And so it continues.....

We are now finishing up our last week in Lent and my goodness has time flown by. It doesn't seem like just last week we were in Inishbofin, however God continues to send His blessings down upon us. On Saturday 20 March the lads went to go paintballing, and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't need me to chaperone...it would have been hilarious to watch!! They all came back with some lovely battle wounds, though Alex and Reed came back nearly free of any wounds even though all the youth were planning to gang up on them. We have some mighty warriors that's for sure =)
Sunday brought about much craziness as we scurried to get ready for our Life Night on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Nicole dressed up for the occasion featuring all black with matching black circles around her eyes for her talk on Hell. The whole room was devoid of light and covered floor to ceiling in bin bags. We were praying the whole time that "hell" wouldn't fall down...slightly ironic I know.
I did the talk on Purgatory in a stairwell which was fairly uneventful. Alex was dressed in a white alb with the key to Heaven's Gates...yup, St. Peter was in the building. We were going to make him a big white beard, but it didn't really work out.
We had a couple helpers out from Saturday until Tuesday morning from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as well!!!! Beth Brown from NET last year and her cousin Hannah Brown were travelling around Ireland and were luckily able to stop by for a few days to visit. It was so good to see Beth and even though we hadn't seen eachother since June of last year, it was like we hadn't missed a day. They had a bit of an adventure with their luggage since they forgot it on the tour bus in Galway, but they were able to get it back on Monday.I pray the remainder of their trip goes smoothly!
Reed and us girls went to Galway on our No OB day, at which Nicole, Diana and I tried to get our Claddagh rings, but unfortunately they were out of any sizes but 5 so we couldn't get them =( We did get to see the world's smallest Claddagh ring though!!!
The rest of week has been fairly busy and Nicole and I are in a Host Home once again across from a sheep field! The Gannon's are so wonderful and we are so blessed to be staying with them for a while. I finally got to learn how to play hurling yesterday as well! It was a year long goal that has finally been fulfilled. (Go Dynae Go)
Our supervisors are arriving today so that is sure to bring much excitement (especially with the "wee-ins"). Our supervisor's are superstars! Please continue to keep us and this ministry in your prayers. God is fantastic. I pray that God pours His blessings down upon you today. Ciao!!!
Dynae
Athenry Parish Team

Inishbofin, St. Paddy's Day, and a Wee Birthday Celebration!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day from Athenry! It’s been a full on week here with lots of good craic and a Paddy’s Day parade to top it all off. With Alex finally feeling better this week we were able to enjoy a team day and celebrate the belated 21st birthday of our very own, Veronica.
Early Saturday morning, our team met up with Fr. Charlie, loaded into the van and headed out for a fun filled day in Inishbofin, a beautiful island off the coast of Connemara. After about a two hour drive on the infamous Irish roads, we caught the ferry in Cleggan and off we went to Inishbofin. While the other passengers may have found the ferry ride to be dull and monotonous ride, we of course enjoyed every minute of it taking pictures at the bow. With such great weather how could we not?
Once we arrived on the island, we headed off to Mass with Fr. Chaz. After Mass, we quickly ate some lunch and then out we went to explore the island. We began walking with no particular direction in mind, but God of course had plans for us. After trekking through the countryside for a bit and taking some up close and personal pictures of the baby lambs and their mamas, we stumbled upon this awesome beach.
While Veronica and I rolled up our jeans and played in the water, the rest of the team spent some time gathering up sea shells and enjoying the sunshine. Once we all had our fun, we decided that it would be fitting with Alex finally joining us to take some sweet team pictures on the beach. After returning to Athenry that evening, we surprised Veronica a belated birthday cake and then took her out for a customary birthday pint at the local pub.
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God blessed us with such a wonderful team day, it probably ranks up there in one of my favorite days in Ireland. God is so good and I am so thankful for the opportunity to bond with my team and Alex. But here we are back in the office, working hard on our upcoming LifeNight, and running out of time in the office. So I better go, but until next time I hope you enjoy your St. Paddy’s Day and may God continue to bless you. Peace.

