Down to 2

                Hey guys, So what is new in the Village you ask? Well not much, life has been very good and most of all we are keeping busy! We are all leading nights and growing in confidence and ability, it is so awesome to see all of us grow from where we started in August. I know there will be more challenges and more growth, but it is good to stop and see where we already have been growing. This week was busy and every day pretty much had some kind of ministry, and we love it even if at the end of each day we are tired we know we have earned sleep. Sunday was pretty chill we went to mass and went shopping and did some cleaning like normal but to end the day we had our first Awake (junior youth group) night since being back and only 3 youth showed up so we had to throw out the plans we had for the night and just play games and have some fun. That evening after some phone calls Becca, Tim and I watched Taken and thoroughly enjoyed the action packed movie that it is. Monday was a good day off we had a great time just relaxing and taking time to do what we personally want to. I have started a weekly tradition to make chocolate chip cookies on day off which goes over very well for the team. That evening we had some very interesting prank calls from the Newbridge Team and it was a lot of fun; the pranks consisted around them asking me really random questions, i.e. “Do you wear Capri trousers?” After the questions stopped and a lot of good laughs we watched Chuck and finally finished season 3!!! We only have two seasons left, what will we do with our Mondays once we are done?!

Tuesday started our week off like normal with, breakfast, mass, Team leader meeting with Fr. Seamus, and the rest of us just doing team service time. Then after Tim’s supe call we had lunch and a team meeting along with final prep for this week’s youth nights. After all of that we had dinner and jam session. We really didn’t do much at jam session just chilled and hung out with the youth, and one of our youth brought his bass guitar which made Becca and my day. After jam session we had internet time for three of us and went to bed.  Wednesday was a good day with morning hood time and an afternoon of team service time. Then we had dinner and our Encountering Jesus night for Clonmellon Youth group led by me. Which was a lot of fun and we truly saw them enter in to the night, it was cool to see they had grown just since last time we were with them. After that Tim and Amy had their internet time and we all went to bed.

Thursday was a lot like last Thursday with our 6^th class retreat, and youth group that evening. The Retreat went so well, and it was awesome just to see the difference between the 5^th and 6^th class, that one year brings such a different change. They truly entered into the time of prayer ministry, and we even had a good number of guys cry after the one and one prayer. That afternoon we had a good TP and great dinner then began our youth night on the Holy Spirit. We had a small number of youth which at first seemed bad but I think it was good because we were truly able to go deeper and share more with them. To wrap up the night Becca and I did the Sketch “Vaseline”. This sketch is hilarious and got all the youth laughing and even the rest of the team after they had seen it a bunch of times. The next day we had a nice sleep in, breakfast, PP, TP, and a really good team meeting. Then we ate some lunch and prepared to leave for our Ovoca Manor Retreat. The Retreat was on the Essential Jesus, and run by Scripture Union, which is a non-denominational Christian organization that focuses on using scripture to grow closer to God. Before going to the retreat we stopped in the beautiful National Park called Glendalough State Park. It was gorgeous and full of “mountains”, for Ireland they were mountains but for North America they were big hills. The park had a lot of trees and even an old monastic city that was in ruins. We spent the afternoon hiking and enjoying God’s creation.

At the retreat we were all split into small groups, and spent the weekend having talks and small group sessions focused on the bible and different scripture readings. It was a little weird at first being the only Catholics at the retreat and the youngest, but we in the end had a great time and were truly able to get a lot out of the weekend. We did our best to explain what we are doing in Ireland and what NET is, and be a good example of Catholics and members of NET. There were some awesome praise and worship sessions, and a beautiful walk around the groups of the camp. Overall the Retreat was what we all needed to get filled up and rejuvenated for the next few weeks.  This was a great week and left me feeling glad to be a Catholic and also really at peace, this week was busy but we did a lot and I truly believe that we are doing exactly what God wants for us, and it is such a cool feeling knowing that what you are doing is first of all good and second of all God’s will. The thing we must remember is weeks like this where we come to the end and see we gave a lot but know it was good, and remember that not all weeks will be fun and or easy but that it is all worth it.

