Amazing Opportunities

This week has been packed, but so full of amazing opportunities! Yesterday we went to Caldervale Highschool to Mrs. Byrne's Religious Education class. Mrs. Byrne is actually a Christian and as we sat in her classes it was exciting to see how she was able to direct discussions of issues like euthanasia, abortion, suffering, and Jesus' birth in a way that would make the kids identify the issues and respond to each other ("I agree/disagree with ____ because...") She was good at summarizing points in a sensible way and pointing out some of her thoughts about those things. Our time there was spent sitting in class and then participating in discussions with the kids. It was a great opportunity to explain what we believe about the value of human life and why we believe it's valuable, and express our faith in the Bible and God. There were not many ways to talk about the gospel, which was a disappointment to us, but we were still delighted to try to impact the kids with our love and friendliness! It was a weird experience to be able to walk into a school and speak freely about our beliefs--that was partly okay because we're a novelty, being from America and N. Ireland.

Anyway, pray for Mrs. Byrne's witness in the Caldervale Highschool and that the kids would look for more answers and find Christ. Pray also for a little boy who will be entering the high school next year--he out of the blue asked me, "So what happens if you don't believe in God?" I gave him a short answer, but mainly encouraged him to read part of the Bible if he can find one.

Well, I'm leaving for Boston on Friday, and while I'm looking forward so much to going to Violet and Kyle's wedding, it's still going to be awfully hard to leave the team early! We've become sort of a family. :-) It's been the greatest encouragement to see how much grace everyone gives each other when we make mistakes, and it's a picture of how Christ gives grace to us. I think my favorite part of the trip has been talking with each other and with non-Christians about what Jesus has done in our lives. That's something I can do at home, too, and I want to be more faithful in that when I get home. Praying together has been another huge blessing. We've gotten to see lots of little answers to prayer, and also recent big answers that have come from long years of prayer. It'll be neat to get back home and pray more faithfully for and with my church.

Some of you I'll see soon! Thanks for all your prayers and financial help. I'm sure I can come up with more things to tell you about in person. :-D