As I wrote in my last post, I had plans to visit friends in France and Switzerland this week. The volcanic ash from Iceland prevented any flights to or from Ireland and the UK until Wednesday/Thursday, so I moved my plans back a week. Fortunately, neither Nathan and Joanna Michael in Chambrey, France nor Jon Mark Walls in Geneva, Switzerland had any conflicts. So all plans were just postponed a week, and I am looking forward to visiting them and seeing more of Europe next week.
And it's certainly been easy to see why I was in Ireland this week. I am more strongly feeling a sense of purpose and building important relationships for the glory of God. I will try to keep this fairly short, but here are a few highlights from the past week.
On Monday and Tuesday nights, I met with believers in Wexford and Gorey (Google-map it) respectively. Wednesday night, Miles led our Bible study here via Skype.
Last Sunday at church, I met a man named Nchedo (That's how he wrote it out; right or wrong, I pronounce it en-chee-doh and he hasn't corrected me). He is in Ireland as a political exile from Nigeria. On Tuesday we met for lunch and tea at a place where I have befriended the bar manager. I asked him a lot of questions and he was very willing to answer them all in great detail, so we ended up talking for several hours. I asked him his age and thought it was interesting that he didn't know, explaining his culture doesn't count age. I would guess he is in his late thirties or early forties. Nchedo calls himself a human rights activist and also a political activist. He worked with refugees when he was in Nigeria from nearby countries Sierra Leone and Liberia, but he also mentioned refugees from Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Nchedo was forced to leave Nigeria because he was vocal in speaking out against the government there. He explained to me how Nigeria is listed as a democracy so that the U.N. and other peacekeeping organizations will neglect to pay attention to what is going on there, but the government is actually controlled by the military. The elected officials are all former military officers who are all muslims and give certain rights only to muslims (which is about 50% of the population). They don't tolerate any opposition or questioning, thus Nchedo's options after vocally opposing the government was to flee to another country or be thrown in a lake and have the government report that he drowned accidentally, so he came to Ireland five years ago.
Nchedo's says that his views on human rights all come from Jesus' teaching. His church in Nigeria was Roman Catholic but he stated it is far different from the Roman Catholic churches in Ireland. He stated in teaching, style and community, Grace Church more resembles Catholic churches in Nigeria. I asked him when he became a Christian and he said he has been one since birth, so I think there are some Biblical concepts he doesn't understand, such as that of regeneration. I have explained to him the gospel and he seems to agree, but I will continue to share it with him conversationally as we meet.
This morning (Saturday), he and I met again, this time at the Rectory where he and the other political exiles (mostly from African countries) are housed by the Irish government. He introduced me to two other Christians that live there and have been meeting on Sunday mornings in a group of 6 or 8, all from the Rectory. Both men seemed to understand the gospel very well. The four of us talked about how to unify our separate groups in order to best reach people for Christ. One of the men, Abraham (pronounced Ah-brah-hahm) from Ethiopia, really had a strong vision to fellowship together for the glory of Christ. We talked for a while and came to the conclusion that we would do a Bible study in a place close the Rectory (the Buckleys' house is outside of New Ross, 15-20 minutes from the Rectory) on Thursday nights. I will be leading the discussion, and I will be thinking and praying this next week about the format of the Bible study. I left the Rectory so encouraged by these men and the breakthrough of meeting together.
During the day on Wednesday, two women came and talked to me about Children's Evangelism Fellowship, an organization that puts on clubs from children of different ages, from age 4 to 16. On Thursday evening, I went to one of these Bible clubs and helped out. There were children from ages 4 to 12 learning about the Bible through songs, games and a lesson. Afterwards, the family who had hosted the club at their home invited me to stay for dinner. The family was originally from Uzbekistan. Before dinner, Dimitri, the father, played a song of praise on his guitar and sang. Then he asked the five children, "What do we say to our guests?" They all became very quiet before shouting in unison, "Welcome Matt and Joanna to our table!" They were a very fun and loving family and I hope to see them again. Dimitri and I really connected when discussing Christianity and the church after dinner. He is very grounded in the gospel, so it was good to fellowship and mutually encourage each other.
Last night, I went out with Keith, who lives next door (who I was staying with when I first lived here). Keith claims to be an atheist and is pretty wild. Yet, I was able to share the gospel when some girls he knew asked what I was doing in Ireland. It was one of the harshest receptions to the gospel I've had since I've been here; one girl kept saying to Keith that I was "brainwashed". Nonetheless, I claim the promise that God's word will not return void.
Today, I met a guy in his mid-twenties named Danny who is one of James' patients. (James is a myopractor, sort of a specialized form of physical therapy.) He invited me to play Gaelic Football (what's that?) with his team and said they are looking for "more lads to play". This is an answer to prayer in several ways as I was hoping to play a sport for enjoyment and to build relationships with teammates. He is going to let me know the next time they play, which will be a couple weeks away.
I have continued to meet with Tom and go through the gospel of John. We have now gone through the first 5 chapters and he is asking great questions. I will soon devote a post to Tom and our interactions.
Earlier tonight, the four of us in the house, plus Tom, went to see a local secondary (high) school production of Les Miserables. It was absolutely brilliant! I love the story and own the movie (the Liam Neeson version), but the music added a different element to it and we all really enjoyed it. I've always wanted to see it and it was great timing as I am preparing to go to France on Monday.
Thanks for reading!
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