So
March is here and I have had the pleasure to experience St. Paddy’s day in
Ireland! We have been enjoying a super nice spell of weather. For literally the
last 4 weeks we have had sunshine almost every day and decent temperature,
there has been cold days but in general very nice. So to start the first week
of the month we woke up after a nice sleep in, went to Sunday mass and did our
normal shopping, cleaning, and what not that we do every Sunday. That evening
we took some youth to see the relics of St. John Bosco in Tullamore. We had quite a bit of fun and a nice time
just being with our youth. To finish the evening Marie, Becca, and I played
“Beans”, as we call it or Bohnanza, while Tim and Amy had phone time. Then we
watched an episode of Dexter and went to bed. On Monday I slept in till like 11
and did pretty much nothing because it was day off. Becca and Marie spent the
entire day looking up hostels for their traveling around Italy after NET, and
Amy finished her Résumé for job applications. Over all it was a nice day off
and we got well rested for our crazy busy week that was ahead of us.
Tuesday
we did our normal routine of breakfast, PP, mass, Meeting with Fr. Seamus /
service time. Then we had lunch and team prayer which was then followed an afternoon
of preparing the music for both youth mass and the Youth Rally on Friday. After
all of that we had the luxury of going to some ones house for dinner. It was a
very good dinner cooked for us by a lady whose parents were Irish but moved to
the States and then she met an Irish Boy and moved back to Ireland after
getting married. She has a very strong Bronx accent and fed us American sized
portions. It was a very nice treat to share American memories with her and just
be treated. We came back after dinner and did a youth mass music practice and
then had our normal internet time before going to bed. Wednesday after our normal routine had our
confirmation retreat prep and rally prep time till lunch. Following that we had
some Team Prayer, and some school prep then Team Break. This week was very busy
so Tim and Amy felt it was necessary to have mandatory break time. It was
really nice we just watched an episode of Chuck and then while dinner was being
made we watched the first part of Pirates of the Caribbean. After dinner we had music practice for our
Youth Rally, followed by hood time. Over all it was a busy day but we had fun.
The funny thing is one of our youth named Adam plays guitar and we realized we
will see him 5 of the 7 days that week because of the music practices and such.
Thursday
we had drama practice in the morning , and then did a school session in one of
the primary schools. But there was something different about this school
session; we only had 3 of us go to it. We are starting something new where only
3 people go to the school sessions while the other two go to tea with someone.
This helps us divide and conquer, and make maximum use of our time. So that
went well except Amy and I didn’t get to have Tea with any one because no one
was home. But that after noon we had some last minute DJ prep and Rally prep
before dinner. For this week’s DJ night I lead a new game called Silent
Football and we basically played it all night. The youth had so much fun it was
such a nice chill night with our youth.
The next morning we woke up ready to accomplish all that was meant to
happen. We were supposed to have two school sessions, and a Youth Rally. We did
our first school visit just before lunch but were not able to do the second
because they didn’t have time for us. But that was good it gave us more time to
finish any last minute stuff for the rally. The Rally was meant to be like a
half retreat, with hopefully a lot of people from other towns joining us. That
didn’t happen sadly, because it was such short notice we only had 16 youth show
up. We were sad but it ended up being a really good time with our youth and we
had the gift of the ARI team helping us out.
After
the Rally the ARI team stayed with us and spent all of Saturday with us which
was sooo much fun. Our little house was so crowded but that made it more fun
for people like me who love people being around, and it was warm from all the
extra body heat. We took them to the ruins of Fore Abby, which was fun because
we basically climbed up the walls and just messed around for the afternoon.
Anna on the ARI team was lifted up into a few windows and even hopped down into
a room that was locked by a gate. We felt so mischievous but it was well worth
it. I really love hanging out with the ARI team they are such a fun and crazy
team. Plus the guy I roomed with back at the beginning of training, Josh, is on
that team. After our crazy afternoon we had them over for dinner, and sent them
on their way back to Cavan. To wrap up our long week we had a long team meeting
and then went to bed. All in all it was a great week but we for sure had
ministry coming out of our ears by the end of it. The last two weeks have been
rather similar; we have been busy but really good overall. This week is the
Parish Mission and that has been a huge blessing for the renewal of the Parish
and just a nice time for us to hear good talks and even have a Eucharistic
healing service. The team that is putting on the Retreats are from the St.
Patricks Community here in Ireland that was started by John Pridmore who is a
world renowned speaker who spent his earlier years as a gangster in London. We
sadly dont have John here at our parish but its been really good to hear all
the different talks done by his team and most of all get a renewal in my own
faith. I hope this lent has been a good one and want you all to know that you
are in my prayers and I look forward to
coming home and telling you even more stories of my time in Ireland!
