Carlow Alpha Launch

Everything kicked off once again this year for IT Carlow's Alpha course! Since the Alpha course group is a recognised student society at the college, Portia was able to, once again, have an opportunity to connect with loads of incoming students who might be interested in participating this year.

She had a big sign at the table saying, "free pizza." Who doesn't love free food? Thursday night, the room was packed to the gills. People came from all walks of life, including a few Muslim students. Every scrap of pizza was devoured. It was the first "get-to-know-you" night, so everyone played charades and had a blast.

We are planning on having Students for Christ cover the cost of pizzas this semester. Thanks so much to everyone who supports us financially. That support makes groups like this possible!

Hope Is Coming

We wanted to share the story of some of our fellow Irish missionaries with you guys. The Chappel family (Bill, Melissa, Will, Logan, and Victoria) were set to leave for Galway, Ireland this summer. Before making the switch to European missions, they had served for a while in India. God called them to Ireland and they were all set to make the transition when they got an unhappy surprise. 

In June, Melissa was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Her diagnosis came just days before their intended departure (bags were nearly packed and plane tickets were already purchased). She started the four-month chemo process right away and is still going through that now. After her upcoming surgery, they'll start making plans for the next steps. 

This diagnosis still has not changed their call and desire to see lives impacted by Jesus in Galway! We are praying for them and ask that all of you take some time to pray for them as well:

• For complete and accelerated healing for Melissa
• For Bill and the kids, as they cope with Melissa's illness. 
• That God would be glorified through this ordeal.
• That God would guide the hearts of the people of Galway to know Him more. 

We believe that God wants to heal Melissa and use this situation to show the world that He is still working practical miracles today. We believe that He also wants to demonstrate to people how He can create peace, comfort, and calm in the midst of crisis. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support for us and for what God is doing all over the nation of Ireland! 

Build it on Solid Stuff

I spend a lot of time watching kid shows. Too much time. Eden loves Veggie Tales, which is great because watching it with him gives me a lot of time to ponder stuff. Like how the heck do they lift stuff with invisible arms? Do they poop? And how disturbing it is that the vegetables sometimes eat sandwiches with other vegetables on them.

Eden and I were watching a Veggie Tales movie called, "The Little House That Stood." The show is a kid version of the parable that Jesus told about building a house on solid foundation versus sand. In the cartoon, the tomato was taking forever to build the foundation of his house and the others were wondering why he didn't just get on with construction. The others had houses that looked great and shot up quickly, but the tomato didn't have anything to show of his work.

It started me thinking about this season of reflection we've been in this summer. God has led us through a season where we haven't been super busy with ministry-related stuff. As a result, we've had more opportunity to discover new territory in our relationships with God. Our work has been very internal and private.

I started thinking about how maybe in this season, God has us shoring up our foundation in Him. It's not something that people will see, but the effects are priceless.