Have a blessed Christmas!!

Hey everyone just wanted to say have a great and blessed time with each other over Christmas. We're going to be spending time with family and friends, really looking forward totime off and just chats with many people. We've had a leaders meeting with the Grace leaders last thursday evening and had a brill time of just openess and honesty for all of us.

We then drove to Wexford to hang out with Alex's mum and aunt and some friends. Really had a good a time with them and we just drove from Wexford today to head back to family in Cork. So just a nice time of relaxing and family stuff. May God bring His peace to your home this Christmas, lots of love Alex and Linda.

Update

Well we got a phone call today to say that the contracts have been provisionally signed pending a few enquries. But the solicitor says there should be no problems. So God willing all will work out, but we're quite excited about the fact that the contracts have been finally signed. Thanks for remembering us and continuing to pray for us we'll keep you posted. Also still waiting to see if our offer will be accepted by the people for the house in Cork.

Correction

We found out that it is actually the buyer and not the solicitor that is causing all the hassle. He is being really strange about things and is holding everything up for no real concrete reason. We've even heard that he is questioning the "garage conversion" that we don't even have. So please pray that they stop messing around and sort the deal out. We hope to hear from them tomorrow.

Still waiting ......

Just to update you on the house situation. Still waiting on news back about our contracts we don't know what the hold up is really about as the buyers want to push through the deal asap as well but the solicitor seems to be holding it up. It's just all really strange. Also we have put our final offer in for the house in Cork and the owners are getting back to us on Monday or Tuesday after he has done his figures. So it's all very much still up in the air. So please keep praying. We'll let you know as soon as anything happens.

Back in Dublin

Hey there, were back in the BIg smoke and the traffic really sucks. 7km tail backs wont miss that for sure. I oficially hate the M50. Today we put in a real/final offer on the house in Cork and are waiting on their thoughts. So please pray with us as we are waiting on the Lord for clear direction.

Also there may be a problem with a planning issue on our house which could become a problem. It is a bit hard to swallow as we didn't see it coming and it is a silly issue. So please pray that the sale will go through here and that this issue will not materialise into something big.

We have started boxing the house and it is a bigger job than we first realised, at least we have time.

Today was very hard as we said goodbye to our great friends the Steiners who are heading back to the States and we won't see them for a long time. We were very close and had an emotional time at the Airport this morning.

Thanks for keeping an eye on us, and for praying for us as we continue to follow the Lord's will for our lives.

Praise His name for a great time of fellowship and ministry over the last week in Cork

House is gone

Ok the house in Glanmire is gone and we were gutted. Really sad it went but we're going to put an offer in on one tomorrow, so please pray that if this is the one that it will work out. The agent we are dealing with is really odd and quite rude at times, so it's going to be fun trying to bargain prices with him. So we really need prayer for confidence and courage with him and that if this house isn't the one then we will know quickly rather than having it dragged out. We need to find somewhere to live sooner rather than later. This house by the way was the one out of the two we had narrowed it down to, so it's our last choice we have at the moment. After this it's back to the drawing board.

In Cork again

Hey sorry we haven't updated since the last one but a lot has happened since then. Alex got sicker and ended up in hospital all day monday but thank goodness and of course thank God that prayers are being answered and Alex has gotten so much better. He feel to the floor monday with pain and when we took him in they gave him blood tests, x-rays and other tests to see if it was galstones and try to figure out what was causing all the pain. In the end stocked with plenty of painkillers and a referal to the the physio we were off home again. Was so good that he didn't have to stay overnight. It was great to have him back home. Turns out that while they were convinced he had gal stones after a few hours they then determined that he just had severe backpain brougth on by back spasms. I don't know but it sure didn't just look like back pain but we're really grateful it's now not as serious.

On a brighter note we traveled down to Cork on wed and viewed a house. Not convinced it's the one but there was one that we had fallen in love with back in Sept but when we called back about it we were told it was sale agreed and no longer available. But yesterday we drove by it and saw it was still for sale but was being sold by two agents so we called the other one and they said it was still open for offers but was almost at sale agreed. We couldn't believe the other agent shafted us. So we are awaiting the couple to come back to the agents so we can find out if we still have a chance to make an offer. So apart from all that waffling the bottom line is PLEASE pray that if this is the house that we will get it, even though it seems slim now. But God is in control and we know that but would be nice if we knew we had somewhere to move into in January. Would just take so much stress off us.

Ministy wise we just came back from a training time with the youth leaders at Grace. We had a great evening with them and talked about the importance of building relationships with the teens as well as with each other and of course God. It was really encouraging to see them all back tonight and as eager as ever. We are also trying to arrange a missions trip with them all next June to Kenya so praying and looking at that. So ya we were quite excited about tonight and after the last two weeks as hard as they were it was so nice to be with the leaders again tonight. Funny also that we heard that some of our leaders down here have also been having a battering and someone has been having a field day in trying to twart their ministry. So would appreciate prayer for protection in all we're doing down here at the moment.

Schedule for Cork ~
Thursday night ~ Trainging youth leaders at Grace
Friday night ~ Christmas party for the youth at Grace
Saturday night ~ Leaders get together with the Pastor from Grace
Sunday night ~ Carol service at Grace followed by our first "college age group" for anyone from Cork. (1st one so pray all goes well, we have no idea who's going to come)
Monday ~ Back to the big smoke

Deposit is paid.

Well we got a phone call from the agents today to say the deposit is in. So we're just awaiting the survey which will be early next week and then we'll get the contracts. So it's getting closer and closer to the full sale of the house. In another matter, Alex is not well this week. He was up till 4am this morning throwing up and doubled over in pain. He has been sick since tues morning so we went to the doctors today and he had his bloods taken. So we're awaiting results but the doctor thinks it might be gall stones. So please do pray for him as he's in a lot of pain.

We just agreed with our buyer!!

Ok we've sale agreed....it's all mad. we're so excited and so grateful to God for being so faithful and again blowing our minds. He's gone ahead again and against the market trend and sells our house in a month after going on the market, when all the professionals said it would take at least 3mths to sell. Now we just need to wait for contracts but the buyer is putting the deposit down tomorrow. I can't believe it's all happening. It's exciting but strange all at the same time. Xo

More news....

Oh my goodness this is all happening so fast. We got the first offer yesterday at 12.45 the second offer today at 1pm. And at 4pm we got the final offer from the same guy. God is brilliant now we just really need to pray and seek him over this weekend about whether we accept or not. Please pray for us that we get a peace about the whole thing. It is still a good bit under the asking price but an answer to prayer all the same. Thank you Lord!!

Another day, another offer!!

Praise God within 24hrs we have another offer. We're getting there. Our God will supply all our needs!!! Keep praying.

The ball has started to roll.....

Well we have had an answer to prayer. That guy we asked you to pray about well he has come back today with an offer. Now he has given a cheeky offer but that starts the ball rolling. Praise God we were only praying this afternoon about it and 20mins later we get a call from our agents saying an offer has been put in. She said herself it was a crazy offer and that he was really under cutting us but it was a start. So please keep those prayers up. We just want a fair price but it's so cool as God answered our prayers today so He has again reminded that He has us in his hands and everything is in control.

House update

The viewer that we had who came for a second viewing has said that he MAY (please Lord!!) come back with an offer this week, so do pray. Also we had a couple that came to view it last saturday and have said that they might come back for a second viewing and they have a mortgage approved already. So keep praying people. Thanks for being in this with us. Xo

More news

This is Adeline one of the teens from Grace youth group and this is one the games we had. How many pegs can you get on a face!! Top score was 60 on one of the lads but our camera died. check out some pics on our flickr box over on the side.


