Day 5: HBC - Day 1

Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

Today was the start of Mallow Bible Fellowship's Holiday Bible Club, and we had such a great start! From 2-5pm today we had the opportunity to share our lives and the word of God with 126 children ranging from 5 to 12 years old. This year the church did not provide transportation due to some new laws, so we were pleasantly surprised that the decision did not impact the number of kids that came. More than half the children were back for their 2nd time, and we still had several that had now come back for the 3rd year! It was such a blessing to see these children again...

Similar to the messages for the teen camp, this week the children will learn about the Lord Jesus Christ - his birth, his words and works, his death and resurrection, and his disciples. By the end of the week each child would have had heard a clear presentation of the gospel. In the previous years we found in incredibly difficult to teach some of the children for 2 reasons... 1) Many of the children have been very unfamiliar with the bible or even how to use a bible; 2) Since many children have had nearly no exposure to the bible, we found it difficult to teach lessons that were focused on a bible character, correlate those stories to Jesus and the gospel, and then correlate everything to their lives. Since these two things were challenges to us in the past 2 years, this year we decided to focus completely on Jesus Christ. Today alone we have seen many children be more receptive to the lessons. We even had one girl in the oldest class approach one of the leaders and ask, "So what do I need to do to be born again?" Praise God!

Please keep praying! We are a few things to be praying specifically for...

1. The hearts of the children to be soft towards the gospel and the bible lessons
2. As we continue to plow, that God would use our words and actions to impact the lives of the children in any way he desires
3. That our team would be humble servants, able to be flexible as we try to tweak and fine tune the overall HBC structure

-Stephen

Day 3 and 4: Teen Camp!

We just got back a few hours ago from Killarney National Park after spending 2 days with 10 teenagers... and it was a blast! In the 36+ hours we spent together we:

• Played some fun and crazy games
• Soccer
• Avenger Ball (Ultimate Frisbee using a cheap $2 ball from a local store... and it was actually quite fun!)
• Assassin (everyone's new favorite night-time game)
• Skip-Bo

• Walked and hiked around the National Park
• Ross Castle
• Muckross House
• Muckross Lake
• Torc Mountain
• Torc Falls

...and most importantly...

• Opened God's word together 4 times as a group
• Message 1: Jesus - His Birth
• Message 2: Jesus - His Words and Works
• Message 3: Jesus - His Death and Resurrection
• Message 4: Jesus - His Disciples

Each and every person that attended the 4 sessions had the opportunity to see what the bible says about Jesus Christ:

#1) How amazing it is that the holy, perfect, eternal Creator and Sustainer humbled himself, and became a human in order to save us from our sin*

#2) How Jesus proved that he was God by his words and his works, for we are unable to save ourselves; only God can save us*

#3) How great the love of Jesus Christ and the Father is toward us - while we were yet sinners and enemies of God, he selflessly took the sin of the whole world upon himself, suffered the wrath of God that we deserved as sinners, died upon the cross, and rose again from the dead so that everyone would have the opportunity to receive his gift of salvation* 

#4) How ordinary men were willing to believe the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore God redeemed them and used them to do some amazing things to bring him glory* 

*There are way too many scriptures to put with the 4 statements above, so if you want a copy of my notes, let me know and I will gladly send them! :)

Please be praying for the teens that came, and for all those that heard the word of God. The Lord has promised in Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Investing the words of God into another person is never a waste of time, for it will always accomplish what God sends it forth to accomplish... the investment will never return void.

-Stephen

P.S. - Pictures to come later! (it's already past midnight here... time for bed!)

Day 2: Sunday Morning Service & Further Rest / Preparation for the Week

"For God so loved the world, that he gave he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ~ John 3:16

We started our morning by hearing the Word of God preached by Stephen at Mallow Bible Fellowship. The sermon was based on John 3:16 focusing on the word, WHOSOEVER. Salvation is freely offered to ALL, no matter the sin. Our sin bearer carried ALL the sins of the world on His shoulders, so that we may have the gift of eternal life. Powerful! The congregation total today for Mallow church was 80 and they were responsive to Stephen's message. There was not an alter call or a straight forward invitation to salvation. Today we learned that it is borderline illegal to proselytize (evangelizing or persuaded someone to convert to your beliefs) in Ireland. Stephen ended his sermon simply saying this,"Now it's your choice... What will you do with what you've heard today?"  After the service we had the opportunity to continue fellow-shipping with the local church in Mallow. Its always amazing to see that even though we are cultures apart, we have an immediate connection though Christ, as if we are family. 

After the service, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at our favorite restaurant (Peppers), followed by more needed rest and additional preparations for the week to come. 

Tomorrow we begin our 2-day teen camp. We are not exactly sure what to expect, so please pray for us... We will begin Holiday Bible Club this Wednesday afternoon. Thank you for your continued prayer for us!

-Meg

Day 1: Bunratty Castle and Park & Getting Settled In Mallow

Once arriving at the airport in Shannon, we spent a little bit of time at Bunratty Castle and had lunch at Durty Nellie's... Now we are finally in Mallow! All of us are extremely tired from the 30+ hours of travel, but very excited to arrive in our "Jerusalem" for the week (Acts 1:8). We are settling in at our town favorite B&B, Annabella. We still have some work to do to prepare for the very busy week with the teenagers and children, but first we must do a very most important thing... rest. Please continue to pray for each of us! The enemy of God is alive and well, and he does not want us to be successful this week.

Enjoy some of the pictures from the last day or so!

We've Arrived!

We are in Shannon, alive and well! Thank you for all the prayers... Let's see what God has planned.   :)

-Stephen

And We're Off!

Coming to you from the heights of the atmosphere, we are officially departed and heading to Atlanta! We have a long day of travel ahead of us... and many of us only have a few hours of sleep in us (some none!). Please be praying for us! The enemy is already at work trying to throw distractions in our way. We know the Lord shall direct our path, so we can trust him completely. I am reminded of one of my favorite references...

Proverbs 3:5-6, "5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

We're excited to see what God is going to do!

In Christ Alone,
Stephen

23 Days Until Lift-Off!

It is hard to believe that in a little over 3 weeks we will be leaving for Ireland... There is so much yet to do! Here's a recap of all that we are planning on doing:

Sunday Morning Service
We will be leaving the United States on Friday, August 2nd and arriving in Ireland on Saturday morning, August 3rd. That gives us a little bit of time to finish up any preparations for Sunday morning service. We will be helping to watch the little ones in the crèche (nursery) and teach the children during the preaching. We will also be responsible for facilitating the congregational singing and the preaching. It should be fun!

Teen Camp
In the afternoon, as soon as the Sunday morning service is over, we will begin preparing for the Teen Camp and HBC (Holiday Bible Club) with the various volunteers from Mallow Bible Fellowship. Monday and Tuesday we will be helping to lead our 1st Teen Camp with Pastor Bob Hutton's church. We are not sure what to expect or how it will go, but we will be ready to anything and everything we can to minister the word of God to any of the teenagers that come and love on them with the love of Christ.

Holiday Bible Club
Wednesday to Saturday we will be helping to lead Holiday Bible Club with Mallow Bible Fellowship. Our theme this year is "Jesus: The All Sufficient Saviour" where we will be taking a look at what the bible says about the only One that can save us from our sins, Jesus Christ. We will learn about his birth, the proof that he was God come in the flesh, his death and resurrection, and his disciples. Each child will come face to face with the Creator of the universe as we take a look at the scriptures to learn about the Saviour.

Please continue to pray with us!

In Christ Alone,
Stephen Wineka