Mike & Rachel In Cork, Ireland

April 2010 Update

2010-04-17T23:03:00.001+01:00

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all enjoying spring. I think it just arrived here in Cork, and after the coldest winter ever, I'm hoping the sun will stay! The daffodils are everywhere, and little primroses are springing up all over our grass. I just planted a herb garden, and hope to start vegetables this week! Well, a new season, a new update. May the Lord bless you for taking the time to read and pray!

We thank God for allowing us to be in Ireland, and for renewing our visas. We've been here now for over 6 years, and loving every bit! My family is actually out here visiting right now, so we've been really blessed to be able to hang out with them all. I'm going to miss them SO MUCH when they go!
So, what's new..... I'm gonna try to make this short and reader-friendly :)

Praise God for:
*Our new Sunday school room! We added a wall to a corner in the church, and voila- now we have a large Sunday school room to accommodate the kids. It was built in just a day, with no hassle. A real answer to prayer.
*The team from Rainbow Church in California! We had a team out in March and they were such a blessing to us. They helped to paint and finish the wall, did dramas in the streets, helped with worship and teaching and outreach. We got to show them a bit of this lovely country we call home, and had a wonderful time.
*The women's study: we've started a series of women in the Bible, and all the girls have signed up to teach a different woman of the Bible. I'm SO blessed because it's something I've been desiring for years- to see the ladies in our group step out in faith and lead the study, and now they are!
*All the leprechauns that came to church on St. Patrick's Day and got saved.... Haha! Just kidding. But we did do outreach on St. Patrick's Day.
*Baby Dedication! This Sunday, Mike gets to dedicate one of the babies in the church, little Zoe. It's his first time dedicating a baby in our church, so it's really exciting for us all!
*A good friend of ours used his frequent flier miles to buy us tickets to visit California in November. This is such a blessing to us, and we couldn't afford to visit this year. So we hope to see you all then!

Please pray for:
*Mike as he has been counseling people through some especially difficult situations lately. Just pray for strength and wisdom for him, and for the people who are going through these difficulties!
*Outreach! Our Friday night tea and coffee outreach is happening as I type, so please pray the God's Word will go out, and people will be saved. Pray for more workers...
*The students: each semester we get a new group of students, who are usually gone by summer. Please pray that they feel welcomed and loved in our church, and that they come to know God in a deeper way while here. Over the years, we've been blessed to see many students get serious about their walk with God while here in Calvary Cork. Pray this keeps happening!
*Our new kid's ministry set up. We're still getting used to having two rooms for the kids- one for older kids and one for babies. Pray that both the workers and the parents are blessed by it and that we use all our resources in the best way possible.
*Our church retreat- I still haven't planned it yet, but I need to! Pray we find the perfect place and time to host our church retreat.
*Wisdom for Mike and me as parents of an autistic child. We are learning so many things every week that we are supposed to be doing with Eoin, and it can be very difficult to do it all! So just pray for the ability to be all that God wants us to be for our son. And praise God for Aan-Sofie and Donna, two amazing women who work tirelessly with Eoin and stop me from going a bit crazy sometimes!
*For continued financial provision for us as a family. I know things are tough, but God is bigger! Pray that I will know that all the time though :)

I have a big pot of Irish stew bubbling on the stove right now. It's been cooking for almost 4 hours. Yum! So I think I'd better go....

Thank you So MUCH for reading this! Please feel free to email us anytime. We love hearing from our brothers and sisters in Christ! We are one body.... many members. And by praying, you are a part of the work God is doing in Cork, Ireland. Yay!

In His Service, by His Strength,
-Mike and Rachel Neglia-

Siona 1

2009-02-07T15:16:00.001Z

Siona 2

2009-02-07T15:15:00.002Z

Ray 1

2009-02-07T14:58:00.001Z

Ray 2

2009-02-07T12:56:00.000Z

Worship

2009-02-07T12:48:00.000Z

Songs of praise and readings from scripture.

Lovely Day For A Baptism!

2009-02-07T12:43:00.000Z

Some pictures.

2008-12-06T12:27:00.012Z

Wednesday night Bible study. This is Ian, he plays banjo with the worship group.

Hërr Präyer (early morning men's prayer time)
Eoin + Percy the steam engine
Eoin opening a present
Cork in the morning light.
Eoin loves his new shirt!