Hey everyone lots happening. Please keep praying as apparently one viewer who has seen our house twice now is rumoured to be making an offer next week!!! This is not completely guaranteed but looks hopeful. Thanks for all your prayer but please keep them up.

Since the last time we blogged lots has happened. Through negotiations with a church here in Cork they are going to help us to support us finiacially to help us run our college group and train some leaders. Alex will be a guest speaker once a month which is an exciting new direction for him. I have been meeting with the college student girls and will be meeting them again tomorrow at UCC.

Things are going really well at Grace and we are shopping for bean bags, pillows, cushions, hot chocolates and a cows tongue etc as we look to study James 3 with the teens on Sunday morning.

We've been down here now for 2 1/2wks and it's been GREAT! Although there is a little part of us that is looking forward to getting back to our own place in Dublin and catching up with friends. Alex said he's looking forward to sleeping in a real bed as 2 1/2wks on an air matress in the attic has it's limit :) Thanks for all your support and encouragement keep letting us know how your all doing. Leave a comment or email us to tell us how you are.

Linda & Alex Xo

Update from the South

Well time is passing by quickly and we are now here over a week. So much has happened, we have great times getting to know the leaders and teens at Grace more and are looking forward to a fun night tomorrow night as we take the evening for the youth group there. We are having a Winter Olympics evening so it will involved frozen t-shirts, bowling with frozen chickens, water guns and night lights, which victims oh I mean volunteers will hold over their head and lots of games involving ice. Oh fun fun fun. It's been a great week for catching up with friends and tomorrow I (Linda) am heading to UCC to meet with 7 college students (all girls) to talk and dream about what we can do together as a group to encourage, grow and journey together. As we mentioned before there is such a hunger down here and I have been meeting up with a few college students individually but now this is the first time where they have gotten a group together from various churches and backgrounds that I'll meet and talk about how I can help them etc. So excited and of course a little nervous as I want to really share God with them more and help disciple so they can reach out to many around them. So please pray that God gives me the words tomorrow as I meet with these girls because without him at the centre of this it is empty.

In house news we found out today that another house in our estate has just gone up for sale. We were gutted when we heard this as this house is gorgeous and is so modern and has everything. So much more than ours. So after a lot of panic and Oh we are doomed!!! We realized that we are so human and like everyone in the Bible when at the first sign of opposition or hard ship we run, run, run. Thank goodness for reflection times and a word from God reminding us to have faith ;) Also a few things have come up and a little battle is looming so please pray for us at this time that we will remain focused and not take things as a personal attack. We don't want to put it on a blog but God knows the story. Drop an email if you want our prayer requests as we really need to send one soon anyway.

So here we are again realizing that he has it under control and we just can't see the bigger picture right now. So what we can see is what a blessing it is to be here sharing in the lives of so many from different churches and having the privilage of being part of their journey with God for this time. We have been really encouraged by particular people that we are trying to train and have really been blown away by their trust, love and faith in us (little do they know hehehe). Seriously though it's times like this when things are hard that you have to collect your golden nuggets and make those markers to remind you of ALL that God is doing. As he sure is working.

Starting to settle in.

We really enjoyed this week and are beginning to settle here in Cork. We had a good leaders meeting at Grace on thurs eve and we looked at their Spiritual gifts with them. Everyone involved seemed to enjoy the night and were made aware of the gifts that God has given them, something that will help Linda and i to taylor roles appropriate to their giftings for each of them.

We taught on Sunday morning and it went very well, we looked at faith and deeds in James 2 and the teens really engaged in the discussion and opened up to the challenge and application in an exciting way.

We also went bowling and for food with the leaders on sunday night and had a great laugh with them. Also got some watersking done on sat and saw Munster play on sat night which was great.We just need the house to sell so we can make our move permanent, so please keep praying as we feel it might be close now. We will keep you up to date as time goes bye, but for now take care and God bless.

Off to Cork again

Well we're heading to Cork tonight (wed 31st Oct). We'll be down there for two weeks and will be meeting with the leaders from Grace and starting our training with them and also will be meeting with some college students and some church leaders. We are looking forward to catching up with everyone again and to seeing where God continues to lead us.

More House News

Another buyer viewed the house today and afterwards told the estate agent that she liked the home and has the money to buy. She also viewed 2 other properties which fitted her needs and she wants to go away and make up her mind as to which one she wants. Please continue to pray that if this is the person to buy our house that things might move into place to make this a reality. God has been so faithful to us, providing a blessing of a 2 day conference called the Global Leaders Summit which has nourished us and blown our minds in terms of inspiration and ideas. THANKS FOR ALL THE PRAYERS AND SUPPORT. THANK YOU WE CAN REALLY FEEL IT.

Pray, pray, pray

We have just found out that people who came to view last sat are going to do their figures and get back about a 2nd viewing. The only problem is that they are looking at other properties. Please pray that this might be the buyer or that the buyer would come soon.

Just one of those weeks

Do you ever feel at times that someone is sticking pins in you. It's just been one of those weeks where it seems like everything is going wrong. We got back from Cork on Wednesday evening and the plan was to relax, re-focus and just spend some peaceful time reading and spending time with God. Right well that was the plan but instead since we've come back it's just been one stressful thing after another and no peacful times whatsoever. It just feels like a couple of digs keep coming every so often during each day we've been back. Please pray that we will just be able to have that time as we feel it's crucial for our work in Cork. We have a lot to plan and direct but we need God's insight and wisdon on a few decisions so we need that time out. On the good side we had another viewing this morning (sat) so that makes it 13different parties in 2wks that have viewed our property. We just need that one buyer, God has been so faithful in getting the people in. Let's see what happenes...................

Back in the big smoke!!

It is hard to get back, we are by the fire and already sick of Dublin traffic, and at a bit of a loose end, although we're looking forward to a time of study and reflection. We had a great week in Cork, playing capture the flag indoors last friday, meetings with people re:mission possibilities, lots of different church leaders and even a radio programme for youth possibility.

On wed we attended a day of seminars for people in leadership at Grace, very refreshing and solid, Nick parks from Drogheda, talked on the power of the Blood of Jesus and how it is often taken out of context. He also did a section on conflict resolution and forgivness in leadership and Tom the pastor at grace spoke on being culturally relevant in Ireland. We're still waiting for an answer to prayer re:the house, but know the Lord has it in his hands.

On reflection of our time in Cork it was exciting to see 12 leaders joining us as volunteers to help us at Grace with the youth there. They seemed passionate and ready to begin discipling and hanging out with the teens there. We have the privilage of training these leaders and look forward to that very much.

Will keep you updated as we go, thanks for continuing to support and encouraging us.

Another week goes by

Well another week has gone by here down in Cork and what a great week it has been. We have had great meetings with church leaders, youth leaders and college students and are slowly but surely getting the bigger picture of what is happening and what is not happening here in ministry in Cork. It has been an eye opener but with that has brought excitement as we wait and see what God does. Many more doors have opened and we are loving the networking part at the moment.

In other news our work for Grace is well under the way and this week confirmed 6 more leaders which we have taken on to train making the total to be 12 leaders that we will train up over the next while. We had our first Grace youth leaders meeting on thursday night and we were very encouraged by it. Not everyone could make it but you will see who was there in the photo below. There is a great sense of excitement and challenges ahead but we have a GREAT group to do it with. We also had youth group last night at Grace and had a great time of fun with the teens and we had two of the new youth leaders there as well. It is exciting times and God has been so gracious by going ahead of us the whole time.