Since this week we have been busy like normal with youth groups, and a youth mass. We even got to celebrate Becca’s Birthday by going to County Mayo which happens to be Becca’s favorite county. We surprised her by taking her to Ashford Castle which is now a 5 star hotel. She thought that Ashford Castle was in County Wicklow so it was a surprise for her when we arrived at it in County Mayo. We also saw an old monastery and a Marian Shrine. To finish the day off we went to a Carmelite Monastry in Knock Co. Mayo, Becca loves the Carmelite nuns so it was really cool to sit and talk and share some laughs with them before the drive back to our home. Over it was a great birthday, and now its only me and Marie that are still in our teens on the team.

I hope this finds you all doing well and in good spirits, I am enjoying life but I do really miss my family and friends back home. I can’t believe that there is really only 3 months left of my time here in Ireland, it has just flown by. With all of that said I am so excited for my travels after NET, I got all my hostels booked now so I am all set. I will be spending 4 days in Rome, 2 days in Paris, 2 days in Venice, and 4 days in Barcelona it is going to be a blast!!!! Don’t worry I will take lots of pictures for you all! With that I leave you all with these words….   “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”

― G.K. Chesterton

NET Ireland Financial Status

Dear Family, Friends, Acquaintances, and Colleagues,  
     Ok, so here is some info about NET Ireland and how they support themselves. NET Ireland is a non-profit organization that does youth ministry in schools and parishes all around Ireland. NET's main way of supporting them selves is in thirds. One third comes from the NETter's fundraising, each member of NET is asked to raise a minimum of $6000 US or Canadian dollars, or 4500 euros. They encourage us to exceed this goal if we can. Next one third comes from the cost of retreats and parishes that have a local team. The last third comes from big donors and sponsors. In the States, Canada, and Australia there is a good amount of companies and people who sponsor NET directly in larger amounts of money. But the thing is since Ireland is so new and Youth ministry is such a new concept they do not have enough big sponsors to make up that last third of needed money. But NET Ireland still feels that we are doing God's work and that he will work it out. I heard once that if its God's will it will be God's bill.
     Although that does not mean we can sit back and leave it all in his hands. NET Ireland has been doing everything they can to grow those sponsors and build those networks that they can rely on. But one of the things they are also doing is encouraging us to reach our maximum. As NETters we are giving up a year of our life to do this great ministry and we ask all of our friends and families to support us with not only prayers but in a financial way too. So yes I have reached my minimum of $6000 US dollars, but I am going to do my best to raise more and support this ministry I am doing. We are beginning Lent today and there is three things we are called to do during this season; one to pray and devote more time to our personal relationship with Jesus, second we are called to fast and sacrifice things in our daily life to help us remember the sacrifice Jesus endured for us on the Cross. Last we are called to alms-giving, we are called to support the ministries of the church and NET is one of those ministries. So I ask you to pray and donate in any way you can, it will be much appreciated and even if that is saying a simple prayer daily for NET or to pledge 5 dollars every month to NET. I thank you all for reading this and hope that you will take time to discern what you are personally called to this Lenten season. I will attach a pledge card to this blog that has an address for NET in the States. If you feel called fill out the pledge card put my name on it somewhere and mail it to them and the money will be transferred to NET Ireland. Thank you so much and I will be praying for you all especially this Lent.

                      God Bless,

Benjamin Record

Surviving the Irish Winter

D – E – L – V – I – N! Whatcha Talkin’ Bout Man?! That’s Delvin! What? That’s Delvin! YEAH!

