McDonalds gospel

A lot can happen in two and a half months if you really think back on the time you’ve spent. I’ve been able to spend ninety-six hours with the girls counting the different drop-ins and bible study nights. Ninety-six hours of relationship in two and a half months. In this time, I’ve learned a bit about their backgrounds and families. I’ve learned who is and is not interested in hearing the gospel. I’ve challenged the girls to think for themselves instead of agreeing with everything they are taught in their schools, by the media, and in their homes and churches. It’s been challenging for me as well to remember that the heart of a servant does not worry about having an audience other than the Lord. Also, no matter how much I serve, if my heart isn’t right, it’s all for nothing in the eyes of the Lord.  Big conviction as of late.

The ministries are still going well. The kids club this past Monday was on my birthday (November 15^th). It was also Alix’s (one of the little girls in kids club) birthday so we celebrated with special treats. We’re going through the story of Moses with the kids right now, and for the first lesson we went over the story of Moses being found in the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter. Since Moses’s mother had made a basket to float him in, we decided to play a game with the kids called “will it sink or will it float?” We had a clear tub of water at the front of the room and different items (i.e. a rubber band, a pencil, a one-pound coin, etc) and had the kids come up one at a time and guess if their item would sink or float. If they got it right they got a sweetie (candy). In the end we had enough items for every kid to try again until they got it right and got a sweetie, they really enjoyed that game!

For girls’ night last week, we went to the Downpatrick Cinema to see “Despicable Me.” It was a wonderful night out with the girls, and it was a great movie to take them to. This week we hung out at the Crosspoint Centre, made bracelets, and watched Harry Potter in celebration of going to see the new one next Saturday.  I ask that if you’ve been partnering with me in prayer that you continue to pray for these girls; that they would continue to ask questions and open up with me about their lives and to be curious about mine as well.

I’ve been able to visit Belfast for the past few weeks, both on Thursday nights for outreach in the streets and on Saturdays just as a day out from Murlough. In fact, I’m typing this blog from the Linen Hall Library in downtown Belfast; it’s a very neat old library in the heart of the city. I believe it’s the oldest library in Ireland…I could be wrong; I’ve never been good at knowing bits of historical information like that (as my family and close friends well know!). About the outreach work though, the time I’ve spent in Belfast over the past few weeks has been very encouraging. I come downtown on Thursday nights with a team of people from all around the city and other towns in Northern Ireland. We set up on the street to do outreach and preaching from white boards. It’s not so much the preaching that is the emphasis, but meeting new people and sharing a bit of the gospel with them. The past few weeks have really been a blessing to come up here for that. Last week, it was too stormy to go out on the streets, so we just sat inside the McDonalds and talked with people there. I met two girls, Stephanie and Nicole (17 and 12 years old) who didn’t know much about the gospel and at first seemed very uninterested. I think they only listened to me because of the American accent. I shared a bit of my testimony with them and answered some of their questions about God and the bible. They started to become more interested! We talked for about an hour or so, by the end of the conversation they had to leave to catch a bus but they didn’t want to leave the table! It was so encouraging to see them open up to what God wanted to tell them! I got their names and we are now Facebook friends. Please pray for these two girls, Stephanie and Nicole, that they would continue to ask questions over Facebook.

This past Thursday we were able to be out in the streets for outreach and I met a guy named Stephen. He shared a bit of his story with me and I with him. We had things in common as far as searching for hope and meaning and ‘life to the full.’ He was interested in ‘what I have’ and God was able to use that to speak to him. I took his email to follow up with him and I believe he may come to ‘The Oasis’ tonight (it’s a 25-and-up night run by Murlough for fellowship, worship, and teaching). We’ve encouraged him to come as he seems to be interested in having more Christian community and fellowship. Please pray for Stephen as well.

I know this is getting lengthy but before I end, thanks to all for the grand birthday wishes I received this week. It’s amazing how much a Facebook message or a card can impact you when the familiar comforts of home aren’t so familiar and commonplace. It was very nice to feel that much love on my birthday!

Also, if you’ve partnered with me in prayer, please lift up the following this week:

Monday : Pray for Alisdair Ewing who works at Murlough. He was in a car accident this morning and has been taken to the Downpatrick hospital. I’m not sure of his status at this time.

Tuesday:  Pray for the continuing health and strength of John Moxen. He’s feeling a bit tired and gets worn out very easily. Pray for his continued healing.

Wednesday:  Pray for Stephanie and Nicole, the two girls I met in the Belfast McDonalds.

Thursday:  Pray for Stephen, who I met in the streets of Belfast.

