Happy Advent

Happy Advent to everyone!  I pray this season finds you well and and experiencing the joy of this season of preparation for the coming of our Lord.  I know my life is full of the joy of this season and I am so excited to share some of that joy with all of you now!
So much has happened since my last post that I'm not even sure where to begin.  God is so good and I am incredibly blessed in my life here in Delvin.  We have been incredibly busy with ministry the last month  which has been tiring but wonderful.  We have been running multiple youth groups and weekly jam sessions.  We've been visiting the schools in the surrounding area and we've started a youth mass.  We've also been meeting with a group of parents and adults that are the future of youth ministry here in Delvin.
Our youth groups have been going really well lately.  We have our last night on the old testament this week before our Christmas party next week with our senior youth group.  My favorite night so far in this series on the old testament was definitely last week.  The time period in the old testament we were looking at was the point just after King Solomon when the Israelites faced great persecution and exile from the world leaders around them and their own leaders.  We have found that when presenting these sessions on the Old Testament it works best if we find a main theme we can present instead of just trying to give the history.  So last week we focused on that idea of feeling separated from God and yet trusting in God's faithfulness in all areas of our lives.  To present this we used Psalm 23 and the Footprints prayer to help apply this idea to our own lives.  It was a more serious night and it was really wonderful.  I believe the youth got a lot out of the night.  We had a time for the youth to come to one of us and have some time for one-on-one prayer and most of them were too shy to go but they still had a powerful time of prayer I believe because many of them had tears in their eyes during that time.  One young man did come forward to pray with Tim, my co-leader, and said it was really powerful for him.  The most amazing part about this young man coming forward is he's not even Catholic.  This young man and his sister have been coming to our youth group despite the fact that they are protestant and when asked if they could only keep one after school activity which would it be they answered they would keep our youth group.  When our team heard that we were all so excited because often in ministry it can be hard to know if we are making a difference but that was confirmation for us that we are in fact making a difference.  God is doing such amazing things here in Delvin and I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of it.
Now that we are more established and our house is set up a little more we've started to invite different families over to enjoy a meal with us.  Just this last Friday we had a family over for dinner that is very involved with our ministry.  The daughter is in our senior youth group and has been a reader for us for our youth mass.  The mother is part of the parents group that wants to help keep ministry going after we leave.  There are also 3 other children in the family and 2 of them came as well.  It was wonderful to have them over for dinner and just sit back and enjoy some good craic (an Irish way of saying having fun).  We cooked a ham and it was the first time any of us had ever cooked a big ham.  It went surprisingly well.  No one got food poisoning or anything like that so we called it a success.  After dinner the family invited over to their house to watch the Late Late Toy Show.  The Late Late Toy Show is a huge deal here in Ireland.  Every Friday night the Late Late Show is on which is like a late night news broadcast that focuses on politics and other news but once a year they have the Late Late Toy Show.  This once a year extravaganza is kind of like Oprah's Favorite Things for those of you who know that but it is all about toys for Christmas.  The host has children come on and test all the toys and then give their opinions.  They also have young people come on and sing and dance as well.  It is really fun and the kids are incredibly cute.  We had so much fun going over to their house and watching the show and having the opportunity to experience a big part of Irish culture.
Our team is definitely trying to take every opportunity to see as much of Ireland as possible.  On Saturday we went to Galway for the day which was wonderful!  Galway is a really cool beautiful city.  Because it is getting close to Christmas the Christmas markets were all open and we had a blast exploring those and other parts of the city.  We all did some Christmas shopping which included claddagh rings for Ben, Becca and Tim.  The only person without one on our team now is Marie.  We also rode a carousel and went down to the banks of the river to see the fastest moving river in Europe.  While we were there there was a march for a woman named Savita who died a few weeks ago and is now at the forefront of the battle that rages in Ireland over abortion.  We are here in Ireland in a critical time in Ireland's history. The government is currently debating legislating or abortion here in Ireland.  Up to this point abortion has been illegal in this country but groups are now working to legalize abortion in Ireland.  We did not participate in the march as we do not want to abortion legalized but it shows just how big of a deal it is here in Ireland right now.  Any and all prayers you all can send this way to prevent the legalizing of abortion here in Ireland would be greatly appreciated.
We also went to the Hill of Tara about a week ago which was wonderful.  It is a beautiful and historic place in Irish history.  From the top of the hill you can stand where kings for thousands of years sat and you can also see a quarter of the country.  We were lucky it was a nice clear day so we could see so much of the country.   My favorite part about this site is this really cool old book shop right next to the gift shop.  Its a tiny room with hundreds of books dating over 200 years old  We had a lot of fun exploring that old book shop and trying to find the oldest book we could.  The oldest book we discovered was written in 1780.
We are getting very excited for Christmas break.  I know I am getting so excited for my mom and brother to get here so we can explore Ireland and London for almost 2 weeks.  I pray that you all have a blessed and happy Christmas season.
God Bless and Happy Christmas!
Amy

