Hey everyone!

I just want to start off by saying thank you to everyone for your support with prayer and finances without you   this journey would have not been possible.  I feel completely and entirely blessed by those who have been brought along side me in my walk of life.

I guess I suppose I should just tell a bit of my story to start out with.  Earlier this summer I decided to go and visit my friends Bill and Katie (they are married :p) in Northern Ireland.  Bill was doing his internship with Youth for Christ and Katie was doing volunteer work with them as well.  This was one of those instances where when the idea is brought up your thinking "YEAH that sounds like an awesome idea!", but in reality your thinking that it most likely wouldn't work out.  Well...it did and it totally caught me off guard.  It was strange because part of me was almost scared to go out there.  I felt that if I did I would be different.  In a way I suppose that was some foreshadowing.  Up until jumping on the Megabus did those jitters and doubts go away.  By the way I would not recommend taking an 8 hr bus ride before 10 hrs of flying.

After landing in Dublin I was just filled with a spirit of adventure and excitement.  Something stirred in me, maybe it was all the Irish accents, being a different country, getting out on a good vacation, or a sense of freedom from the daily grind.  I am not gonna lie, it was all of those.  Well, that and I felt that something out there was gonna make a big impact on me.

I spent two weeks experiencing one of the strangest, yet most pleasant vacations that I have ever been on. I got to meet some amazing people as well.  I ended up helping two people move, went to church multiple times, some how got invited to a small group, and helped out at a father's day event for the Vineyard church. I will be honest those would be some of the last things I would consider doing on a vacation, but for some reason I was happy to join in.  During this time God started knocking on the door...I started to just be awoken to things around me.  I realized how complacent and bitter I had become, that I was getting restless with where I was at, and that I was really missing being involved with ministry work.  I felt that I was supposed to be here, that this whole trip was something to get me hooked.

I started to journal (which hadn't been touched in possibly a year or two.) and pray.  Honestly it was really all I could do to figure out what was going on in my heart and my head.  It wasn't until my buddy Gary and I had a conversation out side.  Actually it was a very short comment that hit me hard.  Gary looked at me and said "Your coming back, your supposed to be here."  I must have been looking very confused at this moment.  He then said "Your got that look in your eyes."

To avoid writing a novel I am going to try and keep all of this short.  As soon as the plane lifted off from Dublin I felt my heart grow heavy and burdened. I felt that as though I was running away from something important.  This was one of the more confusing points in my life.  I kept thinking that I was supposed to be back in Ireland, but I didn't want to do something stupid or irrational.  This battle was going on in my head for several weeks, until after many nights of prayer and conversation I decided why not just go over and take some online classes and see what happens.  The next day I got a text from my friend Karen telling me that the church was really needing an intern, the one they had set up had to back out last minute.  I was a bit blown away...ok maybe this was a sign.  It also happens that Gary had told me I could live with him if I ever wanted to move out to Ireland.

So the next bit was getting my visa super fast and just everything falling into place, well except for finding a place for my dog, but that worked out in the end.  It's just a reminder that even thought your on the right path, not everything is going to be easy.  I even had a vivid dream about trying to cross this giant highway.  No matter what I tried doing, I failed at it.  In the dream I got very angry, then realized that I needed to give it to God, then a bridge appeared right in front of me.  It was right in front of me and next thing I know I'm in Ireland on the coast in awe of the glory of God.  In all honesty you would be a fool to expect following God's direction to be easy and have everything work out for you in the way you think it is going to.

After a few weeks of living with my parents and running around trying to see people before moving, I am now here just starting up this internship.  I will be helping out Bryan the youth pastor at the church.  My main focus will be on our weekly training, Lava (which is a typical youth hangout night on Fridays), Explosion (a worship service for the youth on wed. nights), and co-leading a small group which meet before Lava on Fridays.  There will also be the small group that meets at the house I'm staying in on Tuesdays, going out into the community to pray for people and to be a presence in the community, and there is the days in the office helping out in any way I can...or told to :-)

My goal with this blog is to keep you all up to date as much as possible.  I will also be putting up pictures and possibly videos of everything.  Also feel free to make any comments or chat if you like, but please watch your language.  I will also not put up with people starting up fights on here or talking down to others.  With that said welcome!!!