Good Things In Ireland

Things here in Mallow Ireland, are falling into place rather nicely I must say. It has become home, and we are very happy and comfortable here. Aside from missing our daughters, family and friends, we have adjusted to living in a different country quite easily. God has continued to go ahead of us in each situation and make our transitions very easy up to this point.

We received our Immigration/Garda cards yesterday and have already gotten our "first year" visa stamp in our passports. After some of the horror stories that we had heard from other missionaries, about the hoops they had to jump though to get their stamps, we were very relieved to get ours in one trip and with no problems. The next step is to go to Cork City and get our PPSN numbers (basically, the equivalent of a Social Security Number). We will attempt to do that on Monday morning. After that is done, we will have completed all the government requirements to stay in Ireland, (other than our drivers license). At this point we do not have to check in with Immigration again until next August. Once again, God has proven to be Almighty!

Our first services are this Sunday (September 6th). We are very excited about getting the ministry off and running. We have had a number of people show an interest, but it will be exciting to see who actually shows up for the service. Please join us in fervent prayer for this service. I will write a post on Sunday afternoon to update all of you as to how things went.

Another answer to prayer for me was that I was able to join the Mallow Community Choir! This choir does a lot of singing around town and also competes in a number of choir competitions throughout Europe. I am praying that God will allow this to be a great opportunity for me to meet more people from Mallow, and also to make many new friends. More friends mean more opportunities to share the love of God.

When we came to Ireland, we told God that we would walk through every door that He opens for us. That we would take advantage of every opportunity that He brought our way to win the Irish people to Him. We are trying our best to do just that. Please pray that we will remain faithful to that vow.