New brothers, new ministries and more....

Hello. Nicole from the parish team here today. It has been busy for us in Athenry lately, a good busy of course but busy just the same. So much has happened that I hardly know where to start.

Ministry has been going great! Things really seem to be taking off this semester. It's hard to keep up sometimes. I can't believe that it is already February. Just last Monday we had our second Edge night for the first and second years and seven students came out to join us. I know what you are thinking seven students isn't that great of a turn-out, but this was a big jump from the last Edge night we had when only three turned out. Keep in mind though that numbers aren't everything. Plus, the students that came were truly amazing and seemed to be really excited about out program. They even requested that we have Edge nights weekly, instead of bi-weekly! Like I said, it's great to be busy and we still have plans to start up a few new ministries.

Aside from ministry, things have been changing a lot for our team lately. Unfortunately, our beloved brother, Jacob has decided to return home for personal reasons and will not be finishing out the year with us. While this has been very hard for our team, God blessed us greatly and carried us through this time.

Just this week we heard from our supervisors that we will have a new brother arriving in the next few weeks. His name is Alex Manderson. He served on the NET Ireland road team in 2007-08. I'll be honest I don't know too much about him, but am very excited to welcome him to our team. He is from Ottawa and was serving with the army. He recently turned in his resignation and is currently waiting on the army to release him of his services.
Not to worry though, Timmy has come to save the day. That's right...Tim Darwent from the road team has offered to come to Athenry for a few weeks and help us out until Alex arrives. In the meantime, we've all been having a great time with Tim. Just yesterday we enjoyed a team day together and finger painting was involved...need I say more.

God has been so good to us lately! Even so, we would really appreciate some hard core prayers from everyone for our team, our ministry and Alex. Until next time may the Lord continue to bless you and we'll be praying for you too!

Nicole
Athenry Parish Team