This past week in Killarney, Co. Kerry simply flew by for our team. We were staying all together in a hostel and it was exciting to get to get to cook for ourselves. All the brothers on our team are terrific cooks, and make sure to cook our food with plenty of garlic to make sure we get the vitamins and minerals necessary to live our busy lifestyle. Of course the sisters help out wherever we can, but most often we get the task of simply enjoying the food. We always feel so honored when our brothers cook for us, but next week we will be changing things up and cooking for them.
Our retreats were in both Co. Cork and Co. Kerry. The countryside there, like all of Ireland, is just breathtaking. It was much different to the rugged hills of Donegal, a lot less wild and more of a well groomed beauty. On Sunday we had a team day and were able to spend it in Killarney National Park. The girls went rambling around on a millions different paths and climbed huge trees. The brothers had their own adventure which involved a waterfall and also climbing trees. We were blessed with beautiful weather and much sunshine. In our wanderings we came to a cliff from which there was a beautiful view of lakes and mountains and it was just impossible for us not to sing, so all the sisters got together and sang "Praise God from whom all blessings flow".
We may or may not have been exactly on tune, but it was still beautiful and perfectly fitting for the moment.We also were able to attend Mass just down the road from where we are staying for the feast day of St. Blaise and got our throats blessed. With all the talking and singing we do, it never hurts to get an extra blessing on our throats.
On Thursday we made the long journey all the way up to Donegal, Matthew and Patrick were able to entertain themselves by creating a game in which we had to think of different countries and cities in the world corresponding with a certain letter. At first it was easy but after all the obvious ones had been used up it became quite a brain teaser. On our way we stopped for a quick visit in Athenry to drop Tim off with the parish team. Tim is temporarily joining the parish team because one of their brothers, Jacob, has decided to go home for personal reasons. Because we all love Tim so much and know how much of a blessing he is to our team, we are happy to get to share him with them for a little bit until their new brother, Alex Manderson, who served with NET Ireland in 2007-08, arrives from Canada. Although we do miss Tim already, we are getting by somehow and with the grace of God he will be back with us soon.
Since being back in Donegal, we've been staying in our home away from home Ballybofey/Stranorlar and we did a confirmation retreat in Dooish National School on Friday. As part of the retreat we asked students to act out one of the parables from the Bible; like the sower and the seed, the prodigal son, or the lost sheep. It was fun to see their imaginations come alive and to witness the certain dramatic flare that they added to the stories that we can become so used to hearing.
Yesterday we had a day to work on our ministry and get ready for another busy week next week.Tomorrow morning we make the drive back to Kerry, it will be a long drive, but we are fortunate that this is our longest drive. Often on our long days we think and pray for the teams in Canada who make drives that are twice as long, so there is a silver lining, and maybe we'll even be able to create a new game to test our minds and pass the time.Until next time I remain your faithful blogger,
Kelsie
Team 1
(The photos are all from Killarney National Park. We had a beautiful day with loads of sunshine and took advantage of it by getting as many pictures as possible.)
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