Post-College-Grad Weddings Season

Becky & I roadtripped to Wilmore Kentucky for the weekend; her friend is getting married on Sunday (Becky’s in the post-college-grad weddings season of her life)

So I’m currently hanging out in the town that I would have been living in for 2 years already if my plans for my life had happened. What’s funny is, if those plans had happened, I probably would have still been spending today with my sister, in her friend’s house, because she still would have visited this weekend.

From thinking about the last couple years of my life & everything I’ve learned during them, I think I truly believe that there is a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc for every person’s life. Here’s why:

I had 2 choices for college: Asbury College in KY or Malone College in OH. Upon highschool graduation I had chosen Asbury College, which has an excellent Media course. I had planned on going to Asbury for Music Management, but at this point I’m pretty sure I would have switched to Media Communications. If I had chosen Malone, I probably would’ve stuck with Music Management. Thus, 2 different roads. And I unknowingly had chosen the Media one. However, God had a different plan altogether which meant that the past 2 years have found me in working with Youth for Christ Dromore. If I hadn’t followed the Dromore route, however, plan B (Asbury) would’ve happened. I’m sure Plan B would be pretty neat but…. Plan A is Plan A after all.

A Year in Music

In my personal journal that I write in every so often (whenever I have a revolutionary idea or something interesting to write), I always jot down next to the date what song I’m listening to or have stuck in my head. This past year I haven’t kept up writing as much as I would have liked, but there are still plenty of good tunes noted in my journal. Sometimes they go with the mood I was in at that moment, & sometimes they are just completely random. Whatever the context, my journal depicts quite well what music I listen to most often & therefore probably the genres I hold most dear.

28 Aug 08 Blinded Third Eye Blind
29 Aug 08 Colour the Mess Sixstarhotel
30 Aug 08 House of God, Forever Jon Foreman
1 Sept 08 Be Here Now Oasis
6 Sept 08 Chicago (Acoustic) Sufjan Stevens
7 Sept 08 Snow Patrol
16 Sept 08 How Beautiful You Are By the Tree
20 Sept 08 Two Mariners The Decemberists
21 Sept 08 Sovay Andrew Bird
28 Sept 08 Sky Blue Sky Wilco
29 Sept 08 End of the Beginning Brian Houston
5 Oct 08 Breaking Up Somebody’s Home Patty Griffin
9 Oct 08 I’m Nowhere & You’re Everything Chris Thile
17 Oct 08 The Owls Go Architecture in Helsinki
15 Nov 08 A Message Coldplay
8 Dec 08 Sounds of Melodies Leeland
9 Dec 08 A Message Coldplay
8 Jan 09 Set Down Your Glass Snow Patrol
19 Jan 09 Flightless Bird, American Mouth Iron and Wine
21 Jan 09 In the Light DC Talk
22 Jan 09 Sufjan Stevens
24 Jan 09 Skinny Love Bon Iver
25 Jan 09 House of God, Forever Jon Foreman
29 Jan 09 With or Without You U2
31 Jan 09 Noah & the Whale
2 Feb 09 Awakening Switchfoot
3 Feb 09 Lua Bright Eyes
5 Feb 09 Fitzcarraldo The Frames; Moon The Swell Season
16 Feb 09 They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love Jars of Clay
19 Feb 09 Sine Waves Pushborders
21 Feb 09 “I know you well…” Bon Iver
4 Mar 09 King of Carrot Flowers Neutral Milk Hotel
9 Mar 09 Devotion The Lowly Knights
22 Mar 09 Baptize My Mind Jon Foreman
23 Mar 09 5 Years Noah & the Whale
30 Mar 09 Good Woman Cat Power
9 April 09 Burning in the Sky Jason Upton
16 April “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart…”
9 May 09 The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us” Sufjan Stevens
19 May 09 Can’t Stop Leeland
23 June 09 Half of You Cat Power
24 June 09 Traffic in the Sky Jason Upton
27 June 09 The One I’m Waiting For Relient K
4 July 09 That’s Not My Name The Ting Tings
7 July 09 Don’t Feel Like Dancing The Scissor Sisters
10 July 09 Power in the Blood
25 July 09 We Will Rock You Queen
26 July 09 White As Snow; I Am Still Running Jon Foreman
29 July 09 Holy is the Lamb Coffey Anderson
6 Aug 09 I Saw the Sign Ace of Base
10 Aug 09 Silver Lining Rilo Kiley
14 Aug 09 Sail Away David Gray
26 Aug 09 Chasing Cars Snow Patrol
5 Sept 09 Southbound Train Jon Foreman
7 Sept 09 I Like What You Say Nada Surf
13 Sept 09 fourty-sixth psalm A & K Witzer
14 Sept 09 I Need Thee Every Hour Jars of Clay
17 Sept 09 Sixstarhotel
18 Sept 09 Rise The Flobots

& that’s been my year.