Hopping Fences and Other Adventures

So, its been about 2 weeks since I've posted but it seems like much longer!  So much has happened I don't even know where to start writing. Time just seems to fly by.  I can't believe it is almost November and I've been here for over 2 months!  I guess the old adage time flies when you're having fun is really true.  Well, let's see...
I told you all about Dublin which was a great time!  Our next team adventure took place on the ground of Fore Abbey.  Fore Abbey is an old Christian monastery that was built by St. Feichin in the 600's.  Most of what remains today is from latter, largely the 12th century through the 16th century.  It is absolutely beautiful!  The leaves are starting to change colors here so the grounds are beautiful and the old building is just so amazing.  To stand among something that is over a century old is not something North American's get to do often so I felt very privileged standing among the ruins.  I have to say that our adventure was not all by the books.  We weren't exactly sure where the path to get to the ruins started so we kind of made our own path which may or may not have included hoping a fence or two.  However, we got there and had an adventure along the way so it was totally worth it.  We also hiked up a little hill near the ruins and got a beautiful view of the valley in which the little town of Fore is located.  It was a great little hike although I mostly slid down the hill as it was wet and I was in Tom's, not exactly the best shoes for hiking.  Luckily, I made it down without any bruises, quite an accomplishment for a girl who had a giant bruise 2 weeks ago from walking around my room!  Of course, because I was driving we got lost getting there which turned out to be ok because we stumbled across a cute little lake that we explored for a bit as well.  It was a great afternoon.  Its great to have to many cool places so close to home.

Hopping the Fence

Last week our team supervisors, Mark and Kristen, were here to visit for a week. They come and visit about 3 times a year just to check up on us and see how we're doing.  Last week was their first visit and it was awesome to have them here.  We had so much fun with our supervisors doing all kinds of random things.  One day we carved pumpkins and went bowling which was definitely an adventure.  It was an adventure if for no other reason than because we had to squeeze 7 people into a car that does not comfortably seat 5.  I'm sure we looked similar to a clown car when we all finally piled out of the car because we definitely should not have all fit in that car.  We also finally visited Netti's while our supervisors were here.  Netti's is a diner in town that everyone told us we had to visit while we were here in Delvin but had not had the opportunity to visit yet but we finally went and some of the best milkshakes we've ever had.
Our youth group is going really well.  The name for our night 2 weeks ago was What is Faith? and it is pretty easy to guess what the topic was.  We flew paper airplanes, Marie gave a talk, we broke up into small groups, had a time of prayer and then ended with a funny skit to lighten the mood before sending them home.  The night went really well.  The youth responded very well and seemed to have a lot of fun.  Last week we had a night called Cloud of Witnesses.  This was probably my favorite night yet.  We made a cloud out of Halloween cotton webs and hung it up in our living room.  We then put saint cards in the cloud to represent the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews.  The night was focused on the lives of the saints and how their lives are examples of living out faith, building on our theme from the week before.  We broke them up into 4 groups and had them go through 4 different stations which engaged them and taught them about different saints.  One station was a mix of you tube videos and a then question and answers centered on how to become a saint.  We tied in information about St. Pedro Colungsad who was just canonized last Monday who happened to be an 18 year old young man from the Philippines so the youth were really able to relate to his story.  The next station was a matching game with the names of 20 saints up on the wall and 20 clues that they had to match with the names.  We also had a scavenger hunt around our living room that also gave the story of St. Francis' life.  Our fourth station was a prezi (which is a program online that can be used to make really cool presentations).  The youth were able to click through the prezi and learn about 5 saints that made a difference in the church today which included Blessed Pope John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa.  The youth seemed to have a lot of fun at all the stations and said they had a lot of fun.  This week we will be having an All Saints Day party.  We are getting the students to dress up like different saints and we'll have pizza and cake and games and just have fun with the youth.  Next week we will be starting a 6 week series on Salvation History and looking at a Bible Timeline.
I believe that is all for now.  As always, thank you so much for your support this year. None of this would be possible without the prayers and support of all you out there reading this blog.  Please continue to pray for me and my team as we will do for you!
God Bless,
Amy