Nicole
Athenry Parish Team

Who's Your Patron Saint??

Lets start of this blog with a big praise the Lord for the beautiful weather we've experienced here in Athenry this past week. FOUR full days of sun!! That's a record for consecutive sunny days. As I write this, it's a bit dark and cloudy outside but hey we'll take what we can get. This week has been a typical one in the office yet, as for an update with Alex he's been able to join us and be a part of a few more meetings! It's good to have him around and he is determined that our team will be converted to loving his choices of music. These usually include hard rock/screamo...which, I'm not going to lie, he does have a decent array of music and some of the songs are not that bad. With each day he is feeling better and awake during more hours in the day. Keep your prayers coming for him, he's not out of the woods yet!

Last Sunday we had an intriguing Lifenight entitled Night at the Museum. This was a night like none before as Dynae, Diana, Reed, and Veronica dressed up as saints and posed as statues in a museum. Nicole was our lovely museum guide and led the students around to each exhibit at which point the saints came alive and began speaking to the audience. St.Therese(Dynae) and St. Brigid(Veronica) were placed in one exhibit room and they shared their stories of being religious sisters. At one point, while being St. Brigid, I mentioned I had been on the internet earlier in the day and had to save myself by saying Nicole taught me how to use the new technology of computers. In the other room St. Michael(Reed) and St. Lucy(Diana) were big hits with their costumes. Reed was covered in silver from head to toe and Diana had hard-boiled some eggs to make eyeballs on a plate with red paint as blood. After the exhibits gave their presentations the students were invited to pick a patron saint from a list or search for something more specific, with the help of St. Brigid, on the internet. Thanks to the help of Catholic.org we found out that St. Adjutor is the patron saint of swimmers and St. Erin is the patron saint of gingers(also known as red-heads). Nicole wrote down the saints the students chose and later that night we sang a litany of Saints which everyone seemed to enjoy.






Other events in the life of the Athenry Parish team include receiving the key to our van!! We now have transportation, although our own two legs have been managable and sufficient up to now. We will now be able to be even more efficient. Also we have been entertained by Diana's singing as she works diligently on whatever task is at hand. She often has her ipod on fairly loud while we're working independently and with that she often is belting out a tune of some sort. Diana continues to provide the team with smiles and laughter with her wonderful presence.
Praying you all have a wonderful weekend. Please keep our next lifenight in your prayers as well. "Whodunnit!" Cluedo style.
God bless,
Veronica. -Athenry Parish Team

O Brother Where Art Thou? He's here!

As you know we've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new brother, Alex Manderson. Well...the wait is finally over! Just over a week ago Alex joined us. We all very excited to get to know Alex better and have him be part of our team for the remainder of the year.
While it has been great to have Alex here, unfortunately we haven't seen too much of him as he is fighting hard to overcome mono. He is a trooper though, joining us for anything that he can and continually trying to convince the team that he is "better" and ready to get to work in the office. Nobody really believes him, but it's nice to know that he is eager to be here and get to work. We love you, Alex! Aside from our new brother trying to regain his health, we been keeping busy with minstry as usual. A few weeks ago we were able to have two Franciscan brothers from the Christian Friars of the Renewal in Limerick join us for a LifeNight entitled "O Brother Where Art Thou?" Brother Martin De Porres and Brother Thomas were the honored guests of the evening. We all really enjoyed having them. Br. Martin was kind enough to share a bit of his story with us and how God has worked in His life. The students had lots of questions for both of the brothers about their lives, and how they become part of the Franciscan order.
Now I know what you might be thinking...awww that's sounds really nice Nicole, I wish I could have been there. Well just wait, not only did Br. Martin share his story with us, but he also finished off the night with some rapping. That's right a super-cool, rapping, man who has dedicated his life to God. Be jealous now!

Nicole
Athenry Parish Team