We have a meeting with Lee Valley Church (Baptist church) next week to talk about the possibility of working for them in training leaders as well and building up a college group. We are also in the process of dreaming & recruiting for a college group to start here in Cork that will just be for anyone from any church. So if you haven't sensed is already we are quite excited as to what is unfolding before us but as always it is never that simple as we still wait for a buyer for the house. We have an open viewing in our house today again from 1-2 so hopefully/God willing we will get a buyer in time. We'll update you again soon & will see some of you back in Dublin next week. We get back on the 18th.



The new team at Grace youth group (we're missing 3 people that couldn't make it)

Settling In

It is hard not to get caught up in things here. On friday night I(alex) was at a rugby match and may even have been spotted wearing a Munster jersey(allegedly), there is a photo rumoured to be doing the rounds of me standing in a sea of red supporters not looking too out of place.

In other news things are progressing nicely in Grace, we got back to what we love to do on sunday morning when we spent time discipling a group of teens, looking at the first chapter of James, we came away buzzing, was so good. We also got to meet with some of the volunteer leaders which was great and we really felt that those meetings were beneficial.

This week we have a meeting with the Leaders of the church, we are meeting other leaders from around Cork to begin to get the big picture of all thats happening and we have youth group on Fri night, leaders meetings and just hanging out with teens.

Tomorrow and wed are our days off which is great, Andrew and I are going for some much needed wakeboarding time in the warm irish sea and on wed I am taking my beautiful wife for some dinner and a movie which should be nice.

Anyway just another quick update, will try to get more photos up soon in the meantime take care and God bless.

Arrived in Cork

Ok so we've been in Cork for one day now and we feel like already so much has happened. Officially even though we're not there apparently the sign has gone up on our house, so it's all in God's hands now. Please keep praying we can sell. Alex has been out working with my dad and will tomorrow as well which has been great as it brings in a bit of cash which is well needed at this stage. Today I met with Ciara from Grace and we chatted through a few things for meetings coming up this week so we're quite eager to get going there. I also got to hang out with my mum for a couple of hours of nice quality time (which is long overdue at this stage). I also got to visit the new SU bookshop (Christian bookstore) which has opened here in Cork and where they also have a coffee shop next door to it. I got to meet the people in charge of both and introduce myself and let them know what they're doing there. They are quite keen on meeting and chatting further about what's happening in Cork. Overall for one day there was great networking going on. And to confirm the move I found out today that 2 more churches want to meet with us as our names are coming up in conversation. God is opening so many doors and is allowing us to walk right in and meet so many. I can't help feeling this is the calm before the storm before the battle really begins. But thank God for this really encouraging time and a time where he is showing us so much and allowing us still to enjoy everything without getting too busy. Just wanted to let you know a little of what's happening.

The outlook for the next few days is as follows ~
Thursday ~ Alex working, Linda networking, Dinner with youth leader in Grace

Friday ~ Meeting with two youth leaders from Baptist church to talk about monthly leaders meetings

Saturday ~ Meeting with all the youth leaders from Grace to plan out from now till Christmas

Sunday ~ Church at Grace and small group with teens

We're hoping to meet with all the youth leaders from Grace indiviually as well over the next week so looking forward to that.

Answer to prayer

Oh my goodness God is mad. (In a good way).So we went to Alex's graduation today (Sun) and afterwards someone came up to ask us if we were going to the leadership conference and we said we didn't know as we were trying to work on funds etc and they said they had two tickets with our names on it. Isn't God amazing. His provision never ends. We really wanted to go but honestly had no money for it and the next day after we post it and ask people to pray we're told that there are two tickets for us. Thank you for your prayers those of you that prayer and THANK YOU GOD for your never ending love. Xo

Prayer Requests

Ok just wondering if you can be praying for us. A few things are going on, our house is officially going on the market on Wednesday when the sign goes up out front and the add goes in the paper on Thursday making it all real. So appreciate prayer for a buyer and a miracle in the current market. Also there is a leadership conference coming up in October that we would love to go to but at the moment can't afford. It's 75euro each!! I know it will be beneficial but at the moment we don't have all our funds coming in so we can't splash out. So if you could pray that if we're meant to go it will all work out and if not then that will be cool too. We know things will look up but need prayer for provision and patience. This is a growing time and we feel we're stepping out in faith and know that God will provide. So if you could just keep us in prayer over the next while we would really appreciate it. God is great and we are really feeling his hand over us. Thanks for your support.

What a week!!!

Just to write a short note to let you know how our week went. We have spent the last 7days straight working on our house. We have painted the entire house inside and outside, cleaned every area, polished, re-decorated and then to top it all of my dad (Linda) and my brother came up and in two long days put a huge decking area out our back and put in gravel and plants to set the tone. We have Sherry Fitz (estate agents) coming tomorrow to take photos so they can put out brochure together next week. This is making it so much more real, it's mad really. The plus side is we have a brilliant house to live in until it sells, if it sells, but it's all in God's hands and that is such a great re-assurance. So we'll keep you posted. We are so grateful for my dad and my brother for doing incredible work over the weekend and we have Paddy, Naomi, Lynda, Andy & Stan who all gave up their free Sunday afternoon to come down and help us with some final bits of cleaning. You guys are great!! Thank you again. I'll put up some photos over the next few days so you can see the transfomation that has taken place. Those of you that have seen & been in our place will understand the amazing transformation that has taken place for those that haven't seen or been check out the old pics verses the new ones. I'll end it here as we're wiped and I need to sleep.

Exciting Times

Well God is truly faithful yet again. This week we went to Cork to have some meetings and each one went great. We had great times catching up with various youth leaders and church leaders, family and great friends. We have started working in Grace church in Cork on a part time basis doing youth work and training leaders there. Part time will be one friday nt a month, 2 sunday mornings & one leaders meeting. We will continue to train other leaders around the Cork area as well and another exciting option is awaiting us for the future. God has led us clearly this week and has opened doors towards a permanent move to Cork. This of course is a huge move for us and we would greatly value your prayers for God's direction in all this.

What does that mean? Well right now we have to paint and clean our entire house so that we can get it upon the market over the coming weeks. It is a bit hectic with everything at this time but very exciting to see God's plan continue to unfold before us. We will update you as we know anymore. We've included some pics in this post so you can get a taste of our week in Cork. We didn't get to take pictures of everything but you can see some stuff.


Alex & Robin (one of our supporters & a great friend)

Adeline, Olamadi (some of the teens) and myself at Grace youth group

Picture of the city centre of Cork

Just thought this was a nice picture on our way from Cork to Dublin for our non-Irish friends

The week ahead

Just to let you know what's happening over the next week or so. We have just finalised more meetings while we're in Cork and have found out that we will be taking the youth group evening at Grace church next friday evening. It's a little last minute but we are looking forward to beginning our work there in the church. Alex will be giving a short talk as well and we will do some games and just interact with the teens. Please pray that we will mix well and will jsut show God's love and desire to get to know these teens on a more deeper level. We just want to be available to him for his work and want to show people how to have a fuller life in him and how to share that with others. It is exciting times but also nervous times that we are facing with all new things in the pipelines.

