I'M HERE!

Who’da thunk I would finally be publishing a blog post on Irish soil. YES THAT IS RIGHT, MY FRIEND. I AM ON IRISH SOIL. I have made it to the land of Guinness and Potatoes. I have waited so long for this moment!!!! EEP!! Most people absolutely supported this whole process. A few others told me I was foolish to keep waiting. Some people gave up hope and doubted the mission. Not me. And God never failed. God has finished preparing my home. He needed a little longer to set it up for me, but now he has brought me here. God's timing is perfect.

I have been slacking on my blog posts. Since the last blog post, Matt, my teammate from my mission team, has come from Canada to visit me in the States. We went to go see my brothers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. So much happened while we were there and we got to tour the town through all of the ice. You think I’m kidding?

Heck, we even went to Catholic Mass in an ice chapel. Talk about being cold…

That was a true test of faith.

After that adventure, Matt and I went to Franciscan to see my friends one last time (I say that every time, but this time for real). Again, so much happened, but I just haven’t had any time to blog about it. So leave it to your imagination, but allow your creativity to be generous because we had loads of fun.

After Matt flew back to Canada, I was in a house alone for the first time. Megan was visiting a friend in Utah so I truly had the house to myself and would see myself off to Ireland. When I told my Dad that, he couldn’t let that be the case…so Dad decided to come visit! We had a great weekend together which ended in him adopting a furry friend. I did some solid convincing. What else are daughters for?

Meet Dog.

Also, don’t ask why his eyes are bloodshot. In fact, I’m asking you! Can someone please tell me. It kinda freaked me out.

That was the last adventure in America. Well…actually I got rear-ended on the way to the airport, but I like to talk about the good adventures and I would have nothing nice to say anyways, so I’m not going to say it.

It was a weird feeling knowing I was actually going to the airport to go to Ireland. I wasn’t too much excited — except the fact that my friends were hyping me up so much — but I was very peaceful. There was no anxiety or stress about the situation. Even as I got on the flight to Dublin, I didn’t feel any butterflies or sadness. Just content. It felt so right and so casual. I had some doubtful moments through all of the waiting, but this peace brought me the final satisfaction that I am indeed needed in Ireland and that it will provide a home for me and hopefully I will restore a piece of 'home' back to Ireland.

This is a whole new chapter ahead of me and all the pages appear absolutely blank. I don’t know what happens from here except I’m going to sleep at the airport for a couple hours and wait for a teammate and then I have a bus ticket to Bally...something. Ballyshannon, I think? Don’t ask me where we are going from there. Don’t ask me where I’m living. Don’t ask me what I’m doing for ministry. Don’t ask me what I’ll eat tomorrow. Don’t ask me what I’m giving up for lent. Because the truth is — I don’t know!! But how beautiful is it to have so much peace about entrusting the process to God. Everything could go wrong, yet in the end it will work out entirely how God wanted because my judgement wasn’t hindering His.

I do know one thing — I gotta wash my face after sleeping in a pool of drool on my tray table. Keepin' it classy 😎

Also, who told me Ireland was completely overcast? I wasn’t expecting ANY colors, but ALAS! Look what I was welcomed with:

God Wink!!