That right there is the beautiful song our Supervisor Mark wrote for us all the way back at training, it is like our spirit song that we sing to get pumped up or end a meeting! Who says we aren’t awesome! Well it’s just another week gone by, already the beginning of the 3^rd week, and we are going strong. We started the week with a sleep in to follow up our jam packed Team day on Saturday that was brought to us by Marie and I. We went to mass at 11am and came home did some lunch, and began our weekly cleaning and shopping. Sundays are pretty consistent; mass, cleaning, shopping, some sort of practice whether it be Drama or Skit and dinner followed by phone time and then the evening off leading into Day Off. The only abnormal thing that happened this week was an adventure that Becca and I went on. We were craving chocolate or munchies of some sort. So finally deciding to go get something at 10pm we left to go to the local corner store. We passed the person who just closed up on our way there so we quickly made the decision to go to the local chipper, Burger Boss. After a short wait we returned with a bag of Chips, French fries, and bottle of Fanta. Once back we, Tim, Marie, Becca, and I, watched Shutter Island and enjoyed a nice late evening together. Then came Day Off, and as those go it was pretty normal, except for I got a haircut by Jean O’Neill, who is the mom of some of our youth. We watched some Chuck that evening and then went to bed to begin yet another week of ministry.

Tuesday’s are most consistently the same out of all the days each week. We have breakfast, mass, team service time, Tim and Amy do a meeting with Fr. Seamus, and then Tim has his Supe call. Then we have lunch followed by something that changes every week. This week Tim and Amy went to Athboy for a meeting while the rest of us stayed home and had more service time. Then team prayer, dinner, and Jam session. For a Tuesday it was really good, but nothing super spectacular, just a normal day in the life of a Parish NET Team. Wednesday was a good day we had a meeting about DJ and good team prayer. It was followed up by lunch, and then Tim and Amy left to get our tire fixed. We had some drama practice and learned a new anointed drama (that is a drama done to a song with no spoken words) that we will be recording in the next few weeks.  That evening we ate a delish dinner and had a really good Hood time. Tim and I played a game of Risk and watched Inside Man. Thursday we began School visits again, which was actually really cool, to be back with these kids after not being there for quite a while. That afternoon we had some final team service time which included Tim and Amy doing scheduling for the next week, and Becca freaking out for that nights Youth Group. Becca did such an amazing job that night and is really a pro youth night leader. The night was on God the Father, and I honestly think the youth learned a lot about their personal relationship with that member of the Trinity.

Friday we went to the other 2 schools and did sessions with them, and the school that is normally a bit rambunctious was actually really well behaved. That afternoon after a Team meeting, and dinner, we went to Athboy for a Christian Unity prayer service. It was really cool and we actually did the Dare You To Move Drama which the rest of the people really liked. The evening was very chill, but very eye opening to how terribly people are treated around the world. Saturday we slept in, had a pleasantly long breakfast followed up by personal prayer (PP) and Team Prayer (TP). Then after lunch we began Becca’s Team Time!!!! We basically went on adventure, with the only two requirements being to have fun, and find some kind of ruins. Both were accomplished by the end of the 4 hours. After driving around enjoying the scenery, we found some random ruins off in some field so we walked to them and took pictures and Tim and I tried climbing up a stair case in one of the towers. Then it began to rain so we headed back home, which was awesome because then Becca showed us her picture slideshow of her family, and friends. It was a really chill relaxing afternoon.  After some dinner cooked by the girls, we has a brainstorming session about anything youth nights in the next month to see if we needed help with ideas. Finally before hitting the hay to end the week we had internet time to catch back up with all the rest of the world. Over all this week was really really good, we did a good amount and are continuing to grow as a team. The next week we had our first retreat for 5^th graders, and went down to Cork and saw Blarney Castle. We all kissed the Blarney Stone, so we are all gifted with the gift of eloquence so watch out J We had a great week busy but good. We are now enjoying a day off.  So anyway I cannot wait to look back at these blogs and see what I have done this year, it is flying by, so the quote of the day, “You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” Walter Hagen

Take care my dear friends and random people who are reading my blog J

Your Friend on the Green Isle

P.S. The weather has been so crazy from being like a hurricane to sunny and nice I guess this is the Irish Winters

Benjamin Record