Hello

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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.

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.

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!!!

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

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