Fragrance Of Christ

A New Name and a New Year

2012-02-04T10:38:00.000Z

Our church has just changed our name from Portlaoise Family Worship Centre to Life Church. We are believing God to be leading us into a new step for our group of believers here. Below is a video of James introducing our new name and refined values for this new season.

Bringing in the New Year

2012-02-04T10:30:00.000Z

Brigid and Mary arrived in Ireland in time for our New Year's celebration in Portlaoise. It was a Cowboy party and prayer event. The perfect thing for a couple of Yanks who love to pray.

I even have a couple of pictures where they demonstrated square dancing:

Their primary purpose in coming was to spend individual time with people in prayer and they certainly did that, meeting and praying with dozens of people during their weeks here. Many people have already told me how blessed they were to have these two spend some extended time in prayer with them.

They have made their way back to their destinations of Alaska and Oregon, but we expect to see them again soon.

Nollaig Shona (Merry Christmas)

2011-12-09T17:05:00.001Z

As I reflect on this past year I can't help but think about what a privilege it is to be able to be here in Ireland doing what I am doing. I do not take for granted the support of those of you who pray for me and give financially. Without you the work I am doing would be much more limited in its scope, so I thank you.

This week I was particularly encouraged by my experience of supporting a group of teenage guys to lead our church's midweek evening meeting. They surprised me in their ability to take on the responsibilities that were involved. Two of them played guitar and drums for the worship time, and then two different groups of them shared on two different passages in Jesus sermon on the mount from Matthew 7. They did an awesome job communicating how God was working in their lives and illustrating with stories and drawings the words of Jesus. I was so proud of these guys making a stand for God, and obviously the parents were moved.

I am reminded of Paul's words to the Galatian believers:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)

God has been very good in countless ways this last year and I am excited about what is in store in His grace for 2012.

- Noel Cammack

Lastly,

A few things happening this New Year.

I am getting married to Heather Church this summer! If you are reading this, you are invited to our wedding and reception in Fairbanks, Alaska. You can find most of the information at this website: http://www.noelandheatherwedding.blogspot.com/

In Ireland our church is in the midst of a process to expand our ministry reach into another town on a regular basis. For the past several months we have been having regular prayer and worship meetings and now we are looking at ways that we can begin to bring the good news to this community. We are looking at a variety of options to put our resources into and would appreciate prayer for direction on how begin this work. Prayer is key and then Action! (I am reminded of Yvonne Mayo's prophetic word about getting the church outside our walls and Will's message to our church to just get the torpedoes in the water.)

I have been working on developing an Irish website to share the good news of the abundant Life found in an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ. Most people in Ireland would call themselves Christian, but very, very few have experienced the transforming work of Jesus Christ in their life and this website is created to encourage these name-only Christians as well as those who don't believe at all to evaluate the true message of Jesus Christ and it's life changing power. We hope to release this website with life stories of Irish Christians in early 2012 and have created business cards for our people to pass out to friends and neighbours and whoever else they meet.

Power

2011-11-30T18:04:00.000Z

I have recently been working on an Economics research paper regarding a tax that has been added onto final consumer's electricity bill. The primary purpose of the levy was to get money to provide subsidies for renewable energy. Our aim of the project was to find out whether these subsidies and taxes were a good idea and whether they were creating value for the consumers.

Without going into long boring detail into all of that, what surprised me was the emerging significance of wind power as a source of energy. Wind energy is not just for hippies who want warm showers in their cottages, it is becoming a financially feasible source of renewable energy for nations. This is particularly important to a nation like Ireland who has very limited energy resources and who at present depends on imported fossil fuels for almost 90% of its energy needs, which is becoming particularly dangerous as oil and gas prices have been rising higher and higher in recent years.

What struck me recently was a spiritual parallel to this race for power and resources that will not run out as I read the following three passages of Scripture:

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Gal. 5:16)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you(Acts 1:8)

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezek. 36:26-27)

I was reminded of God's empowering Spirit who we don't control, but who we can receive power from in order to live the lives we were called to, unpolluted and profitable!

Visitors from Alaska

2011-11-20T16:25:00.001Z

I really enjoyed a visit from Will and Yvonne, pastors at my home church in Alaska. At the start I didn't really know them too well, but by the time their week here was over I came to respect them a lot, and would certainly call them friends. I had so much fun with them and was blessed by their ministry to the local church body here.

Packing Christmas Shoeboxes

2011-11-20T16:16:00.001Z

A group of us from church went and helped sort and pack up shoe boxes with Christmas gifts for children in Eastern Europe and Africa. We had a great time.

Worship Workshops 2011

2011-09-24T23:35:00.000+01:00

I started these workshops with our music ministry team the first week of September. It is going well.

. GUITAR . DANCE . SINGING . PIANO . DRUMS .

VISION: To Mentor Worshippers in their expressions of Praise and Worship to God.

WHEN: Tuesday Evenings September through October (for 8 Weeks)

7:30pm to 8:45pm

WHERE: Portlaoise Family Worship Centre. Unit A11.

WHO: Limited Spaces available (will depend how many allowed by mentors.)

HOW: 7:00-7:30pm // Mentors Prayer and Setup

7:30-7:45pm // Why We Worship? Bible Study

7:45-8:30pm // Group Time

8:30-8:45pm // Clean-up

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 150

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!

"Foundations" Bible Study Materials

2011-08-04T09:18:00.001+01:00

I have just completed the formatting and design of two introductory Bible study books, which were written by Barry White (an Irish local who also happened to graduate from the same Bible College as me). The first, "Foundations of the Christian Life" covers basic doctrinal topics like, who is Jesus Christ, the person of the Holy Spirit, Salvation and the New Birth, How does God guide us, etc. The second book "Foundations of the Christian Church" gives scripturally based teaching on what the Church is, what the ministry of every believer looks like, etc. The books total over 200 pages and will be released at a conference in Dublin at the end of this month (August). One aim is that they will go into more rural areas, particularly in the west of Ireland to help more isolated believers get a solid Biblical Foundations to their faith.

Pulse Youth Camp

2011-08-01T19:41:00.002+01:00

I just arrived back from a week as a leader at Pulse Youth Camp. I brought a group of teenagers from my church who absolutely loved it. God did some amazing things. Below are some videos, testimonies and summary of what all went on there. Thank you for your prayers! - NOEL

Pulse camp was such a blessing to our youth from Portlaoise. I believe they have been deeply impacted by the presence of God, quality youth leaders and a week together with a camp filled with teenagers seeking God. The worship was moving. The atmosphere of fun and respect throughout the camp was excellent. The food was brilliant. The speakers covered topics that not only challenged but motivated and empowered the teenagers to live a genuine Christian life in their town. Already I have seen them living out what they learned and experienced. All the teenagers in my group said that they wanted to stay for one more week, but since that was not possible they are already beginning to invite their friends to next year’s Pulse Camp.

Thanks a million to the youth alive team
- Noel Cammack

Day One from Pulse Camp Media on Vimeo.

Day Two from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Day Three from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Day Four from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Day Five from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

Pulse Camp 2011 from Emmanuel Church Media on Vimeo.

I (Noel) asked my teenagers what they enjoyed the most about camp and three comments were:
“I loved the powerful times of worship in the presence of God.”
“I enjoyed the team times that we had each day getting to know new friends and talking about God with each other.”
"Pulse Camp was the BEST thing I have EVER done. FREAKING AWESOME."

LETTER FROM CAMP DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers during Pulse Camp last week.

183 attended. Areas represented were Dublin, Dundalk, Navan, Sligo, Belfast, Derry, Bray, Waterford, Newbridge, Galway, Cork, Greystones, Dun Laoghaire and Portlaoise. All stayed well and there were very few injuries.

Many were saved. Many were set free from sin, apathy, fear, addictions etc. All had great fun and made many new friends.

Our theme was GO into YOUR world... We prepared our youth and their leaders to be missionaries in their schools in September.

We launched a prayer initiative called 541 School. We are encouraging people to pray 5 minutes a day for one school. See the Facebook page '541 School'. You too can choose a school and pray five minutes for one school.

We had a great group of leaders and helpers from all over Ireland and beyond who worked together phenomenally well.

Onwards,

Derek

Update - April 2011

2011-04-06T15:58:00.004+01:00

I wanted to post a quick update what has been going on with myself here in Ireland this March and April.

First of all, Ireland is beautiful in Spring time. The daffodils are everywhere and everything is even greener than normal. Some tell me that you can start cutting your grass on St. Patrick's day, and others say, you can't cut it till Easter. I plan on doing that important job sometime in the middle as I'll be hosting an Easter Party/BBQ at my house and Easter Sunday. To celebrate perhaps the most important day in History.

The senior pastor at our church and his family are away for 6 weeks networking and sharing at many churches throughout the midwest and east coast of the USA, so I am kept busy in their absence.

Youth group is going well. We are doing the Alpha Course for the third time in 5 years as all of the students now in the youth group have never been through the course which introduces the Christian faith in a hopefully fun and engaging way. In mid-May, our church will also in conjunction with Youth Alive Ireland and a few other churches in our region be hosting a Youth Prayer Night. The purpose is to encourage and develop the prayer life among the teenagers themselves. The aim is to actively involve the teenagers in prayer as well as allow them to build relationships with other Christian teenagers from around Ireland.

In May I also am planning to return to Alaska for 6 weeks. If anyone is interested in meeting up just send me an email and I'll arrange a time for a visit. npcammack@familyworshipcentre.com

Thanks for your prayers and interest!

Noel

Visitors - February 2011

2011-04-06T15:34:00.001+01:00

I (Noel) was really blessed to be able to have lots of visitors between the months of November and February. My parents David and Brigid arrived at the end of November for a four month stay and were a blessing in countless ways to myself and many others. I always hate to see them leave. I also had a great time with other visitors including Heather from Alaska, my brother Darin who visited Ireland for the first time in January, Rosie from Seattle who arrived with my sister Rachel and two nephews. The ministry in Ireland was also hugely encouraged by a visit of a group of thirteen from Bend Christian Fellowship in Bend, Oregon. My brother-in-law Ben, led this group on a whirlwind tour of ministry, sightseeing and hard work in Ireland.

During their stay the group from Bend sanded and painted walls, learned Irish dance, ate blood pudding, prayer walked, organized a kids event in order to allow married couples in Portlaoise church to have a date night, shopped on the streets of Dublin, led a Leadership seminar, spoke at women’s groups and quite a few prayer groups, led worship at a number of churches across the country and countless other acts of service particularly in the towns of Portlaoise, County Laois; Carlow, County Carlow; and Navan, County Meath. They also were kind enough to squash into four tiny European cars and travel thousands of kilometres around Ireland with smiles on their faces.

Below are a number of pictures from their stay here.

Autumnfest - November 2010

2011-04-06T12:43:00.000+01:00

Autumnfest Conference 2010 Summarised by Pastor James Krechnyak.

This is our third year since we decided to transition from a "Church Retreat" away somewhere, to an actual conference at the Church, and once again...we were glad we did it!

Terry and Pat Carlson shared with us along the theme, "Saying, 'Yes'"

This conference had a greater "intimate" flavor as we had several sessions that were predominately Q & A time with two seasoned leaders. I was impressed with the questions. Those sessions were like a Bible School in miniature, covering a variety of topics, and straight to the point of the "burning issues" within. Off course we did this in Irish style over food and tea/coffee. I admit, I am drawn to the casual approach where we fellowship and be who we are with one another. Terry and Pat just seem to fit right in!