Life in the Village

So life here in Delvin continues.   Some of you may not be shocked to hear that not a whole lot happens in our little town of 400 people but it’s definitely the truth.  Although there are not many big events in this village we keep ourselves entertained and we are not short of random events at our house.  We go on a lot of walks around town discovering new random things in the town.  We found a tire swing the other day that is super fun.  I anticipate us spending a lot of time swinging on the tire swing and playing on the little playground in town.  We may have looked a little like creepers playing on the playground but we weren’t any creepier than the woman who stood at her window watching us while she drank her coffee for 40 minutes so I was ok with it.  Besides walks around our small town we watch a lot of movies to keep ourselves entertained.  Another way we keep ourselves entertained is by watching episodes of the tv show Chuck.  Our team has really bonded over that show and we have a lot of fun watching it together.  We have a lot of inside jokes from that show and random YouTube videos.  We are definitely finding ways to entertain ourselves.

Our youth group is going really well.  We have a solid group of youth attending which is great.  We’ve had a movie night and a trivia night since my last post.  Our movie night was fun although I think the youth found Jurassic Park a little cheesy.  I loved it though because I’ve never seen it and felt like as a child of that generation I should have seen it.  It was rather cheesy, I have to agree with the teenager there, but I still found it wonderful and am glad I’ve now seen the first Jurassic Park movie.  Our trivia night went over quite well.  We made a Jeopardy board on our wall and had all kinds of topics to stump (and not stump) the youth group.  My favorite category was Name That Tune.  I may have been partial as I wrote the questions but whatever!  I wrote lines from songs for them to guess and they only got the really easy ones even though most of them were songs they should have known like Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and Iris by Goo Goo Dolls.  Although, I have something to get off my chest because I feel this is a serious issue in our culture today.  Only like 2 of the youth in our youth group had ever heard Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourn!!!!! What is that all about!  How have they never heard of Crazy Train?  It’s like one of the most iconic songs in the world and they had never heard it.  Is this song just an American thing or is this song just going to be lost to the sands of time forgotten forever?  I don’t think I can handle this and am now dedicating my life to ensuring that this song and others like it will not be forgotten!

In other news we went to Dublin on Saturday which was really fun.  We left early(ish) and headed out for our Dublin adventure.  We drove to Dublin and parked at IKEA because I refused to drive in the main part of Dublin.  We caught a bus into the main part of the city and after a stop at McDonalds to pee we headed toward Temple Bar.  We spent a lot of our time in Temple Bar because it was so cool.  We found all kinds of fun things in this urban part of town like a book market and a food market on different streets.  I loved the food market and the book market (big shocker there!).  I mean seriously, my two favorite things, food and books, within a 2 block radius of one another.  The food market was fabulous.  They had different vendors and food stands ranging from Chinese to American style hot dogs to Irish dairy products to a booth called Viva Mexico.  I’ll give one guess at which stand was my favorite.  The Mexican booth seriously made my day!!! I don’t think I can adequately explain how much I have been missing Mexican food so when I saw that booth I almost cried.  I got a burrito that was like a taste of heaven on the streets of Dublin.  After exploring Temple Bar for a few hours we headed to Graffton Street.

On Graffton Street we visited Peterson’s pipe shop, a famous pipe shop in Dublin.  As you can guess that was more for the guys on the team than the girls.  It was cool I guess although it was not my favorite part of the day.  On Grafton Street they also have a lot of street performers which was really cool.  I loved all the different acts we discovered as we walked along the street.  There were different bands and singers and cool dancer and the last act we found was a juggler.   He was quite the character.  He was pretty good and Ben even got to part of the act.  St. Stephen’s Green is also at the end of Graffton street so we walked around the park for a while.  It was a beautiful park in the middle of the city, much like Central Park in New York although St. Stephen’s Green is smaller.  They did have swans though which was cool although I was ok watching them from a distance and not getting up close and personal with them, they are still birds after all! 

After all that we headed back to IKEA where we ate dinner and started finding stuff to furnish our house.  We have been saving our household money the last few weeks so we could start getting stuff for our house like kitchen supplies and hangars and trash cans.  We came away with quite a haul which mostly fit in our small car.  After a long and exhausting day we headed home which was an adventure in itself.

