Gason's

Been awhile but just wanted to share this

2011-07-20T12:16:00.001+01:00

Ok guys feel I've been learning so much over the last while and I've been meaning to post this but thought this was quite good for us all to take on board - So when you are feeling fearful meditate on these words over and over again until your focus goes back on God and not you trying to control it. (sobering lesson for me)

"When you feel that familiar panic begin to rise in your heart like a river coursing its bank and your soul begins to roll with another round of "What will I do if...?" what would happen if you were willing to hear the voice of God whisper these inaudible words?

Child you are asking the wrong question.Here's the one that would assuage your fears. What will God do if....?

Here's a smattering of answers to that might good question. I, the Maker of heaven and earth, will:

perfect everything that concerns you (Psalm 138:8)
work all thing together for your good (Romans 8:28)
contend with those who contend with you (Isaiah 49:25)
fight this battle for you (2 Chronicles 20:15)
equip you with his divine power (2 Corinthians 10:4)
delight to show you mercy (Micah 7:18)
meet all you needs according to My glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19)
give you grace that is perfectly sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9)
be your power in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)
do immeasurably more than all you could ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within you (Ephesians 3:20)

How cool is that peace is there for the taking the choice is ours. Will we continue to worry and try to control things or will we trust what God says is true. It is def down to a choice : ) Let me know what you think.

Oh one other quote - An attitude of gratitude contributes to an enjoyment of Spiritual tranquility, whereas grumbling makes for inner agitation.

I guess that's why it says to be thankful (Col 3:15, Phil 4:6, Col 1:12, 3:16, 4:2, 1 Thes 5:18)

In case you're wondering the book I'm reading and finally almost finished is called So long Insecurity by Beth Moore worth a read for every woman : )

Linda Xo

God is still in the business of preforming miracles!!!

2011-04-24T23:37:00.002+01:00

Well much to update, firstly thanks you so very much for storming heaven for Liana over the past week, God has heard the prayers of His people and responded in a miraculous way.

The story goes like this, I was on my way to work, Liana had been really off form after the weekend and I thought it a good idea to call the hosp and ask what to do, the lady who answered was pretty forceful, telling me that I was to bring her straight away and not to argue with her, I was worried about Liana getting more injections etc, she said we would have to let the doctors do thier job.

When I arrived at the Hosp they had no recollection of the phone call, the ladies on the desk who had been there all morn had no idea who we were or why we were there, they thought we were a couple from carrintoohil. There was no appointment and so we would have to wait as it was very busy.

Eventually we say a doc and she said Liana had a common rash nothing to worry about, we got the bloods checked to see if they had come up as they were quite low at 37 before, when we came back from a 1 hour walk they were all very upset looking and the nurse blurted out 9 she is 9, her count had dropped so much she was now in real danger.

When they asked us how long it had been since she had last peed we realised it had beenaround 30 hours, then we got a bit panicked. God was so good, although she had to get 2 transfusions and be in hosp for 2 nights, He literally took care of everything.

In the middle of the night he reassured linda from psalm 121 by saying to her I am the God who neither slumbers nor sleeps I have her go back to sleep, this happende a few times during the first night, we had a semi private room to ourselves both nights, very unusual apparently,a real answer to prayer, when I wobbled at one point God told me to be still, and when I got back to the room a good friend had followed the Lord's lead and had text me that God had put it on her heart to say be still.

When we were very hungry and hadn't eaten anyhting on the last day just as we wer thinking of what to do about food, a good friend called and was outside with the biggest bag of food all gluten free for us to eat, Jesus really was 1 step ahead all the time, we have grown so much closer to Him during this and He provided a true miracle by restoring our little girl from 9(Hiv patient level) to 365, a real miracle the doctors were truly shocked, He is amazing all praise and honor go to Him , God is truly stylish, I hope this has encouraged you.

My Birthday Girl

2011-03-10T23:04:00.003Z

Can you believe Liana is nearly one!!! Our lives are disappearing befor our very eyes(I sound so old). The time has seriously flown bye, but we love her more and more each day, right now standing is the coolset thing going, Liana is standing on her own and learning some new words.

Her favourite word was triumphantly proclaimed recently on a trip to her great grandmothers house here in cork. Linda had gone to get something when Liana was seen to climb down and root through Linda's handbag, she found the other half of a falrey's rusk which she then thrust into the air with some defiance and shouted Bickie!!! Other words obviously are mum/dad/pretty/bye bye and a few more.

Linda and I are doing well. work is still ok, i am really learning alot about patience and self control as it is a tough environment at the moment, the Lord keeps asking us if he is enough for us, with ou all the ministry stuff and that has been very challenging as we have really soul searched recently.

We have our good and bad days but I can honestly say that we are learning to trust Him for His provision and for everything really. We are learning that if you seek first the Kingdom of God then all these things(which we strive after) will be given to us aswell, that's a cool promise, which we are beginning to see come true.

Monday night is going great, we are still regurlarly engaging with the homeless community in the city and have really struck a cord with a girl who uses the streets to pay her way, she has been really struggling recently and is sleeping on the streets, God is definately at work in her life so if you could pray for her that would be great.

We now have a team with us on mondays, a team of five which is hugely encouraging and has sprung forth from our sunday night meeting where we meet with like minded folks who want to put Christ first in everything and who want to live out their relatinship with jesus in a real and practical way. We are discipling eachother in the word and then putting it into practice midweek in our work places and on the streets.

Out of this group we have become involved with a college group which has been started in response to this to help young Christians in University to cope with the challenging questions/lifestyles they encounter in these crucial years. On a wednesday eve we meet with around 15 students on different stages of their journey with Christ to discuss key topics, like sexuality/evolution-creation/what happens to babies when they die and much more.

Professor Frank Peter's leads the group and I have really learned tonnes during this time, He has a huge heart for young people in His university and an incredible ability to use scripture to answer these tough questions.

It is no accident that these topics are coming up in work with people and I am able to explain from the bible where we as Christ followers stand in these areas, please pray for T in work who has asked for a bible, God is clearly at work in His life.

Hope this finds you all well, keep strong in the Lord and humble in heart. Alex.

So overdue

2011-03-10T13:54:00.001Z

Oh my goodness it has been wayyyyyy too long since I have been on this and don't have enough time to update now. But I will get back as soon as I can and update on all that's been happening. Hope people haven't given up on us :) We're still plodding along. Can you believe Liana is 1yr next wk (16Mar) Our little baby is growing into an incredible little girl before our eyes.

Talk soon.

Linda xo

Growing Pains

2010-12-19T10:05:00.002Z

Hey all, Hope this finds you well, I am writing to you from a beautifully snowy Cork City. We are doing good as a family, i have enjoyed spending some great time with my girls this weekend as i could not DJ in Dublin due to the bad weather, every snow cloud has a silver lining and all that.

We are growing slowly but surely and really relearning the basics of what it means to be a follower of Christ, we are convinced that God is not to pushed by what we do for Him but much rahter that we are spending time with Him and getting to know and trust Him more and more.

This is no joke as we have tried this i have realised what a control freak I am and that I like being in control of my life and doing my things my way, but God has been lovingly wrestling this from me.

Someone recently described a good relationship with Jesus as a child and father in the garden cutting the lawn, the child is "helping" by pushing His plastic lawnmower around "cutting all the grass", while Dad(jesus) is on a ride on lawnmower beside us allowing us to spend time with Him and feeling like we are very important. I love this analogy this sums up my relationship with god to a tee.

The moral here is that Jesus dosen't need us to accomplish His purposes but wants us desperately to be involved in His Kingdom work and loves when we humbly come to spend time and help.

We have also been really challenged by a story about wild geese flying over head and seeing tame geese in a pen on a farm. One of the wild geese takes it upon Himself to go and tell the tame geese that they don't have to live this way that they can soar and be free just like the wild geese. This however takes longer that expected and the tame geese although they occasionally flap their wings to see what it could be like have actually become very comfortable on the ground in their cosy environment, slowly but surely the wild goose gets comfortable too and soon he is just another tame goose looking longing into the sky but never really flying free again.

Forgive me for this little story but this really sums up our current experience in Cork, we have become very aware of how it is all to easy to become comfortable in your environment and Church etc and forget how to soar, how to be truly free, well we have decided that we are not going to be geese like this (John 10:10) watch this space....

Work is going well with good conversations about deep things starting to happen, relationship are building, enjoyed a night out recently and had great conversations about Jesus with 3 people, also got voted employee of the year which was a surprise not to sure what God is up to with that perhaps again watch this space...(linda is calling me a geek)

Linda had a great time in India, was able to see the amazing project going on out there, schooling 250 kids and met many wonderful people on the trip/team this has led to some cool possibilities for the future and perhaps something with Kenya in the pipeline, please pray for this...

Our discipleship group and the homeless ministry are a real joy at present, we are very excited as we see God moving on a weekly basis in these areas.

If you could pray for a man or woman of peace like in Luke Ch10 in my work and in the homeless ministry, so we can so the seed and let God water it and bring fruit this would be immence.

As always if you would like to chat, need an ear or a shoulder or would just like to know more, call us at any time(not literally)

Love to all from the snowy Cork, have a blessed and peaceful Christmas, Psalm 62V1.

Yield!!

2010-08-26T23:24:00.002+01:00

Hi There,

It has been a while since i have written my thoughts on here.

God has been working hard in our lives personally over the past few months and now we are beginning to see the results of that hard work in how we try to serve Him and who we are as people.

God has been teaching us patience and self control, Linda with liana and me in my work they call it a (controlled) environment, they time you when you go to the bathroom, not my cup of tea, who knew i was a free thinking hippie.

Jesus has repetadely told me to yield to Him and His ways, i am horrible at this and have done a terrible job of allowing Him to lead me, but you know He has embarrised me with his love so often when i really didnt deserve it that over time it wears one down and you begin to really like Him, mabye even love Him.

One of the young people i meet with regurlarly challenged me recently when he said he was struggling with the verses "If you love me then obey me", this messed me up and the more i tried to do it the less I succeded, but rather than punish me or distance Himself from me, God just kept coming out to meet me like the father in the Prodigal son and before i could mention some stupid apology, He just throws a beautiful robe around me and tells the servant to prepare the fattened calf, hushing my pathetic attempts to justify myself. I am blown away by His grace and mercy. This is so countercultural and is changing me in ways i could never imagine.

