February 16, 2006
Ireland, Part 1
I'm writing Thursday from an internet cafe in Galway, Ireland. The weather continues to be windy, cold, and raining, but the people are warm and gracious to us wherever we go. We came to Galway to view the city after spending the evening at the Ardmore Country House in the Village of Spiddal, the home of those we have come to meet and look for ways to join them in their lives here.
Monday we met Kent and Ben at Mike's Bites in Bangor to here more of their work there with university students. There are many possibilities for building bridges with common interests in that city. Here's a picture of Kevin and the guys.
Tuesday, Valentine's Day, was spent in Dublin after a ferry ride from Wales to Ireland. There we visited Trinity College and viewed the Book of Kells exhibit in the Old Library. Okay, having a Ph.D. in New Testament studies made this a worthy trip of me. You'll have to ask the others about what they thought. We also visited Christ Church where Johnathan Swift preached and ended the day at the Arlington Hotel where they had live Irish folk music and dancing...the Riverdance type.
Wednesday was a travel day from Dublin to the An Gealtacht region of Ireland, where our second language group lives. Here we spent time with the locals and praying for the region.
We have much to share about the spiritual condition of the country. Many years of imposed religion on the local people have left a bad taste in their mouths for faith. Superstition and myth dominate their faith experience, and their duty to the church overrides their desire to serve God out of joy and gratitude.
We are encouraged about the possibilities here for strategies here are similar to those we seek to use in our mission field. I will share those with you when we return.
We will go to Shannon later today to catch our flight home on Friday morning. Can't wait to see you all and share what God has put on our hearts for the people groups we have met.
Here's the name of the town I mentioned in my last post.
So Gene, how do you pronounce the name of the town?
Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 10:19 AMOK, I have to admit, I googled the name of that town to see if you were kidding BEFORE you put the picture up. That's amazing! How DO you say it? What does it mean? And why is it so LOOOOOONG?
Have a safe trip home. I can't wait to hear more about it.
Posted by: Debbie at February 16, 2006 04:20 PMMike,
You'll have to ask our guide! I'll see if I can post it on the site somewhere.
gene
Posted by: Gene Wilkes at February 18, 2006 05:40 AM