We were encouraged and challenged. Terry shared the opening night on how mostly everyone wants "God's will" for their lives, but the problem comes with, "Do we want it God's way?" Each session taking us deeper into what it means to walk with God and obedience to His call on our lives. This was an important event as new leaders are being released in the Church, as well as those who are starting to catch a vision for new ministries that may eventual be birthed in other places.

Pat spent a session with our Children's workers training and encouraging them in creativity and effectively reaching kid's hearts. We are truly blessed to have people not just share but to invest into our Church. This was their sixth or seventh trip to us (we have lost track). They left us after a few days of time with our family after the conference for some ministry in Belgium, and returned to Michigan for a few weeks before taking a team to Israel.

With every conference, God seems to take us deeper as a Church with Himself and to a new level. I especially noticed how leaders in our Church had become attached to Terry and Pat personally and were not only sad to see them leave, but longed for personal time to hank out with them.

We look forward to their next trip over to us, as we begin to plan a summer event to our conference schedule for 2011.

Newsletter - August 2010

2010-12-01T14:38:00.000Z

Alaska

I had a great 2 week trip to Alaska at the end of June. I stayed at the
Huffman Ranch and just loved getting to see so many old friends and meet
some new ones. The Huffman’s, Fritz and others helped put on a huge BBQ
on Sunday where I could share about Ireland. I was so blessed by the prayer
time and the interest everyone showed in what is happening on this side of
the pond (Atlantic).

I got to share at two services at Door of Hope Church and was blessed
getting to know Pastor/Chief Will Mayo. I had a little bit of déjà-vu (or
something like that) as I shared with the DOH youth group, lots of memories.
My piano teacher and good friends Kathy and Dave Welch invited me to
share at their church and I was happily surprised that I got to share the
service with Linda Setterberg from Joel’s Place.

Summer Camp

Last week I arrived back from Pulse Youth Camp, tired, but extremely
blessed. The camp had teenagers from all across Ireland, North and South,
East and West.

The Holy Spirit was doing great things during the camp. Every morning and evening we had worship services with music and great teaching from God’s word. These services were constantly times of impact in the lives of the
teenagers. Following these meetings we would have small groups and the
teens in my group shared all kinds of testimonies of ways that God was
challenging, changing, and setting them free. They were encouraged to
seek God rather than the temptations that were holding them. One guy in
our group was set free from some fears and spiritual attacks that had been
happening from being involved in occult stuff. It was just brilliant getting to
be a part of what God was doing in their lives!

We also had tons of crazy games, a bouncing castles and ice-cream truck
day, lots of workshops in things like dance, audio/visual techniques, sports,
etc., a cool café, swimming and game-shows.

All in all it was a great camp even though my body seemed to require 14
hours of sleep the night after my return. ☺

Portlaoise Church News, Visiting Team

We had a group of teenagers from Oklahoma visit our church for a weekend
in July. On Saturday they helped us with a church work-party putting up
sheet-rock, sanding, and various other building jobs.

Then on Sunday they shared a lot of powerful testimonies, did some
awesome dramas and one of the young leaders preached a great sermon
about faith. It was very encouraging and fun time with some great teens.
After the Sunday worship service we had an all-church bbq in my back yard.
There were over a hundred of us there, playing volleyball, eating kielbasa,
and having a great time just hanging out.

Back to School...

This August I will be starting a part-time course in Dublin to get a master’s
degree in management. I am exited about this new opportunity and
prayerfully look forward to the ways God can use the skills I will gain for His
Kingdom. I will continue my same work in the church as this course is
distance learning and only requires 2 days a month in Dublin.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
* A sold-out, bold, uncompromising church in Ireland that is loving God and each other.
* Grassroots School of Ministry (training to plant churches in Europe and beyond
* Ability to find good balance of work and study.
* to be good at our main vocation, “belonging to Jesus.”

PRAISE REPORTS
* God is at work.
* Good health for Noel and Pastor James!
* Trip to Alaska was a blessing and encouragement.
* Productive and fun youth camp.
* Portlaoise church building project is nearing completion.
* New education opportunity.

Newsletter - March 2010

2010-04-05T12:15:00.000+01:00

Continuing in Mexico (David and Brigid)

Another Mexico trip, the 5th in a year!
This time we traveled with our good friends Joe & Marian Vaine, who after leaving the mission in Baja Mexico, were called by God to Mozambique, Africa with Heidi and Rolland Baker at Iris Ministries. They obeyed, packed up their Cessna 206 airplane and have served in Mozambique for the past 2 years. They have been truly filled and anointed by the Holy Spirit.
We made our whirlwind trip to several places in Mexico. God met with us powerfully and used us all in ministering in 2 churches, the mission chapel, a local hospital, and various homes, praying for healing, needs and for Holy Spirit anointing. It was their fist trip back to Mexico in 8 years, and it was a great blessing to us all.
On return to San Diego we continued "the party," praying for several ill people and imparting God's power and anointing. A lot was accomplished on this trip, relationships healed, miracles witnessed, and encouragement given.
We continue to be drawn back to Mexico, going again the end of April with our daughter Rachel and grandson Titus. Our relationships there continue to grow with each trip!
Our plans for 2010 are to make more trips to Mexico and to make an extended trip to Alaska and Ireland.

Thank God for health (Noel)

I continue to thank God each day for the health that I have been experience in 2010. Monthly blood tests continue to come back with good results.
God has been with me and I rejoice that a season of suffering can be used for God’s glory and my good.
I am back playing basketball almost every Monday evening with a group of about 15 Lithuanians, am gaining weight and feel very good. I was also blessed this month to go on a 5 day trip to South Poland with a Polish friend from Church. We visited the Aushwitz concentration camp, the city of Krakow as well as his family and church. I had a great time and was daily reminded by God what a privilege it is to be able to travel in good health.

Portlaoise Church News
Since I’ve been back in Ireland in January 2010 we’ve had some great things happening that I wanted to just briefly tell you about.

VALENTINE’S: we had an evening for married couples in the church on Valentine’s Day. It was a fun and funny event with desserts, dancing and a how well do you know your partner game.

NEW BABY: My friend’s Arek and Marta who are in our church and play with me in the worship team (he on the bass, she singing) were told that they could not have a baby because of the danger it would pose to Marta’s health. But, after much prayer and step of faith in God, they have a baby boy they named Samuel “because I asked the Lord for him” 1 Samuel 1:20. Mom is safe and baby is happy and healthy.

TEEN CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER: One of the dreams our church here has always had for our new building is that it would be used for community events besides just the Sunday morning worship service. This last month we were able to use it for a concert in support of Teen Challenge in Ireland. In partnership with a Methodist congregation and hosted at our church we had a Christian musician put on a concert of traditional Irish music, ballads and country music on his banjo and guitar. It was a great night that raised around 1000 Euros for Teen challenge.

YOUTH: I continue to meet with teenagers weekly. At the moment we are doing a weekly Bible study in my home on Friday afternoons. We’ve recently talked through topics such as “What does it really mean to be a Christian”, Dating, Temptation and Forgiveness. The group is getting closer these days and I am seeing more and more openness and questions being asked as we have been having the meetings in my home.

GRASSROOTS: Pastor James and I continue to work towards the vision to do a school of discipleship in Ireland. It is a 6 month long program that will begin in September 2010. If you know of anyone that might be interested in 6 months of ministry training and service in Ireland please let me know and I can contact them. Or visit the website: www.grassrootsdiscipleship.com

BAPTISMS: We are praising God here, because this Sunday (Easter) we will be having 8 people baptised. Praise God for new life in Christ and courage to make a stand with Him.

A New Year

2010-02-15T10:57:00.000Z

Home
After 6 weeks of health difficulties in Ireland, the likes of which I’d never experienced before, followed by 4 weeks of recovery in the USA. I can say with much joy that it is great to be back in Ireland, feeling well.

Thankful
I think it is human nature to naturally emphasize the difficulties we face rather than the victories that have been won. I am so thankful for the victory of coming through the sickness and surgery and having been given the “all clear”. The journey is not over and I continue to pray for victory one month (perhaps, one day) at a time, believing that God will give the victories one at a time.
I really want to thank my family and all of you, my friends, who have prayed and encouraged me along the way. You really helped me carry a burden that in the beginning I wasn’t strong enough for. (THANK YOU!) I hope in the future to be able to pass along the concern and compassion that I received from many of you.
I really enjoyed the time in Oregon with my parents, my brothers (Darin and Brian who came from Alaska and California), and my sister Rachel, her husband Ben and my nephew Titus. They are so valuable to me!

Going through these last few months I have gained new insights and perspective about “fears” and “values,” that I pray will stay with me.

John 16:33
"…in me [Jesus] you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Other Updates
Portlaoise Family Worship Centre is going to be starting a discipleship training school in September of 2010. We’ve introduced a website with basic information www.grassrootsdiscipleship.com. If you or someone you know might be interested please let me know.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-30T18:21:00.001Z

A few pictures from Christmas celebrations. We enjoyed a great time with Daniel Cammack (David's brother) and his wife Elaine and their kids Shaun and Tanya. Lots of good talks and board games.

Titus always keeps us smiling! This is him opening his stocking, he made us have sooo much fun.

David opened this gift from Noel, a classic t-shirt of a classic company...

David and Brigid: Update from Mexico

2009-11-16T11:55:00.000Z

From David and Brigid:

Our latest mission adventure has been one of day-to-day following God's leading. We planned a trip to Mexico at the same time as our daughter Rachel with her husband led a group of 21 from Bend Christian Fellowship on a trip to Baja Mexico. Our plans were to care for our grandson Titus while Rachel was helping with the group activities. On our trip down we crossed into Mexico below Yuma, Arizona to visit our friends Pastors Enrique & Layla Uranga in San Luiz. They have worked in a mission church in a very poor section of the city and have recently seen growth in both numbers and spiritual hunger as well as unity with other churches in the city. The recently elected mayor is Christian and they are happy to be praying for transformation in the area where they live. We prayed with them and with people in the church. We consider it an honor to be their friends and supporters.

Enrique & Lala Uranga

Enrique & Lala Uranga and Brigid

After 3 days there, we traveled on down to Colonia Vicente Guerrero where we served from 1998 to 2002. On the first evening we both had dental work done. The following day we went walking through the downtown to buy some food and greet people we have known over the years. Brigid felt led by God to take a pair of shoes that had been donated by her friend Anna from Ireland. She noticed a woman and child and felt led to give the lady the shoes as the ones she was wearing were tattered and barely able to stay on her feet. The woman then began to cry and told us that her family had no money to buy food. We gave her some money for groceries and she prayed with us thanking God that He saw her need and brought us at this time. We hugged her and her daughter, realizing that God had just led us into a big blessing, not only for her and her child, but for us. She happily followed us into the store to buy what she needed.

The following morning we were awakened at 4 by a honking horn in the street, and later in church we heard that "El Rancho de Bendicion" (The ranch of blessing) where we were to stay during our time here had caught on fire the night before, started by a propane refrigerator malfunction. We were going to stay there Friday and Saturday when we arrived, but a men's retreat was being held there. The owner, John Haff, and the neighbor were able to extinguish the fire quite easily by turning off the propane and using a hose, however there was a section of the roof burned and of course severe smoke damage. This Rancho has been used extensively for Christian retreats, weddings, prayer events, and Easter sunrise services. John and his wife were quite discouraged by this attack of Satan on a facility that they have poured much of their resources, energy, and time into. For 6 days we worked hard removing and cleaning all furnishings, cleaning walls, ceilings, and floors. Other people in the community have helped with money, cleaning materials and services, and materials to repair the roof. We were also able to care for our grandson Titus part time. He would spend the night with us and mornings til 9:30, return for nap time from 1:30 to 4:30. Again, we realized that we were led by God to the right place at the right time.

