More Kenya

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

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.......

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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!!!!

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!!!

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

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!!!

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

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.

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.

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

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 ....

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

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

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.