It's nearly May!

we are alive! haha, and two of us are back after being in the states for a week! its been a busy last wee bit, so sorry we havent written in a while, ill try to catch you up on the main stuff

lets see, first, erin and i went back to bham last week for two separate weddings and it was such an awesome time of refreshment and encouraging time with friends and family! the weddings were beautiful and it has rejuvinated us for our last 5 weeks here (4 for erin)! how crazy is that-a full year nearly gone. anyways, we are all glad to be back here together again

all of our normal clubs and bible studies and meetings have been going well. our tuesday afterschool club has been slightly crazy for the past few weeks and we are having a difficult time getting the kids to behave and pay attention, especially for the boys. John and I were really frustrated after this past week and are trying to figure out how to get them to act better and listen to the bible story, so pray for us about that.

since the nights are getting longer and brighter, everyone is out late at night more as well. this is good for hanging out, but also hard to get kids indoors for our youth clubs, etc. so this will probably be our last thursday of having youth club until after the summer. instead we will just have the time to be around the estate and hanging outdoors with everyone. Ballyloughan church is also starting a summer project where people from the church come into the estate every wednesday night and do cleanup for needy people, football clubs, door to door ministry, and just being around the estate to form relationships and help in any way. we are going to help with this as well, and are praying that it has a positive impact and that the estate accepts and is thankful for this effort.

just before going to america, i was able to go to dinner with eamonn (aymon), a friend i have made from the gym. it was a very good and encouraging time and though he is very anti-religion by his own profession, we spent a large portion of the night discussing spiritual questions he had and he learned what i believed. though it was quite intense at times, i think he was pleased with it and he said that after returning from my week home, he wanted to have me over to his house for dinner. i have been communicating with him since being back and we are trying to find a time to hang out again, so pray that the Lord provides this opportunity and that he will begin to respond to the Holy Spirit's promptings in his heart. pray also that i may have the words to say to him, because it is very intimidating to openly contradict his beliefs with my own, and to know the balance in when to speak and when to not push him.

john and i have been rock climbing with mark in the past week and are starting to go more often. we are trying to get several guys from the estate to go with us this saturday, and make it a regular thing. we even are beginning to plan an overnight climbing trip with them before we leave, so pray that all of these opportunities come together and guys will want to go.

well, im sure there is much more, but this is getting long. we will do better at updates in the next few weeks. as we sense our time beginning to draw nearer to an end, pray that we will be very intentional with our time and make the most of all of our opportunities. The Lord is teaching us so much and I am constantly reminded of his faithfulness and sovereignty! Praise Him for his love to us and you and the people here.
until next time, we love you and miss you all. dont be afraid to send us encouragement!