Bible Study in Waterford.
Evening Echo - Cork Newspaper

Cork Wedding

2008-12-06T12:20:00.001Z

2008-09-02T18:28:00.006+01:00

pictures from the summer

2008-09-02T09:30:00.007+01:00

two videos and a photo

2008-09-01T18:50:00.004+01:00

Our little greeter welcomes malcolm to church, aden observes.

Pat and Wendy Herrell visit

2008-09-01T18:39:00.002+01:00

2008-07-13T01:33:00.000+01:00

Summer in Ireland

2008-06-12T17:18:00.000+01:00

It is a gorgeous day here in Cork! From my window, I can see basically the entire city centre, and the sun is shining on all the rooftops (including 14 church spires!)... and it's so beautiful! I love Cork.
Well, I'd better update you as quickly as I can, before Eoin gets bored playing with his plastic animals.

Two weeks ago was a great Sunday for announcements. Let me share them with you:
*A dear couple in our church, Jon and Maggie (he runs the youth group), are having a baby! Yay!!!!! And another couple in our church announced their engagement!! And we got to watch a video of the baptism of Esther (who recently got saved in Cork, and was baptized by her father while she visited back home)! Praise God for new life, in all areas!
Anyway.....

*The church is going well. We're not so packed now that college is out and a lot of the students are home for the summer, but we're still getting new visitors and being encouraged by our committed church body as well.

*Speaking of committed..... We (and a few people from our church) recently attended a leadership conference at the Bible College in Germany. It was amazing! So incredibly encouraging. It spurred Mike on to have our first "committed persons" meeting (just last Sunday before church). Our goal is to get more people involved and serving, so we started three ministry teams (hospitality, evangelism, and communications) with leaders over each and members of each. Everyone signed up and now we're getting those started. So exciting! We feel that this is a huge step of maturity in Calvary Cork. We're also starting another prayer meeting before the Sunday service, and some people have asked if they can start one before our Wednesday service. Wow!

*Speaking of prayer.... Mike has begun a morning men's prayer group on Wednesday mornings, and lots of guys are attending. As you can see, God is really speaking to us about prayer and the importance of it (we've just gone from one prayer meeting a week to four!).

*Please pray for all these new ministries and the leaders; and that even after the excitement wears off, we'll still be able to continue all these new works in the Spirit.

*Sorry, I said this would be short! I'll be more brief....

*Thanks for praying for our women's study! It's going great. Last Friday we had a girl come who isn't saved. She really enjoyed it, and then she came Sunday as well! So pray for "A", that she'll be saved.
*Thanks for praying that I'd get a retreat put together... It's all organized! God opened all the doors for a beautiful b&b in July. But we still need your prayers! So keep it up.
*Thanks for praying for Eoin, but please keep that up as well! He got his foot stuck in a bicycle wheel (I'll spare you the details, but it was really really bad), and now he's in a cast and can't walk for two weeks. Kind of hard when he's already behind in that area, and now he has to crawl for two weeks!
*Our pastor from Fallbrook is coming in a few weeks, and he'll be doing a week-long (evening sessions) Bible overview in our church. Pray that people will be able to attend, and that Pastor Pat won't have any jet lag!

Lastly, pray for Ireland this Thursday, as we are the only country in the entire EU who will be voting on the Lisbon Treaty- a new EU constitution that, if passed by Ireland, will pretty much make the EU one country.... and will affect a lot of areas of Irish life. We are the only nation allowed to vote, due to some article in the Irish constitution, so please pray that wisdom will be exercised!

Well, I would hate to end on a political note. So... God is good! He is so faithful, and I love watching Him at work here in Cork, and in all the world! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and to pray for us.

God bless!
-Rachel (and Mike and Eoin)

April photos

2008-04-15T09:19:00.003+01:00

lads' camping trip
easter egg hunt
some people at church easter sunday
Eoin's giant easter egg that Jacqueline gave him. Thanks jacq!

a few more pictures from the past months

2008-02-07T09:54:00.000Z

random pics: people from church, our house at christmas, the guys at the christmas swim, and mike and eoin at the st. stephen's day fox hunt

