I. LOVE. Ireland

I'd like to tell you a story, that begins with me looking at those handy and highly entertaining screens which show you approximately where your airplane is currently located and then the story ends in a lot of pictures.

"Hey Kate, let's go to Greece."

"Hmmm."

There were so many places listed on the map, and I just couldn't sleep.

"Hey Kate, let's go to Switzerland."

"Uhhh...."

"Hey Kate, let's go to Holland."

"Umm..."

"Hey Kate, let's go to Ireland."

"Okay."

"K cool."

And three days later that's where we found ourselves.

That's not exactly how it all went down, but it's pretty close to the truth. That handy and entertaining and dangerous little map that they were displaying on the airplane got me thinking, and since we were planning on going away from Paris for the weekend anyways, and since it was surprisingly inexpensive to fly from Paris to Dublin, and since neither of us had gone there before, and since they speak a form of English in Ireland... Well you get the picture. The itch for travel and adventure which had struck us while together so many times before took over again, and I was in for an unexpected treat.

I love Ireland. A lot. It was surprising how much. I was expecting to just appreciate the fact that they spoke English and have it be nothing more than that, but what I found was so much more. I had never given Dublin or Ireland much thought before, but it's a really great place.

It's kind of like the opposite of France. That doesn't mean I don't love France, but a girl can love opposite things right? The French are private, serious, fashionable, and quiet. The Irish are outgoing, hysterical, much more casually stylish, rather loud, and so much fun. We found a couple leprechauns, a couple street preachers, no fairies, and some international friends while we were there too.

And I must say, the street musicians? Amazing.

And we also went to a dinner titled 'Food, Fairies, and Folklore.' It was well worth the money we paid. The guy playing the guitar in the picture below, Ollie, gave us a lot of history about, well.... fairies and folklore... while we ate food. And we also had the opportunity to get to know the five Brits and two Danes at our table.

 And it just so happened that while we were walking along the main shopping street we came across a street preacher. I'm fairly certain that God orchestrated the entire thing, because at that very moment we realized that it was necessary to stop and wait at that exact location for a while. We went up to the preacher afterwards to thank him for preaching the word and he invited us to church the next day.

So we went. And clearly God knew I needed to be there. We learned more about the church in Dublin, met quite a few Irish believers, as well as a German couple, a girl from the Chicago area, a girl from Bulgaria, and a French woman married to an Indian man.

Here's what I learned. The Irish believers really want their fellow countrymen to come to know God, but very few do. I'm still not certain of actual statistics, but the vast majority of the Irish are strictly the type of traditional Catholicism that never hears the gospel preached. It's kind of hard to believe that there's an entire nation of English speaking people that has such few true believers.  I'm glad to have learned how better to pray for Ireland, and hope to find out more about the state of the church there soon.

 Another really great part about visiting that little church in central Dublin was meeting the French woman, Cristelle. It was so encouraging to hear a French believer's story of salvation, and to be reminded that it takes time for seeds to be planted and watered in France, but that doesn't mean it's useless. She told me not to be discouraged, not to give up, that God is still using all of His ambassadors in France. Amen!

And to top it all off, it was a wonderful time with my friend Kate, walking around the city, seeing the sights, thinking about things, and feeling grateful to God that He gave us such an opportunity.

We really like old buildings and stuff. 

 And I really love city life. All the people. The music. The excitement. The crisp air. The thrill of travel.  The different accents. The foreign smells. Wonderful. It's all wonderful.

My Jesus really knows how to show me He loves me. :)