Hello From Across the Pond

Hey friends!

I am finally in Dublin! Here is a small recap of what the past week has looked like:

 Last Tuesday, Katie, Kristen and I left Philadelphia International Airport with 2 years' worth of stuff in a hiking backpack and one giant suitcase or 2 large suitcases.

   I thought I was a pretty minimal packer until I tried to pack enough to clothes to cover all the seasons. It was quite a struggle but thanks to Mama Bird and her packing skills, I was able to fit what I needed for the Spring/Summer and Fall at least.
  I said an incredibly, difficult temporary goodbye to my family then walked to my gate and sat for about an hour then boarded the plane. After watching Birdman, falling asleep, and watching half of 22 Jump Street to prevent myself from openly sobbing on the plane, we landed in Dublin.

Tom (not pictured), Vicki (far left) and the current Apprentice, Jes(far right) greeted us at the airport.

   After we dropped off our bags to the Lucan Centre where we would be staying Tom and Vicki took us to get our LEAP cards for transportation, Irish SIM cards and shopping for groceries. After running a bunch of errands and going over the schedule for the week, a very jet-lagged and emotionally exhausted Katie, Kristen and Amy collasped into bed around 9 pm with the help of our good friends ZzzQuil and Melatonin.
   The following day, we got to meet with some potential ministry placements and discuss potential housing placements. Please be praying that things will get finalized with our potential ministry placements. After meeting with potential ministry placements, we all met up with Jes and Stephanie, who recently joined Serge's metro team in Dublin for dinner then attended a lecture about the Ethics of Jesus at Trinity College. The next few days were spent getting to know our way around Dublin, getting to know each other better, discussing Encounter and spending time with our other team members, Tom and Vicki Gilliam, and Bruce and Kathy Alwood.
  We are excited to meet the American interns (this week) and Irish interns (next week) and begin Encounter! We would love some prayer as we continue to adjust to life here, deal with homesickness(I think it's hitting all of us what 2 years away from home will be like), and prepare for the interns' arrival. Pray for our interns, both Irish and American and that they would trust God with the summer ahead and that we would be unified as a team.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Amy