2008-02-06T14:04:00.000Z

February 2008

2008-02-06T13:52:00.000Z

I am happy to say that today marks 4 years that Mike and I have been serving together here in Cork. I can't believe it has been that long, and I know that God has brought us every step of the way, and we give Him all the praise!It is very cold as I type.... There's a saying in Ireland that goes "there's no cold till St. Brigid's Day" . Well, last Friday was St. Brigid's Day, and the day began with snow! It was crazy. Then Eoin and I tried to venture into town, but we only got as far as the library over the bridge. It was so cold we couldn't go any farther!
Anyway, let me bring you up to date on what's been going on with our ministry here:
*The church is doing really well! I still ask that you would pray that in the Lord's timing, we would find a bigger building. Two Sundays ago, we were actually over our chair capacity by one! So a little girl sat on her mom's lap. All that said, we are still very affected by college semesters, so our numbers really fluctuate. But eventually we will have to move!
*In November, Mike was asked to speak at the Bible College in Siegen during speaker's week. Mike attended the Bible College there before moving here, and it's always an honour for him to go back. So thank you God for giving Mike a great time over there! And now two people from our church, Ian and Annemarie, have gone to Germany for this semester. We are so excited for them! Pray that they will really grow and be blessed.
*In December, Mike did his first wedding. Wow, what a privilege! It was for a lovely young couple in our church, but they have since moved to England for college. I'm attaching a picture of the ceremony though. For many of the guests, it was the first evangelical Christian ceremony they had ever attended, and everyone said they loved the "simple, personal service". Which was funny to us because we have only ever attended simple, personal, Christian wedding services! But praise God that His Word went forth.
*On Christmas Eve, our car was broken into and they tried to hotwire it, but thankfully there was an immobiliser, so it didn't work. But that was very frustrating. Young guys in the city hotwire cars all the time and set them on fire after racing through the streets, so we were so glad our car wasn't taken!
*On Christmas Day we joined hundred of other brave souls who got up early and drove to the beach for the annual Christmas swim! It's an Irish tradition going back years and years. I didn't go swimming, but lots of guys from our church did. I'm going to try to attach a picture of that too.
*A few days later, our car was broken into again! This time they took a crowbar to our door, so it was all messed up. They still couldn't get it to start, praise God. But the Gardai told us that our car has been targeted, and that they'll probably come back! We got a club for the steering wheel, and so far it's been fine. But it really upset me and please please pray that God will continue to protect it!! He has this whole time, so I trust that He will continue to.
*Speaking of cars, we both passed our full license driving tests!!!!!!!! We were so so so happy. The pass rate is under 50%, and the waiting list is almost a year (up to now we've been driving on provisional licenses). That is a huge weight off our minds. Thank you God!
*We've begun a tea and coffee outreach in the city centre. We got big thermoses and we just set up on the street next to the pubs with tea and coffee and biscuits and gospels of John, and it's been going so well! Please keep that in your prayers, that we would see the fruit from it and that God would be glorified.
*We now have a Friday night youth group! It's led by a great guy in our church named Jon. There are only two members, but we know that God will bless it. Pray for vision and strength for Jon as he steps out in faith.
*Last night, Mike moderated a discussion on the nature of God between a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Bah'ai. It was hosted by the Christian Union in University College Cork (the president of which attends our church, which is how Mike was asked to moderate it). Pray for the seeds that were planted, that they will take root!
Well, I think that's it..... Reflecting back on the past four years..... it's been amazing. I love Cork and I love Ireland and I can't wait to see what God has for us in 2008!

Celebrate Jesus (Christmas Outreach with Carrigaline Christian Fellowship)

