long overdue!

hey everyone, thanks for your patience! we were having way too much fun in cork to be able to sit down to blog!

the conference was GREAT. thank you so much for your prayers. the Lord was our strength, we had amazing volunteers working in kids ministry with us, the kids were awesome, it was a beautiful place, and we got the absolute best mexican meal ever on sunday night. weekend well spent!!

aan-sofie and i got home at like midnight on sunday and slept till noon on monday! it was a chill day. we went into town for a really late lunch/early dinner, wandered a bit, and came home to watch a movie and skype with inga-lill. tuesday we went to kinsale, which is a gooorgeous irish town along the sea. had the best fish and chips ever, freshly caught that morning. bought a claddagh ring, which is the hands holding a crowned heart. later rachel [the pastor's wife] and eoin [their son] met us down there and we saw the historic fort together. after we came back to cork, aan-sofie and i went out to dave and audrey's house for a legit irish dinner! she made irish stew and incredible wholemeal grain bread and blackberry crumble. mmm. then we hung out, played card games, watched a Father Ted episode [very irish], and laughed till we were nearly too tired to get home. such a great time.

wednesday we woke up early and made a huge batch of banana bread [which the irish would call "cake" because it's quite sweet!], then i stayed at home while aan-sofie went into town for some church business and tour guiding of other friends! i went down into the city for a bit, wandered through a few shops, ate another lovely organic meal at the quay co-op [first day i had african mung bean/tomato/lime stew and mashed carrots and turnips, and this time i had red pepper/mushroom/spinach quinoa risotto. seriously.. so good.] and eventually headed back up the hill homewards. i have to say that cork is a really great city. it's quite easily accessible, very colorful, not overly posh, and the irish people are sooo friendly and talkative and kind. you just can't go wrong in cork!

wednesday night i got to lead worship at calvary cork again, which was a blessing again! jimmy o'keefe taught, and we realized we've got plenty of mutual friends! it's amazing how many connections there are out here. i am so blessed to be able to travel around and see missionaries and make new friends and spend time with people who are like family.

this morning we woke up, got my suitcases all packed and weighed [and emptied a bit!], then went into town for a legit eggs florentine and coffee. ran into a couple shops and then grabbed my stuff and headed for the bus station. it was a sad goodbye! my time with aan-sofie was soooo blessed by the Lord. just like in colossians 4, i know the Lord sent me out on this trip "to know circumstances and encourage hearts." i was so encouraged by our conversations, times of prayer, serving together, and likemindedness. and dang can that girl cook!

so this afternoon i flew out to london! from gatwick i took a train to london bridge, followed by a tube to canary wharf, where debbie alnutt met me at starbucks and brought me home! it's soooo lovely to be here with marshall and debbie! i'm blessed and encouraged and uplifted already. we had a little dinner and then a few others from church came over for prayer meeting tonight. i was blessed by fervent hearts for the lost. tomorrow i'm hanging out around here with debbie and tomorrow night a few friends are coming over for dinner! looking forward to some great fellowship this weekend. i get to lead worship on sunday at calvary docklands and city. so looking forward to that. i was here two years ago and they were so welcoming.

one other side note: although i've had crazy visa troubles of my own, i've been able to witness people in every place get visas and citizenships since i've been here! God is truly the Visa-Giver and He is blessing His people in leatherhead, cork, and docklands with visas and citizenship in their places of ministry. so exciting!

time for this girl to go to bed! thanks again for praying. please pray for an abundantly blessed weekend; good fellowship; fast friendships; a great sunday service. also i hope to hang out with my worship leading buddy jeremy on saturday! so you can pray we get to do lots of awesome stuff :)

love you all! xx from the banks of the river thames!