Friday:  Pray for the children and teens we work with and the relationships we’ve established in Dundrum.

Saturday: Pray for Bryan, my fellow intern, and God’s guidance, strength, and wisdom in his life.

 Sunday:  Pray for the health of all who work at Murlough as the cold season may be upon us here.

I hope all is well, and again if there is anything I can be praying for for you, please e-mail me at jessgrove85@yahoo.com.

Take care, and God bless!

Fireworks for Halloween??...you betcha!

The ninth week of ministry…already??!! I’m really beginning to settle in now that it’s been nine weeks here in Dundrum. The time here seems to be flying by, and the Lord is doing great work here!

The ministries continue to go well; we held our sixth week of kids club bible school this past Monday. The kids really seem to be enjoying it and learning a lot. So far, we’ve covered creation, Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, and Joseph.  The kids are enjoying the activities and crafts that we do with them, along with a memory verse and other games. I’ve added a picture of the Joseph craft they did on my Facebook page “Jess Grove: Northern Ireland 2010 – 2011.” If you’d like to see the pic, ‘Like’ that page on Facebook!

For the high school girls’ night this week, we had a Halloween party and pot-luck spaghetti dinner. All the girls brought different desserts and salads and we made them spaghetti and garlic bread.  Cynthia and I decorated the Crosspoint Centre with balloons, home-made streamers complete with pumpkin and bat cut-outs, and a huge spider web made from white yarn hanging from one corner of the room. The girls all wore costumes, carved pumpkins and watched a Halloween movie. It was a really great night! Also, for Halloween here in Northern Ireland there is a parade and fireworks, so that was a bit different than how we have Halloween in the states.

This past Thursday was a wonderful time to tour the local sites with Cynthia and Bryan (the other intern here).  Thursday evening, a few of us headed up to Belfast to do some evangelical outreach in the city. It was quite a night! I haven’t been involved in street outreach like that before. We all gathered in a church before we went out on the street to pray for the night ahead of us. Then we set everything up in the streets, complete with white boards and paints. One of the guys with us started talking and we all stood around like a fake crowd to listen to him. When people stopped to listen we would be able to ask them what they thought of what was said and get to know them. It was incredible to see how God was working that night. Many people found encouragement and started to think about Christianity for the first time in their lives. It was exciting! I also met a few girls who I will become friends with on Bebo (like Facebook) so that they can stay in touch and ask questions, etc. Very exciting! Praise God!

Another encouragement this week was a conversation with a few of the girls at Crosspoint. They talked to me about relationship troubles they were having and it opened an opportunity to speak in regards to a God who loves them and about loving yourself first before you try to love someone else. It is one of those rare moments I’ve had here where the girls have opened the opportunity to speak a bit of truth into their lives, very encouraging.

I believe that is all of the updates for now, but I’ll leave with a quote from a book I’ve been reading this week: “Our greatest task and privilege in life is in fulfilling his purposes for us and through us. Once this vision has filled our hearts and minds we put our own purposes, wants and needs into second place.” The Prayer Principle ~ Michael Baughen

If you’ve been partnering in prayer with me, I have a few prayers listed below:

-          Please pray for continued opportunities to speak truth into the girls’ lives

-          Please pray for the families of the children and teens we work with

-          Please pray for the health of all who work at Murlough House

-          Please pray for Jen Shilliday (Richie’s wife) as she begins a new job at a hospital over an hour away.

-          Please pray for continued strength in my relationships with the girls in Danville, IN that I work with in Northvi ew Christian Church

Take care and God bless!

Ministry...Community...Relationship

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon. As I sit here in my room at Murlough House and try to reflect on the past few weeks here, three words come to mind – ministry, community, and relationship. Ministry because of the continued work we do with the kids and teens; community because the Lord has brought incredible people into my life, providing a sense of community here; and relationship because much of the time spent here is in relationship with those around me, or with the Lord.

One event that took place in the past few weeks was the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner that Jen and Richie hosted for almost 35 family members and friends. This event was also a welcome home surprise for Cynthia. We had all sorts of lovely foods – turkey, lamb, chicken, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, roasted potatoes, corn, salads, bread…you name it, we had it! On top of that there were about five or six delicious desserts. Needless to say, we had our fill of wonderful food and a great time with new friends and old.

The ministry over the past few weeks has been good. We’ve held three kids clubs now and the children seem to be enjoying their time with us and time learning about God’s word. We’ve covered creation and Adam and Eve over the past few weeks. This week we’ll look into the story of Noah and the flood. The high school girls’ ministry is going well. We’ve had a few more bible studies over the past few weeks; this week we discussed being a light in darkness to those around us. We also did a bit of baking this week for the girls’ night activity. They enjoyed making chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies.