On the Street (the mustard seed ministry) that i am involved in on a monday night we have been practicing not bringing our strenghts to the table. Dave and I decided not to bring our wisdom, abilities, resources, etc and just to rely completely on Jesus as we go about trying to minister to the homeless community her in this city.

My experiences with God lately have just made me realise all the more that I am His favourite son!!!

An example of this happened the other night as we followed 2 drug dealers who were clearly dealing in broad daylight on one of the main streets in the city. Dave and I followed them, to make them uncomfortable at what they were doing, but as we went along we saw someone in need and stopped to help. As we were talking one of the dealers came right up behing me and touched the back of my neck with his hat, to let me know they were watching too, i was ticked off and we started to pursue them.

Not knowing what to do we practiced what we had promised and called out to Jesus for help, specifically for police who are very rare in cork on a monday night. God heard us and just as the dealers were slipping away at that literal moment as we called out, around the corner sped, you guessed it THE ARMED RESPONSE UNIT!!! i was so excited, they arrested the dealers upon our tip off and we went on with these silly grins on our faces, God is living and active and ready to respond to His childrens whims. Praise God.

Linda and I are excited to start a group for people who have a heart for outreach and mission in the city, we would really appreciate prayer for this, we have already had a huge response and people are hungry for more. The group will be unique as it will have a 2 way dinamic with people encouraging one another to get out there in the community and reach the lost tribes of the city, very exciting stuff, this begins in sept God willing.

Speaking of answered prayer Linda and i were blown away by the response to raise the funds to send 150 kids to school in India, Linda has been blessed as she is getting to meet these kids first hand in Nov and witness the plan to start this school, she will be going as part of a Zest4kids team, a mix of Christ followers and not yet followers, heading away to see what the money will be going towards, very exciting stuff, we would appreciate prayer for that week for safety and wisdom (for me and Liana, while mum is away, hehe)

linda is loving being a mum and doing an outstanding job, it solids right now so that is proving to be a bit of fun, Liana ate a few spoons of carrot puree today, then realised what it was, not impressed!!! I am so in love with my little girl she rocks, love hanging out with her when she holds my face and smiles at me, love it.

Anyway will update soon again, hope this finds you well, and encourages you somehow to keep doing good and not to give up, because at just the right time God will reap a harvest where you are.

Alex.

Diaries of a new mum :)

2010-06-26T14:01:00.023+01:00

Well I have been a mum for 14wks and 4days so far, that would be 102days or 2,448hrs!!! Crazy when you think of it that way but then again that is nothing when compared to a lifetime. So our daughter is now 3 and half months old and where the time has gone I don't know. It has been the craziest, hardest but most rewarding part of my life so far. I had no idea how my life was going to be challenged and stretched so much with such a little person :) She has brought me more joy and tears than I have ever experienced in such a short time. Would I change her for anything absolutely not hehe.

Just wanted to share some thoughts and memories with you over the last while.

Cute memories from start till now -

*Definitely when she was born and her little face was all scrunched up.
*When she was asleep in my bed in hospital and her face was facing up at mine with a big smile.
*When her dad cried as he looked at her.
*When we brought her home from hospital and she was so tiny.
*When she made everyone around her stare at her for ages just cause she was so cute and small.
*When she would just sleep and looked so at peace.
*When she used to fall asleep in my arms when she was so upset at the beginning
*The day she first smiled and looked straight into my eyes.
*The day she looked at her dad in awe and made him cry.
*The day she started cooing and each day she tries to have a chat with me.
*The first night she slept in her cot, she looked so small in it.
*How she always looks straight at the camera when you want to take a pic.
*The other day when she laughed for the first time, it was adorable.
*When I go into feed her in the morning and I am greeted with a huge smile and kicking.
*When I read a book to her and she just stares at it especially one with lots of colours.

Funny memories -

*When she burped a huge burp - adult size and looked in shock as if to see who and what did that??
*When Alex was changing her nappy and she decided to poo all over him.
*When I picked her up one day and she decided to poo all over me :)
*When my mum was holding her and she decided to have an explosion in her nappy and it ran out the sides hehe that was funny
Hmm I'm realising these are all bowel related.
*When Alex was preaching in Lee Valley for the first time since she was born and she grunted and filled her nappy 4times and lets say it was far from quiet!!!
*When my dad (her grandad) was holding her and talked to her in baby language and she was laughing and talking back.
*While Alex was out working and I was at Amy's hen night Liana had an explosion and I forgot to leave spare clothes with my parents so we got sent a photo of her in Irish rugby outfit that came of a lions bear. Yes she was able to fit into teddy bears clothes.

Tough memories

*When in labour hehe
*When her heart dropped majorly and she was in distress during labour
*The first time she really, really cried
*When she wouldn't stop crying the 2nd night we brought her home.
*When she banged her head (twice)
*When I can't help her when she is distressed
*Oh my goodness the worst thing ever when she got her first injections!!! That was horrible. I will not be going again.
*When Alex had and has to work 11-8pm shifts they are long days.
*Weaning her off her dummy after we gave it to her!!

Overall though this has been some adventure and we wouldn't change it for anything. What an incredible blessing she has been so far. Such a gorgeous child. Even when we took the dummy off her and went cold turkey she was unreal and adapted so well. She's been sleeping through the night and even when she has her off days she still manages to smile and make me melt. Such a small person but so stinken cute. And as we're on the subject of stinky man can that child pass gas (this is to be polite not to offend people). She is unreal, so cute but it is embarrassing instead of burping this child mainly farts. Those of you that have heard her know what I'm on about and those of you that haven't don't worry you will ;)

It has been so cool to see Alex with her, he is something else. He always was amazing before she came along but to see him as a dad is incredible. You can see she already has him wrapped around her finger :) They have great fun together I couldn't ask for a better family. We truly are blessed. I am just so glad that as time goes by we get to see more and more of her personality, it is unreal to see her discover the world and for us to see it through her eyes, makes you appreciate everything a little more. Like the fact that she has discovered she has feet and hands and that the hands can now grab everything and make it to her mouth, she is hilarious.

You know I have days when I think that I can't possible get through them and then days when I just can't get enough of her and think we got this under control. Both of us (Alex as well as myself) have really felt that God is teaching us about patience, we keep getting that message and I can tell you I am certainly getting a lesson on it and so is Alex in his job. I also feel that I am learning so much about unconditional love and who was to know that this little person would be the one used to teach me :) I am so grateful that God continues to shape us and teach us so much. We both know this is for whatever lies ahead, the question is what exactly is around the corner. For right now I'm just going to try and take each day as it comes. To be continued.........

From a daughter, a wife and now a mum and from one who is learning everyday.

Linda xo

Life at the moment

2010-06-09T13:39:00.002+01:00

Wow I hadn't realised it was so long since we last blogged. Life has been fairly full at the moment with our little girl. But we feel slowly and surely that we are getting our head above water :) Liana gets more adorable every day and we were both saying last night how amazing it is to love something so quickly. She really is a blessing and brings a mile to our faces every day. She is growing up so quickly already we can't believe it. she is starting to fit into clothes now and was 3mths yesterday.

Alex continues to do really well at work and is top sales man this week. I'm so proud of him, even though this isn't his dream job it is so cool to see how seriously he is taking this whole providing thing. He really is something else as I know he finds it hard to go out and leave us everyday. But he is doing really well. Tonight he is out starting this discipleship group and they will spend the next few months looking at Luke and the parables with them. He is also looking at starting something new, we'll be sure to update as soon as things start moving. It's been great seeing him getting all excited about visions and the future an adventure certainly lies ahead.

As I type this I am looking at the video monitor we have and I can see that Liana is fast asleep. So nice to see her peacefully sleeping without a care in the world :) She is now in her own room in the nursery in her cot. It was so weird when we moved her in there almost two weeks ago now, but the amazing thing is that we are all sleeping even better than before. Liana continues to sleep through the night which means we are guaranteed on average 8hrs sleep a night. She is such a legend. She has also given up the dummy after going cold turkey but has now found her thumb :) What can you do??

I'll leave it there for now so I can make a cup of tea, very rare I have peace and quiet and some time to myself in the house :) Going to take advantage of it. Alex should be home soon so will be nice to catch up. Hope you're all well.

Linda xo

2010-04-25T21:51:00.003+01:00

Hey all, we're loving parenthood, our little one is so sweet, she is growing up so fast. Please pray for Linda as I am at work all day often till eight in the evening. I am enjoying my job, but feel it is restricting us from what we want to do here in Cork. God has been so cool to us and has always provided a way even when there didn't seem to be one.

Spiritually we feel ready to work on a few projects that have been simmering for about two years and we are keen to get these things off the ground so I need somthing to break in terms of business/finance, so would appreciate any prayers for this. It is exciting the things that the Lord has been putting on our hearts and we can't wait to see what happens but definately need some realities to change for us to have sufficent time to put into it.

So anyway we are surviving, still a little sleep deprived but definitely coping much better this week. Hope this update finds you well, stay in touch, don't forget to leave us a comment.

Alex

Coming soon....

2010-04-24T22:06:00.001+01:00

Hey everyone, this is just to let you know we're still alive and well but just extremely busy with Liana and all this adjusting to parenthood :) Just to say that we will get an update on here asap just trying to get a few minutes to write one up but we will get there soon.

New Life

2010-03-22T00:24:00.002Z

Psalm 139:13+14 says, For you created my inmost being,you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Linda and I are rejoicing in the beautiful little life God has allowed us to have on loan for the next few years. On tuesday the 16 of march at 15.38 little Liana arrived into the world. Her mum had gone through 38 hours of Labour a feat I am still trying to get my head around. Without sounding cliche, big respect to all mothers, you gals are truly awesome, I didn't think I could love and respect Linda more than I do but I am amazed by her yet again.

God has really had His hand on us recently with the New Job which is going great and now with our precious little girl we are so content right now.

A huge thank you to everyone who showed us such support and encouragment over the last few weeks we really needed and felt you all in our corner so a huge THANK YOU!!!