2008-01-06T18:21:00.000Z

email update we wrote in November

2008-01-06T18:19:00.000Z

To our dear family in Christ,
We praise God that you are all safe after the fires in southern California. Lots of people here in Cork were praying! And our prayers are still with those of you who lost homes, and with the recovery process.
Speaking of fires (friendly ones), I'm sitting in front of a nice,big, coal fire right now. It's so cold outside! Very wintery. And timefor an Ireland update!
Things here are GREAT! Our church is growing (as in, we are runningout of chairs!). A few days ago, Mike and I were actually talking about what to do when we don't fit anymore. Praise God. It is so incredibly encouraging to us, especially because a few weeks ago, Mike did a Sunday morning service on the distinctives of Calvary Chapel, aswell as his vision for Calvary Chapel Cork. He ended by pretty much saying that if you aren't with this vision, then there's no need tostay in the church. And the next week, there were actually more people than before! So, I think they're on board with the vision.
We are seeing people raised up in the church in the past two months:We've got a girl who has taken over the baking rota, and a guy who has started a prayer chain. Mike hosted a men's breakfast/Bible study on Saturday, and it was taught by a local guy, and worship was led by a local guy! And for the first time ever, someone besides me will beteaching the women's study next Friday (a lady in our church). Wow. AsI am typing, I am being overwhelmed with seeing all the awesome things God has been doing.
We've been continuing with street evangelism. Mike leads the churchin street witnessing once a month, and it has really been a blessingto everyone involved. We're planning on doing our usual carollingservice this Christmas, and possibly something for the street beggars(we did tea and sandwiches last time), and praying about reaching outto the prostitutes (there are just a few). I suppose beggars andprostitutes don't come to mind when we think of Ireland, but Cork is abig city with its fair share of big city problems.
But not everything we do is in the city! Twice a week, I get to go outto the country to work (volunteer) in the first Christian school everopened in Cork! It just started in September. There are only sixstudents, and we meet in a little shed (a real one room schoolhouse)in the middle of a big, green field surrounded by more big, greenfields and cows. It's been such an amazing experience. But do pray forwoman who started it, as she has meningitis right now. And also forprovision for her and her husband (Peader and Wendi), as they are selling their home to finance the school.
Pray for Mike, as he has been asked to be a guest speaker at the Calvary Bible College in Germany next week. Pray that God will givehim the right message for the students, and time to study as well.
Pray for Mike also.... because he has been asked to do his firstwedding! It's in December, for a lovely couple in our church (but sadly they have to move to England for the husband to get his degree).
Well, we hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are sothankful for...... all of you! Seriously, just knowing that you readthese updates is such a blessing to us. We are also so thankful for Eoin! He will be two this Thanksgiving. So we're having aThanksgiving/birthday celebration with the church.
May the Lord bless you abundantly.
-Mike, Rachel, and Eoin-

New Years Eve Party

2007-02-09T20:42:00.000Z

Christmas Carolling

2007-02-09T20:23:00.000Z

Sorry for the low quality photos. It was very foggy that night.

What I was thinking while I drove home tonight

2007-02-01T01:43:00.000Z

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. And lo I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

Today I spent about six hours preparing a for the Wednesday night Bible study at Calvary Chapel Cork. Prayed, then read and re-read the text looked at the context jotted down notes, pointed out the progression of thought that I saw, drew out application for today, consulted commentaries, looked up a Hebrew word or two and then typed out my notes, printed them, folded them in half, stuck them in my Bible, made a cheese sandwich and drove down to the church building. Rachel and Eoin were already there and I hugged and kissed each one, finished tidying up and waited to see who would show up. A handful of people came (many were sick or on holiday or otherwise detained) and we had a sweet time of prayer and musical worship. It always brings me such joy to sing the Keith Green song that ends with the verse: “When we stand in glory, we shall see Your face, and there we’ll serve our King forever in that holy place.” (Niamh changes most of the uses of the singular pronoun I to the corporate we.)
It was so sweet; then I opened the meeting up if anyone had a verse they wanted to read or an encouraging experience to share and there was a fantastic reading from Psalm 37.
Then I taught a short study through Zechariah’s seventh chapter, talking mostly about the importance of obedience to the will of God over and above traditions (even well intentioned ones) and living a life that is sincerely God centred, not just in appearance. (I love the Minor Prophets!) The people were really attentive and enthusiastic about the teaching.
We finished up, had some snacks then packed up and were leaving the building and almost ran into the drunk man who was sitting on the doorstep. Today was his birthday, he told us. My wife gave him some matches to light his cigarette and he talked with us about his dead brother and a lady from the church gave him a tract and tried as best as she could to explain the gospel to him. After a while it was kind of obvious that he wasn’t taking in what we were saying so we invited him to come back to church on Sunday (he obviously knew where to find it) and said goodnight.
Got to the car and packed it full of stuff and people, then drove away, dropped off the people then turned on the radio in time to hear Trevor from church talking on RedFM’s Cork Talks Back programme! The topic was this documentary about some fundamentalist Christian camp in the states that got nominated for an Oscar. I didn’t hear the beginning of it, but Trevor was explaining what the Bible had to say about Christianity as opposed to that film. Loads of people were arguing with him and he was doing a great job of keeping his cool. As I was listening I got a phone call from Eimear; the programme director of the show asking if I wanted to go on the air, (I’ve been on before and she has my number saved) so I pulled over and joined in the conversation. I told them that I am a pastor and am studying theology and then everyone turned on me and started throwin questions at me about the Council of Nicaea and the date that the gospels were written and how stupid of me it was to believe that they were actually written in the first century. (It’s amazing how much influence a three minute flashback in a Tom Hanks film has on many people’s Christology.) I did my best to defend the historic gospel and the trustworthiness of the scriptures. I was on the air for about ten minutes before I was politely thanked and hung up on.
As I drove back home I couldn’t help but think of the different scenarios that God put me in this evening. From the warm intimate Bible study in the church office, to the cold doorstep right outside trying to show the love of God to an inebriated man to the airwaves of Cork city refuting those who contradict and contending for the faith that has once and for all been delivered to the saints. Each one was completely different from the other two, but each on preaching the same gospel but in different contexts and different scenarios. And my heart is so warmed right now, reflecting on the thought that the same good news is applicable to all three. There isn’t a separate gospel for the drunk on the street, and a separate gospel for the nice Christians at Bible study, and a separate gospel for the critics on the radio.
The unchanging gospel that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose again is applicable to all. This is the gospel that Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15 by which we are saved if we hold fast to it. I do encourage you to HOLD FAST to this gospel.
It is so good.
It is so good.

