One of Those "Ah-Ha" Moments

God's been causing a couple of thoughts to persist in my mind since my trip.  First, I've always been lukewarm about handing out tracts to people.  I've always questioned whether anyone read them or took them seriously.  While I was traveling with the Williamsons, I was witness to their leaving tracts for waitresses, maids in hotels, and toll booth workers.  Stephen reminded me of what God says about His word in Isaiah 55:  "It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  I realized he had a point.


So tonight I was rooting around in my closet looking at books and found an excellent bible study I started quite a while ago and never got past the first lesson.  It's Be Complete, by Warren Wiersbe.  In Chapter 2, Wiersbe talks about how some Christians share the gospel in a negative way, emphasizing condemnation and leaving out all the hope.  "Right on, Wiersbe," I thought.  Then he says that "the Word of God has the power to generate faith in those who hear," and cites Romans 10:17, which says "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."  


Now, this is one of those verses that I know is in Romans, but I hadn't spent a huge amount of time pondering.  But I realized that when I look at all this together, God is saying that our job as Christians is simply to get the word of Christ to the ears of those who don't believe, and that God's word is potent enough to take care of the rest.  We don't need to be eloquent, or natural evangelists, or have catchy taglines.  We just need to be bold enough to get it out there.  

I Suppose That's It

I flew from Madrid to Dublin this morning, and took a few hours this afternoon to wander around Dublin.  I spent some time walking around Trinity College, picked up a few trinkets for the kids, and then came back to my hotel room at the airport to prepare to come home tomorrow.

There are a couple of nameless taxi drivers in Dublin you could pray for.  The first brought me downtown. He was so incensed about the country's government corruption that he was on a tirade for nearly the entire 20-minute drive into downtown.  I silently thanked God for being in control of everything, even corrupt governments.  When I paid my fare, along with a tip, I gave the taxi driver a small tract.

After my walk in Dublin, I miraculously found another taxi right when I wanted to head back to the hotel.  It was "bucketing," as they say here, so I was grateful to hop into a warm, dry car.  This taxi driver talked about drinking Guinness nearly the whole trip back to the hotel.  He was very nice, and we talked about our families (he has 3 kids, 2 girls and 1 boy), and he asked me several times if I was going back to the hotel to have one more Guinness before heading home.  I gave this taxi driver a tract with his fare and tip as well, and he looked at it with interest and said, "What's this?  Your card?"  I just smiled and said, "No, just a little something for you," and I got out of the cab.  I could hear as I walked up to the hotel that he hadn't pulled away yet, and I prayed that it was because he was reading the card I gave him, which talked about the plan of salvation.  

So please pray for these two men, and please pray for the country of Ireland.  I started thinking about some of the facts and figures I've learned since being here, and it suddenly hit me what they really mean.  In the U.S., we can hardly drive 5 miles without passing a church.  Once I started thinking about the idea that there are large towns here, towns bigger than Greenwood, with absolutely no Christian church and absolutely no Christians whatsoever living in them, I felt so sad for the people who live here.  How can they get to know Jesus if nobody is here to introduce them to Him?  

We don't often think of places like Ireland or Spain as being badly in need of missionaries.  We think of places like Haiti and Africa, because of the humanitarian issues that come along with those places.  I will never diminish the importance of caring for the physical needs of the destitute.  But I will also never diminish the importance of caring for the spiritual needs of those living in the abject poverty of a life without Christ.

"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent?"                              

--Romans 10:14-15

Trinity College

Good Preaching is International

Today we all went to church--Iglesia Cristiana Evangelica de Chamartin (Evangelical Christian Church of Chamartin).  It was so encouraging to see so many happy people coming together to worship!  The sermon was entitled "Soporta la Tentacion." ("Withstanding Temptation).  There are accents missing in these Spanish words, because I don't know how to make them on my keyboard, so I apologize to those of you who notice these things.  But I digress....

Anyway, the pastor preached from the book of James (which is "Santiago" in Spanish--of course, right?) 1:12-18.  I prayed just as we were singing at the beginning of the service that I would be able to recall enough of my Spanish to understand the songs and the sermon, and I was able to comprehend about 80-85% of everything.  Enough to take notes in my leaflet in Spanish, so I felt pretty satisfied.  It was a great sermon, talking about how we go from sinful thoughts, to formulating a plan, to carrying out the plan, which leads to death.  Then he talked about how to break the cycle, which is at the moment the sinful thought enters your mind--fix your thoughts on God.  If you never progress past this first stage, you'll never find yourself in the death spiral of sin having a grip on you.  In the power of Christ, we can triumph over sin.  