The first part of the drive was fine because it was on the motorway so the road was nice and spacious so although it was dark I had lots of room and didn’t get too freaked out.  Then we turned off the motorway onto what I’m pretty sure is the most terrifying road created by man.  It was this tiny little road that was not exactly straight to put it lightly and it was pitch black and to make it even better there was fog.  Needlessly to say the drive was stressful but my team was great about being encouraging and helping me not freak out!  I never thought I would be so happy to see Delvin.  After missing the road to our house and taking a little tour of Delvin to turn around we arrived home where we all just crashed on the couch for a while before heading to bed.

Well, I believe that is all for now!  Thank you all for reading my blog and supporting me!  I really appreciate it and keep you all in my prayers.  Look for more posts and photos on Facebook.  I just put up a whole bunch of new photos on Facebook so head to my Facebook page and check ‘em out!

God Bless,

Amy

The First Week

So, I've officially been in Delvin for one week and things are going really well.  It is definitely a small town (about 400 people) but everyone here has been incredibly welcoming to us.  We have been well taken care of, we even have an Irish mummy here in Delvin.  There isn't a whole lot to do in Delvin but there are 2 castles and church ruins that date back almost 900 years at the oldest.  The history here in Ireland is absolutely incredible.  There are 900 year old church ruins right next to the post office and convenience store.  It is so cool to see the old and new together in this tiny village.  We toured around Delvin on Wednesday.  We explored the town quite extensively in about 2 hours (yeah, its small in case you haven't gotten that picture yet...but we do have 5 pubs!)  We have a really cute 3 story house that is only a 3 minute walk from the church in town, granted most things in Delvin are only a 3 minute walk but its still really nice.  We have a fireplace which absolutely made my day!!!
We had our first youth group on Thursday and it went really well.  We had pizza and just hung out with the older youth group that was started last year.   We had 9 kids come which we felt really good about for our first night.  We spoke at the masses this weekend which was a lot of fun.  Mass is incredibly short here in Ireland.  Daily mass is usually about 20 minutes and Sunday mass is at most 45 minutes.  The speed at which everything is done at mass is something our team is still getting used to.  We have definitely been made welcome at the parishes here in Delvin.  We attend daily mass at the church about 10 minutes outside Delvin in a place called Killulagh (Kih-luh-lah...it sounds kind of like the alcohol with an extra l).  It is a beautiful little church out in the country dedicated to St. Livinus (I have no idea who he is).  They also have a weekend mass out there that we attended the morning in addition to the 2 masses in Delvin at Our Lady of the Assumption.  Our Lady of the Assumption is currently being renovated but the renovations are almost done and the church is looking really nice (I'll post pictures of both churches when I remember my camera).
My team so far is getting along quite well.   A little about my team.  Marie is 19 and is from Alberta Canada.  She plays piano, loves blue and purple and is always there for a random dance party or to share a chocolate bar.  Becca is also 19 and is also from Alberta Canada.  Becca is usually the quite one on the team but she loves adventures and is always down to go explore the world.  Tim is my co-leader.  Is the third Canadian on the team and is 20 as of Friday.  Tim did NET in Australia last year and was going to go back for this year but God had other ideas and now he's here with us.  He is great with directions which is great because I am consistently getting us lost and Tim is able fix all my car wanderings.  Ben is the other American with me.  He's from Yacuma Washington.  Ben just graduated high school and at the end of this year will be the only teenager left on our team at 18.  (Side Note: It was great when Tim turned 20 because I'm no longer the only one who is not teenager on my team.)  Anyways, Ben is a great photographer and has taken some wonderful pictures of our team so far which is a great gift since I am constently forgetting to bring mine on team excursions.  He is also a great cook which is wonderful!!!

Exploring Delvin looking like tourists!

I think I told you all that my biggest fear about this year came true when they told me I was going to be the only driver for my team this year.  Well, you'll be happy to hear no one has died yet and I have only driven on the wrong side of the road twice (both times were on back country roads and no other cars were on the road, I promise).  I have less heart attacks every time we get into the car so I am encouraged that by the end of the year I will have this driving on the wrong side of the road thing under control...just in time to come home and be utterly confused again.  I'm just glad I already knew how to drive a manual and its a small car and not the van!!!  It is weird shifting with the left hand but I think being on the wrong side of the car is definitely the weirdest part about driving over here.
So, I think you are all now quite caught up on my life now.  I am definitely happy and excited for the year ahead.  I know I am where God wants me but I definitely miss all of you back home reading this.  Know that I love you all and am praying for you everyday.  May God bless you all and keep you safe until I can see you all again.
P.S. I have a new address!!
15 Cois Caislean
Athboy Road
Delvin
Co. Westmeath
Ireland

