One Eager Servant: 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.