Glaslough and Cssm

We are here sitting in the computer room in Hillside church at CSSM waiting for our lunch. CSSM doesn't start until tomorrow but we arrived yesterday to start with setting up etc.
We know we'll have a deadly time here but we miss Glaslough :(
Glaslough started out with Me, Chrisi and Rachel road tripping it down to Monaghan with a bitta Avril Lavinge playing in the car and lots of laughter. We arrived at BallyAlbany but everyone was at the other church and so we couldnt get in...so we called up to this woman's house to ask for Daniel to get keys but the woman didn't even answer her door, she spoke to us through the door (we don't think she liked us very much) so we went away!
We arrived up to the place where the camp was being held and met the team! All from Northern Ireland but I fit in perfectly with my AMAZING immitation of a Northern accent and Chrisi was grand because she picks up accents after 3 seconds.
We set the place up and had some tea...we then went back to BallyAlbany and there was a chill out room upstairs with....AIR HOCKEY! so of course Rachel and I ran straight to the table and starting playing...we got a bit too into it, there was sweating and injuries and Rachel let out her true feelings towards me "Your a vicious cow and i hate you"...she loves me really, i hope!
Every night we had a team meeting where there was a "hot seat" and people gave there testimonies which was deadly because it allowed us to get to know each other better and see how God had worked and is at work in other's lives.
Camp started on the Monday and all the kids came...i was working with 4-5 year olds (so cuuutee!!) and Chrisi was with the uber cool 10-12s!
We sang amazing songs and did drama's and games...the best game was the lace's game which involved eating lace's (the sweets) really fast and then at the end shouting either "boys are better than girls" or "girls are better than boys" and we all know the second statement is the right one!
The kids were awesome, so much fun and such a laugh. We played sports with them in the afternoon and we also did crafts.
At night Chrisi, Jamie, Jason, Nelly and I stayed back to hang with the teens or "the teen" as only one came but we had such a laugh playing basketball and splash and the hand game (so addictive).
God was so at work all week, it was amazing. He gave us the energy and the strength needed and we just relied on him. The team were so lovely and we made some friends for life.
Oh and we went swimming on the first day which was a bit tramatic with boys in white shorts but we shall say no more about that.
We're excited for CSSM starting tomorrow and everyone seems really nice here too. Keep us in your prayers to just be full of energy and enthusiasm with the kids and to just really glorify God through all we do.
Keep reading,
Love the girls xxx

Pics!!

There are pics up on Chrisi and Rachel's Facebooks :)

Monaghan here we come

And no rest for the wicked (in the cockney, awesome way!) we are off to Glaslough in 2 hours after 24 hours rest to join the team there for a week of kids clubs, teen sessions and late night team discos!

Urban Soul '09

We aimed to arrive in town just before 3, and stopped to have MacDonalds in the rain. As we started to stroll down O' Connell street we remembered that wet pavement and uggs are a very bad combination, so as Gina fell down Talbot street and I laughed my way we began to realise we had no idea where we were going! So after walking around aimlessly for about a half hour we went into londis to ask for directions, and luckily someone working in Trinity Church was in the que behind Gina! So finally arriving in "The Exchange" an hour late we began to que, getting quite hungry at this point, but just happy to have found the place! So registered and with all of our bags we headed to Jacobs Inn. The room was great, and we stayed with some really nice girls. So we were settled and ready to get into some "indiscriminate acts of kindness". So we woke up the next morning at around...half 6! The girls in our room were crazy! After breakfast we had our morning meeting, and then went to meet our group. Team extreme, as we liked to call ourselves, were great! Everybody got on really well, and worked well as a team. Based in Drimnagh the purpose of our team was to aid the locals in making community gardens. Our aim was to be seen as helpers, not as the community helping us, so we got some of the local teens involved. They were incredible, and shocked that we had paid to come garden in their estate! So at the end of the second day we were able to see the hard work we had done pay off, as four beautiful flower beds were finished, and we had cleaned up the playground beside the school. On the third day we held a sports day for the entire community, kids and adults were involved and it was a huge success. With different races, icecream, hotdogs, sumo wrestling and medals for all involved, it was hugely enjoyed and incredible to see. Sad to be leaving but excited to go to Glaslough, Gina and I left this morning feeling exhausted, inspired, and hugely grateful for the experience. Missing all the people we met already, but excited to move on the the next camp :D Keep reading! The girls xxx

Day 3 in the Ovoca Manor Flat, 12.15pm

Gina, Christina and Rachel are in the kitchen...
Last night we watched Ten Things I Hate About You (HEATH LEDGER!!) it was amazing but we've all seen it so many times that we know all the words off by heart!
We made a big poster saying "Lost the game?" because we all kept losing the game, so as you're reading this you're losing the game also (haha!) but we don't think the people from the camp here play the game because no-one is crying when they see our sign? crazy, we know! We also played tabboo last night.. did you know boys wear jockeys?
Today we woke up and had some yummie breakie! Chrisi drank some SQEASHLY orange juice and Wendy went home :(
We did our personal devotion's outside in the sun and read about how Joesph forgave his brothers, which is pretty cool! We crashed Family Week's worship this morning also which was great!
We then came back in and learnt more about children and we looked at how to put our Spiritual Gifts into practice which looks deadly because now we know where we will work best this summer and how we can share our gifts with others and glorify God through them!
Chrisi and I just went down the sliiideee..which was fun because we havent done that in years, but walking back up those steps is painful! We got some loovely pictures and now we must cleaaaan and go home and clean ourselves and pack and go to Urban Soul tomorrow, so excited!!
Keep reading,
Looveee the girls!! xx

We're Here!!

We are on our second day!- I can't believe the internship has finally started! We've been here 24 hours and so much has happened!

We have had Avoca Handweavers lunch (yumm!), gone on a LONG prayer walk, had starbucks, hung out with our mentors (Wendy & Karen) learned all about our personalities, had a 4th July BBQ! with the SU staff, learned all about how children learn and develop, carried a TV up the stair in the rain and nearly got "executed", watched Legally Blonde, got new hoodies, journals & devotional books, done a Bible study, played Uno, gone to chuch, learned about Child Protection and done 2 sessions on our Spiritual Gifts, had ALL YOU CAN eat Chinese food and tonight we're joining Family Week One for a worship session- phew!

So keep checking in for more updates and we will see some of you on Tuesday for Urban Soul- woop woop!!

Kareoke

Thanks to everyone who came and supported us!!!