We will keep you up to date with all the goings on over the next little while, but know that we are excited and a bit tired so heres to a bright future for our little girl.

All Change

2010-02-11T22:15:00.002Z

So as we head into spring, we are yet again amazed by Jehovah our provider, who knew that things were getting tight for Linda and I. My hours in the Haven were getting fewer and fewer and so were Linda's.

So with wisdom from above I felt it right to put my cv into a recruitment agency after a tip off on wed and I had a job by the monday. So now i am selling health insurance for Aviva. The nine to five was a little hard for the first two weeks but now I am really enjoying it.

Linda and the baby are doing great and it is cool to see Linda making home and preparing for the arrival. We have done as much as we can think of and now can only wait and pray for a safe arrival.

God has yet again been very faithful to Linda and I and He knew our needs and has really helped us right when we needed it.

Just keep us in prayer as Linda has diet controlled Diabities due to the pregnancy and won't be allowed to go over her due date, just asking for a safe delivery now and we are both very excited about having our first little one.

So for now we are trying to get as much sleep as possible, well me anyway(Linda is awake on the hour every hour), nappies at the ready, here we come. Alex

Way overdue ....

2010-01-16T22:44:00.002Z

Got to love the time of year of Christmas where everything gets put on the back burner and relaxation and easting takes place :) So we realize that this is way overdue. An update!! so what's been happening over the last month, a lot actually. Hmm where to begin. Well Christmas went really well despite that major ice that we got in Cork turning our estate into an ice skating rink for ages. But we had fun all the same, was so good just to hang out at my (Linda's) parents house for a good few days, sitting by the fire and eating and just relaxing, perfect. Then on New Years Eve thanks to my parents we got to go away for 2nts and stay in a hotel. It was so nice to be away from everything and just hang out the two of us and bump, realizing this will be the last new year's eve on our own. Strange to think about the many changes ahead. Another blessing on New Years Eve was being able to get a scan from our friend Peta, what a legend that girl is. She has been so super supportive since I got pregnant and has listened to my many questions and rambling and then to top it off gave us our best scan to date. We got to see our little one's face in great detail and saw him/her drink fluid, pull faces, move legs and arms. It really was incredible and what a way to go into the new year armed with more pics of our baby :)

So 2010 so far has been eventful enough. We both started back into the new year with reduced hours in work and many questions about our future financially and direction wise. But as always God calmed us down and kept reminding us to be patient and and to trust him. Funny how many times that has been easier said than done but so glad that he is so patient with us always getting a wobbly at the next hurdle. So long story short as both our jobs are down in hours we were wondering what to do. So we talked to people about if they knew of any jobs going anywhere, only to discover that it's next to impossible to find anything given the current climate. Fair enough we knew that but still wanted to ask especially as we knew God had some plan. So this week Alex was told there may be jobs in Cork but there was a recruitment agency that he would have to drop his CV into as they were organizing if people got the interviews or not. So within 5mins of his CV going in he gets a phone call, this is Tuesday. WEdnesday morning he has a 50min phone interview and Thursday afternoon he has an 1hr 1/2 interview and then Friday he has a job!!! Isn't that mad, I knew he would do well but we were also praying that if he wasn't to get the job then he wouldn't :) So he starts Monday morning for 3wks training. this is just the short version of the story as there were many events that had to work out in between him applying and getting the job. Even with giving notice to the Haven, Padraig was ok with it and even said that things were so quiet anyway that there were going to have to review having paid staff. So thank God for his hand over us as with little bambino on the way we were under pressure to cover our bills as is. But now the pressure is off. While it is def not Alex's dream job for the rest of his life we're just going to take it a day at a time and keep our eyes and ears open to the next step. We are excited about a possible opening in the near future ministry wise but we're going to be patient just wait to see what happens.

In regards to bambino he/she gets bigger everyday and the moves, kicks and punches gets stronger everyday. So mad to feel so much movement everyday. We're constantly reminded of how blessed when we feel those movements. I had a glucose tolerance test a week ago, it was necessary as my dad has diabetes and my grandfather had it too. They wanted to keep an eye on it as because of the family history it meant were chances of getting gestational diabetes was high. So this was the 2nd test I had and it came back positive. I have to say I got a bit of a fright but thank goodness at the moment they have caught it early and the baby is fine and hasn't been affected. So I've been on a strict diet over the last week of certain foods and portions I can eat to see if it can be controlled by a diet alone or if I will need insulin. I have to go back on Monday to see what they see and I have been recording my blood levels 7 times a day so that's been fun, sticking a little needle in that many times a day every day :) But I just want to be sure that the baby is ok and that all goes well. It's certainly not ideal but thank God it was caught early and that things may be ok. It certainly hasn't been the easiest pregnancy so far but it will all be worth it in the end. Not long to go now. Just 8wks left and they have told me that I will not be allowed to go over the due date as a result of having this. So please if you can pray that I go naturally and that the diet works, I really don't want to have to be induced :( but they will have to if I don't go before or on the day. So no pressure at all hehe. Ok well before I totally bore you to death I better end this as I think I have put more than enough on here for you to read.

Hope this finds you well.

Will write soon.

Linda Xo

A growing bambino

2009-12-11T00:13:00.002Z

So thought it was time an update was written about our little one growing. It has been so mad to think that 6mths have gone by already. It seems such a blur due to being so sick and always something happening but the last week has been so much more enjoyable.

It is amazing and weird to feel the movements getting stronger and more frequent. I'm not sure if you ever get used to feeling that kind of movement, it really is a miracle when you try to get your mind around what is happening. This little person is growing away inside of me and we're just counting down the time till we meet him/her face to face. It can be overwhelming but also very exciting. We bought a cot a few weeks ago and it was so cool to come back one day to see it assembled in the room that is being transformed into a nursery. I have Alex to thank for that, he did a great job. We both get a giggle and a smile to our face when we pass by and see this small cot in the room and realize this will be for our child. A different chapter indeed :)

Alex has been amazing, he has been working so hard and is off to Dublin again this weekend to Dj for money to cover the bills. As I type now he is in Waterford dj-ing at a Christmas party. I'm so proud of him and look forward to him being back and enjoying some time off at Christmas. He really is something else though.

Thank goodness as well work wise it has picked up again a bit so that has been nice to be back to more hours this week. So hopefully that will keep going. Well it's almost half twelve at night and my eyes are beginning to close, I should really get to bed. But just wanted to drop a quick line. Xo

Slow but Steady

2009-11-30T00:31:00.002Z

God has been doing some small but significant things over the past two months. In Ministry terms we are seeing some real growth in Lee Valley church where I(alex) speak and we attend. I have been preaching through Jesus teaching on the Kingdom of God. This has produced some great responses. The first of note is that the Church has responded to a challenge of how we could reach out to our community in Ballincollig and we have begun to prayer walk the area. Everyone was encouraged as God put the same things on all our hearts as we prayed. When we discussed it later it was unreal to see that He definately has a plan for the people of that area. People are sharing the Gospel and have a heart to disciple more and more.

We are really enjoying some close friends of ours continuing to grow in their new found walk with Jesus. We are discipling them once a week and it has been a real blessing to see them and even their language change. Phrases like, "we were lucky, now translate, we are blessed". this is so refreshing and exciting for Linda and I.

After much prayer and many attempts, God has finally moved the heart of a new volunteer for our monday night outreach to the guys on the streets of Cork. That ministry is called the Mustard seed and both Dave(His outreach) and I are very excited to disciple and enjoy the company of this new volunteer. His name is Ant and we would love you to pray for Him.

We have something possibly in the pipeline for the New Year which would be a real blessing to us and give us further support in what God would have us do here in Cork, but we are in the praying phase of this to see if this is something of Jesus and if it would be a fit for us also. We would love your prayers on this as well.

Finally just to say that Linda is an incredible mum already, she is waking up every half an hour at night, still feeling sick most days and is 6 months pregnant already(where does time go), but she never complains and has a great attitude, I am so proud of her, I could not do it I assure you. So both Mum and baby are really fit and well and we are so excited to begin this new chapter in the coming months.

All the best for now, will update soon, thanks for your prayers, support, love and thoughts, we are learning to trust Jesus with more and more of our stuff and thats never easy but never boring. Lots of love Alex and Linda

Massai ~ an answer to prayer

2009-10-29T10:47:00.004Z

Well once again God has blown us away with his answer to prayer. We were talking to Elizabeth (in Kenya) and she was telling us the update on the Massai and the drought in Kenya. It is devastating at the moment and there are cows lying dead along the side of the road as the Massai are trying to get them to some grass. So much so they are illegally going into the National Park in Nairobi to feed on what little grass they can find. They are willing to risk their lives with the wild animals in there if it means that they will get food for the cows and goats.

So Elizabeth was also telling us about how many of the women were not able to make it to the Bible studies due to being so weak and thin from starving. It is very harsh for them at the moment and for so many others in the country. So I really felt God was putting it on my heart to raise some money so we can feed the Massai. So I sent out some info and a plea to people and within 36hrs all the money had been raised. It was unbelievable, I couldn't believe how responsive people were, it was so encouraging. So enough money was raised to feed 56 families for a month. To make matters even better there was a small team staying with Elizabeth and Robbie and they also saw the need and went shopping for supplies for two weeks for the families. Yesterday Elizabeth went shopping for the women and will go again today to buy more so all the families will be feed. It was so encouraging to hear how excited they were that on the 29Oct they would be receiving enough food for their family for a month. That is unheard of for them, to be guaranteed food for a total of a month and half by the two donations. Praise God for his plans eh, he doesn't just answer prayer he does it in style. I've attached some photos which Elizabeth sent through today. So cool to see so many faces we recognize, it brings a tear to the eye. We so wish we were out there. There will be more to follow.

Linda xo

Top news!!

2009-09-17T18:50:00.002+01:00

Hey everyone,

You've probably heard already but if you haven't we thought we had better post it online. So we're pregnant!!! I'm 14wks at this stage and have to say that we're excited but also a little nervous. I've had constant nausea and sickness for almost 2mths now and I have to say that his definitely isn't one of the highlights. Could do with major prayer at this stage as I'm extremely housebound and feel like a hermit. This is hard as I love to get out and meet with people but I haven't seen that many for almost 2mths now, so that's already an adjustment. It is teaching me a lot about how our lives will change though :) Ok over to Alex for the rest of the update.

