Blow Hole

One afternoon Mark took Katja and I to this amazing harbour in Portstewart. It was a gorgeous day out; the sun was shinning and there was no rain. We walked through some grassy patches to a lookout spot where the ground just dropped off. All of the sudden I realized that I was standing on a cliff. I looked over the edge and saw the most beautiful view of the rough, choppy sea. The water was a deep, deep blue (nothing like I have seen in the states) and each peak of the wave was a fuzzy prestine white. The way the waves crashed up against the rocks and the cliffs was an incredible sight to see. The wind blew in my face and I could see the sun setting in the distance. We walked over to this gigantic boulder where it stuck out from the cliffs and it beckoned me to come closer. This was Gunn Rock. Apparantly people jump off this boulder into the crashing waves below just for kicks. Unfortunatley some have even lost their lives in search for a thrill. I had no intentions of jumping off this life-claiming rock, but I could not just leave with out stepping foot onto it. So, up I went. I climbed up the boulder, mind you I was wearing my high heel boots, and I planted my feet firmly on the rock and just stared in awe of God's creation in front of me. It was so exhilirating to have just the wind around me and the sense of nothing under me. I looked over the cove and spotted what it was we were here to see in the first place. A huge wave came up through the cove and splashed violently into the rocks and then it happened...Water sprayed up through the rocks and into the air! It was a blow hole! An absolutely magnificant sight. I stayed there as long as I could and then climbed back down to explore some other rocks to the side. I perched myself on some cliffs that overlooked the blow hole and Gunn rock and got some amazing pictures...ones of which you are looking at now. What a glorious day, definently one of my favorites thus far.

Random Pictures

My backyard...

Dessert at the Ramore for Michaela's Goodbye Lunch

Ricky's Random Broken Windshield...Strand Beach Portstewart...The Girls...
The Amazing Bowling League...

A Normal Week...

Many of you have been wondering what I do on an everyday basis. I figured that I would fill you in on what a typical week look like for me so that you have an idea of what it is that I am doing in Northern Ireland...

Every day can be a wee bit different. Tuesday through Friday I walk a brisk twenty-five minutes to Portstewart Promenade where the church offices are located. It's a beautiful walk when it is not pouring rain or hailing. It is mostly a residential area until you hit the Promenade. The houses are so quaint and mostly occupied for holiday homes. Beautifully colored hydrangea's line most of the houses gardens, which simply makes me smile. I start off the day at 9am with a cup of tea and head to my desk to start the day. I have different projects that I work on according to the next upcoming event or pressing matter.

Causeway Coast Vineyard just hosted a conference called The Church Has Left the Building this past weekend. We had about 150 people attend from the UK to Germany to Guatemala. The aim of the conference was to get the people in the church outside, on the streets, where the lost really are. We had several days of seminars, worship sessions and training courses. I was leading a group for servant evangelism, where I took some people to the town center in Coleraine and handed out free tea and coffee to anyone passing by. It's amazing the reaction you get from passerbys when you let them know that it is absolutely free and no strings are attached. Smiles immediately appear on faces and conversation is exchanged which is the ultimate goal. Building relationships. We showed the attendees how to reach out into the community and reach the people of their cities. We handed out lollies and took surveys and just chatted with people. We also had extensive training on our program Healing on the Streets. This is where we put out chairs in the town center every Saturday and invite people to come and receive healing. It was quite a sight to see about 150 people standing in the town center just praying for people and handing out fliers on healing. Just amazing! On the last night of the conference the church staff prayed for every single person who attended the conference individually. We spent over 2 hours praying for people. That was my first time participating in a prayer tunnel and I was astounded. God gave me unique and personal words for every person who came down the line. The Holy Spirit was there, and it was glorious. But I do have to admit that I was exhausted afterwards. What a great way to bless the body and end the conference.

At the moment I am working on organizing the mission trips for this upcoming year. Ben and I have gone through the feedback forms from last years teams and are getting everything together to decide where we want to focus on this year and how many teams we would like to send out. It is a lot of work, but oh so wonderful.

