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 6th class retreat, and youth group that evening.
The Retreat went so well, and it was awesome just to see the difference between
the 5th and 6th 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
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