It is 9:30, so we are getting ready to leave for church soon. 

I have a living room filled with bags that are in the middle of being packed for our trip tomorrow. It will not be easy to leave but it is necessary. The sooner we go the sooner we can come back. I have grown to love our life here in Northern Ireland. 

I find my self worrying about the teenagers more then I probably should. Praying that they stay involved and build relationships with the church people. 

We have been seeing a lot more of the paramilitary influence here. Honestly, it is a little scary when you hear people talking about it. For our teenagers it is a part of everyday life. On Friday, our youth club was about half the size due to a party in the forrest. May heart sank when I saw some of our most faithful follow the crowd down the street. I have a pretty good idea what kind of future they are headed for if somethings don't change. 

Some times it really hurts to care and you wonder why you work so hard to share your heart and life with others who seem not to listen. The the Lord shows you something you were not expecting. 

I was down on the street talking to some of the boys who got into trouble the week before so they couldn't come up to hang out. As I talked to them another young man came around and started asking some questions about if I smoked, drank, or did drugs. 

I was amazed at what happened next. Before I really had time to respond, these two boys who seem never to listen and always have to be the center of attention began to speak for me. They recounted my testimony to this young man, only to stop a couple of times to ask me if they had it right. I almost cried as I watched them tell this stranger to me, how God had changed my life and they told him all about Wesley and the phone calls we shared before he died. They told him how God had let me talk to him three different times before I got the call from my mom to say he had died. I couldn't believe God was giving me this wonderful gift before I left to go home. To watch these two kids share what God had done in my life to someone else, was priceless.

After they finished, I told them they really were listening, they just smiled and said yeah it really got their attention. 

The people of the church have been amazing, how they have welcomed these rough around the edges kids into their church above the shops. Please pray that God would continue to grow this work. 

Pray for Martin and Carrie as they return home. I am sure they are excited to come back and work with these young people. They will certainly have their hands full. I look so forward to seeing and hearing how God uses them in the days to come.