Tropical Green Tea

Rita’s- the experience of a lifetime

The above image is Stanley, Chris, & myself being treated to Rita’s thanks to my Mom-Mom & Aunt Beth. Stan & Chris visited in August, & it was a stellar couple of weeks!

I’m currently sitting in Saxby’s, the more “mature” coffee place in Doylestown, right behind the lesser mature. I call it more mature because you don’t need to make your way through dozens of pre-teens in order to get to the front door.

It’s good being home. I’m in Doylestown until January and I’m looking forward to spending the time with my family. I’m also looking forward to a strengthened faith & more humble heart by the end of this furlough, as I’m spending the next few months fundraising for getting back to Dromore (check out my latest ministry update). In fact, what I really should be doing at the minute is making phonecalls for fundraising. But being at Saxby’s does have a ministry purpose- I needed the high-speed internet to upload an image onto ministry.magnetstreet.com in order to create a missionary magnet to give to those who donate. Our dial-up internet at home doesn’t work very well for that kind of hard work.

I should think of a theme for this blog.

This is

This is a blueberry. Freshly picked from one of the 12 blueberry bushes in the Witzer’s backyard. A wonderful summertime treat, they are a good source of fiber & the color blue.

This is graffiti in Belfast. Graffiti happens to be one of my favorite things about cities. It adds color &  uniqueness to places that would otherwise be void of such things. Graffiti usually makes a statement & is sometimes a display of natural talent.

This is a snowman receiving his head. In dreams & in all things imaginative, snowmen are purely white. However, anyone who has ever created a snowman will know that in reality, they are full of dirt & sticks. The number of segments (2 or 3)to a real snowman is an ongoing debate.

This is a violin. If played in the style particular to the Southern United States, it could be called a fiddle. Depending on the person playing, the violin/fiddle may sound like a choir of angels or a pen of pigs.

This is my older sister swinging on the swings in Hansel Park. Childlike innocence, jubilant freedom, classic elegance.

Ireland Tour : Last Day : Galway

Well we’ve just finished our last supper on the Ireland tour, & I am sitting here sipping tea in the apartment above Galway Christian Fellowship, where we’ve lived the past few days.

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been! My goodness. Sappy end-all blog coming later though. We’re still in Galway & the past few days have been brilliant. Yesterday’s Kidsfest was madness, that’s the only way to describe it really. A few pre-school aged kids showed up & our programme wasn’t active enough for them. So they resorted to running around pretending they were Power Rangers & Transformers & jumping on us because we stole their powers. Kinda reminded me of a day at home, really. But the kids were awesome all the same. Our Kidsfest crowd is different than the one in Tuam. The majority of the kids have never been to church. Thus the way we’re exploring the stories & singing the songs is a bit different than at Tuam & even in Dromore. It’s a challenge, & it’s exhilarating.

Then last night we joined in at the youth club at another local congregation, Living Word, at which was a bunch of the kids we had met on the street the night before! Amy wasn’t there, but a few of the girls that I had talked to were & the one showed me around the whole place excitedly. Dave & I gave a bit of our testimonies & we performed the “In the Light” drama. Another great night with a superb group of kids. I really feel for the kids in this part Galway… they’re so gifted in so many ways & it doesn’t look like they don’t get many chances to dive into their giftings. But that’s why the guys at Living Word & Galway YFC are here for & they’re doing a great job. May God continue to bless what they’re doing as their relationships with the kids around here get stronger!

Our last Kidsfest today was not quite as mad as yesterday but still totally fun. Bob & I took the younger pre-school aged kids to do their own program for the last bit of the afternoon & that worked a lot better than yesterday. The program today was “One Way”, all about Jonah & the different places he went. When he went the wrong way, the opposite way to where God told him to go, he ended up in a big fish. But when he went the right way, to Nineveh, where God told him to go, 120,000 people got saved! What a fabulous story.