Training So Far

So I have now been here in Ireland for 3 weeks and man have they been some eventful 3 weeks.  At times it feels like I have been here for 3 years rather than just 3 weeks.  It has definitely been a fun time so far but God has taken this NET training to challenge me to grow in so many ways I often feel physically, emotionally, and mentally drained by the end of a day.  I am however, grateful for this opportunity and the chance to be here (even if it is finally hitting me just how long I will be here).  
Our first week of training was so much fun (and humbling).  I can a week early for music training which was such a great expereince.  I got to learn a whole bunch of new music and at the time God took that opportunity to remind my place in this world.  I've been used to being a big fish in a little pond in some ways.  Music has always been something I've taken my identity in a lot of ways.  You would think when the pond shrinks you would just become a bigger fish.  Wrong!! God reminded me the very first day here that I am not that special (in his most loving way of course) and I still have so far to grow.  There are so many great musicians here and I am so grateful I get the opportunity to learn from and grow with them.  I know they have so much to teach me beyond all they taught me my first week here.  
The second week life started to get busy.  Music training was super chill and then the rest of the netters showed up and everything went into high gear.  We went from maybe 6 hours of intense training a day to 16 in seemingly no time.  The first part of training was set up in a reatreat style.  We took a little over a week to really examine our relationships with God and work on that relationship first.  NET's idea for this is this, you can't give what you don't have.   It is important to make sure our relationships with God are in a good place because trying to do missionary work without a relationship with God just doesn't work at all.  That second week of training is really where God started to challenge me to grow.  He challenged me to let go of a lot  of hurst from the last 2 years of my life and move forward.  He challenged me to see myself through his eyes and have confidence in who he created me during a weekend where we split up as men and women.  That weekend we focused on what it means to be a daughter or son of Christ respectively and how we will live that out this year. 
Then last week, I think on Tuesday (the days are starting to blur together) our teams were announced.  They totally surprised us with the announcement, they even got the priest involved and tried to convince us we were going have a public confession time and then dropped the team announcement bomb on us.  It was a really exciting and emotional night for all of us.  On Monday I was asked if I would serve as a team leader for a parish team and I said yes (sometimes I wonder what I was thinking).  So I knew that night I would be on a parish team but I had no clue which one.  That night I found out I was put on the parish team that will be in Delvin.  That night I had no clue where that is but I found out later it is a small town about an hour North West of Dublin.  When I say small town I mean population 415ish small town.  I am excited for this adventure although I am definitely nervous as well.  The other roles I willbe taking on this year within my team are music leader, household person and recruiter.  It will definitely be a busy year but hopefully fruitful.
Now wer are continuing training and learning the skills that will help us survive the next year of our lives.  This last week has been incredibly heavy and most night my head is so full of info I am so tired I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.  The info is good though because it will help me survive this year of ministry.  I have put some pictures up on facebook so be sure to check those out and keep checking here and there for more information.  Also check out the NET MInistries Ireland website to see pictures of my team and see updates from them. Because I am on a parish team I will have an address so as soon as I know that I will put that up so people can send me things.
I love you all and miss you all so much.  Write me messages and keep updated on your life.  I can't promise I'll write back with any regularity but I will be reading and praying for you so keep me updated please!  Again I love you all!
God Bless,
Amy

Finally!

So, I'm here!  It was quite the adventure getting here but I did finally get here.  It took multiple plans and an unexpected stop in London but I did arrive in Ireland after about 30 hours of travel.  The country here is beautiful.  I haven't had the chance to see much of the country yet but what I've seen has been beautiful.  We've spent the first 2 weeks on retreat. The first week was music training and the second week has been all about building our relationship with God.  There have definitely been some ups and downs so far.  The ups have included adventures into Derry to see the sights and explore this beautiful country.  The downs most predominately include the showers!! I have developed a great appreciation for warm showers during my time here in Ireland.  We mostly take freezing cold showers and the times we do get warm showers you would think its the second coming!  I think I have done most of my praising of God during a warm shower!  The group of Netters are incredibly fun and we have so much fun together.  The staff is always there to help us. I have definitely had my moments, like thinking I blew the fuse for the outlets in my room when really I just fried my converter.  Its been an adventure and I am definitely happy to be here!  Check facebook for pictures and if you wish to send me anything here is the address.

NET Ministries 

Donegal Road

Ballybofey

Co. Donegal 

Ireland

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you all about updates on your life.  