Getting ready for church

The pastor starting the sermon

Ruth at church

After church, we came home and had dinner, with the Spain regional director and another OMS missionary from Australia in tow.  This evening I'll be packing up and getting ready for my flight back to Dublin, where I'll spend the night and then depart for the States on Tuesday morning.  

I'll leave you with a striking photo of Max the Dog, the only member of the Castro family who's not bilingual (unless speaking "food" is another language)!

Max the Dog

Vision Norte and a Shoe on the Roof

This morning, Gail Castro took me over to Paul and Sylvia Cummings' house, where I had breakfast (and a lot of coffee) and a good chat with Sylvia.  Then I went on a driving tour with Paul Cummings and Daniel Castro, of an area they have named "Vision Norte" ("North Vision").  There are 70,000 people living in this area, which has enjoyed recent, rapid growth because the residential property values are much less than those in Madrid.  They are hoping to reach two distinct people groups living in the area:  young couples and retirees.  We drove a huge circle around this area, stopping in a couple of locations to pray for the ministry.

Me, on an area overlooking the Jarama River Valley, the site of the Vision Norte ministry.

Gail was able to meet us for lunch after her day of teaching at the missionary kids' school was over, and then we went to the school to pick up Melissa and Ruth, the Castros' two daughters.  Melissa showed me around the school.

Ruth

Gail (L) and Melissa (R)

Then we headed back to the Castros for some siesta time.  I went upstairs to put my things down and heard Melissa and Ruth in one of the girls' rooms.   My parental commotion alarm went off, so I went to investigate.  It seemed that Ruth had opened the window to shake some sand out of her shoe, and the shoe was now resting on the tile roof, too far to try climbing out to retrieve.  First the girls tried throwing some of Max's tennis balls at it to dislodge it, but that only served to now have tennis balls on the roof along with the shoe.  After about 10 minutes, I realized I could be charged with aiding and abetting, so I left the room and decided to wait it out.  A few minutes later, Ruth confessed and asked the parents for help.  So they found a ladder and an extending window cleaner pole, and went out into the yard, where Max the Dog was racing madly in circles and barking at the pole.  Max kept fetching his ball and bringing it to Daniel, until Max lost the ball under the hedgerow.  Gail and I stood on the back porch doing what mothers do best--giving directions.  Finally, the shoe came down, but poor Max is still missing a couple of his tennis balls. 

And a guy from New Jersey

This morning we went to Mike and Cathy Tardive in Abbeyleix.  Mike has planted a church near Abbeyleix and has a membership of about 100 people.  They are in the process of finding a building to buy so they have a permanent home.  They're just one more example of a church in need of feet on the ground to do outreach, especially with children and teenagers.  Mike and Cathy are so committed to their ministry among the Irish people that they have become Irish citizens (as did the Walshes, who I wrote about yesterday).  

The Williamsons, the Tardives

The cat guarding the Tardives' henhouse

After our talk with the Tardives, the Williamsons took me to Dublin airport for my 4:00 p.m. flight to Madrid.  Sylvia Cummings, one of our long-time OMS missionaries, picked me up at the airport and brought me to the Castro home, where I'll be staying while I'm here.  I was greeted by the Castros' golden retriever, Max, who later tried to climb into the bed in the bedroom I'm using.  He must know exactly who he's dealing with! 

Max the Dog

I'll be getting up early tomorrow morning to spend some more time with Sylvia and then tomorrow afternoon I'll get to see the missionary kids' school here in Madrid.   I'm looking forward to practicing some Spanish tomorrow!  

Irishmen and Midwesterners

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Today we went to visit Paudge and Emer Mulvihill at their home.  We had tea and swapped our testimonies.  Paudge came from a very religious Catholic background, where his father was headed for the priesthood at one point.  Paudge became disillusioned with religion for a time, and then wound up with a group of friends who all became Christian and wanted Paudge to come with them to their bible study/fellowship meetings.  Paudge was 20, and for some reason had taken to smoking a pipe.  He said he’d sit in their meetings and puff on his pipe and argue, argue, argue with them the entire time.  But somehow he kept coming to these meetings.  Finally, one day he couldn’t run from Jesus anymore.  He took a walk, got right with God, and went back to the group to announce he’d come to Christ.  I wish I had been there to see the looks on their faces!  

