NBA, broken windows, Rocky, UNC bball...

well, it's monday night and we are about to start a new week after enjoying a nice day to rest today. this past week had all of our typical, weekly programs, as well as a few noteworthy events:

the tuesday after school club for the guys had a record-high 7 guys! this is especially encouraging and noteworthy, because the last week had only 1, and the week before, only 2. so praise the Lord for brining those guys out and hearing the Word while having fun hanging out. Pray that they, and maybe some more guys, will show up tomorrow again for the same club.

erin explained in her last blog that we had a really cool opportunity to talk to one of our friends, Michael, on Thursday night after youth club. He invited John and me to go riding around town with him and his cousin, which was a good time, hung out in our house for a while, and then went on a long walk with me and John. During this 1-2 hour timeframe in which we walked around all of the estates at least 4-5 times, we were able to answer a lot of his questions about the Lord. Michael is a really cool guy and has always been one of our close friends here, helping us out when we needed it, whether it was giving us a massive, extra TV he had, offering to beat up other people to protect us, or just inviting us to hang out with him and his friends. However, he doesn't know the Lord, and has made it very clear in the past that he has no interest whatsoever in wanting to ever know the Lord. Yet, we found ourselves on this night, talking for hours about the deepest questions and longings of his soul, and how Jesus can answer those. while he made no decision that night, he now knows the truth and will hopefully ask more questions in the future. pray that the Lord would allow us to have good opportunities to just hang out with michael and grow our relationship with him, and provide the chance for more good talks, and then that he would accept the Lord's call to him.

our friends Luke, Steen, Connor, and Tully have continued to drop by our house regularly and it has become somewhat routine to discuss spiritual matters with them now, so pray that this will continue to happen, but that they will begin to move past this stage and desire more of Christ, forsaking their sin and current ways of life. I also had a chance to go to Steen's house this week and spend time playing his favorite NBA game with him and see all of his NBA apparel he got when he was in the states (Steen is unique for this area, in that he is one of the few who like basketball, and he is obsessed with the NBA). this meant a lot to him and was a really cool opportunity to deepen that relationship, and even get some time to talk with his mom, brother, and grandfather.

sunday was an interesting day. during the bus runs for hillside in the morning, when we collect the kids from all over the estate and bring them to the church, some kids threw rocks at the bus and busted the window in. the bus driver was livid and proceeded to inform me that we (yes, thats right, me and him) were going to track and chase these boys down. so after a long hunt/chase through the alleys and streets of Dunclug, we caught the 3 boys and cornered them until the police came. they officially arrested the 3 boys, but since they were all 13, they took them home to their parents. one of them is named Redroof, the local arsonist and biggest troublemaker in the area, who is not unaccustomed to regular run-ins with the police. we are praying that he will not be mad at me and hold a grudge by getting trying to reciprocate somehow. i also have to go to the police station this week sometime to make a statement. oh well.

on a better note, that night we took the youth from Ballyloughan church to a special service at another local church. there was a band and a speaker and it was encouraging to all of us. after the service we talked to the speaker because we realized that he was American. It turns out that he is from Atlanta, GA and actually went to Samford University many years before us! he is living in Portstewart, northern ireland now with his wife and kids and is on staff at a church there. that super encouraging and cool to us and a reminder that God is Sovereign and has his people everywhere.

last, but certainly not least, Steen lent me the whole Rocky series since i had never seen any of them. so this weekend, i have been making my way through them and tonight the four of us spent family time reliving the cold war via boxing and outrageous acting in Rocky 4. i must say, i don't know how i have made it thus far without seeing these movies....

well, thats all i've got, i'm sure that i've bored you at some or every point, but if anyone is still reading, we love you tons and truly envy your prayers and encouragement. and oh ya, watching live updates of carolina basketball is not the same as watching it live or on TV, but it's certainly better than nothing. Go Tarheels!

until next time,
dwight and fam