Rancho Bendicion fire cleanup

We were blessed at the "Rancho" one afternoon as a neighbor who we had prayed for earlier this year for healing and salvation came by. She had been sick for 22 days with a very bad viral infection. She was finally able to get out of bed and had heard we were there. She brought us her grand-daughter Isabella who had recently gotten sick and was not eating. We prayed for the baby and for her as she was still weak and feverish. Many in the valley have been very sick the last month some with H1N1.

We received the sad news that more children at the orphanage who we have kept in prayer all these years have recently been molested by some of the other children. This is not uncommon here as many of the children have been molested before they come. We pray for God's protection and His healing. We thank God that it has been exposed. They have a counselor who meets with the children individually once a week. We pray for a maturing understanding of their relationship with Jesus. His great love, healing, power and presence always available to the children who are cared for here.

We continue to pray and listen for God's leading, which no matter where we live or work, is a day by day experience. And it is very rewarding to be God's heart, hands, lips, and feet to encourage and minister to people. The orphans, widows, and poor are dear to God's heart. Be blessed as you daily also follow God's leading; an adventurous life indeed!

Thank you for being there for us! David & Brigid Cammack

Invitational Dinner by Bend Christian Fellowship

Quick "run-through" of our building...

2009-10-15T09:47:00.005+01:00

Here's the "almost complete" building we've been working on for the last year (or two)... It was an empty shell of a light industrial warehouse when we got it. Now it is two stories with an auditorium to seat 150, a kitchen, an office, three bathrooms, one shower, 2 sunday school rooms, and a creche (nursery). It's been a long job, but it is great to be almost ready to use every room.

April 2009

2009-04-21T16:37:00.008+01:00

Playin’ a blinder.
I just received a text from a friend of mine and it said, “I was praying for you and felt like God said you were playin’ a blinder.” When I read this I had no idea what “playin’ a blinder” was, so I asked another friend. She laughed at me when I said the phrase with concern and then explained that it was a good thing… like “you are doing a good job”. It is funny how much I’ve still got to learn even after over 5 years here in Ireland.

Connect ’09.
In February I brought the teenagers of our church to a youth conference in Kilkenny, Ireland, called, Connect. It was a lot of fun. There were tons of different games, good teachings and worship, and just fun getting to know one another better.

Celebrating Patrick.
On St. Patrick’s Day our church went onto the streets for Portlaoise’s annual St. Patty’s Day Parade. We painted children’s faces, made tea and coffees for the crowds shared and handed out literature. It was fun and people seemed blessed.

Limping.

e just got back from a great hike up Mt. Leinster with the teenagers. When I looked around on Sunday during the church service most of them were limping around from being sore after the hike. I was laughing. We had a great time and were surprised by the beautifully unusual sunny day.

God’s Work.

A friend of mine who used to go to the youth group but has since moved to Dublin for college came to our Sunday morning service for the first time last week. We had a great talk afterwards and I am seeing how God is working in his life even while he works serving drinks in a pub and studying in college. Please pray for him to be touched in a powerful, fresh way by God. I am also happy to say that two more teenagers have decided to be baptised this next month. It’s great!

There have been several difficult situations, but I rejoice in the above positive testimony of God's faithfulness to accomplish His will. But, I am also aware that even in the difficulties we face, God's purposes will prevail. In “Desiring God” John Piper writes much about the Sovereignty of God and in one section talks about how God’s work can be compared to a mosaic. A mosaic is made up of tiles in shades of dark and light but when looked at in completion it is a beautiful creation. In the same way God’s work takes both good and bad situations and is able in view from beyond eternity to make them into something beautiful.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I am so thankful to be able to be doing what I am doing and understand how much your faithfulness to my parents and I (and of course God) makes this possible. I thank God for you.

Much love,
Noel

January 2009

2009-01-31T22:17:00.015Z

David and Brigid writing...
We returned to the US from Ireland Jan 5. We had a very productive time during our three months while in Ireland both in ministry and in construction. We were able to get the new facility "nearly" completed and the last Sunday we were there the congregation moved the chairs next door to the new facility!
We arrived back in the US where we spent time with all our family on a cruise from San Diego to Mexico celebrating our 25th anniversary. We said goodbye to family and drove down into Mexico where we spent 10 days at 4 locations praying and encouraging friends, leaders, and other brothers and sisters in Christ.

Leaving Mexico we spent a couple of weeks in California visiting family, friends, and refreshing our spirits worshiping with God's family in Carlsbad and Redding.

At the church in Carlsbad some prophetic words were given to us by the pastor to the effect that we were "coming back into port" and should just take a time of stillness to be cared for and refreshed before heading back out to sea. We are still processing these words for our lives. We are enjoying our time with Ben, Rachel, and Titus in Bend, Oregon. Titus celebrated his first birthday Valentine's Day.
Thank you for keeping us in prayer and let us know your prayer requests.
We love you, David & Brigid

Portlaoise Family Worship Centre's new building.

Stairs to soundboard.

Youth Group meeting.

Our "son" Moses in Mexico (holding the ball).

Our other "daughter" in Mexico, Mireya at her college graduation.

Our friend Maria who works as an evangelist.

Noel writing...

It has been just over one month since I last wrote and it has also been one of the busiest months of my life as far as travel goes. It began with flying from Ireland to Redmond, Oregon to join my sister and her husband Ben on a drive down to San Diego in order to meet the rest of the family for a cruise down to Mexico in celebration of my parents 25th wedding anniversary (Hallelujah, what an accomplishment!) After the cruise we made the drive back to Oregon where I stayed in Bend, Oregon and enjoyed some time with my nephew Titus, sister Rachel and brother-in-law Ben, getting to minister with them on their church worship team during the Sunday morning church service. I was also able to visit some friends and family around Portland, Oregon where I went to college. While there my sister and I were blessed to meet with our cousins who a few days ago moved down to Peru to help with a church planting project in Arequipa. Following my time in Oregon I made the seemingly quick flight to Cleveland (12 hours seems short after flying from Ireland to the west coast of America) to visit my dad (Jack) and my two grandmas. It was a great time reconnecting and just being able to enjoy time with them, especially with my dad who has just been through a very difficult fight against cancer. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7 Thanksgiving: • God’s provision for this trip. • Great time spent my family and some friends in USA. • Getting to see some sun in Mexico • Health Requests: • ability to sincerely and successfully minister to youth in Ireland. • Passion and focus for serving in Ireland. • Health of my dad (Jack in Cleveland) • Friends in Ireland who are looking for work. Thank you all for your prayers. I know they make a difference! Grace and peace, Noel Little nephew Titus A stop in the Cascades on our road trip to down to San diego. Renewal of vows celebration with the family on the cruise. Buildings in Cleveland. Just a thought… One afternoon my dad and I drove around the city of Cleveland. Cleveland has been perhaps one of the most declining cities in America for the last decade or two. Throughout the city are huge sky rise building that are empty and decaying. As we drove I reflected for a moment on the futility of a life expended purely on the temporary things. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” As I looked at the rusted buildings and spent time with my dad who is still recovering from chemo-therapy and the loss of a lung. I thought of my own life and am again stirred up to seek first the one who holds it all in His hands.

December 2008

2008-12-22T17:19:00.009Z

For God so loved the world, that He gave...

Thank you so much for giving your heart, prayers and support to the nation of Ireland. Brigid and David have been back in Ireland from Oct 15 to Jan 5, living with Noel and his roommate Pawel. It has been a blessing to see how God is moving among our friends and our church here. David has been working almost full time on the new church construction, and Brigid has been meeting people one on one for counsel, prayer, discipleship, and encouragement.

We continue to pray that the gospel will be preached in every county and village. That those who are living in darkness will come to His bright light and be saved.

We thank God for what He is doing on this island, young and old are coming to Jesus, let the strongholds in people’s lives be destroyed in the powerful name of Jesus.

Way back in July I (Noel) was a counselor at a Christian youth camp. It was non-stop action, excitement, a little tiring, but a lot of fun. There were over 200 youth from all across Ireland and we had a great time being with each other as well as many life-changing moments of worship and prayer as well as motivating, but challenging messages from the word of God.

In August, Portlaoise Family Worship Centre had its first wedding ceremony. Actully it was a rededication of marriage on the 25th wedding anniversary of a couple originally from Nigeria. It was a beautiful celebration and many of us Irish (and Americans) enjoyed the Nigerian cultural experience at the reception following the wedding... spicy food, tribal dancing and lots of energy.

INTERN

In September we began an internship program and Alyssa of Detroit, Michigan was our first Intern. She came for 3 months and became a great friend and asset. She helped with the youth group every week and served in just about every aspect of the church. She also did class work, studying a Church planting course as well as writing a number of papers. This year she is going on a Mission trip to Thailand and will also be getting married in Michigan.
We hope to do more internships like this in the future.

In Ireland halloween is a huge holiday. Children get one week off from school during this time, so we decided to have our own version at church for the youth group. My Brazilian buddy Marco gave it the name “Hallelujeen!”, a mix of Hallelujah and Halloween. We all dressed up like people from the different continents (minus Antarctica) and had a great time playing games, eating food and carving pumpkins that represented the continents.

I am finally really putting my video camera to some real use (besides taking video of the occasional sheep and old castle). This autumn I have been working with Pastor James Krechnyak to create some video teaching on “Becoming a Disciple” for the small groups of our church.

Portlaoise Family Worship Centre celebrated it’s fourth year as a church. It has been an honour to be a part of this local church from it’s birth. I’ve have learned tons from all these people... my latest favourite is “Sometimes it’s more important to stay late than it is to come early!”

We had a worderful weekend of worship, excellent teaching and impacting prayer ministry. A team came from Michigan and served our church by running 3 days of kids clubs, 2 nights of youth meetings and a weekend conference entitled “The Depths of God.” Several people were filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time and several others received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. It was awesome!

In December I had the awesome joy to not only have my parents here in Ireland, but also my sister Rachel, her husband Ben and my “precioso sobrino” (precious nephew) Titus.
Having them around was great fun and as usual added some extra spice to my life, like watching Rachel add some pink to her hair and visiting the Guiness factory with Ben.

We are at the conclusion of stage one on our church building project. At the beginning of January we hope to have services in our new building. For the first couple months we will have family services as we only have one bathroom and the main auditorium completed, but soon we hope to finish the second floor with Sunday-school rooms, office, and more bathrooms as well as a heating system. It’s brilliant to see the interior take shape as we finish up plastering, sanding and painting the walls.

February 2008

2008-02-14T12:03:00.009Z

Beyond 48
Irish Wake
Group Song
Surprise!

1. Beyond 48

I just returned back from a Christian Youth Weekend with 10 from our youth group. At this event there were about 350 young people from churches all across Ireland. As I looked around at the faces of my youth during this weekend I could see the encouragement it was for them to see that they are not alone in their desire to serve and follow God. During this weekend some of the youth took wonderful steps of faith such as praying out loud among their peers, lifting their hands in worship and much more. It was also a lot of fun with many great activities.

2. Group Song

Every second Friday the worship team at our church meets to practice new songs. This last Friday I brought a challenge for us to join together to write a new song as a team. It ended up being a great success and we are more then half-way into writing a song about God teaching us to be thankful. Please pray that our worship to God would become more and more passionate and personal, we don’t want to be an echo of other people, but our church in Ireland to bring something real from within who they are.

3. Irish Wake

Growing up in Alaska I wasn’t exposed to very many funerals. I suppose this is because Alaska is extremely cold and is a difficult place to grow old and thus has few people over the age of 70… most making their fortunes by the age of sixty and subsequently moving to Hawaii, Arizona, or Florida (at least for the winters). In contrast, Ireland is extremely different. Here death and funerals are a large part of life and almost weekly traffic is stopped as a crowd of people walk behind a hearse as it carries a body to the graveyard.