Monday we are meeting the pastor of Grace church to talk about a possible part time role with the church. Please pray that God will make it clear to us all what he wants us to do here. Also pray that we can all come to an agreement about the best way forward, God's way. On tuesday we both will meet with a few young youth leaders who are involved in youth work in Cork. The reason we are meeting with them is to catch up with them, encourage them & talk about how we can support them and other youth leaders around the Cork area. We know that they can help us connect with other leaders and we want to give them a proposal of what we would like to start in Cork. We will update you more after we meet with them about our plans. On wednesday we have another meeting with a youth leader from another church about our plans also. Then wednesday evening we will be meeting with the youth leaders from grace church to talk about the programme and how it will look for Friday night. This will be a great chance for us to meet with the current youth leaders to find out what's going on in the church. We are also hoping to meet with the team of young leaders they are hoping to take on in the youth group this year. These will be the leaders we will be training so we are eager to meet these young people. Thursday will be a family day and a day off. Then Friday will be some more meetings with a potential supporter and then the youth group that evening in Grace fellowship. Saturday we may be meeting an amazing couple we know from another church to see how we can help to encourage and support their young people in the church. Then Sunday we are back to Dublin to concentrate on a few things up here.

The reason I am typing all this information is 1)to let you know what we are up to but 2)most importantly to ask you to please remember us in prayer. I don't know why but I have been feeling lately like we're going to be going into a war zone. This may be just my nerves or it maybe what lies ahead for a bit. All I do know for definate is that God is opening up doors and we want to make sure we walk through the right ones. This week will be a very important one as we continue to seek out God's direction and he confirms the way to go. So please pray with us and for us as we head into the week to come. Thank you for taking time out to look at our blog it is so encouraging to know that people read this and pray for us. Do drop us a line sometime as well if you have any comments or questions. We would love to hear from you. Linda & Alex Xo

Update

Ok the Uganda trip in September is now cancelled, which gives us more time to get things sorted here at home. We've been asked instead to go to India on a trip in November. So this will be exciting, it will be working with minor girls rescued from prostitution off the streets on Bombay & Pune. These girls will be from 10-16 years old and are either forced into prostitution or sold as sex slaves. The idea will be to bring these girls truth, love and joy. We're excited about it but just hope that the trip will go ahead. We will be meeting with the couple who organizes these trips next week to see what our role will look like in future trips.

We are also in the process of getting settled back in at home here trying to get cars sorted out (ncts, tax, ins etc) and other stuff to get us back on track. We will head to Cork from the 10th-20th of September to meet with various youth leaders and church leaders about future work with them and training. We have also been talking to Om about our role in teenstreet Ireland next Feb and teenstreet Germany next July. So there's lots of little things to organize. One of the other things we have to sort out is our support so please pray that God will continue to provide. He is amazing and we have been getting so many encouraging verses since we've come back. To name but a few we have gotten Proverbs 3:5-6 and yest we got Isaiah 41:13 - For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand, and says to you. Do not fear. I will help you. We got this in a text yesterday. So praise God he has already gone ahead of us and we know he will provide but we still want to get covered in prayer. Thanks for all the support so far.

Total miles & hours

Ok some people have been asking what our total flight times, miles and distance we flew while we traveled around. Last one we posted was back in Cairns. So here it is, again bear in mind that this only includes the flights and not driving or walking anywhere.

Miles flown ~ 32,522
Hours on planes ~ 72hrs 40mins
Hours on transport to & from airport ~ 15hrs 45mins
Hours in airports ~ 49hrs 30mins
Amount of destinations visited ~ 20

Wow when you look at it like that, what a trip!!

Back to Reality.

Well were unpacked with the third load of washing done and Linda's folks have headed back to Cork. The reality of being back is hard as we have floated through the last three months, living in a different world and now we have bills and lots of organising to do. We could do with prayer as we seek the Lord for clear direction with what to do next.

We have a couple of options on the table but we only want to follow His will, so please pray for us that we can discern this and that we can settle back into things which is really hard. Jet lag is also trying to wreck our sleep patterns, so a sleeping tablet had to be taken at 2.30am last night. We have decided to take a few days to recover and get all the bills and stuff organised.Looking forward to seeing everyone in due course so for now take care and God bless.

Back on green grass

Well we've done it. Travelled the world and now are sitting up to our necks in clothes and souvenirs. Oh joys of coming home. Will post up some pics of California to show ye soon. Look forward to catching up face to face with people. Hoep your all well. WE"RE BACK!!!!!!!!

Ventura

Hey everyone, very quick post here to say we fly tomorrow (22nd) and arrive back on thursday at 3.40pm. Having a fantastic ime here in Ventura. Have met some fantastic people who have put us up in a RV right on the beach. We sat out today having our lunch and saw two dolphins swim by us. Yesterday we went down to La went to hollywood boulevard, santa monica, venice beach, rodeo drive just to name a few. Just to say having so much here. Really looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up. It's been a mad summer. Luv ya lots. Xo

Viva Las Vegas

Funny as we hear this song as we're in Las Vegas how it actually really works. What can we say hotels everywhere, burning heat, blue skies, thunder and lightning, people everywhere, shows all over the place, food courts, restaurants, lights, lights and more lights, slot machines, poker, roulette you name it it's here. What a place. Oh and how can I forget to mention the wedding chapels. OH my goodness we drove past one that said "say I do in the drive thru" tacky yes that is one word I would use for certain parts of Las Vegas but not all. We were quite surprised as to how cool this place is. There is so much to see and so much to do that we feel we only scratched the surface of it. But at the same time there's only so much you can take of the slot machine noises as you walk to get out of your hotel or walk through any other hotel to see it.

We are staying on the main strip and are in the perfect spot but are just not paying through the face for it. We have walked so much and our legs are in bits. We have gone to most of the main hotels to see them and to run in from the 45oC burning desert sun : ) We are in our last night even though I am typing this at 2am. We leave tomorrow for La and then head to Ventura. Plase pray we get our bags, we have them in storage and they are to meet us tomorrow at the airport, we're just praying they will be there when we arrive. Then we head to get a car and drive to Ventura. Only 5days left and our big trip is over and we're home. Really looking forward to not packing a bag for a while. Can't wait to see everybody but as we count the days down we also count down the uncertainty of our future. Looking forward to meetings and plans with God's direction. Ok going to head to bed now but will try to update when we're in Ventura if we can get internet. Bye for now. Xo

San Francisco

Hey, thought La was dodgy and I was right. I just went over to Mac Donald's right across the street from our hotel and had coins thrown at me by four homies sitting in their Lincoln suv. When i went to check where the local 7/11 was they followed me and i had to leg it into a shop or cover, bit sketchy. In San Francisco now, it is a cool city. So far we have gone out on a harbour cruise under the Golden Gate and out around Alcatraz, we have watched around 100 sea lions which bask and fight in the sunshine by pier 39 and today we went to see Postcard row, which is the row of houses you see in a lot of movies, Pursuit of happiness as example. We are staying in chinatown which is cool, lots of signs and smells. One unmistakable thing is the truly unnatural amount of homeless people on the streets. It is absolutely heart breaking. In certain parts we are outnumbered 10-2 as we walk around and night time is definately not safe. We go to Las Vegas tomorrow morning really early at 4.45am not looking forward to time but we are looking forward to seeing somewhere else. We've gotten used to moving around a lot now so it doesn't take too much out of us anymore and hey we're going to Vegas. Will be in touch again soon.

Phew!!

Ok it's 2am here and we're just getting settled down now. We have sorted out the bags. Had to pay $100 but hey at least 2 bags will be safe for the next 6days, until we get back from San Fran and Las Vegas. We just uploaded loads of pics of hawaii so hope you enjoy them and don't get too down. Sorry the weather isn't great at home, we really don;t want to upset people or get ye cheesed off with our pics but just want to share what we're doing. Can't wait to see ye all. Luv ya lots, Alex & Linda Xo

Landed in LAX

After a very long day we have finally arrived at LAX. We have just checked into our hotel and are having hassle with storing bags. It's amazing how you arrange something over email and think your set then you get to the hotel and everything has changed. All arrangments were non existent and despite showing then an email the guy who sent it now happens to be on a vacation for a month. Anyhow trying to sort out how to store bags here for a few days before we fly out tomorrow morning to San Francisco very early tomorrow. Anyhow just wanted to let you know that we arrived safe and sound to La and at this stage are tired and looking forward to getting back home. Please pray for us at this time as we're getting tired and cranky as things start to go all pear shaped. Hope your all well.

