportunity to do street evangelism, both in the city and in a coastal town called Portrush that was just a train ride away. A first train ride for many of our students! There we got to see our Summer Staff, Bella and Adam, leading our students in a day of ministry, striking up gospel conversations with strangers. They came back so encouraged, having spoken with unbelievers and fellow Christians, truly feeling the Lord had led us there

During our time in Derry/Londonderry, our team was faced with heavy rain right as our kids club was supposed to start. As you can imagine, attendance was…light. In fact, we anticipated no one showing up. However, we were surprised by one young boy showing up. Every day this 7 y/o boy had come out to play soccer with our team and he’d had a blast every time. He wasn’t about to let a little rain stop him that day. He came in a jacket that was clearly not water proof, dropped it on the ground and ran to the soccer field to play with our students! His smile was bigger than ever before and despite a lack of attendance, they were able to focus on celebrating the one who did show up.