Another exciting event this week was last night at the Oasis – the Oasis is a ministry for mostly 25+. There is usually a group that does some music and worship as well as a speaker. In my first week here at Murlough House, Ross Holmes – the man who organizes the nights at the Oasis – asked me and Bryan (the other Murlough intern) if we liked to sing. So we said yes, not really thinking anything of it. The next thing we knew he had called up his friend Chloe who plays the piano and we were now in a band called “Across the Water!”  So we’ve practiced over the past few weeks and had our debut worship service last night at the Oasis. To be honest, there was a bit of nerves about singing here and the different culture and all, but the night turned out lovely and it was a great time of worship, hearing God’s word, and fellowship with new friends. We sang a few songs you may know: Amazing Grace (My chains are gone version), “The Power of the Cross” (Keith and Kristen Getty), “Here’s My Life (Barlow Girl), “All the way my Savior Leads me,” and “It is well.” It was a blessing to worship with everyone last night. Very great night!

If you’ve been partnering with me in prayer, I’ve listed a few praises and prayer requests below:

Praise: John Moxen is home from the hospital. He had a diffibulator put in and is now at home resting. He is doing well. Thank you to all who prayed for John.

 - Please pray for the health of all at Murlough House.

 - Please pray for strength and guidance for the work and ministry here

 - Please pray for the kids and teens that are ministered to here and for their families

 - Please pray for comfort when missing family and friends in the states

Please let me know how I can be praying for you, send a message to jessgrove85@yahoo.com

God bless!

Kids club, girls' ministry, and bears...oh my!

I've been in Northern Ireland for nearly a month today. It's been a great time of planning for youth programs, establishing relationships and community, and spiritual growth. It's interesting to feel yourself slowly integrate into another culture while striving to stay connected to everything and everyone you know and love back home. 

As far as ministry work, we started a 'Kid's Club' childrens' bible school this week that will take place every Monday after school. We have games, crafts, activity packets and bible stories. We are teaching them about the 12 disciples over the 12 weeks of this portion of kid's club, along with a bible story that ties into the theme of the day (various themes include creation, faith, love, holiness, etc). The kids are in Primary school, like our elementary; they are in grades P4-P7 (they are 7 years old up to 10 or 11 years old). The kids are, needless to say, full of energy; the first week with them was enjoyable and I've made friendships with the young girls. They are just precious!

Over the past two weeks, I've led the high school girls bible study that meets on Thursday nights (soon to move to Wednesdays). We're going through a study that was created by a few former interns at Murlough House. The study is called 'Purely for Him' and centers around 'Our place' as Gods creation, daughters, temple, etc. Great study, has sparked many interesting conversations/questions already! The relationships with the girls are growing which is also exciting to see. Even had a conversation with one girl this week on questions around creation, spirits, evil in a god-created world, etc. Pray for these conversations to continue and expand.

Also, Heather Ferguson helped me coordinate pen pals from the youth group at Northview for the girls here in Dundrum. The girls here have been excited to receive e-mails from the girls in the states; they are also working on letters to send them! If the girls in the states come to Murlough House with Northview's team trip in the summer of 2011, they will get to meet their pen pals! Can't wait!

If you are partnering with me in prayer, I've listed a few prayer requests below:

 - That relationships would continue to grow in depth, trust, and love
 - New ways to minister to the girls would reveal themselves
 - The health of all who work at Murlough
 - The health of John Moxen who is still waiting to get to the hospital in Belfast to have a diffibulator put in. Has been in the hospital since August 31st. Also for his wife Jo through this time.
 - The girls here would start to ask the questions of why I'm really here and questions about faith, God, etc.
 - For the families of the children we minister to; that through that work, they may somehow also be reached if they are not already.

I appreciate all of your love and prayer support thus far and look foward to continuing to pray for you. Please e-mail me jessgrove85@yahoo.com if there's anything I can pray for for you!

Take care and God bless!
Jess Grove

Blessing Bells are ringing

This week has been full of excitement, anticipation, and a bit of preparation for Jen and Richie's wedding blessing. It was an honor to be a part of their special day here with family and friends to celebrate their marriage. They held their wedding in early August in Canada (where Jen is from) so they held another ceremony here in Dundrum for those who could not attend.

