Guess Who Came To Visit?!

In November we had such a treat. My mother-in-law, Janet Sullivan, came to visit! It was not only her first trip to Europe, but her first time outside of the USA. Her heritage is all Irish, so this was a bit of a dream come true for her.

She flew into Shannon Airport which is 1 1/2 hours from Cork. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, which you don't always get in Ireland, so on the spur of the moment we decided to do some sight seeing and took her to County Kerry to see where her Grandfather was from.

 



Killarney National Park



We drove to the town of Kenmare where her Grandfather Jeremiah O'Neill was from and were able to show her the house where he was born and raised - at least what is left of it. The roof is gone but the old stone walls are still standing. It was remarkable to see.

 

Janet was here for Thanksgiving and Carly, Desmond and Jason were able to come too! This was her first chance to meet her 1st great grandson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           We had such a great time having them all here.



Trying to catch up

So, I know that I have been MIA - missing in action - for the latter half of 2013. It's definitely time for a blog catch-up post. So, if anyone is still reading this is what we've been up to lately.

In September we had a team from Belfast. They made the 5 hour drive after work on Friday, got a few hours of sleep, then hit the streets all day Saturday, witnessing and doing music and dramas on the streets. That evening Pastor Alan Taylor preached on healing and prayed for the sick. We had a lot of visitors and saw many pray for salvation as well as healing.

 

 

 

Next up was a team of 14 from our Hyannis, Massachusetts, our home church. It was such a blessing to have them here.  

 

 

                                                                                                                                  



One of the nights our friend Robin Farnsworth shared her testimony on forgiveness. It was really anointed and powerful. All who heard were touched and encouraged by her words.

We also had some special guests from Holland for a few days while the team was here; Carly and Jason! Carly hadn't been back to the States for several years so it was a treat for them all to see each other again.

 

We were thrilled that the entire Bartley family was able to come; Mark, Pauline, Marissa, Josiah and Joelle. Keith has known Mark and Pauline since high school and they were the ones who first brought him to church almost 30 years ago.

 

 

 

 

A few days after the Cape team left a team from Den Haag, Holland arrived.

 





Once again we were busy on the streets each day. They were able to do dramas and music on the streets and they were a great help in the services.

 

 

Next up was a team from Den Bosch in October. Pastor Eric and Kathy Naus have been good friends of ours for years. It was so great that they could bring a team including their 3 teenage children; Nienke, Bram and Jasper.

 



They have an amazing music group in their church made up of all teenagers. It's called "All of Creation" For 3 days in a row they did concerts on the streets plus concerts at our church. I'm surprised they had any voices left when they went home!

 

 

 

 

                                             Plus Eric and the guys did a few songs too.

 

 

                         The concerts and services were really good and we saw a lot of visitors.

 

 





 

It was a really busy couple of months, but so worth it as we've seen so much happen and new people come into the church here in Cork. We're so thankful for these friends and they're help and investment!

The Dutch Invasion

In July we had the awesome privilege of hosting a huge team from Holland. 45 people came from Zwolle for 5 days and were joined by 12 from Schiedam at the end of the week. They were such an amazing help to us. We hit the streets every day; witnessing, preaching, doing concerts and dramas, anything to draw a crowd and present the gospel. The team was great, working hard in the unusual-for -Ireland sunshine and heat.

I was a little busy while they were here, so I didn't take that many photos. If you'd like to see some really nice photos, please visit http://lighthousefotografie.blogspot.ie/ This is the blog of Janny Beimer. She's an amazing photographer.

Here's some of the shots I did manage to take during the week........


organizing 45 people and their luggage at the airport takes a little time

                    We had to hire a bus to get everyone around.

 





                                            Like father.....

 



........like son!

 



                                                           Dramas drew good crowds.

                  One of the best things was that so many people got to be witnessed to one-on-one.

                                                                        Preaching!

 

We rented a local café for a concert one night.

 

We also had a concert at the community center where we have our services.

 

 

We had some great services with Pastor Johan Houtman and Etienne DeSain preaching. It was so cool to see the hall packed to overflowing and all the people on the team made impact through the prayer meeting, song service, praise and the altar call. They were great examples to our people.

 

 

On the last day we took the Schiedam folks to do a little sight-seeing. We went to the beautiful village of Kinsale. It was the first day of "Irish weather", but we managed somehow.

 



We had such a good time with the teams and really appreciate all their help. God did great things and we have new people coming to the church as a direct result of their labors! Thank you!!!