Blog

    As I write this today, we are preparing for our final day of basketball tomorrow.  It has been 12 days of basketball now and we are working hard on tomorrow's awards program for the parents of our 30 players.  Paul, Ben, Samanthia, and SaraJean - our coaches from America have been a huge help connecting with local kids and their families.

    Paul is an enginering student from Delaware, Ben is a senior at Tennessee, Sam is a nursing student in TN and SaraJean just finished college and is heading back to Colorado.  In addition we have Alan from Norhtern Ireland - he along with Kieran have been the daily 'skills drills' designers and kept the camp on track.

    Tomorrow we have invited all the parents to come at 4:45 PM to see what their kids have been learning, watch our final competitions and cheer as we had out trophies and certificates.  Please pray with us as we try to firm up Kingdom Relationships with many of the parents.  This is a big part of the plan to show what Jesus looks like, through all of us.

    After camp ends, we will be driving up to Belfast in Northern Ireland on Sunday to pick up Pastor David and Graham and Carol.  There are flying in to Belfast today to visit other friends there, and we will then bring them back to Dublin with us!  We can't wait.

    Then on Monday - our son Andrew and his family; Sarah and the kids (Abby and Joseph) will be here for three weeks on their way back to South Asia.  It will be good to see them again, and for the first time in Ireland! 

    Thank you for praying - we depend on His glorious mercy and sustaining strength!

Today was day 2 of our 10 day basketball camp here at Ballycullen Community Church. We have 27 nine to fourteen year olds coming to our Community Centre for 2 1/2 hours per day to learn basketball skills, have fun, and develop new relationships. We are thrilled with our 4 American college age coaches and the staff here in Ballycullen.

Take a look at the early pictures below to give you an idea of how our opening day looked in terms of our coaches and facility. We cannot publish pictures of the kids for security reasons, but we want you to know there are lots of them and they all have families that we care deeply for as we strive to get to know them and be known by them.

This is the 9th consecutive year this camp has been operating, but it our first exposure. Stephanie (newest member to our Team Ireland) Kieron, SaraJean, Samantha, Ben, Paul and Alan all showed up on opening day with new orange 'Coach' shirts to make sure parents knew who was who! See the pictures below to help you remember to pray for the kids, their families and our coaches!

Our Coaches, all in a row!

Stephanie, Ailis & Sarah at the Registration Table

Outside the Sports Hall where we set up our Registration Table.

As you have been reading, 18" long Baby Kate Jones joined the team at 5:30 AM on the 7th (see the last 3 blogs for all the details). The next day, 8th July, 72" tall Stephanie Kozich landed in Dublin at 7:57 AM from Knoxville, Tennessee.

Stephanie has been raising prayer and finacial support for the past 2 years and is now here full time. She will be living with us until she is able to find the perfect place God has already appointed for her. Her arrival is another example of God's perfect timing as she will be a huge help in our upcoming 2 week basketball camp (12th - 25th July). You see, one of the wonderful members of our church, Ballycullen Community, was going to be preparing dinners for the basketball coaches the last week of the camp. But, while on holiday (vacation) in Italy last week, she broke a bone in her foot and can't get around very well, so cooking dinners became impossible.

Stephanie will be staying at this lady's house for the 2 weeks of the camp, and is going to take over the cooking duties, as well as many other things, during the camp. Isn't God amazing - He cares for the little things as well as the big stuff.

So, please pray for Stephanies as she makes all the transitions to a new culture. Pray that she will find God's direction as she joins us here in Ballycullen. See her picture below as she arrived at Dublin International Airport 3 days ago.