Things are really starting to gel as regards outreach and ministry opportunities. The youth group at Lee Valley is going from strength to strength and we have just mixed the group with one from douglas which has been a good move for all.

We are continuing to prayer walk the community around the Haven as we seek God's plan for how we might bless the people of Cork City. There are many needs here and many options, such as a food bank, or a serve the city option, but these are just ideas and we must wait on the Lord for His leading.

Sadly one of the young people we know from our homeless street ministry took an overdose by accident this week and He died, we were very upset at this as he was a great guy and had real potential, we will miss Him deeply.

Lots happening, great to see our dear friends growing in their faith as they continue discovering who Jesus is and what His Kingdom is all about.

My back seems to be getting a bit better, but it is hard to see Linda so sick and not being able to do anything about it. Other than that things are going great, we are both excited to see what will happen next and very excited about the arrival of our little bundle.

Excited

2009-08-07T16:51:00.002+01:00

Why? Cause God is faithful even though we are not. Recently we felt God telling us not to go looking for ministry, that He would bring people into our path instead. The result is the Lord is giving us very exciting ideas about new ministry opportunities for us here in Cork. Linda and I have for a long time been disatisified with the status quo. The culmination of this is a holy discontent with doing the same old thing, so here's to new things.

Also it has been a joy to see the Lord drawing great friends of ours to himself recently. Their hunger for something more has been an insparation to us and yet more confirmation of what God has been saying about Church. It is great to see new believers encountering God and seeing Him moving in their lives is refreshing for an old timer like me.

The youth group at Lee Valley is going from strength to strength with a paring with another group coming in the Autumn, things are looking promising here.

Finally we are blessed to see one of our own, stan following in our footsteps by getting a youthwork job in Raheny. May he go onto greater things than us. Please continue to pray for us for strength as this is a time of sowing and reaping, exciting but tiring. Praise to the one who justifies us. here is to being in His hands.

Back from Kenya

2009-06-27T22:59:00.004+01:00

So we have had an amazing time with the Living God in Kenya in seeing His creation. We saw Hippos, were chased by Rhinos and saw many Lions and even saw some at night hunt and eat cows and a dog.

We encountered Him in stillness and waiting and through His people, the Massai ladies who always educate us in the ways of Jesus. It was humbling to see grown women cry after they got a bar of soap and a small tub of vaseline, because God had heard their prayer for the little things.

We managed to get the well finished and signed off to the Massai widows, now they will be able to sell the water from it and grow crops such as potato and spinach so they can live on it and sell it.

I (Alex) got to teach through the book of Malachi, to a group of Pastors from different churches, which was a challenge and a huge blessing. I really grew through this trip, in patience, trust and faith in God and look forward to when we go back again. Alex

Yes so as Alex mentioned above we had an amazing time as always in Kenya :) We prayed about whether or not to take out a team and kept getting the answer that we were to just go without a team this time round. So we set off with Andrew (my brother) and his fiance Amy. The idea was to check up on how everything was going ie.the well, the women, the church and see what we could do in the future as future projects and see if we could set up stuff for teams to go out annually. We also wanted to network a bit more and meet more contacts and this would be more realistic to achieve without a team to have to watch over and organize. I have to say we really missed not having a team with us on this adventure but could totally see where God had his hand on everything and why we were to go on our own this time.

It was so nice to see the women again and see that they were all doing well. When we walked into Wilson airport and saw Charity it brought a smile to all our faces. And to hear all these Massai women calling our names, what a privilege to be able to walk into this place and feel like we were at home with them. We got to hang out with Charity, Nancy, Ann, Alice, Gladis and many more women. But how lovely to hang out with the ol faithfuls who have not forgotten us but have become our friends. We got to sit with many of them and hear their stories as we tried to take notes and account of their stories so we can share them with people in the future. As well as visiting with the Massai we got to hang out with people at church and also with Vera (we brought her the 1st yr we went to Kenya) and it was incredible to hear how she was doing as she is working at the Imani orhpanage for a few months. It really was a blessing to learn and listen to all these people who are doing incredible work out there in Kenya. We also got to meet quite a few people who are starting new churches and new ministries with Calvary Chapel churches in Kenya, so who knows where that will lead in the future.

We are already very excited and are dreaming about future plans and projects to bring teams on an annual basis so that they can part of it. So bring on the next trip :)

Right now we've been home for a week now and have been enjoying getting back into a routine with work and seeing friends and family. It's amazing how a trip to Kenya just makes you so grateful for the abundance of riches you have with our home, friends, family and lives here. We are so grateful for everyday that we have and the amount of stuff we have in that day in comparison to the Massai in Kenya. May God continue to meet their every needs. Linda Xo

Heartbreak

2009-05-25T20:05:00.003+01:00

Well it's a very sad time for our family church at Lee Valley. Last night we received a call from one of the elders to let us know that little Adam who is 18mth died last night. Tanya & Kevin his parents are obviously heart broken as are their families. We only say Adam yesterday morning running round church as he normally does and seemed in great form. So to say the least this has come as a HUGE shock to their families and to their bigger family the church. Those of you that are in small churches understand the concept that being part of a smaller intimate church means you hurt with everyone that little bit more. Please pray for everyone involved who's hurting and grieving at the moment. The removal is on Thursday and the funeral is Friday. Praying for strength and peace for them at this horrible time. We're just speechless, please pray for us also that we can minister to those that are hurting and just be there for anyone who needs this. May God go before us all. Xo

Miracles

2009-05-12T22:47:00.002+01:00

Hi all, as we begin our preperations for another trip to Kenya, just wanted to update you as to what has been happening in our lives. God is really challenging us to take every moment with Him that we think of it and to enjoy our Abba(Father) son/daughter relationship with Him. It has been refreshing to think of five minutes in God's presence as something He is delighted with rather than a dissapointment on our behalfs that it is not more time. Hope that makes sense.

The result is a real Joy and a want to spend more time in the Father's presence. Strongly recommend a book called "The Furious Longing Of God", by Brennan Manning.

It has been a long time since I have witnessed a miracle in a Church service, this is worrying as I say it, but Linda and I went away for a little break to Bantry to celebrate her Birthday and we went to a church service there last sunday.
At the end of worship a guy stood up to share something. He stood back from the mic and started breathing heavily a number of times.

I noticed a blet he had tied around chest high and I have to be honest I thought Weirdo. But then to my shame He began to speak and He said He had spoken witha severe stammer for 48 years, and the belt was to remind Him to breathe. As a result of this He spoke for around 3 minutes without stuttering once. I can tell you this, it's also a long time since I saw a whole room of grown men weeping as to what clearly was an incredible work of Jesus.

Things are going good for us, still discipling and preaching here, looking forward to Her birthday party on Sat as many are coming from all over, so for now, be blessed and we will update soon

Cork

2009-04-25T14:34:00.003+01:00

Hi all, a quick update, just to say that things are looking up a bit, here in Cork. We obviously had a great time away, but since we came we have been re-evaluating things as to what we are doing here. I have been encouraged on Monday nights as we seek tyo help the homeless on the streets her, one or two small breakthroughs have helped and we are really getting a feel and a heart for the people of Cork.

This morning we attended the second youth workers meeting, it was encouraging to see quite a few volunteers from around the county sharing what God is doing in their areas, to see that God is definately at work in different areas and with different people groups. We will miss the next one which is disapointing but being in Kenya should help to dull the pain.

I am speaking in Lee Valley tomorrow and then will focus on preparing talks for the bible school in Kenya.

Still thinking and praying through ideas as to how to reach the goth and emo teens who are coming regurlarly to the Haven in the City. there can be 30 of them at times and we are excited to see what God will do in their lives. It's also a daunting challenge but God is good and alot smarter than us so we will try to follow His lead.

Hope this finds you well, we had a lovely time with Alastair and Joseph from dublin last weekend, encluding wakeboarding which was alot of fun.

Let us know how you are doing. All the best.

Machu picchu and puno

2009-03-29T00:53:00.002Z

Sorry it's been awhile we've been busy being sick, touring and travelling. Just wanted to let u know that our health has been improved so that has an answer to prayer. It took awhile to get rid of that nasty bug but when travelled to machu picchu we could feel ourselves improving. It was so nice feeling better and being able to take in the amazing sites of all that is and surrounds machu picchu. We climbed up this crazy mountain which had us way above sea level. We had an icredible view of mp down below.

We then headed back to cusco for two nights and got to walk around and enjoy the city, unlike when we first arrived. So this morning we got up at 5.30am to get to airport for our next flt. So we flew to juliaca and then got a taxi from there to puno ,took 45mins so wasn't too far. The scenery is something else it is so different from the green of cusco and mp. It is kind of more brown colours, blue skies, really low clouds and a mixture of vast flat lands and mountains and then we saw lake titicaca, the highest navigatable lake in the world. At the moment we're 3,827 metres up. Tomorrow we're heading out to see uros islands and taquile island so looking forward to that.

We'll try to blog again soon. Xo

Hot

2009-03-23T02:04:00.003Z

Well were about to leave Lima and head for Cusco tonight, on our way to see Machu Picchu, it has been so hot here especially at night, Linda got sun stroke yesterday and we think a flu as well so prayer for wellness would be greatly appreciated.

Yesterday we went down town to the coast in Lima and saw a pre Incan temple, where they used to do human sacrifice etc. It was amazing to see the structures which still survive till today, even after all the earthquakes over the years.

It was cool to feel a tremor run through our building but gladly no damage done. The coast was lovely with a cool breeze and good waves which was nice to see the surfing there. Will update again soon, keep u posted, thanks for checking up on us, God bless you.

Lima!!!

2009-03-21T00:46:00.002Z

Ok so after 16hrs between waiting in Miami airport and flights we arrived in Lima at the nice old hour of 4.10am!!! What a legend my friend Marie came and met us at the airport. It was so cool to see her, haven't seen her since our wedding almost 5yrs ago.