Hello

Hey put up some pics for you to check out. Had a great day today just because we really feel like we have some great ideas about the future. It’s funny as it’s almost like we’ve been put on detox and relaxation and recharge over the last couple of months. No matter how much we tried to think and talk about the future it was just going nowhere. We both agreed that we felt we weren’t to work it out but just enjoy the blessing of being OFF and getting back in tune with the world and ourselves. It has been so good and we feel really refocused and recharged. So it was really cool to sit under the Hawaiian sun and have all these thoughts come flooding in and for things to become a little clearer, which is great. So we’ll have plenty to talk about when we get home. Ok gotta go for now but enjoy the pics. We’re still in Waikiki and are moving up to the North shore on Thursday till Sat when we fly into La. We’ll keep you updated. Oh and we hope to go to Pearl harbor tomorrow.

Aloha

Hey what can we say.... we made it, thank goodness for the sleeping tablets and we are definatly in a tropical paradise. We know you must be getting sick of hearing all of this from us for the last couple of months but what a place. It's really hard to believe we're standing on Waikiki beach watching a sunset. Really been blessed with this AMAZING journey, and what a journey it's been. God has shown us so much about the world around us and the people everywhere. Myself and Alex were only talking the other day (yes we're still talking hehe) and I was saying how I had been so excited just to travel to all these places and had no idea of what would be in store. Seeing so much brokeness and emptiness everywhere. Seeing that people were searching for something meaningful all over the world. It has been such a different experience, one for which I am truly grateful for. To see how big and yet small the world is. How God's heart breaks for so many of us. How easily I can lose my focus and how lost the world is. Everyone wants the same thing, to be loved, accepted and make a difference. It has been such an eye opening trip. He has spoken to us so much on who he is, what people look like and what we can look like ourselves. The book by Frost and Hirsch "Shaping of things to come" is ideal for this trip and what we're seeing. Other books we're reading is "Girl soldier" , a story on the life of a girl from Uganda who was kidnapped and made into a child soldier. It's a hard book but amazing of God's hand over her life and how she was rescued from all that. Also Alex is reading a book called "Dead Lucky" kinda apropiate considering. about a guy who climbed Mount Everest and died only to come down the next day.He is captured by it. Why am I telling you this??? No idea just thought I'd share our thoughts with you on the blog. Hehe well hope this finds you all well. Can't wait to see everyone again. 3wks to go. Xo

Ps Please excuse waffling and spelling mistakes it's been over 24hrs traveling. We don't know what time or day it is despite our sleep on the plane.

Back in Sydney

Just to let you know we're back in sydney stuck in transit. Feel a bit like Tom hanks in the terminal as we're looking at the fab sklyine and sun and are stuck indoors. But oh well we're on our way to Hawaii so unlike Tom we get to leave in 2 1/2hrs. Just letting you know we're safe and sound and are making our way round the world again. Have to say we're sick of planes and airports but it's worth it when you get to your final destination for the next part of the adventure. For now goodbye and we'll post again later when we get to the tropical island : ) Talk soon. Linda & Alex

Taupo & Rotorua

We love the North Island. Yesterday we went to a place called Craters of the Moon, a simple but nice start to the thermal areas that you find in this region. Lots of steam rising from the ground and a small mud pool. Little did we know what lay in store for us as we went to Huka Falls and then the largest thermal areas in New Zealand.

Huka Falls is this cascading torrent of steel blue water forced through a narrow rock pass from a large lake above. The result is a spectacular and terrifying spectacle as we witnessed 200,000 litres of water flow over the falls every second. I know that it rains on the just and the unjust but God really answered our prayers as the heavy rain broke for us each time we ventured from the car.

Finally for yesterday we took a boat across a river to Orakei Korako a thermal valley also known as the hidden valley and as a result almost free from tourists. There we saw some incredible lava flows, silicia terraces, mud pools, geysers, craters and lots of steam. It really was very cool and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Today we traveled early to Rotorua the capital of thermal areas in New Zealand and went to Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. There we say truly incredible rock formations, more lava flows and a champagne lake, which is 60m wide and 60m deep. It contains arsenic, sulphur and iron compounds. It bubbles with carbon dioxide at about 74oC, dangerous but beautiful. The mud pools we saw today were so active and one or two drops were close to hitting us on occasion.

The geyser behind our accommodation erupts every day around 20 times and shoots 30-40 feet in the air. In our accommodation the whole building shakes every time the thermal air moves underground, a bit disturbing really. Tomorrow we travel to Auckland for our final 2 days in New Zealand, it’s been great but too short, will have to come back we recon. That’s all the news for now talk soon.

P.S Hawaii here we come.

Lake Taupo

Well we had a great time hanging out with my friend Keith in New Plymouth. Lots of late nights and early mornings, but alot of fun. Yesterday we left there and traveled to Wanganui and through a National park which was absolutely stunning. We were heading for Whakapapa to snowboard and on the way we passed three active Volcanoes which were cool.

When we arrived to snowboard we could'nt see the mountain as it was raining as only it can in New Zealand. We decided to head on to Lake Taupo and are here now. It's very beautiful and also the largest lake in New Zealand. Well the plan is to go the Huka falls today and mabye go Jet boating as well. Our decision to leave Whakapapa turned out to be the right one as all the slopes are closed due to bad weather today.

Were off now to explore the lake and will head to Rotorua tomorrow to see the volcanic areas of the north island. Thinking of all those at teen st this week, it's strange not being there with them, but we could be in worse places than here I suppose. Talk soon.

Moving on...

Just to let you know that we're leaving New Plymouth now to head inland to Whakapapa, Tuapo, Rotorua and then Auckland. We have 5days to pack in a lot. We'll update you as soon as we get internet again. Only 3 and a bit weeks left before we're back in Ireland. Looking forward to seeing everyone. xo

New Zealand ~ North Island Part 2

Ok so we're in the North Island we had 2days in Wellington city before driving north/west for 4 1/2hrs to arrive at New Plymouth and meet Keith. Having a great time just hanging out and relaxing a bit more. It's nice not to be running around like lunatics and we're giving our legs a much deserved break. Well at least until we decided to take hike up a hill, well at least that's what we thought it would be. It actually turned out to be climbing rock faces a bit. But it was great, scary but great. We went to a rugby match as well tonight, which was great fun. We watched Genesis Taranaki and Tasman Makos play. They have an all blacks player on the Taranaki team. It was fun to be sitting with all the Kiwis and supporting their team and getting quite annoyed at the ref with them. Best of all was that for 2 tickets we only paid $10. Mine (Linda) was free and Alex's was $10 due to a voucher I got in a clothes shop when I bought some stuff, how bad eh. Tomorrow we're going to see Taranaki mountain and on monday we hope to head for a few days to the centre of the island to Whakapapa (pronounced Fhakapapa)village and go snowboarding. So hoping for good weather so we can head there, after snowboarding we're gonna see Rotorua and Lake Taupo. Then on the 2nd of August to Auckland for 2days before we leave New Zealand for our next destination Hawaii!! Will be nice to get to some heat again and sit on the beach ah yes that will be good. Will post up pics again so you can see what we've been up to. Enjoy.