I Need a Little Help

Hi friends,

So my departure day is coming up in just 23 days and I am getting incredibly excited!  I am in the midst of getting everything together before I leave, which included a slightly terrifying journey to the detention center here in Laramie to get a criminal record check.  Part of making my next year happen is raising $6000.  I am working on reaching my goal but I need a little help getting there.  First of all, if anyone knows someone, including themselves, who needs a new car I am selling my 2002 Pontiac Grand Am.  Secondly, I have set up a site with Go Fund Me to help me raise money.  If you could help me raise some of the money I need to make my journey a reality please visit this site.  You can find the link just to left on this page.  If you could also pass this information along to friends and family I would be very grateful.  Thank you so much for your support! God Bless!

The Journey Begins...Almost!

I caught the traveling bug as they say when I was in Junior High and traveled to Mexico for a week through Girl Scouts (yes, I was one of those girls who stayed in Girl Scouts through High School).  That trip got me hooked on travel and ever since that fateful day when I decided to travel with a bunch of complete strangers to Mexico for a week I have taken every opportunity presented to me to see as many places in this world as possible (from Germany to Guatemala and, fingers crossed, everywhere in between an so much more). 
My love for God was instilled in me from an early age.  My mother took to me church faithfully every week, even if it took some coercion (or as she calls it, "encouragement").  My parish in Laramie helped me grow and mature in faith and has given me so many tools to help me continue to grow as I leave Laramie and strike out on a new adventure.  Yes, that's right.  I'm headed out on yet another new adventure.  But for those of you who are not so familiar with my life let me fill you in a little. 
When I was 16 I went to Germany for World Youth Day in Koln and did a lot of traveling within the boarders of the US.  Then after High School I decided I wanted to do something really radical.  I decided to dedicate 9 months of my life to serving the Lord and spreading the gospel message.  So I joined NET Ministries.  NET is a non-profit organization based out of Minnesota that packs groups of college age students into a 15 passenger van and sends them on a 9 month journey across the country to spread the Gospel to teenagers (and anyone else we may meet along the way).  My time with NET was literally the best of times and the worst of times because with growth comes growing pains.  As a young 18 year old (and as a young 18 year old I literally mean a young 18 as I'd only been 18 for about 2 months) fresh out of high school I definitely had some growing to do.  I thought I had my life together but a month on the road and a bout of pink eye had me crying for mommy!  I quickly learned I didn't have really anything together and realized if I was going to survive my year on the road I would have to rely on God and my team mates to get through.  I was (and still am) so grateful I was given the opportunity to serve with NET but did not feel called to serve a second year when the time came to make that commitment.  I believed my time with NET was good but that chapter of my life was over and it was time to move on to college and see what I could learn at the University of Wyoming in yes, my hometown. 
So I moved back to Laramie and into the dorms to start my freshman year of college.  Can I just say that living in the dorms in my hometown seemed a rather odd concept at first. I mean most of my friends either decided to live at home or hadn't taken a year off and were in apartments so I felt a little awkward living in the dorms (especially since they put me, a music major, on a floor with a bunch of health sciences majors.  Great, what could I possibly talk to them about?  I hated Biology!).  But I gave it some time and learned many lessons living in the dorms.  First, I discovered picking the right roommate is of the utmost importance and how wonderful it can be when your terrible room mate just disappears one day and never returns. Second, although I hated it at the time when I moved out I realized cafeteria food is wonderful when it means you don't have to the dishes!  Finally, while living in the dorms I discovered an amazing group of friends who have been my support through college. They have helped me become the person that has led me to this point in my life.  So, what is this point in my life you might ask?  This is getting rather long and I suppose I should get to the point already. 
So, here it is, the whole point of this blog.  You remember how I thought my time with NET was over?  Well, I was wrong once again (shocker, I know).  God is so good at keeping me on my toes (and keeping me humble).  I am once again about to embark on a crazy 9 month journey with NET Ministries, but this time I'll be serving in Ireland.  In just 27 short days I will board a plan and head toward the beautiful green country I've always dreamed of visiting.  I will once again devote 9 months to serving God and spreading his gospel message (indulging my love for travel is just a side bonus).  I will literally be living a dream.   I get share my faith and see new places and meet new people and develop bonds that will mold and shape the person God wishes me to become.  Of course, I can't do this alone so I ask for prayers as I get ready to start this new chapter in my life.  In return, I will try to blog as often as possible (although I make no guarantees as the life a Netter is crazy) and share my experiences with those of you who wish to read about them.  Thank you in advance for your support and I can't wait to share this experience with all of you!