Paudge is one of OMS’ church planting partners.  He told me about his vision of seeing 10 churches planted in Ireland in the next 9 years.  I was shocked to learn about how many towns there are in Ireland with no evangelical Christian presence whatsoever. In fact, there are a total of 72 towns with a population of 5,000 or more that have no evangelical Christian witness of any sort. Paudge is hoping to recruit several interns who would be able to come work with him for periods of 1-2 years to help out and learn.I left the Mulvihills’ house feeling more convinced than ever that Ireland is in desperate need of missionaries.

We then traveled to Roscommon to meet with Michael and Amy Walsh.  Amy is from Iowa originally, and Michael is from the Chicago area.  In fact, Michael graduated from Moody Bible Institute just a few years before Pastor Steve.  We had a great time sitting around their kitchen table talking about their ministry (Michael even made me a delicious cup of coffee from Starbucks beans, which immediately won me over!).  They’ve been in Ireland for 20 years, and started a church with about 5 people, meeting in in their home, which has now grown to meeting in a church building with an attendance of 65 people.  Amy home schools their kids, after her kids started bringing home schoolwork that included a book of curses and spells and learning about crystal balls.  The Murphys would also welcome another missionary couple who could come alongside and work with them on outreach.

We’re now in the Alleyaix Manor Hotel for the night.  Tomorrow we’re going to be meeting with another missionary couple and then we’ll be making our way to the Dublin airport for my flight to Madrid.  While I’m looking forward to my visit to Spain, I’m very sad to leave Ireland so soon.  I haven’t been here long, but I’ve developed a very strong connection in a short time.  

Driving on the left is a little unsettling!

(From L) Amy Walsh, Michael Walsh, Stephen Williamson, Esther Williamson

Paudge and Emer Mulvihill

The Travelers

 November 17 2010

Armagh to Westport in County Mayo

This morning I woke up in a haze of jet lag and didn’t finally feel functional until around 9:30.  I went over to visit with Ann and John Morton, who are the parents of Jonathan Morton, who is our assistant international executive director at OMS.  We had a nice visit and I learned all sorts of juicy tidbits to be put to good use when Jonathan turns 40 in January!

Then we hit the road to meet Kathy Moriarty.  Kathy is an American living in County Wicklow, Ireland with her husband, Jim.  She has a ministry for a lost people group I never even knew existed--she ministers to a nomadic group of Irish folk called “Travelers.”  We might think of them as gypsies. They have caravans and they go from town to town living in campers, picking up the odd job here and there.  Kathy started ministering to these people several years ago and has been successful in forming relationships with them as an outsider, a feat by itself, but has also been a tool in bringing many of them to the Lord.  She now organizes worship and bible study for those who have become followers of Jesus, instead of followers of the blowing wind.  

While we were with her, she was able to introduce us to a few of her friends from this group.  First I met Bridget, who has not yet accepted Christ as her savior, but who Kathy thinks is close.  She introduced me and I was able to speak with her for a few minutes about Jesus.  She has experienced a life of tragedy, difficulty and being socially outcast.  All I could think to tell her was that Jesus loved her, and Jesus could help her with her hard life.  

Then we went on to meet some of the traveler families that had accepted Christ.  We met little Savannah, who had a rotten tooth and was on her way to the dentist to have it looked at, her parents Tina and John, and her two brothers who had just been walking home from school, named Paddy and John.  Savannah was very excited when Kathy pulled a tricycle out of her van, and Paddy zoomed up the street on a scooter Kathy had found for them.  She also is very diligent about making the rounds to the markets in the area and picking up the day old bread to bring to the travelers as well.  These regular offerings of food, clothing and toys have gone a long way in establishing a relationship that otherwise would have been hard to come by.

We waved good-bye to Kathy (with a gift from her to us of some amazing caramel-filled chocolate bonbons) and headed to the west of Ireland, to Westport in County Mayo, where we’ll be meeting with Paudge Mulvihill tomorrow to hear about what he’s been doing in the area of church planting.  Apparently Paudge went from being headed for the priesthood, to being an atheist, to becoming a Christ follower.  I can’t wait to hear his story!

The best part of the evening was having a Skype call with Kirk and Avi (well, and Stanley), where Avi read to me some verses out of Jeremiah.  Here’s the one the stuck out for me most:  “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for me?”  Jeremiah 32:27

Factoid:  Less than 1% of the Irish population is made up of evangelistic Christians.

Savannah on her new trike

Gratuitous photo of sheep

Esther and Stephen Williamson, at dinner this evening.