Queenstown

Well we arrived late last night to Queenstown. This country has some amazing scenery. We had 10hrs travel on the bus even though we had been told it would be 5hrs. Anyhow we saw some fab scenery and even some Lord of the Rings places where they filmed. We were supposed to fly to Milford sound today (Saturday) but unfortunately the winds were high and the snow came down, which travel not possible. We could do a bus tour there but it would take 5hrs to get there for a 2hr cruise to come back 5hrs on the bus again and that’s as long as the weather is good. So we have decided since we only have 1more day here really that we will just enjoy the scenery here in Queenstown. After yesterday we’re sick of buses. So tomorrow we head out on a cruise round the lake here at Queenstown and then head up a Gondola to see a haka show and the views from the mountain. I think it hit us today that we’re actually wrecked from so much traveling so it’ll be nice to do some more relaxing things. On Monday we fly to Wellington and then head to New Plymouth to Alex’s friend. Alex is really looking forward to seeing him and I’m really looking forward to meeting this famous Keith. He’s always talking about him. So I’m gonna try and upload some more pics for ye to see and I’ll update again when we get to the North Island. Hope everyone is well. Despite all the traveling and all we’re seeing we do miss everyone and can’t wait to see you all.

New Zealand ~ South Isl Part 1

Hey guys,

So we've arrived at the south island and what an incredible place it is.We arrived into Wellington very late sunday evening. Stayed in a hotel for a few hours and got early to catch our flight to the South Island to Christchurch. Some of you will be happy to hear when we arrived into Christchurch we were greeted by freezing temperatures and even some fog and misty rain. Luckliy we had only Monday aft and Tuesday there as on wednesday we left for Franz Josef, where we are right now. We finally found a Christian bookstore on our travels. It was nice to meet some Christians and buys some books. We have been looking for a bookstore since we started to travel and had no luck in finding any until just tuesday. We were walking back from Pak n Save (food store) and I saw the word bible and manna and looked up and there was a store. We have no doubt it was good and we got so refreshed and recharged in that store with the Christians we met there. We meet some lovely people and have some contacts now in Christchurch.

Anyhow back to the travels, we arrived into Franz Josef which is on the West coast at about 5pm yesterday. We had a beautiful scenic train journey, which we highly recommend if any one is ever out here. Then we got a bus at 1.30pm till 5, which brought us through some stunning scenery of the Southern Alps and coastline. Then we arrived at this tiny little town called Franz Josef. It is so peaceful here. We went for a random walk last night through a forest and saw tons of glow worms. It was amazing and there were thousands of stars in the sky. It was something I think we'll never forget. Then this morning we went on a heli-hike. It was FLIPPIN amazing!!!!! We have brill pics just trying to upload them. We went on a 10min helicopter ride up through mountains and the glacier. It is one of the most amazing experiences I think we've ever had. We spent 2hrs trekking round part of the glacier, going through ice caves and seeing blue ice and crevasses. God is amazing what a world he has created and today and last night were incredible examples of that. We head to Queenstown tomorrow and have a 5hr coach journey ahead but are looking forward to more of God's creation. This place is the most beautiful we have ever seen. So diverse right now I'm sitting on a red bus, which is an internet cafe looking out at glaciers up on the mountains in front of me and looking at rainforest beside me and then to my right we have streams and green fields and the sea. Oh and blue perfect skies with snow on the mountains. Amazing huh!!! Praise God for an amazing time and all his faithfulness and blessings to us so far. They are new every morning. What an experience.

Sydney Part 2

As we write this we know this will get us into trouble but we're sorry to say that the weather has been great since we blogged last. We had one day of rain and it's been cold but sunny and cloudy with blue skies peeking through for the last week. For us it's been great as it would have made horrible sight seeing. So since we last blogged our legs are in bits from all the walking but we think we've lost some weight so that's a good thing.

We met Tracey and Vera and their cousin last tuesday and hung out at the Rocks and the bridge for the afternoon. It was great to see them and catch up with them. they were in great form but just cold from lack of winter clothing. But they were buying some warmer gear when we met them. We've done a bit of shopping and even got to buy another bag which will be great as we can put all the bits and pieces we've been carrying as hand luggage in it. We've pretty much stayed in the city over the last few days as it's too cold and unpredictable weather wise to travel out anywhere. It's been nice to just stay in one spot for awhile. We're off to New Zealand on Sunday so we'll have plenty of sight seeing to do there so the rest (ha kind of rest) has been good. Anyhow we'll blog when we get to New Zealand enjoy the pics. We've put up more and even put up a few of the barrier reef. Talk soon. we miss you all sooooo much. Lots of love, Linda & Alex

Arrived in Sydney

Well we've made it to Sydney. Had a lovely last few days in Cairns going to the rainforest and seeing so much fab scenery. Left fab temperatures of 24oC to arrive into Sydney to winds, rain and temps of 10oC so we're frozen but feeling like we're at home hehe. Loving Sydney it's a fab city and we've only been here a few hours really. On our way to Harbour bridge and Opera house. We're wrapped up in vests, and layers of clothers and have gloves an hats it's that cold. Will update soon.

Cairns Part 2.

Hey all hope this finds you well. Cairns is so cool, you have to come here and check it out for yourself. The temperature is 25 degrees with no wind and sunny all day. The people are friendly but it is a bit expensive.

Yesterday we had a really fun day, although we didn’t end up going to the reef because we were both not too well instead we went to Cairns Tropical Zoo. Animals we saw included wallabies, kookaburras, macaws, eagles, wombats, koalas, cassowaries and some seriously big crocks. Linda got to hold a Koala, which she has wanted to do since I met her. We both held a small crock and I held a pretty big snake which was a little scary. We saw a bird show with all sorts of birds, which was amazing. It was a good day, not to stressful but really nice.

Hell yes, today we got to go to the Great Barrier Reef. It was truly incredible, we got to see Nemo, Wally, a giant turtle, held some reef life and there were even Minky whales hanging around the boat.

We went snorkeling for three hours, which was great. The water was 24 degrees so spent some of the time without a wettie. I spent a very nervous morning contemplating whether or not to do a dive to the ocean floor, to a depth of between 30-40 feet. In the end I bit the bullet and gave it a shot. Unfortunately Linda was not aloud to dive today because a combination of her cold and titinitus, meant that she could not equalize her ears and therefore her dive was cancelled, this absolutely sucked and we were both very disappointed.

As you descend you have to keep breathing constantly, which might seem obvious but is difficult to remember when you are swimming to the bottom equalizing your ears and clearing your mask of water. Anyway apart from all that it was a cool experience and got a good photo on the bottom of the reef. We are both pretty tired tonight and everything is still moving from the boat, and diving made me feel like someone was sitting on my chest so should sleep well tonight. Another great day on this incredible trip. Tomorrow we head to the rain forests in a cable car so should be good. Take care will keep you all updated.

Cairns Part 1

Ok so we’re in Cairns and the place is brilliant. It is so relaxing here, the pace of life is just to chill out and enjoy the surroundings. We arrived into Cairns after many flights and transfers through three countries in one day. But so glad to be here. We worked out how many miles we’ve flown and how many hours we’ve traveled so here’s what we’ve done so far. Now this isn’t including all the hours of sightseeing, shopping and TONS of walking. But we thought you would find it interesting ~

Total miles flown so far 13,601
Total hours in airports 21½ hrs
Total hours in transport to & from airports 7¾ hrs
Total number of countries so far 4 (Hong Kong, Bali, Malaysia, Australia)

So now you know what we’ve covered so far. Our plan here for Cairns is to go to the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow for 5hrs of snorkeling and we’re even going diving!!! We are going take the opportunity and take the plunge hehe. We’re both really nervous as we asked about what we might see and apart from fish and MASSIVE fish we should see giant sea turtles and reef sharks. Now that part freaks us out, oh and the fact that we’ll be diving. So please pray for safety and fun, I have this fear that I’ll (Linda) panic as we go under. Also Alex isn’t feeling the best and I think I’m coming down with a cold so would appreciate prayer that we would get better. It’s hard to enjoy everything fully especially if we’re going to go diving tomorrow we need to be in good health.