One of the traditions that I appreciate in Ireland are the Irish wakes. At the wake the body of the deceased is brought to the home, then friends and family arrive in a joyful and sad celebration of the life of the individual. I found it is in great contrast to some of the sombre funerals I have attended in America.

This last month my grandfather died and I was able to attend the funeral in Cleveland, Ohio. I had wonderful times with him as a child in Alaska and was blessed by the love he showed me. Before the funeral we were able to have an Irish wake for him in the funeral home. At the wake was much laughter and many tears. Ultimately the greatest hope residing in those who trusted him into God’s care. At the funeral I was given the opportunity to do a reading from 2 Corinthians, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

I am grateful for the hope as a child of God that death is more of a transition than an end… one day we will ‘Wake’ again.

(my grandfathers wife and grandkids)

4. Surprise!

As I sat writing this email I received a call from my father at 3am their time in Oregon. He says my sister woke them up and is pacing around the room. It looks like they will be making their way to the birthing clinic soon and I may be a first time uncle!!!

(My pregnant sister)

Chairs of 2007

2008-01-14T18:39:00.000Z

2007 was a great year in Ireland!
As I think back over my year I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul says to the philosophers of Athens in Acts chapter 17,

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

The phrase that most stands out to me is "...he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live... 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'" It has been a joy to be here in Portlaoise in the year 2007. Perhaps the greatest joy has been being a part of the local church that is represented in the picture of our building (above), but which is really made up of individuals in the pictures below.

Above are pictures of my housemates. Paul (with the camera) works as a painter here in Portlaoise. He originally comes from Poland, but has lived in Ireland for about 1 year. He is a really funny guy, when I can understand him. He is still learning English and occasionally gets mixed up with the difference between "toes" and "fingers" and I always laugh at him when he tells me he is "empty" when really he means that he is "full".
Below him is a picture of Oliver, the son of my friends Gregory and Dominika Margas. Oliver loves to dance, play with electrical outlets and mobile phones, and also enjoys staring at me whenever I eat a meal (occasionally I'll share).
Gregory and Dominika are great people as well. Gregory has a computer science degree as well as a degree in pedagogy, he dreams of moving to New Zealand one day, but only after writing a novel in Alaska for a year and eating sushi in Japan for a couple months. At the moment he works nights at a Petrol station, but I'm sure his time there will soon end. Dominika loves animals, when they lived in Poland they owned a dog-grooming business and pet store. Only recently they have moved to a new home... partly in order to accomadate there 2 dogs that will arrive in March and partly to accomodate for their new daughter who will also be arriving at that time. (I've suggested the name "Noella")

Above is the warehouse building that our local church rents on a month-by-month basis. We are in the process of buying another unit in the same building... of which we will hopefully be moved into by the fall of 2008.
The following 3 pictures are of a booksale that we ran at our church with the support of a Christian bookstore in Dublin. Normally it is about 1 and 1/2 hours drive to the nearest Christian bookstore, so it was a great opportunity for people to get Christmas gifts, etc.

My mom visited Ireland at the end of November to the beginning of December. It was a great time catching up. She and my dad are greatly missed (as you can imagine) and everyone looks forward to their next visit in the near future.

December 16th was my 28th birthday and I was suprised by a bunch of friends with a party of Coca-cola and pizza... it was as close to an American birthday party as they could get... It was a great! I especially enjoyed hearing them sing happy birthday to me in about 5 different languages... English, Irish, Polish, Portuguese, and I think "Mandarin Chinese" That's why I am cheering with my fist in the air!

Here I am in the recording study with my friend Nigel Gill. He has written several songs and recently asked me to help him record them. We had a good time together, but the room was freezing as you can see from the blazing heater next to him and from me wearing my thick jacket and hat... the guitar had a hard time staying tuned because of the temperature... : )

The first two pictures about are of me at my friends the Magierski's. It is my first ever Polish Christmas Eve. Their biggest celebration during the Christmas season is on Christmas Eve. This celebration consists of a huge dinner with many courses including beet root soup and pierogis. Once the kids can see the first star then they can open a Christmas gift.
The last couple pictures are of a Christmas Eve Carol service that our church put on for our community.

These three pictures are of the most tradition Irish Christmas I have ever experienced. My friends the Carrolls invited myself and two of my roomates over for dinner. We had a great dinner of ham, turkey, 3 or 4 kinds of potatoes and much more... I didn't have to eat for a week after that meal!

On New Year's Eve I took 25 youth iceskating in Dublin, the last picture is of my friend Samuel. He broke his arm while trying to do some Olympic medal spins. It looked really bad, but he was strong and didn't even shed a tear. After this incident while Samuel was upstairs recupperating the rest of us were celebrating the New Year!

Thank you God for a great 2007 in Ireland!
- Noel

August Newsletter

2007-08-30T06:57:00.001+01:00

CAMMACK NEWS August 2007 Ireland

Things have been busy here in Portlaoise since our last newsletter. The local church that we serve has done a whirlwind of events, both for the church family itself as well as endeavouring to reach our community.

Women’s Progressive Dinner
Monthly the women in the church meet for a time of fellowship and sharing. This past month we had a “progressive dinner”, a variety of traditional dishes from the different countries represented in our church. These included dishes from Africa, Poland, Malaysia, Philippines, America, Brazil and Ireland. We started with the main meal at our home. We packed out our living room with standing room only. We then moved to a home hosted by one of our Nigerian families for dessert. It was great for everyone to spend some time getting to know one another as our church has been growing and we haven’t had the opportunity to spend time with some of the new ladies. This was an incredible opportunity to foster the hospitality gift in the women of our church!

Outback BBQ
Most people have been saying that this summer in Ireland was the worst in a decade. Since April it has been almost constant clouds and rain. As we planned for this event we were a little nervous about the rain, but when we prayed we felt that we were to just make a step of faith and prepare for God to make the way for us to continue. The main reason for the event was to reach out to friends and neighbors in our community, as well as to capitalize on the “World Fleadh,” an Irish Music Festival being held in our community during the week. So we moved forward with our plans to have a Family Irish Music BBQ.
It turned out to be a great success with over 100 in attendance, including several of our own neighbors. We had clowns, dance routines, a professional traditional Irish musician, lots of hamburgers, water balloons, door prizes, etc. It turned out to be an awesome event and it was sunny for 95% of the BBQ, and even in the last 20 minutes when it did start to rain, we turned it into a little dance party as our musician friend played some Johnny Cash classics. It was a brilliant time of fun and building relationship with people in our community!

Café Evening
A special evening of music, coffee, tea, goodies, and fellowship was held at our church office during the Irish Music Festival. A Christian couple from Kilkenney provided great entertainment.

Dance and Movement Classes
Again, coinciding with the Irish Music Festival, our friends from Brazil gave free dance lessons in our community at our church office. There was a wonderful turnout and it was a lot of fun. At the picnic, Pastor James even showed us some of the moves he learned while helping in the classes.

Baptism and Baby Dedication
We celebrated the birth of Brianna Faith Rachel Krechnyak as a church family on Sunday the 19th at the Krechnyaks' home with a picnic and a dedication service, led by her grandparents, Jim and Helen Krechnyak.
We also celebrated with Julia Magierska who was baptised as a demonstration of the new life she now lives in Jesus Christ.

God Encounters for Kids
Sometimes children can get overlooked in the Church, but this last week we were reminded again of Jesus’ special love for the children as we had some missionaries (Pastor James’ parents, Jim & Helen Krechnyak) come and do a special week of Vacation Bible School for the kids. It turned out to be a great time of helping the children learn how to worship God, teach them more about God’s special and very real love for them, as well as what He has to say to them in the Bible. In addition, Jim and Helen led a one-day training session for children’s workers.

Our Ministry Personally
After 5 years in Ireland, Brigid and I feel God’s leading to now trust Him to release His gifts and plans for the fellowship in Portlaoise. We believe that the church, now three years old and 70 to 80 people strong, has now matured enough to move forward in God’s plans for this community. It has always been part of the vision that God showed us for Ireland that we would be here for a time to train, equip and serve. Pastor James is a young man of wisdom and now has some men and women that can move into leadership positions to encourage and support him on the journey of pastoring. We have thought and prayed about this for several months and have also sought wise counsel. We have mixed emotions with this move; sadness at leaving our good friends, our son Noel, and vibrant growing church here. Yet we are excited about what God has for us and a bit perplexed about what the future holds.
When I think back to 1998 when God asked us to leave our medical practice in Fairbanks, Alaska and move to "Cristo Por Su Mundo" in Baja Mexico to do medical work, I realize now that God at that time told us the time, the place, and the activity. In 2002, God led us to Ireland, so we knew where we were going but not the activity. It took us two years doing "what our hands found to do" before we met James & Rachel Krechnyak and "found" our ministry, which has been to support their efforts to plant a church here: Portlaoise Family Worship Centre. Now, after three years in Portlaoise and five years total in Ireland, God is asking us again to move, but this time we don't know where or what we will be doing! Maybe you can see that God is raising the level of faith, trust, and commitment with each move. It is also interesting that the moves have been in October each time. We can identify with Abraham who according to Hebrews 11:8-9 "... when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise."
We appreciate each of you who have stood with us in prayer and finances through the years and hope that this will continue. We personally will not be using ministry funds after we leave, instead, we will use those funds to support our son Noel, who will be staying on here in Ireland as youth leader, worship leader, and administrative assistant at Portlaoise Family Worship Centre. He will be using the car that some friends here donated to our ministry, and will be sharing our rented house with a Polish couple and their baby, committed Christians who are helping with the growing youth ministry here. Those of you who have been supporting us financially may discontinue giving if you feel so led. However, anyone who desires to continue to support Noel in this ministry in Ireland, can do so through "Fragrance of Christ", a recognized nonprofit organization we set up several years ago to support missionary work. The address is "1050 Aspen St, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99709" Again, we appreciate your support and friendship and pray that you will continue to pray for us and Noel as we reach forward to our "high calling in Christ Jesus." Our future is in God's hands. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Our immediate plans are to fly to Atlanta on October 3 and stay a few days with Brigid's sister, hoping to buy a vehicle there and travel across the US, visiting family and friends. We hope to attend a Cammack extended-family reunion at Thanksgiving. Christmas we plan to fly to Fairbanks, Alaska to visit our friends, family, and church. During the next 6 months or so we will be resting and seeking God, to know him better and to participate in what he plans for our future. We have no doubts that our "best years are yet to come!"
Special Announcement: We are going to be grandparents! Our daughter Rachel and her husband Ben will be having a baby at the end of February in Bend, Oregon. We are privileged to have Rachel with us for 18 days!
"Fowabogu" (“God bless you” in Polish) David and Brigid and Noel

July Newsletter

2007-07-02T14:13:00.001+01:00

Hello from the Cammacks: David, Brigid and Noel.

