Strawberries & Cream and Frank Sinatra

I know. I’m the worst blogger ever. I’m not making apologies anymore. I’ve just accepted my weaknesses and you all have to put up with it. (:

Ok. So. Tomorrow is the halfway mark. Three weeks gone, three weeks to go. If you haven’t seen the video that Hannah Voss tagged me in on facebook, go watch it. It’s a good time, and it’ll let you know what we’ve been up to and what we’ve got planned. In the mean time, I’ll take this opportunity to tell you about today.

It was our first real day off since we got here. Mary Macken (the fabulous woman we’re staying with) packed us up in the car and we headed across the country. Literally. Ireland is kinda small compared to the US. Mary brought lunch and we brought a couple CDs with some fancy-schmancy playlists. We’ve spent the day walking along the Cliffs of Moher (if you’ve EVER seen a seaside picture of Ireland, you’ve probably seen them) and along the beach in Salthill, which is in Galway. We took tons of super touristy pictures, chilled out, laughed, and ate food. One of the most popular desserts at Mary’s house seems to be strawberries & cream, which is absolutely fine by me. No sugar! Happy day. So, we ate fresh picked strawberries and sipped tea by the sea (in the car by the sea, but by the sea nonetheless) and now we’re driving home listening to Frank Sinatra, whose music I’ve fallen in love with on a new level. It’s been a beautiful, restful, thoroughly Irish day. Much needed.

The video will let you know the majority of what we’ve been up to, but I’ll use this post to add some personal details.

First of all, I love what we’re doing. I honestly don’t have words to describe how much I was just straight up created for this. Evangelization is the most exhilarating, satisfying, and all around wonderful thing I’ve ever been blessed enough to experience. So far things have been mostly logistical and preparational, but it won’t be too much longer before we’re up to our ears in kids and their hopes and dreams and fears and faith. I can’t wait. Right now, I’m working with a relatively small community and primarily targeting teenagers. It’s awesome, but at the same time I can’t help feel like God is only beginning to get me ready for something much bigger. I have absolutely no idea what that might be, but when He tells me I’ll let you know.

These have been a crazy three weeks. We’ve been working and planning every single day without actually seeing much fruit. That’s not because things are going poorly, but because we’re laying a foundation for what is to come. The fruit will show later, and most of it will have to be harvested by whoever comes after us. Because we aren’t seeing the results right in front of our faces, it has been a challenge to keep pressing in with the same enthusiasm. However, we are leaning heavily on God and trusting Him to bless our efforts to do His will. We’re walking blindly – trusting Him. As always, He has been faithful. Every obstacle that has come up has been overcome. Never once has He failed to give us more than what we needed.

In a lot of ways, I am really grateful that the “fruits” of our work here have been subtle. God has been quietly calling me to allow Him to be my complete fulfillment. Not only has He been consistently stealing more and more of my heart, but He has set Himself up as my sole means of gratification. Any part of me that used to (stupidly) look for happiness to come from my own accomplishments (as if they were ever mine at all…) hasn’t been allowed to be satisfied outside of His quiet, beautiful work on my heart. I’m becoming more of myself – the way He wants me to be. I like it (:

On a slightly more superficial level, I’ve also been working on a couple non-work related projects. The first is Mary’s yard. It’s a beast.  Don’t think “yard”. Think “multiple fields with grass up to your knees composed of approx. 50% stinging nettle”. I want to get as much done for her as I can while I’m here, which won’t be as much as I’d like, but alas, such is life. There will be before and after pictures eventually.
The other project is top secret. See, it’s actually not a big deal. No. Seriously. It’s barely even worth mentioning. However, I am working on it, and it is a surprise, though it’s a small and essentially insignificant one. I’m only even bringing it up because, though I’m a fantastic secret-keeper, I’m horrible at my own surprises because I get too excited. But you shouldn’t get excited. Trust me. It’s not worth being excited about, I’m just lame-sauce.
I know that is just cruel and unusual for all of you. Sorry.

I love you.