We’ve been so blessed with the weather everywhere we’ve gone so far, which makes a nice change considering we always have freaky weather when we travel and the weather at home is always way better. While we were in Hong Kong there were floods and mud slides in China while in Hong Kong we got rain but it wasn’t awful. While we were in Bali we had amazing weather everyday and when we went to Kuala Lumpur the weather was hot but fab. When we came back to Bali for the day we heard that for the last 3days (while we were away) they had terrible freak rain and it flooded Bali, but the day we came back it was fab again. When we arrived in Cairns yesterday we were told that last week and the month of June had been awful and that everything was dull and misty rain and we would have seen nothing on the Great Barrier Reef and everyone came back from tours sick due to high winds and a lot of bobbing around on the sea. This week is forecast to be perfect with clear skies and temperatures around 24oC and the sea winds only 10-15 knots, which apparently is perfect. So whoever is praying for a great trip for us THANK YOU and keep it up. God is really blessing and watching over us. Well gotta go and get ready for tomorrow morning. We get up quite early and it’s already nearly ten in the evening. We will be sure to blog how the diving and the Reef goes. Talk to you soon. Linda & Alex. Xo

Australia!!!

Well we have landed on Australian soil!!! So tired from lack of sleep but excited to be on our next part of the trip. Just waiting on a flight from Darwin to Cairns so found decent internet connection and thought we'd drop you a quick line to update you. Will load more pics up of rest of Bali. Oh speaking of which when we got into Bali today there was a big Hindu ceremony on the beach so have great video clips and photos and will upload them soon. But thing was it was really sad to see so many lost lives. It was heart breaking to see them offering up their gifts to so many Gods instead of the one true God who created all things. Mad experience though, God is certainly exposing us to sooooo many cultures, religions and experiences, it truly is a trip of a lifetime where he is teaching and showing us so much.

Kuala Lumpur Final Cut

We arose this morning to find somebody (Naomi) hadn't slept too well and was pretty grumpy form (poor thing) ; ) Lots of complaining going on about no sleep, the new skirt she bought and the manky breakfast we had to try to eat at 7.15am!!! etc perhaps had a lot to do with a pretty nervous young woman who was about to go on a big adventure to Thailand. You could really see the reality for going setting in last night and this morning. Anyway back to our story, God has such a great sense of humour... in the midst of her complaining these gentle tones of elevator music came flooding across the room and as we listened closely we realised it was the tune to 'Give thanks with a grateful heart', have to say it made our morning as we looked across and sung to Naomi. She was not impressed but eventualy gave in to laugh as well. What a blessing it has been to hang out with this brave young woman. She truly is an encouragement, a warrior and an inspiration to us. She is such a doer and not just a talker. We love her to bits and have loved being in KL with tons of laughs with her. On our way to board our flight back to Bali now. Talk soon. xo

Kuala Lumpur Part 2

Well hey, still in Kuala Lumpur. Yesterday we got up at SEVEN (so painful) and dragged our sorry asses to the Petronas Towers for a look at the city from the sky bridge on the 41st floor. The whole thing moved constantly and was pretty freaky. It was well worth it although the knackers only gave us around 5 mins for the viewing. We got good photos and video and then went to a shopping centre called Bukit Bintang which has 1000 shops. Kuala Lumpar is expensive!!!! I am devising a method of how to seperate the shopalcholics which might involve Naomi and some train tracks as we walked for 15 (No exageration) hours around the city and old man Gason is pretty pooped today i can tell you. Naomi is actually a closet racist which was quite surprising to learn as she keeps jumping every time she sees the Muslim women in all the gear with the Sulas only showing. She even managed to get a pair of her earrings caught on one of their cloaks, pretty amusing. Anywho we are now having a salad in Starbucks (were so freekkin American, but it's good.) Till we talk again be blessed. Psalm 62:1.

Kuala Lumpur Part 1

Greetings fellow people...hehe, hello from the Petrona towers and mental towers they are. They are so flippin tall. We are sitting under it in Starbucks trying to get in from the heat. We're having great fun. We went to look around a few places and old buildings which included a mosque and we all had to wear mad gear. We had to wear head scarves and robe kinda thing to cover us all up, we have some funny pics, esp of Naomi who looked like a old woman farmer from Ireland. They're brill. Will upload asap. Trying to upload pics at the moment from Hong Kong so we're well behind. Sorry for delay but it really is hard to download here as it takes sooooo long. Anyhow temperatures are about 35oC today and the humidity is heavy. But beautiful blue skies with some clouds. Our accommodation is VERY basic and the air con and electricity all shut down today so we're glad we're out and hoping for it to come back on when we head back later. We're going to China town tonight to the market and probably to a huge shopping area. Also hoping to go to Shrek 3 while we're here. Anyhow will update again soon. Now we have found wifi here. Hope your all well. Bye for now. Linda & Alex Xo

We have Naomi!!!!

Ok we have Naomi. We are eating in McD's at the moment in the airport just catching up and having a laugh. It's GREAT to see her and see some of our family from City Gates. She's tired from a long flight and long wait for us but now we're all together and we'll get the bus into the City centre in about half an hr. It's so good to chill out and just chat. Alex is chatting away about his surfing adventures in Bali, sure to put Naomi asleep for sure ; ) Will blog again soon. Xo

Entry from Alex

Bali rocks: Golden sand, perfect sunset, big surf (oh yes) but everywhere has at least one downside. Bali’s people are so annoying everyone wants something. We have been to Thailand, Kenya etc but we have never been so heckled by people before. If you get talking to any random person they all want something or are trying to scam you with some promotion. Having said that we are in the Hard rock hotel, probably one of the finest hotel’s we have ever stayed in. It’s ½ minute from the beach and with the biggest pool we have ever seen, it rocks.

Half the pool has a sand floor and movies are shown on a big screen every night. We watched the sunset go down last night it was incredible. It gets dark at around half six here and then the town comes alive. By the way Bali has worse traffic than Dublin. The island is 88km by 136km roughly but has 8 million people on it so traffic is scary. We walk everywhere so it is cool. The world is so small I met two different lads from Dublin, one yesterday and the day before one of them was from Sandyford.

We only have 3 days left here which sucks, we wished we could have stayed longer maybe a month or two, but your one Naomi Sloane is dragging us away to meet her in Kuala Lumpur. Pretty selfish of her eh ; ) Anyway I highly recommend you come here for at least two weeks you won’t regret it. Food is good and surroundings are perfect. Will post photos (apologies for not yet) as bandwidth sucks here. Hopefully in Kuala Lumpur.