June has been a month filled with travel, events, and adventure.
June 4th we ran the Cork Marathon (David running, Brigid and friend Anna O’Rourke being cheerleaders). This marathon was used as an opportunity to raise money for mission projects in Ghana where Anna O'Rourke will visit in October.
Two days after the Marathon (June 6th) Brigid, Noel and David traveled to Szczecin, Poland for a week with our friends the Magierskis, a Polish family in our church here in Ireland. We spent a great week with them in their home, which is a flat near the center of the city. They took very good care of us, introducing us to their friends, their church, their city, and lots of delicious Polish food. We even spent a day at the beach on the Baltic Sea. The weather was a brilliant contrast to the cold Irish summer we have been experiencing so far, blue skies and temperatures in the 80’s nearly every day. We were also able to get a lot of dental work done while we were there. The dentist was a Christian from the Evangelical church, and was good quality and economical. David even had a difficult wisdom tooth removal by an oral surgeon, we’d send a picture of the tooth, but we don’t want to gross anyone out…
On our return (to winter weather) we finished preparations for the “Barnabas BBQ” which was a youth event organized by one of our home groups (called LifeGroups). In the previous Belfast marathon David raised almost $1,000 for this youth BBQ. This event was held June 23 at a farm about 20 miles east of Portlaoise. Noel led worship with several youth and other musicians, David supervised the Barbecuing of over 200 burgers and nearly 100 hot dogs, and Brigid helped acquire the food. The evening was a success with over 100 people, mostly youth from a 50 miles radius. A Christian motorcycle gang, the “Unchained Gang” shared testimonies, a Christian rapper gave a clear message of salvation, the acting/dance group in our church did a drama, and a comedy emcee rounded out the evening. Some of the youth were unsaved and were exposed to the Christian church and message for the first time. We were all encouraged by this event and the response. The youth club continues to develop as Noel is blessed to have some more adult help from 3 people in the church. Teamwork is a beautiful thing!
Our church continues to develop and grow. We are encouraged that many people are participating and getting involved. Even people from Poland, Africa, Malaysia, and the Philippines are becoming active. We continue to look for adequate temporary space for our meetings until our new facility is ready at the first of the coming year.
Pastor James is preaching a series on “The Harvest.” We will be emphasizing prayer for the next 2 months.
Matt. 9.37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
We all are to be “harvesters.” And harvesting isn't THAT hard; even unskilled workers can harvest! So forget the stereotype of harvesting and learn what is involved in harvesting. After all, God takes the seed and makes it grow and ripen; harvesting is the easy part.
Until next month, God bless you and make you a blessing! David, Brigid, and Noel

POLAND IMAGES:

Noel and Samuel at the Baltic Sea.

A little dental work!

Noel, David, Mariusz Magierski, Brigid, Marzena Magierska, and pastors of church in Poland.

Noel at a monument... eagles ascending.

Some friends that Noel spent time with in Szczecin.

BARNABAS BBQ IMAGES:

Upcoming BBQ Event

2007-05-30T11:53:00.001+01:00

Our LifeGroup (homegroup) is organizing a large Youth Event at the end of June. We are hoping for 100 youth... It should be a fun time with games, food, dramas, music and a Christian Motorcycle Gang sharing some testimonies.

Conference in Wales

2007-05-29T11:36:00.000+01:00

I had a great trip to Wales this last weekend. I visited my friends Ceirion and Katie Harries and their daughter Rachel who live just outside of Swansea next to some beautiful, sheep filled Welsh mountains. While there I attended a great conference at their Church and enjoyed listening to Dr. Bob Gladstone, the director of Fire School in North Carolina. It was good fun, and I had some nice welsh lamb with mint sauce. If you are ever in Wales and eating out, make sure you get the lamb... It is proper, and they really know how to cook it considering there are more sheep that people in Wales...

Baby Brianna!

2007-05-24T11:28:00.000+01:00

Our Pastors, James and Rachel have a new baby girl, Brianna Rachel Faith Krechnyak! She was delivered by emergency c-section the 23rd of May. She weighs 5 pounds 4 ounces, born almost a month early. We thank God for their lives!

Wales Team

2007-05-11T18:21:00.000+01:00

I had a roomate in college for 2 years who also happened to be from Wales. This last month he brought a group from the school of ministry that he teaches at for a time of outreach in Ireland. They stayed at our house for 3 days and were a great blessing.
They brought great encouragement to us and our church during their short stay with us. I plan on visiting them at the end of this month for a conference that will be going on in their church.

Vision Night

2007-05-11T18:09:00.000+01:00

We had the first "Vision Night" of our church last night. The purpose was to share the vision and then make opportunities for people to join the cause of our church and it's ministry to our community and the entire world. There was great response and we are excited to see how our team expands and accomplishes great things for God as we join together in unity to accomplish His greater purpose.

Marathon Finished!

2007-05-08T13:44:00.000+01:00

Praise God, my "container of oil" did not run out (1 Kings 17:14) and I finished the marathon in 4:24:53, soaking wet and extremely tired!
Weather was good for most of the race, raining "cats and dogs" about 3 miles from the finish. Brigid and Anna didn't make it to the finish line, so it took us almost 2 hours to find each other. I ended up in the medical area to warm up since I was wet and it was windy! I was well attended to with blankets and hot tea! . We aren't sure of the total pledges given to sponsor our youth program, but anything will be a blessing.

Had a good short visit with our friends up there Simon, Julie, and Ruth Rowland. Neat people with powerful testimonies of healing and forgiveness. Also attended the CFC church pastored by Paul & Pricilla Reid who have preached at City Bible Church. Great worship by an intern worship team and message by Paul on "Money" Very good. Robin Mark runs a worship school there; he is also having a concert next month and releasing a new album, "East of the River."

A friend from Dublin who ran the race dressed as Superman...

May Newsletter

2007-05-03T15:47:00.000+01:00

Conferences, Warehouses, and Marathons

Recently we attended the annual church network conference in the west of Ireland, where over 700 people from all over Ireland, north, south, east and west came together for 4 days of worship, teaching, inspiration, and sharing. We attended with our friend Anna O'Rourke and our pastors James and Rachel Krechnyak. As Brigid's family is from that area, we stayed in a cottage on the land where her Dad grew up. The property is now owned by her cousin. It was a little like going to summer camp, with Brigid and Anna in one room, Noel and I in one room and our pastor and his wife and two kids in the other room. One nice thing was that each room had its own bathroom! The theme of the conference was "Dream '07" and it was very encouraging as we were inspired to dream. We also heard reports of what is happening in churches all over Ireland. Ireland is beginning to 'crack' spiritually, and people are responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People are becoming more open to new ideas and solutions to their problems. With the advent of profuse prosperity, freedom, and post-modern thinking, the problems people face today are much different than they were years ago. Many people we talk to feel that the traditional church is not providing answers to their problems, so they are seeking elsewhere for solutions to their frustration, depression and misery. What we are aware of is that it doesn’t matter what denomination you are in, traditional or contemporary the only answer that the Church has is found in Jesus Christ our Lord. What we are learning is that as we minister as His Body, by His Spirit He is providing hope and peace in the midst of trouble and pain!

Our local church, Portlaoise Family Worship Centre is purchasing a yet-to-be-built warehouse, but it won't be ready until December of this year. This is a step of faith in that we are stretching to cover the payment on the warehouse, as well as trusting God for finances for the finishing work. Although this is a stretch we were clear in God's will on this matter, as we needed to risk going forward, rather than gliding backwards in hesitation. Like Joshua and Caleb at the border of the promised land, we choose to go forward into the land of the giants rather than wander in the wilderness! God hasn't shown us any other options on this matter. Also, FYI, if you feel like this might be a project you would like to contribute to in skills or finances please let us know. We have a couple of groups making work parties to come help us to finish the interior and we can use all the help we can get.

Brigid and I are now helping lead 2 home groups. The most recent group that we have started is composed mostly of foreigners! In the group we have people from Poland, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Uganda, Rwanda, United States and of course Ireland! It's exciting! The other group is all Irish and is becoming an outreach group to the community around them, planning a big youth outreach in June. Noel will be involved with the program and the rest of us with logistics, food, finances. I ran the Belfast City Marathon and raised over 400 euros for the event -- finally a financial reason to run!

Be encouraged today. God is good and is attentive to our prayers and needs. You are valuable and we are thankful for the part you play in our lives. When you think about it, it is amazing how interconnected we all are -- indeed a family!

We love you all, David, Brigid, Noel

David's shirt design for the Belfast Marathon:

Streetlights don't make Snow!

“Fear knocked on the door, Faith answered and there was no one there.”

I am not sure who first said those words, but I could tell from the moment that I read them that I would not forget them and that they w ould be a source of challenge and encouragement whenever I faced a risky or hard situation where faith is required.

As our local church here in Ireland is challenged in faith to believe God will provide as we move forward in purchasing a building I have been challenged to think about what the “building” of my own life is? What areas of my life do I need to be stepping out in faith for?

One conclusion that I have come to is that Faith is an action word. I think of phrases like, “leap of faith”, or “step of faith”, etc. I think of the centurion who understood Jesus could heal immediately by saying a word, I think of Peter jumping out of his boat onto water?! As I think of these things I am confronted with the fact that my life is not full of faith but full of hesitation and paralysis, wishing that faith could be more like tip-toeing that leaping.

Whenever someone finds out that I grew up in Alaska they immediately ask me about the cold and dark winters. Other than the fact that it is situated between Canada and Russia usually all that they know about Alaska is that it is very cold and very dark.

Recently I was telling some of my friends how I could go for a whole week without seeing the sun. I told them of going to school in the dark and then returning home in the dark, totally missing my opportunity for some sunshine by forgetting to go outside during my lunch breaks. While telling stories like this and others I remembered something funny. On our drives home after school I often remember being in the car and looking at the streetlights in the distance and how as the light hit the snow that was falling from above it looked as if the streetlights were making the snow themselves (see picture above). I remember often having to remind myself that snow doesn’t come from streetlights but from the cloudy sky that I had not seen for days.

For some reason God has decided to constantly challenge us to look to the unseen rather than what we see. The Bible says that what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. In these last few weeks I think God has been helping me to remember that Streetlights don’t make snow.

April Newsletter

2007-04-01T15:20:00.000+01:00

Reeses and Retreats

This last month (March) we had the great privilege of having our friends Lyle and Ilene Greshover visit for just over a week. Along with his work in Geology Lyle also happens to be the Mission's Pastor at 'Door of Hope', our church in Alaska. It was great getting to share some of our "real life" with someone who had been reading emails from us but had never had the opportunity to really see what we have been up to these last few years.

Like most travelers who make their way across a continent and an ocean Lyle and Ilene's luggage was large and so filled it was ready to explode, but as they opened the bags I was in for a surprise. Most of the things were not for them, but rather for us. We were greatly blessed by the many gifts that they brought with them including some Youth Study Bibles, Dried Cranberries and a huge box of Reese's peanut butter cups (for David). With all we received from our friends in Alaska I wondered if Lyle and Ilene had had room to pack a change of clothes!

During their stay with us we were able to introduce them to many aspects of our life here, most importantly the people. For me (Noel), the most memorable night of their first few days with us was when they came to Youth Group. It was their second night in Ireland and despite a little jet-lag they bravely joined myself and +25 teenagers in a small room for some games and a small Bible study. It was really fun watching Lyle and 4 other kids trying to use only 100 sheets of paper and some tape to keep a stack of books one foot off of the ground (you probably had to have been there to understand).

That weekend Lyle and Ilene joined our church, Portlaoise Family Worship Centre for it's 3rd Annual Retreat. Lyle and Ilene were our guest speakers. Despite nearly half of the people including our pastor and his family being struck with a terrible flu bug, the retreat was a great success. It began with an insane Talent Show which included fire juggling, Irish Singing and Cartwheels all led by Marco Pessanya a Brazilian "madman/master of ceremonies" who has recently joined our church with his family.

During the Retreat Lyle and Ilene really made a connection with our church as they shared wisdom from their life journeys, encouraged us with awesome, God-led times of prayer and taught some great lessons taken from the Psalms about getting out of the pits we sometimes find ourselves in.

I think our church would like to have kept Lyle and Ilene here with us indefinitely...

