I am home

Hey everyone!

I am sorry for not updating while I was in Ireland, but we had limited WiFi and so I kept my Facebook page updated.

Here is kind of what my 16 days in Ireland looked like after I got on the plane to Atlanta.

After I landed in Atlanta I had trouble getting wifi on my Ipad and my phone service was really slow, therefore I couldn't figure out what terminal I needed to go to and the screens at the airport weren't helping. haha! I finally figured out what terminal I needed to be in and that was the very last terminal and I was in A. You also had to go underground...I had no knowledge of this...I now know Terminal A VERY well.  I was lost in terminal a for about an hour, because only Sarah can get lost in the airport. I eventually found my terminal and gate, then called my mom to tell her how I got lost and I wasn't even to Ireland yet, LOL! After a 2 1/2 hour delay, (2 of those hours were on the plane) I was on my way to Ireland!!



DUBLIN!!!

Once I got to Ireland, because of the delay, I missed my train and had to catch the next one.

On the train to Galway!

Athlone is where we held our church retreats (on the trips with stonebriar)

My friend Claire and her daughters met me at the train station! I got to help with Youth club at Galway City Baptist Church  as well as go to one of their ladies events. So I was able to do a little bit of ministry in Galway! I had a blast! Claire and the girls took me on a "cruise" in Kilary and it was beautiful!

I surprised 3 of my absolute faveorite kids! Claire and I picked them up from Irish learning camp 

Kilary Cruise( county mayo on the left and county galway on the right!)

On Saturday I left my family in Galway, a very sad day, but also exciting because I got to see friends that I had made over oovoo in person and I got to go to a new part of Ireland.

I got to the train station in Dublin and realized I had no euros so I went to the ATM and my bank card wouldn't work, so there I was stuck in the Dublin train station and needing to get to the airport. After crying in the SuperMac (mcdonalds), having an armed officer (very rare in Ireland) look at me weird and trying my card at several places, I was finally able to buy a leap card which is basically a bus pass and made it to the airport on time.

Now I have made it to the airport and met everyone, we find our bus and are on our way to New Ross!!

New Ross has about 7,000 people and I walked the whole city in about 3 days

New Ross is actually a famous town. New Ross is the home of President Kennedys Great-Grandparents.

Patrick Kennedy is President Kennedys Great-Grandfather

It was fun living in an Irish town with some American history!

Like I said New Ross is a small town and it took no time at all before everyone knew that we were the Americans that came to run the Rock. If a group of young Christian Americans were in New Ross that meant the Rock would open soon, and the teenagers started coming around.

We attended church in New Ross at the Grace Church. This is a little Non-Denominational church started by an Irish pastor named Miles McKee. This church is maybe 2 years old and has about 25 attendees ages 2yrs-50yrs ish, I'm not quite sure, but its really small and also a great church! I got the pleasure of helping with Sunday School, all 4 kids.

Monday started with setting up the YMCA which is where The Grace Church is held and meeting Frank Burder and Connor (I don't remember his last name) who are two of the missionarys that help with the Rock in Kilkenny and are helping start the one in New Ross. They are great guys! You can learn more about what they do at www.aheartforthenations.com/. The point of the Rock is to provide a safe place for the youth in New Ross to hang out. Eventually it will be open every week through out the year instead of just 2 weeks out of the year like it is right now. Most Irish youth in Ireland are searching for something out side of the Catholic church and somewhere to hang out, with out the smoking and drinking.

So on Tuesday we opened the Rock and started meeting the teenagers of the town. These are fantastic kids! The names that stick out the most are Aaron, Brian, Kyle, Keri, Laura, Josh 1 and Josh 2. Then my special girls Mollie and Shakira, who were 9 and 11 years old and too young to come into the Rock at night, but needed some where to go. Shakiras dad had just recently passed away and her mom was not well enough to take of her, so she was currently living with Mollie her cousin. My friend Casey and I would take the girls out for chips (French fries) or ice cream in the evenings and would try to direct the conversation toward God, creation and see what happened.

 One evening Casey and I were walking with the girls. Mollie looked up toward the sky and she pointed out a particular cloud that looked like Jesus. Strange enough it did. That moment led to one of my best memories of the trip. I asked Mollie and Shakira what Jesus meant to them. The first thing they said was everything, so we asked them why does He mean everything to them. Shakira said because He gave her mom food so that they wouldn't go hungry and that He protected them. It was an amazing moment and a real break through with these girls.

Shakira is in the middle and Mollie is on the right :-)

Throughout the week, we spent time with these struggling teenagers. On one of these days one of the guys came into the Rock drunk and he was 14 years old. We had been told that last year anyone that came into the Rock intoxicated, would not be allowed in because they wanted it to be a safe place. This year, because we wanted to protect him, we let him and others in as long as they weren't a danger to others in the center. This kid is depressed most of the time, so I hope that y'all would join me in praying for him.

We also did some park ministry and more often than not got caught in the rain. Nothin like tell in people about Christ while standing in the rain and cold.

By the end of our trip several of the teenagers found out where we were staying and would join us for our evening worship time or hang out on the roof with us until  1 or 2 am. We also walked down the road and sat outside a closed coffee shop at night for WiFi...we named it weefee,...anyway, most of the teenagers would come hang out with us, so we got to know several of them pretty well.

We survived 14 days with teenagers, moldy buildings and toilets that didn't flush and still had a blast!

I learned what it means to be a leader ( in the eyes of other people) and how important is to have good leaders who are not only organized, but know the culture.

Overall, I learned that I was definitely suppose to move to Ireland and to live in Galway City. I love New Ross and will be going back to visit several times.

PICTURES FROM THE TRIP!!!!

where we stayed

Irish potatoes. After I scrubbed the poop off 

I was able to celebrate Mollies 9th birthday with her :-)

Wheat/gluten, soy, dairy free and vegan chili!!

My Texas home-girl Megan. She lives south of Houston

(LtoR) Brian, Ben, Josh? and Kyle

(LtoR) Megan, Hannah, Emily and Casey

Laura (Mollies older sister) and Megan