we have arrived

Hey Family and Friends!

                Well I am officially commissioned by the Catholic Church of Ireland to be a NET Ireland missionary! Our Commissioning Mass went very well and we had about 63 people watch it through the live streaming of it. Bishop Boyce is a great man, and has supported NET Ireland since the beginning 7 years ago. Following the mass we had a small reception where not long after the first team left.. L (ARI team) it was a lot harder than I had thought it would be to say those good-byes, I will miss all my friends on that team very much. I had my first experience staying in a Host Home the night before the Commissioning Mass, Tim (my fellow team mate) and I stayed with the Jackson’s who are an awesome family. Beth Jackson is the Mom and who cooked us dinner and stayed up with us talking till midnight, she is so sweet and made us feel very much at home. The Jackson’s have three kids who are all out of the house and done with college. That night we slept so well, and woke up to nice HOT showers for the first time since we had been in Ireland. Both Tim and I will look forward to staying with her again if we get the opportunity.

                After the reception Tim and I stayed with the Newbridge team Guys, and our supervisors at their apartment. We basically had a guy’s night and watched the movie Safe House, would recommend it to people who like action. The next morning (Sunday) we went to mass, had lunch with Mark and Kristen (our Supervisors) and after saying good-byes left for Delvin. The drive from Ballybofey is really about 3 hours, but after a few times of getting lost and a detour we arrived in Delvin 4 and a half hours later. Delvin is a small town; more like a village, with about 400 people but has more in the surrounding area. There are 5 pubs on the main street, with a small grocery store, a hair salon, a butcher, and a small diner called Netties. We met a sweet older lady named Olive who is very involved in the Parish; she had spent the night before cleaning our house and preparing it for us. Fr. Seamus the parish priest is an awesome man very involved with the Youth and has 2 churches that he watches over plus 3 schools.  These keep him very busy. Being very busy and a slight procrastinator he didn’t set up a house for us until Friday, it was then Sunday.  Our house is very nice, but little, it has a kitchen and a living room with one toilet on the main floor 2^nd floor has two full bathrooms and two bedrooms with a double bed, with a tiny room that has a single. Upstairs is an attic room with another single but we are using that room for a storage and office kinda. It is right in town a 2 min walk from 3 pubs and the grocery store. Tonight we are having out first youth group get together at our house, it will be a fun social, Pizza party, we are all excited. Yesterday we went on a tour of Delvin it is beautiful but again very small, we have an old castle and an old church that looks like a castle that are in ruins from the 1100s! I took pictures, and will post them when I get a chance to upload them. We met a family named the O’Neill’s, they are the family of Laura O’Neill who is on the Newbridge team, they are so awesome they brought us right in and made us feel at home in their house. Their sons and I got along right off the bat, they play Munchkin the game, play with Legos, and they also play Pokémon on Gameboys, they are 16 and 13. I am really excited to start the youth group, keep us in your prayers! I will post again next week sometime.