Day 142

I'm at Youthstorm and its lovely to be back. I left Toronto on Saturday after spending lovely time with Allan and Paula. I had some fun on my flight with spending over an hour queuing in customs, all the time thinking I'm going to miss my flight but arriving at my gate and finding out we had no pilots. So my plane was delayed by an hour. I eventually arrived in Boston and I met Denise and Joe and it was great to see them. Then only one of my bags arrived. My second bag was on the next flight so we had to hang around the airport waiting for my bag to arrive. We eventually left the airport at midnight. So that was a fun experience. So I'm here at Youthstorm just hanging out catching up with people. I'm leading worship at the prayer furnace tonight which I'm looking forward to. I'm very excited to be coming home and its hard to believe that my flight leaves tomorrow night. I can't wait to see all of you and just catch up and share what God is doing. Its been great to catch up with Denise, she is doing well and really enjoying her time here. Well I'm looking forward to seeing you all in the next few days. See you all soon and God bless.

Day 138

I seem to start every post with an apology for the inconsistency of posting so I apologise for my inactivity. Its been a very busy 3 weeks with a lot of stuff having been packed. Since my last post the "come up here" conference has come and gone. It was great to see my Mom and everyone else and God moved which was fantastic. I also led worship at single parents retreat which was interesting. Its just been a very hectic few weeks but its been really good as well. I've learned so much and just drawn closer to God. Also a lot has happened. My room-mate and another girl were asked to leave the school about 10 days ago which was tough. On that same day I was asked to stay on as a small group leader. So my head was spinning taking in everything that happened. I took a few days to think about it, talked to some people, sought advice and prayed and I decided to take the position. So I will be here for another year growing myself but also helping others to grow and draw nearer to God. So I am now coming home a week earlier and I arrive in Shannon on the 29th June around 7am. Also there is a team from here coming over to Cork to work with us for a week and just pour in, I'm very excited about that. I officially graduated yesterday and we were anointed with oil too which was fun. So today has been a day of goodbyes and tears for some. I've had a fantastic time here and I'm just excited to tell ye all about it. I fly down to Youthstorm tomorrow evening which I'm looking forward to. A chance to hang out with Denise and the rest of the gang there for a few days. I'm in very much a transitional stage in this next few weeks but I'm trusting God. looking forward to seeing you all soon. Keep in touch and God bless.

Day 117

Again my apologies for the long gap between my posts but life is busy here and has been especially over this last two weeks. When I last posted I was in the middle of a fast which God brought me through. It was really good. I spent a lot of time in prayer, reading my bible and just seeking the Lord. Since then I've been to Philadelphia which was an amazing experience. Its still hard to believe there's a third world in the richest nation in the world. We went right down into east Philadelphia to Kensington Ave. This is an area that is rife with poverty, addiction and prostitution. Us guys slept right in the ghetto in this empty women's drop in centre place with no air conditioning. We went to sleep to hip hop beats and other sounds of the ghetto. That's an experience everyone should have. The main reason we were there was to bless the people. There was a large Markee set up in the park that's right along where all the solicitation goes on. We set up a sound system and worshipped over the course of the day. We handed out hundreds of bags of groceries and fed people. We prayed for everyone who came in. Every person had a heart breaking story and tears just flowed when we prayed for people. The place is rife with drug addiction. We were told every third house surrounding the park was a crack house. Some of our group found drugs on the ground under the tent and people would be taking heroin literally 30 feet away. It was an experience I'll never forget. Most importantly God was there. People we touched. We saw people healed and we had some amazing times of worship not just in the music we played but in just reaching out to the people in the community. So that was an amazing weekend.
At the moment we're in the middle of the "Come up here" conference and its been really good so far. My Mom is here as well as Doug, Julie and Eilish so its been great spending time with them and catching up. I don't have much more time left here but it has been an amazing experience. I'll be home in 33 days or so. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again. God bless.