Bali

Hey everyone we are in Bali. It rocks, it really is sun, sand, sea and surf. The weather although a little cloudy it fantastic. The temperature is perfect and there is a fab breeze to cool us down. The food is a little scary and the people can be a little in your face trying to sell you stuff but we LOVE it here and would defiantly come back. Alex was out surfing today and met someone from Sandyford, my how the world has shrunk in size. While Alex was chatting with the guy out at sea I was on the beach chatting to a lovely lady called Yoman Ani and had a real interesting chat about Hinduism and her life, it was fascinating to hear about what her life is like ad got to share about what God is doing in ours. She was quite taken back and not sure what to make of my beliefs. She wants to me to call tomorrow to buy something from her. As we were leaving the beach she was shouting my name and saying goodbye, it was quite cute really. Pray that she finds God in her life, she was a lovely lady. She is married and has two sons 15 & 10yrs old and she has been working on the beach selling stuff for the last 25yrs!!! Hope to have more chats on the beach with her. The weather was lovely and cloudy so I didn’t burn to a crisp. Also on the beach as Alex came out from surfing a ton of girls came up to us and asked for our photo. It was hilarious we said yes but then we saw about 10 girls with all their cameras snapping away at us, it was like the Bali paparazzi!! We couldn’t stop laughing. We found out they were all here for 5days from Java another island here and wanted to get their picture taken with a foreign person. We’re having lovely times just relaxing by the poolside and beach and eating in some lovely restaurants when we can find them ; ) Bali is just what we needed for this time. God is good. We’re on our way to a cool restaurant we even had to make a reservation so we could get in there. So will update you again soon. Hope everyone is well. Talk to you soon. Alex &Linda Xo

Greetings from Hong Kong

Hey everyone,

Sorry this is overdue, hard to find anything in this city. So far so good. The weather has been wet, wet, wet but 90% humidity so plenty of heat. We have walked so much that we're in bits and have gotten lost so many times in Hong Kong Island with the crowds and mad streets it's not even funny. Our accommodation is brill, would highly recommend if you ever come to Hong Kong to stay in the Boothlodge Hotel in Kowloon, great location and great price!! We have seen most things to see here, done loads of shopping already, which would include my new (Linda) Macbook and I Pod Ahhhhh can't believe I got them. So happy because at least now we can try to find wireless and update and email more frequently. It'll be brill. We'll upload pics as soon as we get to Bali as it's crazy here. We're in our last day in Hong Kong (Fri 15th June) we fly to Bali tomorrow for our next adventure.

Hmm funny stories so far consists of Alex swelling up like a baloon on his legs after the flight, it was hilarious and what sucks is that I lost a real funny pic of him. His legs were like tree trunks : ) those of you that know Alex well know that he has what we call spindles for legs and they were the opposite after a 12hr flight from London to Hong Kong. Other story was of yours truly walking into the guys loos in McyD's here in Hong Kong, looking at a very shocked man who politely told me that I "may" have been in the the wrong restroom. I nearly died. We went to the area where I stayed 7yrs ago on my first missions trip ever, which was to Hong Kong and China so it was really strange being back but so cool to see it 7yrs on and see what many more adventures he brought me on, and being so blessed to be back here again with my husband seeking our future. It's all part of the journey, funny how we get brought back to the starting points of major steps of faith and my trip to Hong kong 7yrs ago was one of those massive steps and he brought me through then he'll certainly bring us through these nexts few steps for the future. The verse he gave me 7yrs ago when I came here was Is 41:10. How appropiate as I begin to panic about the future. Well gotta go but until Bali bye bye.

We love you guys and miss you. Alex and Linda. Xo

Itinerary for our trip

Thought it might be a good idea to give you an outline of where we'll be ~

June~
10th Leave Dublin for Hong Kong there for 5nts.
16th Leave Hong Kong for Bali there for 12nts.
27th Leave Bali for Kuala Lumpur there for 4nts.
31st Leave Kuala Lumpur for Bali and then Bali for Cairns there 6nts.

July ~
8th Leave Cairns for Sydney there for 7nts.
15th Leave Sydney for Wellington, NZ there for 1nt.
16th Leave Wellington for Christchurch there for 2nts. Then travel South Island for 5 more nts.
23rd Leave Queenstown for Wellington there for 1nt. Then 11nts on the North Island.

August ~
4th Leave Auckland for Honolulu there for 7nts. In Hawaii..ahhh can't wait.
11th Leave Honolulu for LAX there for 1nt.
12th Leave Lax for San Francisco there for 3nts.
15th Leave San Francisco for Las Vegas there for 2nts.
17th Leave Las Vegas for Lax in Ventura somewhere for 5nts.
23rd Leave Lax for Home. Arriving into Ireland on the 24th.

The Next Step

Well we've have one week left at City Gates and then we're off for the summer for 3mths on a sabbitcal round the world. We are really looking forward to travelling, having some quality time together and a time to really seek God on our future so we make the right decisions. There are lots of options at the moment so we really need to take time out to see where God is leading us. We are still really excited about training leaders throughout Ireland and helping Irish churches with their youth and their outreach to their communities as well as looking into doing missions trips with different groups. Will update you all as soon as we know what's happening. We will also be updating this blog as we're travelling round so you know where we are and what's happening. I'm sure we'll be guaranteed a couple of stories involving my husband.

The last Gap BBQ for us

The Girly leaders

The girls group

My girls!!

The whole group together


the lads

Our leaders

Gap Easter BBQ 6 Apr '07

Everyone hanging out in the back garden

Hanging out with the chef

Alex's cooking

The leadership team but missing Paul & Paddy.
It's a great group

New guys at our group

Lauren with some new girls

Jon jo, Jonny B, Emma, Eilidh & Sean

Andy & Martin on the Indo board

Megan & James

The lovely couple awwww!! ; )

Mother's Day at home in Cork 18 Mar '07

All the family

The kids, in laws, girlfriend & grand kids

All the girls

All the lads

My older brother Bobby, me, my dad, my mum,
my (baby) brother Andrew & my younger brother
Dave

Grace Church Weekend Away

We were invited to come along on the Grace Church Weekend away and work with the teens and youth leaders. We brought Andy & Naomi along with us for the experience. We had an amazing weekend and God blessed us so much with fellowship, encouragement and so much more. Just a few pics to show you a glimpse of the weekend. They are a non Denominational Irish Church based near Cork City Centre. There are around 500 people who make up Grace Fellowship and they are blessed with people from Ireland, England, Nigeria, South Africa & Brazil and I'm sure many other places. Grace have also committed to helping us financially in our new adventure ahead. They have asked us to come to the church once a month to help train, encourage and give their youth leaders a break. We are really excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity that God has given to us.

Naomi & Andy

Youth & leaders at Grace

Some of the teens

Doing a couple of games with them

Church service at Grace

Beyond48 / Teenstreet Ireland

Wow what a weekend!! There were 370 people for the 1st Teenstreet Ireland. God went above and beyond our prayers and really touched many lives at this weekend. The main speakers were Dan & Suzie Potter and were really used by God to reach the Irish teens. The teens loved them. Om Ireland & a team of youth leaders really put in a lot of work and the weekend was a success. People are already asking when is the next one??? And for it to be at least a week long, haha I think we'd be shattered. Anyhow Beyond48 happened on the 17th-19th of Feb '07. Myself & Alex were responsible for the Interaction Zone, which happened in the evening. We had Sumo suits, seating area for chilling out, book shop, prayer wall, play station area, table tennis, main stage where we had fear factor, games and a dj. It was hard work but so worth it when you saw all the teens having a laugh and mixing. We were also responsible for going on stage & giving a few announcements ahhh we were so nervous getting up there with so many people in front of us. Anyhow I put up a few pics so you can get a better picture of what it was like. Enjoy oh and sorry for the long delay in updating this site, I had fierce hassle trying to upload pics. So hope you enjoy.

Almost finished the room, just need people now.

Service team ~ Lais & Katie, fab girls

The room is full & the wkend begins

Teens from all over Ireland

Kilkenny Castle, this was the town we were in.

Teenstreet Set up

The main room being set up

Omni vision working hard

Leaders meeting, just some of the leaders on the wkend
from around the country!!!