Well firstly to say it was so sad to say goodbye to the Steiners we miss them unbelievably. Had a blessed and wonderful hanging out with them. They blessed and looked after us so well. Now we are on our next adventure and it has been that already. We came from the airport back to their house to drop off our bags and straight to a mining company where Marie and Zalo teach an English class so we helped out with that from 7.30-9.30am. Did you ever think that after a few hours sleep we could function that well hehe. Well miracles can happen. We then came back home after the class to change clothes and then were off to Gamaliel where these guys are involved in a great project. More on that to come. But we got to hang out with some pastors and meet some lovely people here. We got some taxis and local buses and headed out to this amazing place where we were surrounded by these huge mountains!!! Dust everywhere it is quite the desert place. On our way back at about 5.30pm we were sitting on the bus when these kids jumped on with a box and a shaker and started to busk as we traveling along. They were so noisy it was funny, as soon as they got money they jumped off onto another bus to do the same. Then these two guys got on with guitars and played Peruvian music. It was unreal, I don't think I'll forget that scene. So we got home and showered and then I ran to the airport with Marie to collect a present sent down from her dad and then we headed back in a taxi at night just the two of us!!!!!!! Scarey!! but what an experience. god is good and this is only the first day.

we'll blog as soon as we can . Love ye all. Do drop us a note. xo

In Indiana

2009-03-16T14:21:00.003Z

Hey everyone,

So after 16hrs of traveling and waiting in airports we arrived in Indiana on Saturday evening. It was so good to see Paul and Abigail and of course the kids. Oh and of course Alex got pulled into the back room in chicago, same problems we have every time we try and go to the States. The worst thing is it is all over a typo by someone in Immigration and he gets pulled all the time. But thank the Lord he answers prayer as we only had to wait 20mins and we were told we could go that we were all set. It was so nice to go get our bags and continue the journey without too much hassle :) So yesterday (Sunday) we got to go to their church and see where they go, that was cool. Then we drove down south and met up with Mark and Jen for lunch and went shopping in an outlet mall. It has been so good to know we are on holidays and we have been able to switch off straight away and start relaxing so we are very grateful for that.

It's hard to believe that the days are going by so quickly and on thursday we head to Peru. So excited about that as well but at the same time will be sad to say goodbye here. So grateful to God for this blessing of travel though. It is amazing. Seeing so much of cultures round the world really get the blood pumping. We'll try and blog again soon. Hope everyone is doing well.

Alex & Linda Xo

Spring is here

2009-02-07T16:22:00.002Z

Hey all, we are so encouraged to see the first fruits of spring, the trees are starting to sprout shoots, my grass is looking like it could do with a cut and we feel like we have shaken off our winter sleep.

This has been a hard season but rejoice with us as we feel a season of new growth is upon us. Just last sunday we had a discipleship meeting in our house for a few young people and God really moved and blessed eachone there. We worshipped, prayed aloud and encouraged eachother from the word.

Oh how I had missed those times and we were really encouraged by the Lord again. We have been through a long period of God telling us to wait on Him and His leading and it has been very hard, but we really felt Him directing us to run this group and it was really good, much better than anything we could have come up with, EVEN THE TEENS LIKED IT!!!

Linda and I are very excited about joining many other Christian young people to worship and enjoy God in Kilkenny in 10 days and we can't wait to see how he will bless and move at that time.

On a personal note, we are putting the final preperations together for our trip to Peru in march, and can't wait to see our good friends the Steiners in the US on the way. We also felt the Lord lead us back to Kenya after much prayer and waiting, so God willing Linda, myself, Andrew and Amy will go together there in June to visit Robbie and Elizabeth and our Massai friends, so should be a good time of networking and relationship building.

Anyway have to run, but hope this finds you all well, keep praying for us please, rejoicing in Jesus this spring love Alex and Linda

Hello

2009-01-21T16:28:00.003Z

Hey everyone, well it's been awhile since I've (Linda) blogged so I though I would share some thoughts with you today. I can't believe how time is ticking by so quickly and Jan is nearly at an end. Isn't it amazing how time can just fly by. Over the last month we have been taking time out really seeking God about lots of things in our life at the moment. God has been so faithful in giving us that peace that surpasses all understanding :) especially during those times when we got lost in frustration or confusion.

The last few months have really been challenging and growing as the direction we were so sure of has changed. God has continually spoken to us about resting and loving him just for him and not just because of what we do. We are learning so much lately of how important it is to be rather than to do, and I have to say for two active people that is not always easy. So it's been a major re-adjustment over the last while. But I think in a way we're starting to enjoy some new found freedom where we just get to hang out with friends and each other. That has been really nice.

Work wise Alex still works away at the Haven cafe and he loves it there. There are some great people inside there with great hearts so he has been encouraged about all of that. I am working away as busy as ever with work booking missionaries and many people round the world. I work Mon, Wed & Thurs evenings from 8-midnight and then Tues and Fri mornings from 9.30-1.30am. So the hours aren't ideal and can be tiring and takes me out from a bit during the week, but I am so grateful for the work and bringing money in.

In other things that are happening we were at the first Cork youth workers meeting last Saturday and were very encouraged to see 12 youth leaders turn up. Especially for the first one and in particular how that day a storm was happening outside hehe. So praise God for new beginnings and new relationships that are starting to build. Alex also goes out on a Monday evening with a great guy from Grace and they bring soup, sandwiches and clothes to the homeless people on the streets of Cork. It has been encouraging to hear the stories of contacts being made and conversations being had. I know Alex is really enjoying the experience, even when it is lashing raining and freezing all in the same evening. The funny thing is, is that the other guy that he goes out with is also from Dublin, so how cool it is to see the Dubs caring for those on our streets.

The other thing we are involved in is the teens weekend coming up in February this year. This is the 3rd year it is running and it has been so encouraging to see how may are now involved in the planning of it all. This year we are transitioning from having American speakers to it being all Irish. So it has been a big leap but a manageable one. We have some very gifted people on the team and it is such a highlight to see 7 different groups working together to see the teens in Ireland discipled and the youth leaders encouraged and supported. So this weekend is happening on the weekend of the 20-22nd of February so we value your prayers as there is still a lot to organize and get done.

So that's the latest at the moment but just wanted to keep things going on this blog. I know we haven't been great with it lately. Anyhow thanks for reading this and for keeping up with our lives. We'd love to hear how you're doing yourselves. So be sure to drop us a line.

Until later. Xo

6 years together

2009-01-06T23:42:00.004Z

Man waiting and resting is hard to do. We have felt the lord telling us to wait on Him and take a time of rest over this period but for two hyper go getters that is horrible. All the same it has been a great time to just hang out with people and to have people over to the house with no agenda except relationship building. It's amazing how quickly time passes as Linda and I are together 6 years today, which is a bit crazy, but cool at the same time. I think I love her more now than i did back then, which is cool to know.

We are praying about starting up a small group for young people who are serious about being discipled and committed to being regularly involved in something. We are finally getting a rest after a hectic holiday season, with work, weddings and all the family stuff behind us, so here we are waiting and resting for the spring/summer season that lies ahead, we hope this finds you in good form, and we wish Clive and Emma, my best friend and His new wife the very best as a married couple for the future.

Happy Christmas

2008-12-25T12:51:00.000Z

Hey there just wanted to say Happy Christmas to you all. We hope you have an incredible time of relaxation, family, reflection and peace : ) May God guide you all in the New Year and may He continue to grow us more and more in Him. That is our prayer for ourselves for now and the new year to come.

Life as we had known it since we moved to Cork had been thrown upside down just before we were to fly off to India last October. We went on an incredible journey with some great people and saw amazing stuff in Delhi and Ludhiana. It's still hard to believe we were in India a couple of months ago but we are still so grateful for the opportunity and all that we learned on that trip. Since we came back we have really felt to put a lot of stuff on hold, we learned so much about prayer from our time in India that we were really convicted about not doing anything else until we spoke and confirmed everything with God, we felt he was telling us to hit the brakes for awhile and perhaps pull back from a few things. It has been so humbling, painful and great all at the same time. We have had the strangest few months since we got back and at times it has been really hurtful and then other times it has been so nice just to enjoy this time of rest. We do ask for your prayers as there is lots going on right now and a few decisions need to be made on the direction of a certain thing that we are involved in. We just really need to get God's leading on something so we do it in His way not or own. Sorry I can't give any more details but it's all quite confusing at the moment.

In the meantime we are officially finished with Grace and they have put into place two leaders that we have been training since last September so Praise God for that, he has totally brought forward His fruit. It will be announced to the church on the 4th of Jan that these two leaders, 1 female and 1 male will be taking over the two different groups and they will be helped by the other leaders that we also worked alongside of. It has been encouraging to see more teens come along for discipleship on Sunday mornings and we just pray that this continues and that the leaders will pull together as a team and really lead this young people into a closer and a full relationship in God, by of course first doing that themselves ; ) So as of last Sunday we are no longer officially involved in Grace so this has opened some space so to speak for us to look into where we go now. Alex is still working in the Haven part time during the week and loves it there and for myself, I am working as an on-line travel agent for a Christian company in Australia. So praise God for that, he has provided us with jobs and finances to keep us going. Especially when this can be an uncertain time for many during this current climate.

So this is a little up date which has been way overdue, mainly as we've had problems with the internet but more recently just down to the busyness of life. We really value your prayers for us at this time and we would love to hear how we can be praying for you as well. Do let us know how you're doing. We want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and blessed New Year.

In Him,

Alex & Linda Xo

Apologies!!!

2008-11-21T10:19:00.002Z

Sorry everyone, we know we haven't really blogged too much lately but we have no internet at home at the moment. Not until the end of November :( We will blog as soon as we have internet as then we'll have time. The only access we get is through our jobs and there's never enough time to sit and write. So just wanted to let you know what was going on. We'll update end of November Hope you're all well.

Alex & Linda

India update

2008-10-19T15:22:00.002+01:00

Hi from India. This place is pretty mental. We have gone to several house churches this week and met with hundreds of new believers here. We have studied church multiplication strategy and prayer walked in downtown Old Delhi. The sights sounds and smells had to be seen to believed. We used the Luke 10 method with great success. People here are totally open to the Gospel. Food has been a bit tough but weather is mild and our schedule tiring. We travel home tomorrow so please pray for travelling mercies. Lots of photos to show as well as exciting stories to tell. Talk soon be blessed.