For those of you who don't know Richie and Jen, I'll tell a bit about them. Richie is the man who works with the youth in Dundrum. He works with Murlough House in order to schedule teams that come and work with Murlough to do outreach to the kids here in the community and nearby towns. That is how I got involved with Murlough, was coming with a team of high schoolers from Northview Christian Church in Danville last summer. He also holds kids programs and many programs for the teens as well. Jen, his wife has recently moved here from Canada and has been ministering to the girls here in Dundrum. We will be working together for the girls ministry. She has previously worked in respiratory therapy which I believe she hopes to continue here if able to do so.

The ceremony was beautiful. There was a bit of worship played by the Methodist minister in Newcastle. Also, the Newcastle Presbyterian minister did some of the speaking and message. They had three close friends who each read scripture passages; they also showed a video of pictures and video clips from the wedding in Canada. After the ceremony, everyone had food and celebrated Jen and Richie's marriage. It was an all around lovely evening.

I was able to meet some tremendous people throughout these events who were either local friends of Jen and Richie's or they had traveled from the states to see them on this special occasion. I was very lucky to have met Jane, Missy, and Michelle over this weekend event. They are all wonderful girls!

As for our work with the youth, we still held all of the usual programs for them this week. We should be able to be more in a routine now that the blessing is over too. Will update soon with all of the kids club and teen events updates!  Hope you're all well, God bless!

First Week in Northern Ireland...God is GOOD!

All,

Hello! Glad you've decided to join me in this adventure for the next ten months or so. I am excited about the work that God has planned for me here in Northern Ireland. Some of it has started already in the first few days, and other things are still in the planning stages.  I wanted to provide a bit of information regarding my travels here as well as the status of the work I've been a part of in just the first week here.

Okay, first with travel. The trip went very smoothly with minimal travel/customs issues. My mom did an amazing job driving me up to the Chicago airport despite closed exits and traffic, thank you mom! An interesting piece of God's provision came within the first minutes of the flight.  The man who sat next to me on the plane, Phillip, was supposed to sit in the seat in front of me but there was a mix up in the tickets, so he sat in the seat next to me. We struck up a conversation and I learned that he is a pastor for a Roman Presbyterian church in Belfast. I told him about the work I'd be doing at Murlough House and we just talked throughout the flight. I was also able to sleep for about four hours on the plane which is a blessing when you arrive in Northern Ireland at 7:30 a.m. and are expected to stay awake for the entire day. Alright, so I got off the plane in Dublin and got through customs with no problems, picked up my baggage and headed for the bus stop to catch a bus to Newry. When I got to the bus stop, Phillip from the plane was taking the same bus, only to Belfast. I asked him if he thought they would take U.S. dollars for the bus fair and he said no. I told him I was going to go inside to exchange some money and he pulled out 10 pounds and gave it to me! A very rare example of selfless giving and a picture of God's provision in a foreign place. Not only had he given in a monetary way, but he had provided a friendly face and conversation which definitely helped ease me into the transition of entering a new country. And all this happened with someone who wasn't even supposed to sit next to me!

Alright, so I arrived in Newry where I met up with Richie Shilliday (the man I will work with here) and rode to Murlough House in Dundrum. I arrived at the house and met the staff, most of whom I had met last summer. That afternoon I went with Richie and Bryan, my fellow intern, to Crosspoint Centre where most of our youth programs will take place. It was a Tuesday so we had the after school drop-in from 4:00 - 6:00. I was able to make good relationships with six girls in that first afternoon, and that will terrible jet lag! God is good!! The girls are so great and I already feel God working with my heart for them. Below is a listing of the youth programs we're scheduled for so far:

Mondays: Kids Club - 6 - 11 years old after school program (games, lessons, activites, crafts, etc)
Tuesdays: After school program for teens 4:00 - 6:00
Wednesdays: Boys night and bible study
Thursdays: Girls night and bible study
Friday: Teen drop in from 7:30 p.m. - 12
Saturdays: Possible work with the youth program at Newcatsle Presbyterian in the evenings

As of right now, we are planning the entire Kid's Club program (the one on Mondays)  for 13 weeks - making lesson plans with a theme of the 12 disciples and creating activity packets of word games, colouring pages and memory verses. This work has been very interesting so far, and it is a 'passion' I didn't know that I had. I'm finding a strange love of planning these types of activities!

I am looking forward to building relationships with the girls here. So far, I've met thirteen girls and have seen most of them about three nights out of the six I've been here. Again, God is good!  Well, I believe that is enough for now. I look forward to keeping you all updated and hearing how you are doing. Please let me know if there is anything I can be praying for for you.

Until next time, take care and God bless!