It’s always nice to start the week off right with a good day. This is the first time since I have been with An Tobar Nua that we have had a school retreat come into the café for a day of testimonies, drug/alcohol talks, and ministering by Mike. We spent a good bit of the morning in prayer for the group of kids in their last year of school (like high school seniors in America). We prayed over a passage about rescuing children back from the tyrant (Isaiah 49:25) and Megan mentioned the David Crowder song “Rescue is Coming” which just happened to come up on my iTunes on full random. Basically, God was in this day in a big way. We served the kids cookies and hot chocolate in the late morning, cleaned up as they had another talk, then served them lunch, finishing just in time for the lunch rush. We had lots to do in the kitchen and on dishes and I tried to use my extra few minutes of “stand around time” before the actual rush to help put away the mountain of dishes. As it turns out, the retreat was very effective and Mike told us that 13 of the 25 kids made a public commitment to Christ at the end of the day- very exciting stuff! Solid
Also, on a more personal level, some of our prayers for ourselves were answered. Dr. Harbin came to visit and see how the practicum was going and to help iron out the troubles with our new class. If you don't know, we had been originally registered with a prof who was on sabbatical and we got a new prof a month into the semester. Being a industrious young professor he wants us to work and I've heard from friends back on cmapus that the very class (Contemporary Christian Belief) is quite rough over there too. Unfortunately he wanted us to do all the same work even though we're starting a month late, have twice as long a spring break, end weeks earlier, and work 20 hours a week, plus 7 other credits of class to complete. It was not going to happen and I sent him a nice long email describing so. And so, today his boss, the dept chair (who was in Ireland anyway, mind you) came to visit us to work it out. Such a weight has been lifted! Our papers can be shorter, our due dates are flexible, and we have until May 23 to finish. Granted it's still gonna be rough, but it's at least feasible.
Dr. Harbin is also such a sweet guy that he invited us out to dinner (on TU of course) and so the three of us, Leanna and Cat headed up the road a bit to an Italian restaurant none of us had been to. It was great! the canal flowed underneath it and we sat next to a window that displayed a huge waterwheel at work as we dined on fine Italian foods and homemade ice cream. Such goodness!
In other news...
I was invited to come along with Tommy, Paul, and Mike as they go to one of the schools in the area for something shorter and more informal but similar to what the retreat was today. I asked what the school was, but I couldn’t pronounce it let alone spell it. But tomorrow promises to be another good day and I look forward to observing this new aspect of the ministry.
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