Ben and I are also working on publicizing for Encounter-School of Mission for 2009-2010. We are looking to find Leaders in the church who want to make a difference in their own communities by living a life of risk. Basically it is a 9 month program where we train people to "do the stuff" that Jesus and his disciples did. Heal the sick, Cast out demons, Serve the poor, and Welcome the lost. We want to get more people out in the community and infectiously spread the love of our Father. After the 9 months we send them back to their home churches where they can then lead their own congregation in living the life that we are called to.

Tuesdays I work with the college(high school) students in an after school program where we hangout with teens and just become available to chat. They are so open and love the idea that I am a Cali girl.

Wednesdays I am hoping to check out an evening program that Neil and Janet head up with the youth from ages 11-14. It provides a kickback environment where teens can come and chill and have a good time with music and friends.

Thursdays I have found a house group that I really enjoy with incredible people.

Fridays are my busy days... I work until 1:30, and then head off to Harper's Hill primary school to do an after school program with the younger kids. This is so much fun and one of my favorite times. We have a time of worship with the kids with hand motions and fun songs. We tell a wee story and ask the kids if they have any God Stories that they would like to share. Some respond by saying that they prayed for a family member or that they need prayer themselves. We play some games and hang out. I just love it. I have a group of girls who follow me around and play with my hair and ask me all sorts of questions about California. They are so precious, and it is such an honor to be able to just love them. After Harper's Hill I head down to Coleraine where I am on the street evangelism team from 3:30-5. We hand out free lollies and and simply chat with people walking by. There are usually 300 students at this time in the town center and most of them see us coming with the lollies and their faces light up. This is where the great conversations begin. The kids are quite open after you pass the 2 minute barrier and are quite receptive and curious as to why you are handing out free sweets. I am really starting to love this time with the kids and I am recognizing more faces that I see every Friday. It is all about building relationships!! After street evang I am supposed to do Prophetic evang where we pray before going out and get words, pictures, and names of people to look out for... but i haven't actually participated in this yet. This week for sure!! I can't wait. I have heard some amazing stories.

Healing on the Streets takes place on Saturdays from 10:30-2pm... And I love this as well. Rain, hail, or shine...we are there praying for people. I get so excited when the Holy Spirit touches everyone who sits down.

Sundays I am either helping serve tea or coffee to the congregation or I am doing the visuals for worship. I help set up for the evening service and make sure everything's in order and ready to go.

Monday comes around and I sleep in. This is my day off and I use it to relax and build up my strength so that I can pour it all out again.

Throughout the week I also fit time in to hang out with friends, or go down to the beach, star gaze...which is amazing here, or walk the promenade. Everything is beautiful here whether it be the country side or the sea. Even the shops are cute and quaint. So this is what My typical week looks like. Pretty crazy, but I enjoy every second of it!!

Mouse in the House...And it's not Mickey

Yes...You guessed it. I was lounging on the couch chatting with Katja, my roomate, and I went to grab something from my room upstairs. I had just put my foot on the first step when out of the corner of my eye I saw something scurry up the step. I thought I was hallucinating!! But sure enough there was a mouse running up the stairs. It's not very big, but I was so surprised to see it. I yelled for Katja to come and see it, and she ran to me as fast as she could. The mouse ran up the steps and got so close to me that I had to jump back a couple steps towards Katja who caught me just in time so I wouldn't fall. We chased him upstairs and he then dissapeared into 1 of 3 locations which is unkown to us. Either he went into the bathroom, the waterheater closet, or MY room...let's hope not the latter. Oh, wait I just heard him now...Sounds like he's in the kitchen...Yes, it's true. I just heard his squeaky little voice coming from the kitchen cabinets. Oh, where's Ben when you need him?? Katja and I have ordained Ben as the "Man of the House". He has already killed a couple spiders for us and has fixed our oven, but what good is it if he is not here on the weekends? Come home from Newcastle Ben, we need your manlyness. Come and chatch our little rodent friend!