It was a truly rich time to remember our past in Alaska, share our present in Ireland and look forward to all that God has for us as part of His great worldwide Family in the future.

Much Love,
David, Brigid and Noel

Brigid's Whistling Talent at the Retreat Talent Show.

Environments

Please pray for us as our church is in the process of acquiring a building.

It looks like we may be forced out of our present rental before our future building is built. This could be awkward, but we are trusting God with whatever the future holds.

Also, if any are interested we are planning on doing some remodeling to the warehouse-like building we are buying. We are looking for any builders or volunteer laborers that would like to come join us in the process of creating an "environment" for the Church to use for their gathering as well as for opportunities to reach into our community with a huge variety of events that we are just

bursting to do, cafe nights, music, youth groups, etc... Email us if you are interested in being

involved.

New Year's Greetings

2007-01-11T18:25:00.000Z

Greetings in the new year. We hope that you had a blessed Christmas and New Year, and that you "....may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 2)

We had a wonderful time with our daughter Rachel and her husband Ben who were sent as missionaries to us from their home church in Bend, Oregon. They helped out in the church here for 2 months. They removed wallpaper, scraped and painted walls and windows in the church office space we rent. Ben also did some carpentry work that was needed. They helped with preaching, teaching at home group, worship and with the youth meetings. They also baby-sat for our pastor's two children for a few days night and day to give them a break. Rachel also did some prayer ministry with Brigid. Ben is now on staff at his church in Bend doing administrative work and Rachel will be working as a receptionist at a Pediatric Clinic five minutes from home as well as leading the worship at their church.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were relatively quiet with lots of good American food! It is hard to find pumpkin here, but we managed to grow one in our garden this summer, so enjoyed pumpkin pie along with turkey, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc! This year our family drew names for Christmas presents so buying gifts wasn't a big deal for once! And we received cards and presents from some of you also. Thank you so much, we were truly blessed! We thank God for each of you and for His wonderful love, care, and plans for our lives.

Our church here is continuing to grow and prosper. This year we hope to start several new home groups as well as purchase a building. We have had some break-ins, things stolen and windows broken out of the place where we rent and hold our Sunday meetings. We have outgrown this current space and there is simply no place that is large enough and affordable to rent, so we are proceeding to work on raising pledges for a new warehouse that we will develop into a multipurpose church building. Pray with us on this as there are many hurdles before us, but "with God nothing is impossible."

Noel continues his work with the youth. It has its challenges, such as finding adult volunteers as well as maintaining discipline, etc… but the joys continue through these troubles. Many of the kids are growing in their understanding about what it means to be committed to Jesus Christ and how He wants to be involved in every aspect of their lives. Almost weekly there are new faces coming, so please pray that during these contacts (however brief they are) God will touch the lives of the youth in this town as Noel and other Christians in Ireland share the gospel as well as their lives and hearts with these kids. Recently the Youth Group has begun a new website with a blog, event info., pictures, etc… you can check it out at www.ptownyouth.ucoz.com

This year Noel has also elected to conclude his teaching down in Waterford (although he continues to help logistically by producing the student notes and class overheads for the other teacher). Noel’s desire is to spend more time on what God is doing in and around Portlaoise. He runs a weekly youth group of approx. 15 to 25 kids, is the pastoral assistant to senior pastor James Krechnyak, and leads the church worship team, in February he will also assist with a 10 week Alpha Course for the new Christians of our church. Noel is excited for what God will continue to do in 2007. A verse that has especially encouraged him is found in Philippians 1:6.

“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.“

Paul was confident that God was going to continue to carry out His good work within the lives of the saints at Philippi. Noel also has drawn encouragement in this, that he to can be confident that God will continue to do His good work in his life and the lives of the people of Portlaoise.

May you too be excited for what good work God will continue to do in your life this year! Amen.

We are looking forward to Lyle and Ilene Gresehover coming in March to head up our all church week-end retreat. We are thankful for the encouragement that comes from the Body of Christ.

I thought I would send you some thoughts I shared with our church New Year's Eve, to live 2007 "on the edge!" May it challenge you as it has us. God bless you all.

Love, David, Brigid, Noel

---------------------------------------------------------

Living on the Edge
Living an exciting, challenging, rewarding, risky, joyful life that is somewhat dangerous!

This is the NORMAL life; the life God has planned for us! “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

This is a life of COURAGE! “Be strong and very courageous. Obey all the laws Moses gave you. Do not turn away from them, and you will be successful in everything you do.” (Joshua 1:7)

Consider with me the lives of many Bible characters:

Abraham – Genesis 12:1 Moses - Exodus 3:10
Joshua – Joshua 1:2-9 David – Goliath
Daniel – Praying regardless of the threats and consequences
Mary – Bearing the shame of bearing the "illegitimate" pregnancy of Jesus.
Jesus, John the Baptist, St Paul, St Peter, etc.

Courage is NOT the absence of fear! But it is doing what is required regardless!

Ingredients of living “Life on the Edge”

Commitment to always obey God; to make him Lord, King, the boss of our life!
Listening for God to speak to us and careful attention to what he says.
Follow-through, persistence regardless of how we feel.
Repentance, learning, and trying again when we fail.
Trust in God and love him above all.
Compassion for people.
Knowing who we are in Christ
Dying to self – fighting our selfish tendencies.
Be willing to change.

Courage = Trust + Obedience

Some of the many scriptures on these three principles:

Obedience: Luke 11:28, John 14:15, 23, John 15:10, Acts 5:29, Hebrews 13:17, 1 John 3:22,24 Revelation 14:12

Courage: Acts 4:13,29, 1 Corinthians 16:12, Philippians 1:20,21, Hebrews 3:6

Trust: Psalms 9:10, Psalms 37:3-5, Romans 15:13, John 14:1

“Enlarge your house; build an addition; spread out your home!” (Isaiah 54:2)

Practical steps to “live life on the edge.”

Commit to Christ as Lord and commit to obey him.
Ask God for courage and opportunities
Commit to giving more than we receive, to give more than we can easily afford, to stretch ourselves.
Commit to put others first, to help and minister to others – in the church, our extended family, our neighbors, and the poor and helpless. Give to them, give them lifts, pray with them, learn to listen to them, really listen.
Speak out for God. Share your story with others, people that God places on your heart – neighbors, friends, bank tellers and shop keepers, fellow bus riders, etc.
Be willing to stand up in a meeting and say something that God puts on your heart.
First thing every morning commit yourself to God. Along with Bible reading, prayer, and worship, say “I commit myself to you today Lord Jesus.”
Be willing to be quiet and say nothing

And in addition to our spiritual life, work on the following:

Meet new people.
Try new food
Do your hair different.
Go new places, try new situations
Give more financially
Listen to different kinds of music
Exercise the body more
Question old beliefs in the light of the Bible
Question loyalties in the light of the Bible
“And a righteous person will live by faith. But I will have no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” (Hebrews 10:38) (read Hebrews 10:32-39)

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed, defeated, tired of trying, but remember our commitment; remember who we are in Christ; and persist, persist, endure, endure!

James 1:2-4 tells us that trouble is good for us! Take joy in it! Profit from it!

Christmas Card Dilemma

2006-12-18T19:02:00.000Z

Personally, I love Christmas time. Once thanksgiving dinner is over, people are forced to remember their old pal who’s been living on a different continent… They see my name everywhere, “Noel” up in lights in business windows, “Noel” written all over wrapping paper, “Noel” on Christmas Cards, etc… The see my name at their church and hear it sung in the malls and on the streets. They can’t get away from “Noel”.

Anyway, to get back to what I really want to write about. I titled this post, “Christmas Card Dilemmas” because I have a “Christmas Card Dilemma”! My dilemma is that I really want to send out a Christmas Card picture, you know, like the ones that people send out when they have a big family, or at least when they are married… It is usually a picture with the family standing out in the snow, or sitting next to a warm fire and then to the side of the picture is a caption “Merry Christmas from the Smith Family!” I love those pictures, but as a single (especially a single man) if I were to send out one of those pictures I might get labelled as a “creepy single” that has too much time on his hands. Maybe it’s true? Anyway, I saw that a couple of my friends (who are also single) have made this endeavour, so its not totally weird that I would. Below are the two pictures that I have decided to send out to various people. One looks like the cover to a modish yet dorky Christian Pop Christmas CD and the other I made with Microsoft Paint and is just over-the-top, but I think its funny too.

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 14

2006-12-16T18:21:00.000Z

Friday & Saturday

Friday Rachel and Brigid went to Carlow to help Anna at her photo shop again. Pictured are some of Anna's flower photos that she had printed on stretched canvas. Mom and I framed all day and, I must say, we're becoming quite the professionals at framing! :) She really needed our help getting through this Christmas rush...

Saturday we celebrated Noel's 27th Birthday...we made bruschetta w/ brie cheese, apples and walnuts with honey drizzle (I know, fancy!) for an appetizer, steak, roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, sauteed mushrooms, corn, and numero uno: COKE. For dessert, Rachel made a coconut cake from scratch....yum yum! Ben and I got him a Nintendo hat when we were in Mexico - who knows what he really thinks of it! He also got a nice flat stereo that he can mount on his wall from my parents and us. (The candy and mug is from Samuel, Maruisz' son) We finished off the night watching RV--Ben and I love that movie...we figured my dad would love it too. Just hilarious slap stick with good ol' Robin Williams.

Tomorrow is Sunday; Ben is leading worship and Rachel is preaching. We thought we'd switch things up a bit :) After church Anna's taking us out to a nice lunch for Noel's birthday. After lunch we're heading up to Dublin to the Core Church where Eoghan Heaslip is the worship director. They're doing a special Christmas music service. We'll stay the night in Dublin with Cormac and then Monday morning we head to Paris for 4 days for our 2nd anniversary! We're so excited for this trip. All that to say, you won't hear from us for awhile, probably until next Thursday. Enjoy your week and we'll talk to you again later!

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 13

2006-12-16T14:25:00.000Z

Week in Pic's

Steven, Stacey and Emily. Margaret Higgins and Brigid. Christmas Caroling. Ben and Mariusz. The Girls-Anna, Stacey, Emily, Rachel and Brigid.

Thursday morning Rachel and Brigid went to visit Margaret again...to pray and encourage her. She loves it when my mom visits...she blessed my parents with the mirror we've been looking for to put up in the living room--thank God!

After we got back we jumped right back in the car to head to Steven and Stacey's for coffee/tea and dessert. They are friends of my parents--she's from Georgia and he's from Ireland. They were married a few weeks before we were, two years ago. Emily is their little girl, 6 months old. Keep her in your prayers, she has seizures and they haven't figured out why yet. We pray they stop happening all together! Steven is in the Irish army, he's been in it for 17 years and will retire only five years from now. He showed us a dvd of the training they do (similar to boot camp). It was super interesting to watch it first hand! Stacey was very excited because we brought her 2lbs of Starbucks coffee...she loved everything American :)

This is the third year the church here has done caroling in the local shopping center. We had about 20 people all together, some to sing and some to hand out Christmas cards and candy canes. We stuffed 500 envelopes with a Christmas card from the church, a letter with the meaning of Christmas, an Alpha brochure, and a candy cane.

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 12

2006-12-13T22:00:00.000Z

Bowling...

Monday Noel, Ben and I took a Polish boy out bowling for his 12th birthday. His brother (Albert, 5) and Samuel (13) came as well...it was the first time for all of them to bowl. It was a fun time, fully equipped with popcorn and coke and he felt really special. This was a major birthday for him because now he can come to youth group! He's been looking forward to it for a long time, thank you, Jesus! The expectation level is wonderful at only 12 years old.