Settling back

2008-10-08T19:32:00.002+01:00

Well we're home awhile now and it seems like months ago when we were in Kenya. We've both settled back into our lovely home and found that our cat was still alive so that was cool. We're also both working part time jobs as well as doing ministry so that certainly keeps us busy :)

We have been so blessed with our jobs during uncertain times for many. I have my job as an online travel agent with a Christian company in Melbourne www.tendaitravel.com and Alex has just started working in the City Gates cafe (cafe in the Christian bookshop in town). We are both loving our jobs and the new opportunities and people it is bringing along. We are very thankful to God for providing them for us as it now means we can volunteer for churches and have our little tent makers 1 Thess 4:11-12.

Since we've come back we've also been helping out at Grace with the leaders training and the teaching for teens on Sunday mornings, as well as Alex teaching at Lee Valley. There have been plenty of one to one meetings as well as we have the privilege of meeting up with so many college students and leaders. God has really opened the doors for some great relationships here in Cork now. As we look over the last year it's so cool to see how he has mapped out his plan and continues to do so. We've been up to Dublin as well for meetings for Teenstreet Ireland and that has been really exciting to see the way God is using the team to put together what will be a great weekend. And next week we're off to India for a trip with GEM to see what work is been done over there. We were invited on the trip and now that it's getting closer we are getting really excited about it and what an amazing chance to be invited on this trip with a great group. Really looking forward to seeing what God is doing over there. We'll just be away for the week and will be back again to update you all.

Linda & Alex Xo

More Kenya. Read previous one first.

2008-09-18T09:18:00.008+01:00

It wasn't all hard work though, we got to go to an elephant orphanage, a giraffe feeding centre and even went on Safari. The Lord brought out all His splendor in creation as we saw over 30 giraffes, Eland, Ostrich and their many babies, Pumba(Warthog, my favorite), zebra, heartebeast, gizelle, crocks(a huge one,10 feet), and many more.

Robbie and Elizabeth live in the coolest place the backyard overlooks the National game park and every evening we saw and heard many animals, even Lions attacking a zebra. The whole house is surrounded by an electric fence and we had night security on the property again reminding us of our need for God's protection there.

We stayed in the Massai Lodge, which I thought was going to be a kip, but turned out to be amazing. Our bedroom overlooked Buffalo valley and we could see and hear a river below us. In the morning Baboons would come to eat whatever we had for them, and even the Warthog's would make an occasional appearance. We had good food there and the team really bonded with the staff. There was 24 hour security there and we felt so safe, being walked to our rooms each evening, and a guard was never far away even while relaxing. In the evenings Robbie would drive us back through part of the game park to our accomodation and some of us got to sit on the roof of the Jeep, this was such a cool experience and a little scary especially on the nights we saw a herd of Buffalo(most feared animal in Kenya) and upon arrival at the Lodge we heard a guard shout Simba(Lion) is around.

After the team went back both myself and Linda got to stay on in Kenya for an extra 5days and what an experience that was. We got to meet a kid that we sponser with Compassion child and that was both amazing and heart breaking as we got to see where he lived and heard what he had come from. Praise God that he provides for all our needs this kid was certainly in need and still is. We also go to go on the public mitatu's with Elizabeth to downtown Nairobi, now that was some experience, Linda almost got run over by a Mitatu as we tried to jump off the one we were in :) We also got to see the Rift valley and go to a tea plantation so that was all great. It was so hard to say goodbye when it came to tuesday morning. But we are so grateful for the time we had.

Anyway what an experience, God is utterly amazing, we had a brilliant time enjoying His creation, both People and Animals and we were all truly blessed by this incredible trip. Any takers for next year?

Kenya was Amazing.

2008-09-18T09:18:00.007+01:00

What a time we had. The team bonded well for the most part and we all enjoyed each other and had to get used to all of our quirky ways. We often spent 5 hrs each day in a mitatu(glorified Hiace with seats) and the girls would serenade us with songs and Phil would keep us in hysterics with his take on daily life.

God really led us there to seek Him and often our plans would change to help the different needs we saw. Most of our time was spent out in the middle of no where past a town called Kiserian with the Massai ladies. It is amazing how dependent on prayer you have to become in Africa, whether it be your vehicle breaking down at night(not safe) or an attack of the enemy on the team, through sickness or attitude, pretty much everything can go wrong at any moment and it does wonders for your time with God.

While there we spent time building houses from scratch(including digging ten holes for foundations, 2 feet deep into hard African soil).
We also saw God provide water from the well, and witnessed the final work of construction on this which will see it produce 5000 litres per day which even Mozungu's(white people) can drink from.

Other days saw us build a much needed double toilet over a pit in the ground, complete with toilet roll holders and sit down seat for the visiting teams(very grateful, they will be :). We also put up stud partitions in houses to give parents and children alike some privacy and we put proper beds into these houses too. God even led us to put up a wire fence around the Massai property to protect the families there, it was so encouraging for Linda and I as we saw the land God purchased the last time we were there, complete with running water, houses, toilets and even a fence for protection.

The verses in James Ch1 were very much in my mind during our time there, which talk about true Religion. They say, true religion is this, to help widows and Orphans in their distress. God led us to do this as we helped 1 widow with 6 kids and other widows with 4 children, it was us who were truly blessed by this experience.

Other days saw us at an Orphanage where we held babies and saw some haunting sights. The orphanage has 350 children, 45 babies and some only 4 days old, abandoned by parents but not by God. There we met the lady who takes care of all these kids, her name is Faith and wow what a strong woman, she even made time to prepare us lunch.
We found a spyware problem on one of their computers and we were again reminded of the evil in the world as it appeared someone was looking through their files on these kids, Paddy got on the case and we are working out a solution to the problem.

We're back!!!

2008-09-17T00:08:00.001+01:00

Ok just to say sorry as we had no internet for the whole time we were in Kenya and have just flown back from Nairobi tonight!!! So we're pretty tired but will update you asap. Need some sleep...........

More Kenya

2008-08-16T13:47:00.003+01:00

News Flash. God is great, we have all our funds raised to go to Kenya, another sign to us from the Lord of His faithfulness and provision, we are so privileged.

People have been incredible and so encouraging with their gifts towards the trip. It is so exciting to see that people are still motivated to give towards God's work, we have enough to build 7 houses and to facilitate many other solutions to day to day practical problems which the kenyan people face on a daily basis. I think we will only realistically have the time and energy to build 3 houses in the time there, but will put the finances to good use there.

The team has been very encouraged in their prep coming up to the trip and we are all counting down the days of the last 2 weeks before we go. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, they are much appreciated and felt.

Will do a final update before we go, just to finalize all the details and bring you up to speed with everything.

Kenya update

2008-07-30T10:44:00.003+01:00

Oh my goodness we are blown away by God's provision. More donations have come from people and I think we're at about 80% of what we need for the Kenya trip.....Praise God!! We have also raised enough money to build 3houses for 3 Maasai widows and there is more money being raised for more houses and cows. We are overwhelmed by God's greatness in this whole trip there are testimonies from quite a few people on the team about how God is really teaching them and providing for them.

Where we're at.......

2008-07-23T12:30:00.001+01:00

Well we have 39 days left before we head to Kenya with the team so I thought an update would be good. Just to let you know that we've had two prayer evenings with the team and have been really encouraged by God. We met last tuesday evening and really felt God was leading us to look at the verse "Be still and know that I am God". When we're living in such a hecitc, busy world it's hard sometimes to be still. It's so easy to keep going so for our meeting we all went away on our own to different parts of our house and garden and spent time with God. It was so worthwhile, as when we came back we shared, felt encouraged, felt God was speaking and was recharging us and then we had a lovely time of prayer.

It's so encouraging to hear how many in the team are already growing before they even get out to Kenya. I love God that way he goes beyond what we can imagine and always in ways we don't necessarily see coming ; ) We've really been encouraged ourselves by getting donations from four people (you know who you are) and have so far raised 1250!!!!! so praise God for that. We've been so encouraged by it all but are also aware that we have 1326euro to go. So please do continue to pray for us and those on the team that still have money to raise. I do believe that God provides and look forward to learning and growing more in him.

We also found out that we will def be building houses for the widows and got the price of 460euro per house. This cost will include the transporting of materials etc. So if you would like to donate or pay for a house for a widow please know that that option is there also. It doesn't just have to be about our team going out but can also be towards these widows that have no homes. I know we ourselves feel we have been so blessed with a fab roof over our heads and are so aware that they're are many with no homes so again if you would like to put money towards that instead of us please let us know. Praise God for his provision for all of us and his love which never fails. He is really reminding me of that this week and the importance of remaining in him (John 14&15). Please do keep praying for the team.

Thanks for your support.

Linda & Alex Xo

Is it a shark

2008-07-22T00:51:00.004+01:00

We had a great weekend with friends of ours, Heidi and Omar who came down from Dublin for the weekend to hang out with us. We relaxed, drank hot chocolate(the best in Ireland) and went wakeboarding on Sunday. Andrew tried to kill both myself and Omar on a ring but somehow we managed to survive.

I was in the water when linda said something about a fin (Alex out of the water) it turned out to be a dolphin and his mates who entertained us for 30 mins as we chased and watched them put on what only be described as an awesome display of God's creation.

Oh we also saw some dude crash a nice boat into another nice boat moving the boat and it's mooring up the river about 50 meters, wouldn't like to be paying the bill for that. There were a few choice words, some tears and alot of shaking but thankfully no-one was hurt.

Anyway we had a great weekend, photos to follow.

Interesting quote from Mother Theresa

2008-07-12T12:42:00.001+01:00

Do it Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical
and self- centred.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway!

Update

2008-07-09T00:09:00.003+01:00

Were excited to see what God is doing with the Kenya trip. We had a fundraising evening on sunday and three different churches led a night of worship. The groups all played a few songs and Linda and Phil Walsh spoke about what we would be doing over there. It was so encouraging to see all the churches mixing and worshiping together in unity and we also raised 700 Euro towards costs.