12/2/06

2006-12-03T07:06:00.000Z

Dear Friends,

Happy December! We hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. We actually just celebrated ours the day before yesterday! We kind of forgot when it was, so we made up our own day for it. But it was great! We held it the same night as our weekly prayer meeting, so everyone enjoyed an awesome time of praise and worship after the big meal. Ok, and I have to admit that not only did we not have Thanksgiving on the right day, we didn't have turkey either! I couldn't find one, so we had to do chicken instead... oh well!

So... what is new over in Ireland? We're done with John on Sunday mornings, so Mike just started Acts last week. We're looking forward to Calvary Cork learning from the model of the early church.

Mike hosted his monthly men's breakfast a few weeks ago. His goal has been to give different Irish Christians from the community the opportunity to teach, so this time it was led by Taedg O' Keefe and went quite well, I'm told. And of course the women's study is a blessing as always- still in Philippians. We had one last night and heard another testimony from a girl who has just started attending. I want build up the women so they can one day lead the studies, so keep that in prayer!

I had mentioned a girl in our last newsletter who recently got saved. Well, praise God that she now wants to be baptized! It is so freezing here at the moment, that we figure she must be really serious if she is willing to be baptized in the icy river. I do ask that you would all please continue praying for her boyfriend, that he would come to know the Lord soon. He came to a Sunday service for the first time a few weeks ago, so I know that God is working on his heart.

Something encouraging that we wanted to share with you all is that there is a lady in our church who has recently just been stepping out boldly in evangelism. She has been sharing with co-workers and opening up her home to children in the community for music lessons and Jesus lessons! It may not seem like a big deal, but it's really a big step for her and such an answer to prayer for us, as we long to see people raised up in Cork. So praise God!

So.... as we come into the Christmas season we're starting to plan various outreaches and such. Last year we did Christmas caroling through the city, and we're planning on doing more this year. It's amazing how open the people are to the gospel when you start off with some Christmas songs and candy canes! I'm really excited about our Christmas Eve service too. We have some very musically talented people in our church, and want to have a sort of outreach service where several people can sing or play and invite unsaved friends and family. That's what is so great about having our own building! We can host events and outreaches and stay as long as we want. So I ask that you please pray God's blessing upon all our endeavors!

One more thing to pray for: Over the past few weeks Mike and I have found ourselves doing a lot of serious counselling in a few people's lives. Of course we often find ourselves in this position, but never more than now! I have to say that it has been amazing to see how God has spoken through us and used us in a way I didn't think possible (oh me of little faith!!), but please pray that we would continue to be filled with the Spirit and that we would be able to speak the truth in love always. Thanks!

Lastly, I just want to thank you all so much for your prayers last year for Eoin when he was in the hospital. God is so amazing and He certainly did a miracle in Eoin's life! Eoin turned one last week, and he is such a testimony to God's grace and mercy. I'm attaching a picture of his first birthday party...