Something that made me really happy: one of the girls’ mum has stayed through all of the Kidfests here in Galway, & she told me today that she noticed a huge boost in her daughter’s confidence since being with us the past few days. Her daughter actually got up on stage this afternoon with her friend & they sang us a Hannah Montana song. Her mum said that she was amazed because her daughter would have never done something like that before. Isn’t it amazing, the care that God has to build us up into the person He wants us, & has made us to be??

So our last night on tour finds us hanging out with the youth from Galway Christian Fellowship. We met most of them last night as well so it should be a good time.

You can pray for: 1) the kids who came to Kidfest these past few days, that any seeds that were planted in their hearts would grow into something great, that they would come back to other kids programs at the church, 2) that what was taught would leave a mark on the hearts of the mums who stayed at each Kidsfest, as most of them don’t know Jesus yet as their Savior, 3) the youth at Galway Christian Fellowship & Living Word, that they’d be empowered to get out & take a stand for Jesus, & 4) safety on the road as we travel back to Dromore tomorrow!

Thanks for your prayers for my health… I feel completely better & whatever was going on with my throat is gone again! =]

Ireland Tour : Day 9 : Galway

Hello!

Just another quick update as I need to get to bed shortly…

After leaving Tuam “celebrity style” (all of the kids from the youth club swarmed our car & van & ran down the road with us until we drove faster than they could run), we arrived in Galway and have been totally blessed. We’ve had the privilege of moving out of the van & setting up camp in rooms on the top floor of Galway Christian Fellowship church. It’s so nice to have my own mattress & an entire half of a room! It’s funny what becomes a blessing after living on the road for a week and a half…

Seriously though, Kevin, the worker at Galway YFC, is a a really great guy & had the place all stocked with food & ready-made beds upon our arrival. It’s been great getting to know him, his wife Maureen, & their 3 adorable little girls.

So here in Galway we’re working with Kevin at GYFC, which partners with Galway Christian Fellowship. Kidsfest On Tour is from 2-5 pm, & 7-9 pm finds us hanging out with the youth of the town. Well, kinda… Tonight we set up the React2:21 bus in the community centre car park, Dave got out the dj-ing equipment & pumped up the beats, & we attracted dozens of kids. KIDS (not teens), hanging out the street, ages ranging 3-12 on average. Neglect is a huge issue around this part of Galway, Keving told us afterwards. These kids with the dirty faces, battered t-shirts, shoe-less feet, knotted hair, they know what they’re missing. They are so intelligent, so creative, so gifted, and my prayer is that tonight wouldn’t be the only night somebody tells them that. After spending a couple hours giving them piggy-back rides, learning about their families, playing games like duck-duck-goose on the asphalt, climbing through the bushes pretending it’s a jungle, watching them run as they said, “Amanda! Watch this!”, my heart is bleeding for these kids.

Tonight I felt like I was in the Dominican Republic again. The only difference was that the kids swarming me spoke English. The faces we see on tv & in magazines aren’t the only kids who need our help.

I’m not sure if I’ll see any of the kids I met today again, but the guys here at GYFC are starting something good though, & my prayers are with them as they continue to build relationships with the kids around town & encourage them to be all that they can be!

Pray for Amy, a girl I spent the majority of the night with. I’m not sure where she fits in with the rest of the kids around town as she’s very quiet & easily hurt (I unfortunately had to witness another girl teasing her until she broke down in tears). I invited her to Kidsfest tomorrow & she seemed incredibly eager to come. Please pray that her parents give her permission to come & that she finds the church ok.

PLEASE pray for me as well, as I feel entirely run down & sick. I’ve been sick on & off with some kind of tonsillitis/strept throat thing for the past few months & it’s come back strong again. I don’t have any medicine to try to shake it off either.

PRAY FOR THE TEAM, as we’re all lacking in energy but want to keep giving our all. Pray for unity, patience, & energy!