We called Robbie and Elizabeth last night and had a great chat and update last night. They told us about the lodge we would be staying in where there are Baboons and Leopards on the grounds, very exciting!!! We will also be building houses for the Massai Widows on the Land we were able to buy last year, will be great, Praise God.

It's been a hard week ministry wise with alot of niggling problems which need ironing out but we had a great rest in Bali and His timing is always perfect.

College group is exciting and refreshing and we are excited to see what God is going to do in the future, one of our group is off to Ibiza on an outreach trip, so very encouraging.

Hope this finds you all well, be blessed.

Home again!!

2008-06-25T15:12:00.002+01:00

So we're back on Irish soil and are back into the swing of things. It's nice to be home and to see everyone again so that's been good. But we've also been busy enough since we got back with lots of things to do. We're trying to get things sorted for Kenya and have some fundraisers coming up in order to try ad raise money and then we have leaders training, and teenstreet and weddings to get ready for. It's great times. What amazing things to be part of. We'll update soon on a few things to fill you in on our thoughts and what's been happening. Just wanted to let you know we're home.

Hong Kong

2008-06-17T10:06:00.002+01:00

Our Hotel rocks, it is so nice, we have a plush modern finish with a 42 inch plasma screen, the works. We arrived here last night and Hong Kong is as mad as ever. Went shoppimg today and will go to Hong Kong Island tonight. Then into China tomorrow which should be a bit mad, anyway all the best for now. Talk soon

Greetings from Bali

2008-06-12T04:55:00.002+01:00

For some reason our blog that we posted last thursday never posted. Sorry about that we had sent one so everyone knew where we were :) We're having a great time here in Bali having beautiful weather although since monday it's been cloudy which is disrupting our tanning sessions ;) We had a chance on monday to travel rouind the island of Bali and got to see some cool cultural stuff. We got to see rice fields/terraces, temples, villages and had great conversations about God and the Hindu beliefs on this island as we chatted with our driver who we had for nine hours!!! On monday we head to Hong Kong so we're looking forward to that and then we head home on Friday. CAn't wait to see everyone again and catch up. We hear the weather is great at home so hoping it holds up for when we get back as it's so cloudy here hehe. HAving a great break though. Hope your all doing well. Xo

Kenya 2008!!!!

2008-05-31T14:28:00.003+01:00

A group of us are heading to Kenya on the 29th of August for two weeks. We will be building a home for a Maasai widow, sinking a well, working in an orphanage, visiting a kids prison and Alex will be teaching in a Bible school in Nairobi as well as Linda teaching the Maasai and leading worship and much much more. We are looking for people to sponser us as we lead this team on a missions trip. We are brining 8 people with us from 4 different churches. We are quite excited about it and look forward to seeing where God leads us.

We have to raise 3000 euro for the two of us, if you would like to sponser us can you send us an email and we'll tell you how you can donate. alexandlinda@gmail.com We are also looking for people to buy cows for the Maasai widows so it helps them to provide milk to sell and for their families.

Check out the picture of the team.

What a beautiful day!!!

2008-05-24T12:36:00.002+01:00

Well what a busy week it's been but it has been a great week for relationship building. We started the week with a course on anti-bullying. I convinced Alex to go and look at the way he's been bullying me at home........ haha no on a serious note, I have been asked to become a board member for the Cork YMCA and we got invited to a training day and course on anti-bullying. It was disturbing to hear all the research that has been done in the YMCA centers as well as in churches as well. It really was an eye opener and a well worth day out. The rest of the week has been packed with meetings with leaders and college students as well as work here at home. My dad and brother and Alex all worked so hard to put out our decking out the back and worked all through the pelting rain on tuesday to get it finished. We are so grateful for my dad and brother as now today we are sitting out on the deck in the glorious sunshine and working prepping talks and info for our first meeting with our Kenya team on Sunday. Praise God for the good weather and even better workers. I'll post some pics in awhile so you can see it.

We have another visitor from Dublin, Carla (one of our Dublin teens) so we're really enjoying hanging out with her. She flew down on Fri and heads back home on Sunday so as I type she is studying away for her leaving cert which is in a week and half!!! We also have Paddy coming to visit us tonight and heads back tomorrow with Carla. The loyal guy is driving all the way down from Dublin to meet the team he'll be working with in Kenya in August, so we really appreciate and love his heart that his willing to drive down for a 2hr meeting and of course to see us I'm sure ; ) We have a youth worker from Dublin coming to stay with us Monday and tuesday so we're excited about that too and then wednesday we fly to Dublin for a day to meet with the team and plan Teenstreet IReland for next year. So it's a busy time but a great one as we get excited about the future and see God move through people's lives. On the 3rd of June we head away on a God given holiday for just over two weeks and we can't wait!!!! When we sold our house in Dublin we put the money in the bank for 2 and half weeks before we bought our Cork home and with the interest it earned it paid for our flights to Bali with a free stopover in Hong Kong. Isn't God great otherwise we wouldn't be going anywhere so we are really excited and extremely grateful for his provision. Also another anser to prayer is my recovery from my wisdom teeth, Praise God that I have had no pain whatsoever, I haven't had to take one pain killer and I haven't had any infections (thank you Lord) and I had four wisdom teeth taken out. So I was told I would need a lot of stuff to get me through, so we went and bought everything and there still in the boxes : ) So thank you for those who were praying and are praying as it's coming along nicely. Ok I have to go and get some work done so I'm prepared for our meeting tomorrow.

Please continue praying as we have lots that we need to look at and lots coming up and we want to be sure that we're walking where God wants us to walk. So do pray that we discern through prayer and fasting what God wants us to do next. There are a lot of things coming up at the moment that we need to look at and to be honest it's really tough so we value your prayers at this time. We'll update again soon. Lots of love and hugs to you all. Xo

2008-05-14T16:20:00.002+01:00

Wow enjoying this incredible weather as Linda recovers after having 4 yes 4 wisdom teeth out in one go. She is great and has a great attitude to the whole thing, pain what pain is her motto, kids should be a breeze then I keep telling her(not so convinced).

Things keep going on here in the Rebel county. Today we came up with a strategic plan and set some goals for the months ahead. God is continuing to do great things amongst the people we are ministering to, despite us, he is incredible.

We are pricing flights to teen st at the moment to see if there is any way we can get there. Looking forward to a break away next month.

Be blessed talk soon.

Check out the new photos!!!

2008-04-23T23:04:00.002+01:00

Hey we've posted up some pictures of our time at the Grace church weekend away and also for our time away here in Killarney. We've had a fantastic time away, it's been romantic, relaxing and recharging. We head home tomorrow as we have a leaders training evening tomorrow evening but we're so glad we got away for this time, it's been great for us. Enjoy the pics!!

Well Needed Rest

2008-04-21T11:44:00.003+01:00

This week Linda and I are getting a little chance to go to killarney for a couple of days to unwind and relax. We will go to ladies view, see torc waterfall and Mucross house among other things. We are really looking forward to just time away from everything and just the two of us for a while, excited, talk soon

Rejoice with us.

2008-04-16T20:49:00.006+01:00

Rejoice with us. The Lord has done some incredible stuff this week. Firstly we had our twice monthly college group on monday night and at the end we found out that one of the group gave their life to the Lord, we are so encouraged.

On tuesday night we were asked to give both our testimonies at Grace Christian Fellowship (www.graceireland.com). With a few nerves we did so and again the Lord moved and a girl there was moved to give our life to Jesus.

We are deeply encouraged and feel this is the beginning of a big move of God here in Cork.

We are looking forward to coming up to Dublin at the end of the month and seeing people again. God bless.

Answers to prayer and one more request.

2008-04-09T18:00:00.002+01:00

Hey all, thanks so much for all your prayers over the last few days, God answered many of the things that we were worried about this last week and surprised us yet again by His faithfulness, He is truly stylish, but it could'nt have happened without you the saints in our corner.

There is a possibility of a bit of work for Linda that she could do from home( a few hours a week), using her travel agency skills which would be great, and we need your help in prayer to see if God would have this as part of His plan for us right now. College group is going great as is the youth group at grace, I am starting to really enjoy prepping for teaching and preaching again which is a blessing and looking forward to a season of fruit ahead, be blessed with you in prayer, love Alex and Linda.

Words of encouragement

2008-04-07T12:33:00.002+01:00

Some people have been asking what verses we have been getting so I thought I would share them with you here.

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.

1 Peter 1:6&7
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus is revealed.

I kid you not I was so upset that I had my bible in my hands and just thought I had to read some truth as there was so much lies after been spoken over us. I just opened the Bible and this is what jumped out. I wouldn't normally just let the Bible open up and read whatever is there as it normally back fires ; ) but this time I was so upset I didn't know what to do. I just had to read some truth and get it into my head quickly.

A few days later things were getting really tough again and I was trying to figure out what we were to do next and I got this verse ~
2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Oh and also Colossians 3:12-17

Isn't it cool how God's word is so effective even in those hard times. How his words soothe and heal wounds.

We have a few key meetings this week so we would really appreciate your prayers. Thanks for all the encouraging words and notes. Miss you all and love you lots.

Keep those prayers coming ....

2008-04-04T00:56:00.002+01:00

Hey lads keep those prayers coming as things are heating up even more this week. It's hard but God is so faithful in bringing us verses daily but just when we think we're feeling better from the verses and stuff we get hit again with another blow. It's quite hard.

Recovering from the weekend

2008-04-01T23:53:00.003+01:00

Well we just got back from a church weekend away on Sunday night. We had Naomi and Andy down with us so it was great to get to see them and it made us realize even more how much we miss people in Dublin. The church weekend itself was very busy and to be honest we had a really hard time. We felt we really got attacked over the weekend and the battle continues so we would really appreciate your prayers and especially that we would continue to turn to God and to the truth in his word. Xo

More visits from Dublin folk

2008-03-24T22:39:00.002Z

Had a great time with Paddy and Stan. It was so nice to have them down to visit and share in our lives for the weekend. We miss them already now they've gone back : (

We've put up some more pics so you can check them out. Andy and Naomi are coming down thursday for the Grace church weekend away, so that'll be cool. The week ahead is busy with leaders training on wed eve with grace leaders and we're having dinner before hand all together as well so we're looking forward to that. We're meeting in the new Christian cafe, they're keeping it open for us and making dinner for us too. It's great to be able to support them by having our meeting there and it's so central for everyone to get to. We have the Grace church weekend away so there's lots to get ready for that as we're putting a youth programme together for the weekend and we meet with the church leaders tomorrow to look over everything. Appreciate your prayers, we're quite tired this week.