God bless you all and we look forward to hearing from you!

In Christ,
Mike, Rachel, and Eoin

Baptism Photos

2006-11-06T11:20:00.000Z

10/28/06

2006-10-29T06:12:00.000Z

Hello Friends!

Get ready for an exciting update…

So, last month Mike did his first baptism as pastor of Calvary Cork! It was amazing. We found a great spot out in the country at a bend in the River Lee, down by an old cemetery. It was cool because Mike was able to draw all our attention to the contrast between the death of the Fiona's old nature (pointing to the graveyard) and her new resurrected life in Christ (as demonstrated by her baptism). It had been raining all week, but we prayed and prayed (and so did some of you!) that the day would be sunny- and it was! Absolutely gorgeous. In fact, some people even jumped into the river for a little swim afterwards! Fiona shared her testimony beforehand, and it was so encouraging to us all. What a blessing!

Also…. WE GOT A CHURCH BUILDING! It's ground floor, city centre, and perfect. It has two big rooms and a bathroom and we can't believe it's ours! The landlord knows we're Christians and knows we're a church, and he doesn't mind (a miracle). And isn't God's timing so perfect? A team was out from Calvary Chapel Bible College in Germany the very week we got the place, so they did all the painting and assembled our bookcases and everything! The building is coming along nicely and we're giving it lots of personal touches to really make it our own. Praise God. Do you know we've been praying for a new place for like, three years or something? Awesome.

Another praise report- a girl who's been coming along to church for a while now has committed her life to Christ! We are all praying that her boyfriend would be saved as well (he's come to a few mid week Bible studies), so please join us in praying the same.

Oh! And I have to tell you all that Mike was asked to lead the next Munster regional prayer meeting for the AIEC (Association of Irish Evangelical Churches). It's held twice a year, and each time they have a different pastor lead it. So it's a real honour for Mike! It's this Thursday, so keep that in prayer as well.

Everything else is going great. The women's Bible study is blessing all who attend, and lately I've been having different girls share their testimony at each study, so that's cool. Mike is almost done with John on Sundays (then on to Acts), and he's still doing the Minor Prophets on Wednesdays.

9/15/06

2006-09-15T19:09:00.000+01:00

Ireland update...

Hi Everyone!

What a blessing it was to have been able to see so many of you last month when we were out for my brother's wedding. Our only regret is that we couldn't have spent more time with you all! Well, we've been back in Cork for a month now and it is definitely time for an update...

BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING ELSE, PLEASE PRAISE GOD AND PRAY FOR THE FOLLOWING!!
*Last week, Mike looked at a building for rent for our church (we've been looking for almost two years now). It's on the ground floor, which is usually hard to get in the city centre, and has two big rooms and a bathroom, which is just what we need. We've found suitable locations in the past, but no landlord will ever rent to a church (or Christian group or religious group or Bible students... we've tried them all!). But, the cool thing about this is that one of the men in our church met the landlord by chance (Mike has only had dealings with the realtor), and the landlord had no problem with us being a church!! I know this doesn't sound like much to be excited about in America; but for us in Cork, this is practically a miracle. Mike has been meeting with the realtor and we're in the process of giving references and all that. So..... we really don't want to get our hopes up, but we'd love to have our own place! We have our mid-week studies at our house, and we are literally packed in here. (Sundays we're in a rented room in the university). So, I'll let you know what happens!

Highlighting is great, I never realized you could do it until just now!
Anyway...
*We arrived back in Cork the same day as the team from Fallbrook, and we had a great time with them all. The first weekend, several of us went up to Waterford, where a couple from our church has been ministering for the summer, and we led a VBS. Lots of kids came and we did crafts all day and told Bible stories. Most of the children never had the gospel presented to them in a way they could understand. So please pray that the planted seeds will be watered and grow!
Over the next week, we did another VBS out in the country, painted someone's house, and did outreach in the streets. The team passed out gospels of John and met loads of people, which had been our main desire. They also passed out flyers for an outreach we held in a conference room of a local hotel. Mike spoke on the reliability of Scripture, and a lot of people showed up. So, all in all, a great time with the team.
*Praise God...... Something cool I wanted to share with you all: Mike's phone number is on all everything the team had been passing out, and he has been contacted by a few teens who are looking for answers about God. They have lengthy discussions via text messaging with Mike, and the Lord has really been blessing Mike's endeavors to reach out to these guys. So please keep them in prayer as well!