Tuesday Ben worked on the office all day...he is doing so much and making it look so good! The church is very grateful for his hard work and skill. In the evening my mom and I made homemade eggnog (a first for me!) It was soooo tasty! We also started the Lord of the Rings trilogy that night..

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 11

2006-12-12T21:39:00.000Z

Christmas Party

This Sunday night was the Christmas Dinner for the church here. There was a great turnout--50 adults and over 20 kids! We packed out the room of the restaurant. The church wanted it to be an outreach opportunity, so they hired a musician that played traditional Irish music--it was a blast! There was a nice meal and everyone dressed up, made it feel a little more like Christmas :) There's no snow here-Ben sure misses that aspect of Christmas time! If you go to the Ireland 2006 link to the right, there are pictures of the Christmas party in there for your pleasure :)

After the dinner we had some people over to play cards. There is a family in the church, the Carroll's, who have 5 girls ages 17-26...they are so much fun and love to play cards! There were also two younger boys (Anna's nephews) here who aren't saved and they played with us. It was great for them to see people having fun without a beer in their hands. We played a game called 110...has anyone played it before? Super confusing!

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 10

2006-12-08T23:31:00.000Z

This Week in Ireland

Pictures: Thursday Meeting; Cormac in Dublin; the two most beautiful women in the world; Arik and Marta (Bass player and wife who sings); and Youth Group

We have all been busy in different directions. Monday we all went to Dundrum, a shopping center just south of the city of Dublin. in a suburb. A good friend, Cormac McGinley came and met us for lunch there. He is a business teacher at University College Dublin. He visited Rachel and I in Portland about a year ago while on a trip to the states. I have been going to basketball practice with Noel on Monday nights, so after the day in Dundrum we came back for some B-Ball.

Tuesday we were at the church office trying to finish up the front room project for Thursday. We painted trim and then took off so that it could dry. In the afternoon, Brigid and Rachel went over for tea with Marlena, a Polish lady in the church. She has two kids, a little girl, 5 and a new son, 2 months old. We had a great time getting to know her better.

Wednesday we went to the weekly prayer meeting with the leaders of the church. There were 8 of us this week. We prayed for the community, the leaders, open doors, and wisdom...among many other things! After that, we had a Pastor and his wife from Carlow, Seamus and Jenny, over for breakfast. When my parents lived in Carlow, Seamus pastored the church they attended. It was a good time of fellowship and encouragement as my parents were able to catch up on all God is doing in the church in Carlow.

We painted trim and doors again in the morning, and finised up around 3pm because it needed to dry for youth group in the evening. That night we had youth club with Noel. It has been great-- tons of young boys (most of them ages 12-14) and a few quiet girls. Noel is using Rachel and I as leaders for group discussion because he is lacking in this area. So pray for good leaders to rise up and help Noel. There are two young guys who are showing great potential to be leaders but it takes time to grow them because they are young and new to this Christian thing. The major problem with the youth is that they don't have good examples of young godly men around them to influence them. Noel is that young godly man and all the kids flock to him because of his example. Also, pray for more young godly men and women to rise up. Pray that Noel would have the opportunity to disciple them in a smaller group setting, or one on one. Youth group is growing and now they need good leaders so keep praying for Noel and the Crew.

Ok, so David bought all six Star Wars movies and we are working our way through the sixology. We set up the projector in the living room and have movie nights, 4 so far since we have been here. The first three were the most recent ones that came out a few years back and they were excellent. Wed night we watched number 4 "a new hope" that is when Luke Skywalker shows up and saves everybody from his father. Well lets just say that it was made in 1973 or something like that, you know the "dark ages", when special effects were like not that special. I almost fell asleep and rachel did. it was so hard to stay connected with bad acting, poor sound, and the action scenes, come on obi-wan you could do better then that. So we stayed up until 1am watching this movie, not worth it.

Thurday we finally finished the front room. Adriane (one of the youth club guys) showed up and painted with us for the day; he is a great worker. we ran out of paint with about 10 feet left of base board and we are calling that done. we are going to start the 2 back rooms today so we will finish up the base board then. It looks great and the picture is the Thursday church meeting in the new room, all were fully impressed at how much better it looks! The meeting was held to talk about future growth and the idea of starting a building fund so that they can look into purchasing a building. When they grow to 30 more adults on a Sunday morning they will no longer able to fit in their current location so they need to start planning for the future. Another situation is that the Maultings (where they rent for Sunday mornings) is for sale, so they could get the boot at any moment! We are believing that it hasn't sold yet because Portlaoise Family Worship Centre still needs it! There are no other places big enough to rent in Portlaoise that can hold more than a hundred people, so they need to look into buying their own building. They have a few ideas and last night was more of a "can we do this" and "do we have the vision/commitment" meeting. It was planning for the [near] future. So the church is praying and fasting for God's direction and they will have another meeting a week from Sunday.

During the day, Rachel and Brigid went to visit a few ladies in two different towns, both about 1 1/2 hours away. The first lady was Margaret. She is a wonderful woman whose 10 year old daughter just got diabetes. It has been a huge struggle for her, as she has had to lay down everything and basically become Harriett's nurse. We continue to agree with her in prayer for her daugther's healing. Through this whole situation, she has lost a lot of her drive--she doesn't want to go out of the house now--not even to shop, and that's not like her! She lacks the passion for the Word and prayer that she has always had and finds herself in a very dry, desert place. She is so transparent and we had a good prayer time with her. You could tell that she was encouraged and lifted up by our visit. She looks forward to my mom's visits, about every two weeks. The next place we went was to Borris. The ladies there are sisters-in-law, Nellie and Britta. Nellie and her husband own a pub that they are attached to and a farm out back. Long story short, these women are tied to this place because Nellie's husband and son are alcoholics and she and Britta are the only ones left to run everything. It is a very dark place and my hearts breaks for these women. Nellie has kept such a good attitude through all the trials, but Britta has a harder time, often dealing with depression. They also look forward very much to my mom's visits. Normally my mom will bring maybe some worship music and a small teaching for them because they can't leave to go to church. At the end we prayed with Britta (Nellie had relatives visiting at the time) and she was so blessed. She said, "Having you here is better than the finest of banquets." Can you imagine?! My heart just wants to rescue them from that, but we trust that God has a plan. All this was so good for me to see because I've been wanting my mom and dad to come back to the states to be closer to us, but I can't ask that of them knowing how vital my mom's ministry is--even for these 3 ladies alone; but there are many many more! Someone else needs to be raised up that will be willing to go and minister to these women. Only then will I feel right asking her and dad to come back!

Rachel left Friday morning with Brigid and Anna to go and work at Anna's Photo Shop. They are helping Anna out in this busy Christmas season. See needs them to put frames together as they are have so much work. So off to work for the girls and they left the boys here all alone; I don't know what is going to happen for lunch? David is running (he is a marathon runner) and so we don't know when he will be back. He runs anywhere from 3 to 7 miles the days he runs. Noel is working on church stuff and I am sitting in the front room with my pajamas on talking to you. Noel just told me that we are starting the back rooms today so off to work I go. The youth group kids have the day off of school so we are going to put them to work. Have a great day and enjoy the snow.

Insignificant Coincidences...

2006-12-07T18:42:00.000Z

I could talk about insignificant coincidences all day long... They are moments that feel like my intuition has been suddenly doused with cold water and forcefully awoken from it's deep slumber.

Today it was the gift of a chess set... During the day I had been talking to Ben about playing chess then during the evening two kids I know gave me a nice glass set for no reason... insignificant coincidence.

A few weeks ago... I was wanting some new jeans and wrote in my journal that I felt I would get some soon. The next day there were five pairs on my dining room table that fit me perfectly.

Years ago... it was a Coca-cola from a friend minutes after I prayed for one. He never gave me one before or after that moment.

To me these point to a congnizant someone... not a force or coincidence... I'll hold onto them, hold onto Him.

The small things help me trust during the big things.

They don't answer all my questions or the problems I see, but in humilty I look and its someone bigger than me.

-Noel

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 9

2006-12-03T18:03:00.000Z

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Friday we put on a coat of toasted almond in the office and Mariusz and Samuel finished the last coat in the afternoon. So all we have left are touch-ups, trim, and doors. We are scheduled to have it all completed by Thursday because they are having an all-church vision night in that room, so it needs to be done by then--and it will!

Pastors James and Rachel (top picture) stopped by the house to pick up a few things for the church meetings they had this weekend. About 20 people completed a 6 week course (similar to cleansing streams) and this weekend was the retreat. They met Friday night and all day Saturday at the new Comfort Inn Hotel. A small group from Belfast came down to minister and teach. It was a very good time for all who went; lots of healing from rejection, fear, pride and loads of other things that bog us down. We didn't go because it was only for those who had gone through the whole course. Rachel watched 2 little girls so that their parents could go and be ministered to-and they were!

Friday night we had worship practice at the office; we chose the small room becasue it didn't smell like paint! In the picture you can see: Noel, John, Rachel, Ben, and Martin. We were packed in tight :)

Saturday I spent the day with Barry Comisky, a friend of ours. He owns 20 acres between Portlaoise and Carlow and it's covered with trees he has planted over the years; he now has a grand forest! He uses the trees for firewood and every year at this time he cuts down a few to sell as Christmas trees. This time we got 30 trees and a level tailer full of firewood for the house. We had a blast! Sorry I don't have pictures; I forgot my camera. It was a long, tiring day as a lumbermen; I have a little better understanding of what my dad did all those years! That night David, Brigid, Noel, and Rachel met me at the Comisky's house for dinner and, of course, music. The Comisky's (Mary-wife, and they have two twins Maria and Elena--picture is on our "Day in Carlow" blog from the beginning of our trip) love to play music and dance, so we joined in. (picture is Barry and myself getting down on the accordians).

Sunday was a great day for church. Noel led worship and James preached on Being Under Spiritual Authority. I played the bass and Rachel sang. After church we always have tea, instant coffee, and cookies, yum, yum. We went out to lunch with the young adults (all girls, except Noel and Ben) and had a great time--there were 9 of us all together. So you could say it has been a long week and we are still having fun!

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 8

2006-12-01T16:00:00.000Z

Thursday

(Picture: Noel, Gavin-musician, Joan-cook, and Barry White)

Thursday was another day of work. we covered the walls in toasted almond (paint color). it looks a million times better than that 80's wallpaper that was falling off. We also took off the doors and covered the purple and pink that was covering them. Then we let it all dry.

That afternoon we headed south to a town called Tipperary, about an hour away. Noel took us to see a friend of his, Barry White. Barry (who graduated from Portland Bible College in the 70's) travels all over Ireland teaching the Bible, his major emphasis being leadership training. He is based out of The Haven, a men's substance abuse house where he and another man, Alex, help men recover from addictions, get them saved and then disciple them. They are set up to handle 8 men at one time. They are doing a great work for the sake of the gospel and it was fantastic to sit down with Barry and listen to him. He is a father at heart and loves discipling young men. He and Noel are teaching Bible courses at a church about 1.5 hours south. They are on a break now and Noel is currently getting ready to start teaching the Book of Ezra. We prayed for them before we left that God would bless their ministry with the men and that they would see lots of fruit from their work. We also prayed for one of the men who is a musician (Gavin) that has been traveling with Barry. All-in-All it was a fantastic time with the boys...and Rachel.