Happy Days!!

2008-03-20T22:22:00.002Z

Well we have our first visitors to our new house. Paddy and Stan (our leaders we trained in City Gates) are coming down from Dublin. We are really excited about having people staying in our new home. We had Andy and Naomi in the house in the city but this is the first time we have people staying in "our house" . We have to say that this week has been really hard as we feel quite lonely this week. It's certainly not from lack of family and people around us but we were watching the parade on TV and got a bit teary eyed seeing our old home.

On a brighter note though we had our college group last Sunday night, so we had 2 nts last week with them. We are so encouraged by this group. We had 12 people in our house and we looked at the whole book of Job in one evening. Everyone was really encouraged as they said they had never looked at a whole book in one session before, but we all came encouraged and left encouraged. God is cool the way he brings us all on one the path at different seasons.

We've really been spending time growing the relationships with the youth leaders we're training at Grace church. It's been really cool just spending a lot of one and one time with people and really getting to see their hearts and how God has a plan for each one of them. It really is such a privilege to be part of people's lives and see how God is stretching them and growing them. We do miss our bunch in Dublin though. But we know God is starting something big down here as well.

Long overdue...

2008-03-14T17:17:00.002Z

Ok guys we've just put up some pics of our time since we left in Feb so hope you enjoy. There are 3 sets 1) Our new home 2) Andy & Naomi visit Cork and 3) Adjusting to Cork life, so be sure to check it out when you get into www.flickr.com/alexandlinda/sets

Finally moved in, Happy Days.

2008-03-07T13:30:00.003Z

Thanks for your patience, it has been a crazy few days this last week, firstly we got the keys on tuesday afternoon and began to load our stuff into the new house, when we got a call saying the banks had delayed the electronic transfer of our money and that we would have to take all our stuff back out of the house and drop back the keys.

We prayed hard and got a call back later that day to say the money was good and we could move in for real this time. The house ROCKS, WE LOVE IT!!! lots of space and it is warm, something were not used to. Smoochie has been slowly getting used to her new home and ventured outside for the first time today.

Youth stuff is going well and it is encouraging to see the group growing closer together, leaders and teens. We had our first parents eve the other night and it seemed to go well, with lots of encouragment and support for Youth work in grace.
College group is going great with 27 people turning up last monday night with 10 regurlars missing, we are already having to look for a new venue. I am preaching on sunday in Ballincollig and am prepping talk today.

Well fun times ahead as we decorate the house and unpack all those boxes. AAAGGGHHHHHH!!!

Hope this post finds you all well and we miss you guys all alot, praying for each of you, love Alex and Linda, oh and the reinstated SMOOCHIE:':

So sorry, keep being patient

2008-03-05T01:30:00.002Z

We are so sorry we haven't had much update on our blog at all recently. But we've had no internet and there's been lots happening with trying to move etc. THe great news is we moved in late this afternoon (tues) and now finally have a home!!! We are really excited about being able to have a home to share together and with each other. It's exciting to think about what we can do now in having people over to stay, visit and just hang out. Still lots of stuff to move into the house. Lots of boxes to try and unpack and have fun in trying to buy furniture still but it's all good times and God has been so faithful to us. He gave us our home. We will get a proper update on here soon. Thanks for being understanding. Talk soon.

Update as promised.

2008-02-14T17:58:00.001Z

Hi there, well were just back from an amazing weekend in Kilkenny. There we enjoyed God’s presence with 370 teens and leaders, and even did a bit of teaching on stage which was a first for us at an event like this. Everyone seemed to have a great time and the bungee run and surfboard simulator which we hired went down a storm. It was great to meet old and new friends and to see all the gang from City Gates again.

On Monday we said goodbye to the bus heading for Dublin and also one going to Cork which was a little strange. I had planned out my route home in my head, how to avoid any traffic on the n7 and then realised I was going to Cork. It will take a little while I guess for the reality to sink in.

On the house front things are looking up for us. We got our money for our house through and today we are signing contracts for our new home in Glanmire please God. All going well we have a closing date of march 3rd. We have had great help from a good friend Don O Sullivan who has helped us out with all things planning and council wise and this has been a blessing. It is weird to see all the money in our bank account and to realise that in 2 weeks it will almost all be gone again, but at least we will have a place to call our own again and be able to finally unpack our stuff. Everything has been boxed since last may.

More good news as my friend Rob who had a brain tumour removed is making a complete recovery, walking, talking and still has his quirky sense of humour which is great. He had a six operation to remove the tumour and his wife says he looks like an extra from the movie mad max, but he is doing great and will go home tomorrow.

Anyway that's all the news for now, pictures to follow in the next couple of days. Alex and Linda.

Update coming soon .......

2008-02-03T19:24:00.000Z

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

2008-01-26T11:31:00.000Z

Well we have just under a week to go and I think we're half way through boxing and cleaning the house. It seems endless. Amazing how much rubbish you can collect over the years. But everything seems to be going well. We will definatly be out by the 1st of Feb and we had our survey report back from the surveyor yesterday so all looks good to go on the Cork front. Just waiting on contracts and a date.

We're really encouraged and can finally say WE'RE MOVING for real this time. We also have teenstreet Ireland coming up so do keep that in your prayers as they are 298 signed up at the moment and we have lots of planning still to work out. we just can't get our heads to think past all the moving and what we have to do now with the house. So would value your prayers from the 1st - 9th so we can get prepared for teenstreet and that God will really give us his ideas and thoughts for the weekend in what he wants us to get across to the teens. We'll update you as soon as we move to Cork. Thanks again for all your support.

Alex & Linda xo

Hot off the press!!!

2008-01-19T10:50:00.000Z

Hey there rejoice with us, contracts are finally signed and were good to go, praise God. Also we thought that a house we loved in Cork had sold but upon checking we have found out that we are now in the running for the house. We will put a deposit on it on monday. Our house now has to be cleared outby the 1st of feb, so pressure is on.

In other news things are going well in Grace with programme planned out till may and the college group starting again on monday night.

We are very excited right now, but would greatly appreciate your continued prayer as we have to move, buy, teen st and all the other stuff in Cork right now. Thanks again love Alex and Linda.

Hello from Cork

2008-01-16T13:32:00.000Z

Hey oh my goodness things have been so up and down over the last few weeks. The house stuff has really gotten on top of us but God has kept us sane and has been so faithful. The solicitor called today to say that the buyers have finally signed the contracts to seal the deal for the 10th of Feb. We're just hoping now that it will go through this time but there's no more planning issues praise God.

On the Cork front we arrived down Monday evening and had a long meeting at Grace yesterday from 9.30-3pm. It was good though talked about a lot of stuff like different roles, the youth and the how we're looking forward in regards to growth and development. Tom also asked Alex if he would be interested in being trained to preach!!! He was nervous but delighted at the challenge. Tom told him they wouldn't throw him in the deep end but would start him in on Tuesday evenings at their bible study evenings which on a quiet night there's between 70-80 but on an average night there's 100-140. Hehe had to laugh when I saw his face then but I think it's great the opportunities that are opening for him. So we went to the bible study to get a feel for it last night and really enjoyed it.

Today we met with Ciara one of the youth leaders we're training and had fun planning out the main leaders meeting for tomorrow night. For our next week we'll be meeting with youth leaders, teaching discipleship groups, teaching our 2nd meeting with the college age group we started and going to youth groups to help out. As well as this we are getting ready for teenstreet Ireland and planning a lot of stuff for it so we value your prayers at this time that we can wisely manage everything. We'll update you soon as things progress. Thanks for checking in on us. We really appreciate your support, prayer and friendship.

FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

2008-01-06T19:51:00.000Z

Five years is a long time in anybody's life, whether you saved an ssia or perhaps supported a crap football team like Newcastle United, five years is a long time alright.

The funny thing is that the last five years have flown by so fast and that's because I am totally in love with my beautiful wife more than when we first started going out FIVE years ago today,

SO HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!!

New Year ahead

2008-01-04T18:42:00.000Z

Hey everyone,

Just thought we would give you a little update. Things are at a stand still with our house so it's a little frustrating as we are in limbo as we wait. We're having a few problems with planning issues etc. In the meantime we are getting ready for the new year ahead. We are putting together some talks and programmes for leadership training while also preparing our review and revamp for presentation to Grace leadership. We value your prayers at this time as we have a lot going on as well as Teenstreet Ireland organizing in the background. Teenstreet Ireland is happening on the 9th of February. Happy New Year to all. God bless. We will update again soon, thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Alex & Linda

Have a blessed Christmas!!

2007-12-24T21:06:00.000Z

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

2007-12-19T14:30:00.000Z

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

2007-12-16T19:13:00.000Z

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 ......

2007-12-14T14:50:00.000Z

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

2007-12-11T19:52:00.000Z

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

2007-12-09T14:18:00.000Z

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

2007-12-07T00:04:00.000Z

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.

2007-11-29T23:28:00.001Z

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!!

2007-11-26T13:36:00.000Z

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....

2007-11-23T17:43:00.001Z

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!!

2007-11-23T13:10:00.001Z

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.....

2007-11-22T18:01:00.000Z

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

2007-11-19T11:50:00.000Z

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

2007-11-15T20:20:00.001Z

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

2007-11-08T20:51:00.000Z

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.

2007-11-05T23:12:00.000Z

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

2007-10-31T13:30:00.000Z

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

2007-10-26T17:07:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-23T16:14:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-20T16:55:00.001+01:00

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!!

2007-10-18T19:06:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-13T11:07:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-08T22:01:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-03T21:40:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-01T00:09:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-29T14:33:00.000+01:00

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!!!

2007-09-23T23:18:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-17T22:26:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-08T00:27:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-28T21:52:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-26T20:46:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-08-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-24T10:52:00.000+01:00

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!!!!!!!!