*Another praise report: last month, a dear girl in our church got married and is now a missionary in the Ukraine! It is so incredible to see the Lord build up people in our church and then send them off to the missions field. And now we have a missionary sent out from our own fellowship whom we can support! And speaking of sending people off, the couple I mentioned who were in Waterford for the summer will be returning there in a few months to stay on and see if God would start a Bible study and eventually a church there. There are virtually no evangelical churches in the area and we are so excited to see what the Lord will do through them.

*Our next women's Bible study will be next Friday, still going through Philippians. My desire is to get the women even more involved through sharing testimonies and stuff, but while still having a good, in depth study. So, I'm excited to see how it will go.

*There's a men's breakfast coming up, and Mike will be having one of the guys in our church teach at it. We really have a desire to raise up the people in our church, and this is an excellent way to do that!

*We've had requests from the Calvary Chapel Bible Colleges in Germany, England, and Hungary- asking if they can send teams to Cork. Since Germany asked first, we'll have them out next month. Mike is planning another outreach for them to be involved with, so please keep that in prayer.

That's about it. The new semester is beginning soon, which always brings us several students who will be around for one or two terms. Over the years, we've seen so many of them come and grow in the Lord in such awesome ways, and then move on. It's hard to see them go, but great to see God at work in their lives, and great to be a part of it.

God bless you all and thank you so much for your prayers and emails!

-Mike, Rachel, and Eoin

2006-08-31T09:58:00.000+01:00

church picnic

July Update

2006-07-18T18:13:00.000+01:00

Dear Everyone,

Greetings from Ireland! It is definitely time for another update… so let me begin!

* Well, Mike has been leading Calvary Chapel Cork for almost seven months now, and what an exciting time it has been! We have been so blessed to see the church grow in more than just numbers, and we are all being knit together more and more every day. Thank you Lord for allowing us to be here!

*The biggest thing going on right now is The Da Vinci Code. All of Cork is talking about it, and there's a lot of controversy going on now. We designed and printed almost 1000 fliers and posters advertising Mike's lecture (which will take place in a city centre hotel tonight), and everyone is so interested! A lot of people in our church have been passing out fliers at the cinema, and the response is overwhelming. In fact, Mike and a few people from the church have been invited to speak on a few occasions on the radio, and it's been so cool! Everyone got to share their faith and put through tons of facts as to why the Bible is trustworthy and The Da Vinci Code isn't factual. And Mike has been able to advertise the lecture on the radio a few times as well.
So many people have been so hurt by the Catholic church, that they see this book as exposing another conspiracy that has been covered by the church for thousands of years. It's really sad actually, because now they won't trust any thing.
So please pray that the lecture will go well (it's tonight!). Obviously, the gospel will be preached, and we pray that the Irish people who are so disillusioned will have their eyes opened to the truth.

*We had our first women's Bible study! We're going through the book of Philippians, and last Saturday I taught Acts 16 because that relates when the church in Philippi was started. There were several of us, and we were all really blessed. Praise God for giving me the words to say, and for making Eoin let me study! So that's every other week. Very cool. Please pray that I will be a vessel for God to speak through, and that I will speak with all boldness.

* Mike is continuing the monthly men's breakfast, and this Saturday Trevor (who has been going to Calvary Cork ever since it started) will be teaching. It's great to see people from our own fellowship being raised up. So keep that in prayer, that all who attend will be blessed.

*We're still looking for a church building. Praise God that we've definitely outgrown our living room for midweek studies, and we're beginning to be tight in our rented room on Sundays as well. We are out every week, calling on literally dozens of buildings. And not one will allow a church to meet there. It's crazy! We've found a few that were just perfect (in our eyes, that is… I'm very aware that God has something else for us!), but then the realtor will tell us that we can't have a church there. So we ask about Bible studies- no; Christian meetings- no; religious group- no! Aaah!! So can you please pray for us to be led to the right place? I know that Christ is the good shepherd, and that He'll lead His flock to the perfect building…. but it's hard to wait!
Well, that's about it for now. By the time you all read this, I will be 23 years old. Wow! And Eoin will be 6 months old. Wow!!! He took his bath in the kitchen sink today for the first time… sigh… he is really growing up.

We love you guys!!!!
-rachel (and mike and eoin)