Thanks =]

Ireland Tour : Day 7 : Tuam

Today is the first time I’ve been able to get on the internet since day 2! Ahh!! Update::

Bray was awesome. It was really cool to get to know Lisa, the worker at The Factory, & see the town. We met some young people in the town & that was class. Hopefully they’ll keep the Factory in mind for gigging, as they’re in a band. On Friday we did some finishing touches on the paint in the building, & Anna & I revamped the prayer room:

That’s part of it, if I had more time I’d put up different angles for you to see. But I must say a bit about Tuam before we leave for dinner in 10 minutes!

Tuam is a lot different than Bray as the people here don’t accept the gospel very easily. Our first night was quite interesting, but I won’t get into that now. Here in Tuam we are working with Corner Church- a small congregation, yet a very tightly knit community. Corner Church is working hard to reach out to the community they are in despite their small numbers, and we’re helping them by running KIDSFEST: On Tour in the mornings & helping at their youth club in the evenings. The kids at Kidsfest are brilliant. It’s encouraging to witness how firmly grounded they are in the Word amidst dark surroundings. And by hanging out with the kids, we’re encouraging their parents which is awesome. I’m really enjoying getting to know the young people in the church as well. They are excited to see other young people, ourselves, excited about God & ministry.

I am entirely inarticulate, but just know that we are having a good time, that we are being used by God in small & big ways, & that the Corner Church in Tuam needs your prayers. Pray that the hearts in Tuam would be softened, and that the outreach Corner Church is doing would be effective and full of God’s love.

GOTTA GO BYE!

Ireland Tour 09: Bray

It’s the 2nd official day of the tour. Rain kept us in the bus for most of the morning, but in the afternoon we got out & started handing out flyers for The Factory center:

[Created by Mr Ben McKinstry]

We gave them to kids in the bowling alley, random people on the streets, & in the lous at McDonalds & the bowling alley. During our ventures, we stopped for some amazing, genuine italian ice cream. Yum.

Last night, we walked long the sea front to make contact with young people around Bray. We ended meeting a couple groups of really awesome kids. Hopefully we’ll be seeing them again tonight when we bring the React2:21 bus down to the sea front & maybe do some dj-ing workshops.

As we were walking around last night, this was the view:

It is when I’m in the middle of God’s glorious creation that I feel closest to Him lately.

Please pray that God brings the young people we met last night & more to the van tonight & tomorrow so that we can make good connections & start up a core group for The Factory.

Ireland Tour 09: Bray

Check out The Factory at:
www.thefactorybray.com

Ireland Tour 09: Bray

Welcome to Bray.

After making our way through the Rocky Valley Drive last night about 11, we finally arrived at our destination, Valley View B & B and Campsite. Richie & Dora greeted us & kindly offered us a cup of tea despite the late hour.

Cheryl, David, Bob, Anna, Ben & myself were ushered into their quaint & hospitable sitting room where Richie proudly showed off his barograph (an instrument that, in its time, would have measured temperature over a week) and then allowed us to witness the fine sounds of his favorite men’s choir through his dearly loved wooden turntable. Dora came out of the kitchen with a fine selection of biscuits to accompany our tea and the eight of us set off making friendly conversation.

What was it like sleeping in the van for the first night? “A wonderful opportunity that I can now take off my bucket list,” says Anna.

Ben’s outlook is a bit different, “Scary.” Then again, if I witnessed Bob sleep walking in the middle of the night, that may have been my opinion as well.

So Ireland Tour 09 : Day 1 has been pretty easy… we’re at The Factory drop-in center, the first YFC center in southern Ireland. Our mission here is to bring young people in. The Factory only opened a few months ago, and it looks absolutely fantastic. It is any youth worker’s dream, with a nice-sized games room, an adjacent hall that looks perfect, feels perfect, and is perfect for gigs (and is being used for such), and cozy prayer room in the back.

But a really funky building isn’t going to impact lives on its own. It’s our job as the visiting team to go into town, talk to young people, and tell them about The Factory. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of detached work (which is the official name for walking about town and saying hi to young people you meet, that initial “hi” turning into conversation), but young people around these parts are surprisingly keen to chat! Any other time I’ve gone out on the streets for detached, I’ve started off not looking forward to it, and come away feeling awesome after having a few great chats. This time won’t be any different I’m sure.

We’re in Bray until Saturday. More updates & hopefully some good stories to come!

A visual of the journey so far:

Richie’s Barograph

React2:21 van on the road

Hahaaaa

Inside The Factory

Cheryl’s amazing chick pea salad [part of Day 1's lunch]