Oh my word I am so behind in my blogs! And I am sure you all are interested as to what's going on! Ah, so much has happened in the past couple of weeks and I will try to give you the condensed version (but beware, it will probably still be really long!!)
Okay so let's see, last time I wrote, I was basically having a super hard time and really just feeling attacked. But God really helped me make it through. He knew what I needed and that was a day off! So praise God, last Saturday (the 29th) I had a day off from work and decided to go to Cork with my friend Paul from work. It was such a refreshing day! We basically left all our worries and all the crap from Galway and from work in Galway and just enjoyed the day worry free! Paul is a great friend too. We basically just talked straight for the whole day and walked around the city of Cork. It was about a four hour bus ride there and back (so 8 hours total on the bus!) and then just hanging out in the city for the day. We had a lot of funny moments and it was good just having deep conversation with him about God and life and whatever else! So yeah, thank the Lord for a day to just relax and get away!!
Oh yeah, I forgot to say, the night before we had a small group with people from church. It was a lot of fun. Such a mix of people too...we have people from America, Ireland, Malaysia, Spain, and I think probably some other places! It's so great getting us together! We even played a couple of game of Mafia together, which was awesome. It was fun just getting to know people.
Well, Tuesday finally hit and I turned 21!!! Woohoo!! I'm 21 now! I can't believe it! It was a good day, not really eventful or anything. I worked and then had class and yeah just nothing real big. Tonight, though, Tommy and Megan decided that they wanted to throw me a little party and bake me a cake. So we're gonna celebrate my birthday next Wednesday!! Woohoo! Fun stuff! It's so weird though, thinking about my birtday...I really am growing up. Time has flown by and before I know it, another 21 years will go by. Who knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing, if I'll be married and have kids or what. Craziness!!! =)
Okay so then the next day, a cool thing happened. I was in the bookstore during Aine's lunch break and this man came in. I asked him if he needed any help and basically he just started opening up and talked about how he was interested in Christianity and was just seeking. What an awesome opportunity God had laid before me!! He started asking questions and I tried to help him out the best I could, trying to share from my own life and belief in Jesus Christ. Then Mike popped in to my head. Mike works with the ministry and is really gifted in talking to people, especially like this. So I asked the man if I could phone Mike and the man was like, "Well, I normally would say no to something like this but today I'm going to say yes." I was so excited! So Mike came downstairs and talked to this man in the coffee shop for a while. Then, I was in the book store later and he came in and thanked me. I told him I'd be praying for him and see him at church (he actually went to the church where I go but we hadn't met yet). It was so neat just to be a part of it! I think he's just really seeking and wants to know that God really is for real. So yeah, God is good!!!
Okay so then that night I got to see my roommate Kira!! She is in Ireland for the semester as well helping with the Irish freshman who are in Greystones. It was so refreshing just to be with one of my closest friends and talk about what God was doing in our lives! It was fun meeting the freshman too and thinking back to when I was in their position! Good times! Then the next day the big group came to the cafe! That was probably one of the craziest days of my entire life! It was so busy! It was non-stop for the entire morning and probably up until 2pm that day (which is not so normal for us). It was neat though getting to see the big group. We got a chance to share with them about our experience here. I think some of them were actually interested in it. It was cool though cause that day that they came, I really began feeling like I am getting connected with the kids and can interact with them. I don't feel as much like the new person anymore (which is so exciting!) =) Oh yeah, then that night we went to Da Roberta's which was incredible!! It's the best Italian restaurant ever! I stuffed my face! Haha! It was worth it though! I'll have to eat there one more time before I leave here.
Okay so anyway, we unexpectedly got to go on staff retreat this past weekend!! It was so much fun! We drove to Clifden, which was about an hour or so away. We got this big house with a bunch of rooms in it. It was tons of fun. I stayed up till 4:30 the first night talking with Leanna and Paul, actually about deep stuff! Haha! And Paul and I decided to make Skittle Juice to have a sugar high. It consisted of skittles, coke, and red bull. Good times!! I roomed with Megan which was tons of fun!! She is an amazing woman! It was such a good weekend cause I really feel like I got to know people better, especially my Irish friends like Megan, Tommy, and Paul. They are incredible people and it's so hard to think about leaving them in December (and even leaving Galway and the ministry). I really do love it a lot here. I have definitely been blessed this semester by different people in my life. Oh yeah, something else during the weekend. Well, on Saturday Leanna and I decided to hike Sky Road. We found this castle and just took some time out by ourselves. Well, this girl saw me from a distance and we started talking. I found out she had come from Australia to Ireland and was looking for work and might be in the Galway area. Well anyway, we just started talking and I told her all about the ministry and the cafe at An Tobar Nua and just tried to share with her some of my heart and it was just an awesome opportunity. She seemed so intersted and I have her the info as to where we were located and told her to come on by whenever she came back to Galway. She said she'd definitely stop in the shop and I even told her about small group. It was just another awesome opportunity God gave me and I have been praying for her as well and hope that a seed was just planted in her life and that others will come along the way and just help her grow even more!!
So yeah, life is pretty good. I am definitely tired though. Work is exhausting. By the time I get done, I pretty much don't want to do anything. I did take a walk on the Prom last night which was good. The weather is still nice enough that I can walk outside and not get too cold. The weather here is so crazy. Just the other morning, it was all rainy and nasty. Then, the next thing you know, by the end of the day, it was all sunny and beautiful and you wouldn't have even thought that it was so bad earlier in the day. Like they say, the weather in Ireland is predictably unpredictable!!
If you all could, please keep me in your prayers. I have a lot of things going on at the moment that I am praying about. I am just trying to seek direction for my life and where God wants me. I will share more in detail later but just pray that God would give me a clear answer for what He wants me to do with my life. Please continue to pray for roommate situations. I've been having difficulties since the start of the trip but I know God is faithful and will help me through. Just pray for continued strength and a Christ-like attitude.
Well, I think that might be it for now. Thanks for your prayers and anyone ever has any specific questions about anything here, please ask!! Or if you want to know how something is done or whatever, please ask! I'd love to hear how everyone back home (or wherever you're at) is doing!!! God bless you all!!
-Michelle
Just an encouraging verse we read during our staff prayer time today..."But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a poeple, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." - 1 Peter 2:9-10
"Father, I praise you for saving my life and showing me mercy. I thank you that I am your child and I belong to you. Father, I pray for all the people that I love and are dear and special to me to experience the fullness of you and your love for them. I pray that all would taste and see that you are good! Thank you for rescuing me out of darkness and bringing me into your light! You are amazing God!! I will declare your praises forever Lord! You are my rock and my shield and my place of refuge! I love you Jesus!!"
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