February Update

As I’m writing this, it is snowing like crazy outside! The weather has been insane this semester. We’ve gotten sun, snow, sleet, rain, fog, etc. Some days feel like the dead of winter and others as though spring has arrived! As we adjust to the wild Irish weather, we’ve been getting back into our weekly ministry-WITH an addition to our team! Anna from Canada has joined the Immersion team and has come to Tullamore. We’re excited to have her! All of our usual activities are continuing to go well. Here’s a brief overview:

Sunday: Church: We were excited to have had some new people visit the church this month. In fact, we realized that there were many nations represented in church this month! It’s great to see people of every “tribe” and “tongue” coming together to worship God. 

Monday: Mountmellick Montague Refugee Asylum Center: A new preschool has started at the Montague, taking the time we used to have for the parent/toddler group on Mondays. We were disappointed to hear we wouldn’t be playing with the same children anymore, but we still have the opportunity to supply a parent/toddler group for 1-2 ½ year-olds! The woman who started these programs finished her term this month and was thrilled to see that her program would still continue with us even after she has gone. I was happy to see that we were a help and blessing to not only the parents and children, but also this woman who has devoted her time to the Montague center!

Tuesday: Tullamore College Alpha Course and Busy Bee’s Toddler and Parent group: Busy Bees had its first birthday this year and has grown tremendously since we have been here! We continue to help each week and even have some of the parents come to a Bible Study the church has started.

We are beginning to get regular students attending the Alpha course we teach at Tullamore College. I was able to teach my own lesson a few weeks ago on how God guides us. It was a great experience to interact with and teach the students by explaining how God guided me to Ireland. Anna was also able to share her story of how she came to Ireland.

Wednesday: Bible Study and Church Opening: The church has started a weekly Alpha Course Bible study. We provide a day care so that parents who couldn’t usually come because of children now can. In fact, some women from Busy Bees are beginning to attend the study!

The Church opening is continuing to go well. We use it as Bible Study time in-between visits from people who stop to chat and see the church. We were surprised and thrilled when five teenagers stopped in last week. They seemed to enjoy talking with us and even stopped in again on Saturday during the book store. They say the church is now their favorite “hangout spot.” We are starting to develop relationships with the teenagers here and getting great ideas for activities from them.

Thursday: Kid’s Club and Bible Study: We have about five kids each week at Kid’s club and we teach them a Bible lesson. We’ve recently been going over Paul’s missionary journeys and helping them understand what it means to “race toward a goal,” “persevere,” and help others.

Thursdays nights at the Catholic Parish center we have a Bible Study. We are now going through Philippians. It’s a great experience to meet more Christians in Tullamore, hear their experiences, fellowship, and encourage each other.

*some Thursday nights some people from the group go listen to local Irish music. It’s a fantastic cultural experience to hear real Irish music, played by real Irishmen, on real Irish instruments. 

Friday: Day off: On Fridays we SLEEP IN after the long week!  We usually try to do some activities in Tullamore on this day like visit the heritage center or the park. At the beginning of the month, though, we took this day and the weekend to visit Whitney and Ashlyn [our other team members] in their town of Athenry. It was great to see them again and spend time with them!

Saturday: Book Store, Bible Study, and monthly Girl’s Night: The Book Store is going well – we usually get adults poking their heads in to see what a protestant church looks like! 

In the evening, we have a youth Bible Study that we have started. Last week was our first week and we had one of the teenagers from the church come. He doesn’t regularly attend church, but says he enjoys it more than Catholic Mass. We asked him what kind of questions he’s had about the church, God, Jesus, and Christianity in general. Some of them were “who is God,” “was Jesus really God’s son,” and “where is God when bad things happen?” They were excellent questions we were excited to get into! Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at all of his questions and explain the Christian worldview and Biblical explanation for them. Another friend of ours is going to start attending our Bible Study as well. Please pray for wisdom, patience, and discernment during these times. It’s going to be difficult, but we’re excited.

This month we had our third girl’s night. Our timing for it wasn’t exactly perfect though. We placed it at the end of a week-long school break, so many of the girls were on vacation and no one came. We were able to enjoy ourselves and bond together as a team, however, and are still looking forward to next month’s girl’s night.

Next month the entire Immersion team will come to Tullamore for a team-ministry weekend. With advice from our friends in Tullamore, we have decided to have a pizza and movie night. Please pray that we can spread the word effectively and that many teens decide to come. Also pray that the team can be used in Tullamore efficiently. We’re excited about this time and will even do a little sightseeing by visiting Charville Castle in Tullamore!

Thanks a million for your prayers and support!

Blessings,
Leanne