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 7

2006-12-01T08:08:00.001Z

Youth Club

Wednesday night was youth club...Rachel went last week, but this week we both got to go. Noel is doing a video series called "Quest." The series is interesting because it approaches the youth as if they weren't saved and gets them to discuss things about God without any fear of "the wrong answer." Last week we talked about Jesus and how can we believe in something we can't see? Was Jesus a myth or the real thing? It all depends on if the Bible is true. This week we talked about Hell--the reality of hell and what they are going to do to avoid going there. Most of the kids in the youth group don't go to church and none of them but three go to this church, specifically. Therefore, it is really important to start from the basics, not assuming that any of them have a personal relationship with Jesus. That way, Noel can build on this foundation after this video series. There has been really good responses and great discussion time... Right now there are 3 girls and 12-15 boys! That makes for a rowdy bunch :) But thankfully Noel has a helper, Louise (short, red hair in the photo above.) She has been saved for a year and wants to serve and learn more!

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 6

2006-11-29T08:05:00.000Z

Work, Work, Work!

Monday + Tuesday = Work :-)

We did a lot of painting monday and tuesday! Saturday we got the last of the wallpaper off, and so we were finally able to start painting monday. We've put on three coats of primer (in order to cover up all the wallpaper remains and porous cement) and we started the first coat of the actual color paint today (Thursday.) We also picked up the materials (seen above, on our work truck) to make some small repairs. Unfortunately, both of the skillsaws we borrowed didn't work! We will wait for one that works, or see if we can rent one for a day. Mariosh and Samuel (a Polish father and son at the church) came after work on Tuesday to help us with the primer. We're making progress, and the people are thankful! We'll keep you updated :)

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 5

2006-11-28T18:57:00.003Z

Sunday Church

This morning church was great. There were about 80 in attendance, with many from Poland, a family from Philippines, one from Brazil, several from Nigeria and Uganda, and some Irish folk :) Pastor James led worship with a bass player, an electric guitar, and a singer (all Polish) and Rachel played the keys and sang. After worship, one of the Nigerian men shared for communion time. A lady from St. Marks church in Dublin, Ellen, shared the message. She spoke about one of God's promises to hear us if we would humble ourselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from our ways. (2 Chron. 7:11-16) She also talked about God's desire for relationship and his heart of a Father toward us. Afterwards, we had tea, instant coffee :) and cake--I'm really loving this European custom!

Two weeks ago, during the week, some people came in and stole their speakers and music stands, then came back a couple days later and vandalized the building (an old fitness center) where they meet. They broke several windows, threw trash everywhere, and kicked in a door. Ben and Noel cleaned it up before the service last week, but last Sunday was still a bit melancholy because of the broken windows and lack of speakers for worship (they used their amplifiers). Although the insurance money hasn't come yet, they bought new speakers for this week's service. A great first church service for us--we met many of the people that we've heard so much about!

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 4

2006-11-28T18:57:00.001Z

Back to Work

We spoke with Pastor James and his wife, Rachel, last week about where we could best serve the church here and he said he would love it if we could devote time to the refurbishing of their church office. It used to be a hair/tanning salon and so it's pretty run down and in a very old building. This space is used as an office and a venue for smaller meetings (youth club, small groups, special events, prayer meetings, etc); the Sunday morning service is held in a different building where they rent two rooms (one for kid's church, one for the main service). We'll post about that after Sunday service.

So today, Noel and Ben set out to work! First came peeling off all the old wallpaper (that had already started coming off on its own)...but there's layers of glue and old paint, which makes it that much more fun ;) It was just Noel and Ben for the morning, then at about 3pm four young boys from the youth club showed up to help! They helped scrape the gunk off the walls and cleaned up the mess. This, in my opinion, was so great because it gives the boys ownership of the place they meet and gives them an opportunity to serve. Plus, we needed the help!

Tomorrow we're going to texture and paint the walls and complete the finishwork in the kitchen. Some of the lads are going to show up again and, in the afternoon, after they get off work, some of the Polish men from the church are going to come and help with some experience under their belts! This is our first project...there are three other smaller rooms in the office space that we will do next.

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 3

2006-11-28T18:56:00.001Z

Happy Irish Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving was most interesting! An Irish Thanksgiving...it means pumpkin pie made from a real pumpkin (they don't have pumpkin in a can), green bean casserole made with homemade crispy onions (no French's Crispy Onions here!), and candied yams with real sweet potatoes and mini marshmallows ;) The other fun part was that, amidst the cooking, we realized that turkeys take awhile to cook...we wondered how long, then realized it takes at least 3 hours and we had an hour and a half left! Funny thing was, my mom's clock was still on Spain time, and in reality we had 2 1/2 hours left, but anyways...we decided we'd cut up the turkey and grill it on the George Foreman. hehehe--quite the site! But, all in all, it was a fantastic, tasty, just as stuffed as you could be, Thanksgiving meal. Even though it wasn't a 'traditional' Thanksgiving dinner, my mom and I had just as much fun making it as if we were back home! And today we had the most blessed (Ben's favorite) leftovers!

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 2

2006-11-28T18:55:00.001Z

The Day in Carlow

We Spent the day in Carlow visiting freinds.

First to Anna's Photo Shop to see Lily and Anna. Anna is a good friend of the Cammacks who went to Mexico on the first trip we ever took from BCF. She also spent a few weeks in Alaska with us back in May 2006. We had her develop a great photo Rachel took in Germany for us(the one on the right of the page). Lily is a good friend of David and Brigid's; it was a wondeful surprise to see her there!

After this, we went to visit the Comisky family, also good friends of David and Brigid. Barry, the husband, went to Alaska with us as well this summer. He is not saved, YET ;) We had tea, cookies and some prayer time. It was a very encouraging, spiritual time. We're noticing more and more that the people we are encountering aren't as into small talk as they are back home...what a challenge! Most ministry here happens in homes, with individual families--this will be such an eye-opening experience!

This morning (saturday) we are off to Wales (Rachel's first time on a ferry!) Our friends, Cei and Katie, who we knew in Portland, just had their first baby girl, Rachel Elizabeth Harries--we can't wait to meet her!

And, yes they drive on the opposite side of the road!

Spain Vacation!

2006-11-26T18:11:00.000Z

Wow! We are home in cool, wet Ireland after 16 days in warm, mostly-dry Spain; our first real vacation in almost 20 years! It was a very enjoyable and profitable time, as we relaxed, walked, talked, and read.

We arrived in Málaga on the Mediterranean late in the evening and caught a train into the city. We had reserved a hostel, but we discovered that it was almost 50 miles out of town, so found another hostel near the train station. The following 2 days it rained very hard, causing flooding, the worst in 40 years! Cars were washed out to sea! We contacted Lydia, a friend of a friend here in Ireland, who lined us up with a nice hotel near the beach. She also took us to several towns around Málaga.

Other than the first 2 days, most of the days were quite sunny and warm--short-sleeve weather. I usually started the day with a run on the beach while Brigid slept in until about 9 most mornings. We ate breakfast at the hotel, then walked into the town center to see sights, shop, snack and visit internet cafes. We sampled Spanish, Mexican, Italian, and regular food. Then on the return to the hotel we would buy some snacks for our evening meal and we spent our evenings reading, snacking, watching the news in Spanish, playing Sudoku, and listening to sermons on mp3.

On our Sundays we visited several good churches and enjoyed worshiping in Spanish. We discovered that the churches had quite a few Bolivians in them. (a special treat for David since he grew up in Bolivia) The songs that we loved in Mexico were favorites in Spain also.

One day we took a bus to Gibraltar and enjoyed exploring the town/country of 30,000 and taking a tour of the mountain, caves, and tunnels! The monkeys on the mountain were cute and sometimes pesky! Lydia took us to Nerja one day where we explored the caves as well as walking through a small nearby town. Another day she drove us to Ronda where we toured a bullfight ring and a large ornate church. She also showed us some of the opulent tourist areas along the coast west of Málaga.

A rather unusual joy for us was our daily McDonnalds "heilado con café" (ice cream in coffee) for only 1 euro! We toured the Málaga Picasso museum and his place of birth.
Lydia's husband drove us to the airport for our return trip, and Anna (our friend from Carlow) met us at the airport in Cork and drove us back home. Our son Noel and our daughter Rachel and her husband Ben were waiting up for us. They had the fixings so we all celebrated Thanksgiving together the next day.

Even though our trip was relaxing and restful, we felt God's leading all along, from the decision to go to Málaga, the getting acquainted with one of our hotel maids who invited us to her church, and the prayer ministry to Lydia. God reminded us that he has divine appointments for us even when we are on "vacation" if we are open to being his representatives. We pray that the people we met there will be as blessed by our time with them as we were in their country. We thank God for His great love and the many blessings he pours into us.

Rested and Tan, David & Brigid

Ben and Rachel Visit Ireland - Part 1

2006-11-17T20:00:00.000Z

First Day in Portlaoise, Ireland

Getting Settled, We went grocery shopping and picked up a few things for the house with Noel. Then we took a stroll about the town and had some lunch! We Stopped by the church to inspect the project and then came home. David and Brigid are still in Spain having a wonderful time.

Malicious Midges

2006-08-30T14:34:00.000+01:00

They say that when St. Patrick was in Ireland, approximately 1600 years ago, he banished all the snakes on the Island into the sea... I have heard that this is allegory, but if it isn't, then there is one other creature that I wish he would have excommunicated as well, MIDGES!
Everyone knows that Ireland is full of beautiful green fields, but little is known of the beasts that are growing just below the surface of these beautiful grasses. Midges are like mosquitos, but in my opinion their bite is 10 times worse. The larvae of the midge grows in the watery topsoil of Ireland and when it matures it's mandibles of death are just looking for unsuspecting Alaskans to stand in one place for a couple of minutes so they can have their fun.
Today the bites on my leg are bleeding from my incessant scatching and it looks like I have some sort of medieval skin disease. Who knows maybe someday they will talk of St. Noel who banished the midges off the Emerald Isle.

On Fire Outreach 2006

2006-08-25T16:56:00.000+01:00

We did a 4 day outreach event with some friends from Texas. They organized a two city outreach. The fun began in Portlaoise with street events and skits, then we moved on to Carrick-on-Shannon several hours away to join with a local church there to reach out the the young people of the community. It was good fun with a great group!

New Office

2006-08-23T14:40:00.000+01:00

Our church here in Ireland is getting excited about moving into our new all purpose office space. We have been renting a room for our Sunday morning service, but have been looking for a central location to meet at during the rest of the week and have recently found it.
It is located above a golf store in the center of Portlaoise right behind the local library.
We have plans to use the three back rooms as a lending library, as an office and as a children's room / nursery. The large front room will be used for our new LifeDrive Course that will begin this Fall. It will also be used for a couple of our LifeGroups which meet weekly as well as periodically being used by the youth club. We are also talking about family movie nights and other outreaches into the community that this space could be used for... Please pray as we try to be a light and blessing to this community.

Martyr Mystery Dinner

2006-08-20T14:32:00.000+01:00

Talk about a weird idea for a church leadership fellowship night… Last night we had what was called a Martyr Mystery Dinner. The visiting team from Denton, Texas put together a hilarious party for us last night that was equally unusual and fun. The idea taken from the popular dinner theatre game called Murder Mystery Dinner was changed and personalized for our little gathering. We all dressed up in character for a great night of fun, food and investigations into the life and death of Ferdinand the wealthy Frenchman.

Baby Dedication - Wilda Gill

2006-08-13T17:22:00.000+01:00

July 2006 Baptism

2006-07-01T16:36:00.000+01:00

Portlaoise Skatepark 2

2006-06-09T13:00:00.000+01:00

SKATE!

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Portlaoise Skatepark 1

2006-06-09T12:55:00.000+01:00

New Portlaoise Skatepark

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Birthday Party!

2006-03-29T14:28:00.000+01:00

A new town really becomes home when you can pack your living room out with friends, neighbors and family for a birthday party.
Much thanks to Anna and the rest of our homegroup for making it a great night!