This Patrick’s Day, we heard Tadhg’s first Irish word. There was no real reason for him to say it at that moment, but he happily said the phrase he evidently says everyday during role call at playschool. “Tadhg Clarke?” “Anseo!” I’m present. I’m here.
Suddenly, amid the boys’ green rugby jerseys and our day off, things came sharply into focus for me. What we’re called to be as missionaries is “anseo”—present. Here. on Patrick’s day, we are to identify with this nation: feeling Irish wounds, Irish sadnesses, Irish hope. We’re even answering the call by just being here when so many have left. There is a stark fact of Irish history: 39% of those who’d been born in Ireland were living abroad by 1890. Millions had died untimely deaths as well during the famine of the 1840’s & 50’s(“the Great Hunger,”) and the persisting bad economy drove millions of the rest out. It was usually the young, the best, the brightest who left, or at least who survived the long boat journeys to the States or Australia. The waves of Irish immigration did not end until the 1990’s when the Irish economy began to recover. Now, they are beginning again, bad economy driving out the young, the best, the brightest. Missionaries are leaving in large numbers because of a shift in visa laws.

But we are present. We are here.

Present in the midst of the suffering—and we feel the bite too as wages are radically cut and taxes raised, house prices plummet, killings and riots rise up in the North again, even basic public services are predicted to begin failing. Its our friends and family who are rapidly losing their jobs and unable to find new ones, wondering how they will pay mortgages for houses worth half what they paid a year ago. People we know and love are leaving for the middle east, Australia and places further still in search of work.

Present in the future as our team plans how to end MAP Ireland well, how it will work when I stay and MAP leaves.

Present even in the past as we try to unravel history in the hope of understanding today a bit better. Its our job as missionaries, and its our hearts–feeling the hurts, taking them on as our own, because they are our own now.

When I first felt called to missions, I remember assuming I would go to Africa. That seemed like the “real”missionary calling: a place where you would suffer with the people. There would be deprivations, struggles, sacrifices, and yet the exuberance of African worship too.

The reality of being a missionary in Ireland has always held struggle and sacrifice for me in innumerable ways, but it seems even more so now. I have a deep, even inextricable connection with the joy but also the sadness, the hardships and the longing of Ireland. Wearing green on St. Patrick’s day was just pretending. As a missionary in Ireland, I am called to be green throughout the year, throughout my mind, my body, my worship, my family, my work, my life. I’m called to be present.

Anseo.

When the service ended after church, as I was waiting for the people next to me to exit the aisles, I leaned over to a lady next to me that I hadn’t met and said, “how are you.” Then this lady looked at me with tears in her eyes. I thought to myself, “oh, no, I’ve caught her in a vulnerable position and I don’t want to embarrass her.” She responded telling me about how she liked the sermon and knew she needed prayer. Then asked if I was American. I told her I was and that I worked for an organization called World Harvest Mission and the tears just streamed down her face. “World Harvest!” she said. “I used to know Jack and Rosemary Miller. They were incredible people.” And in that moment I knew I was entering into sacred space in her heart, and that I was able to be part of it because of this man who I greatly admire but never met, the man who founded WHM. And then I had the privilege to pray for her.

I think it’s interesting when I was talking about the 3D dimension of this blog including the people who have gone before us, I would never have imagined a conversation like this. So thanks, for going before us Jack and Rosemary.

This lady told me that because I sat next to her, she was reminded of a verse that Jack had given her that had really changed her life. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Tim 1:7). And that verse spoke to me where I am in my life right now.

When I left church to get on the bus to head into city centre, I said to myself as the clouds gathered, “this is a rainbow kind of day.” That’s one of the beauties of living in Ireland. In the spring particularly, there are multiple rainbow sightings (so far no leprechauns!) But every time I see one, the magnificence is nothing less than the last time I saw a rainbow. And as I’m led into worship, I remember God’s covenant with Noah when he said “never again will I destroy the earth.”

So for the next 30 minutes on the bus I took intentional glances up from the pages of “The Reason For God” to search for the rainbow. And then, there it was over the sea touching the lighthouse at Howth Head. I looked around the bus to see if anyone else was marveling at the rainbow. I almost tapped the woman with the child in front of me to point it out to them. Look! This rainbow holds much promise and hope for me, and I want others to be amazed at it too.

Seeing this rainbow on this day was a reminder of God’s love throughout the history of the world. That what he promised to Noah has continued to me, that because I am his daughter, I am grafted into his covenantal love. And I am part of a big family.

So I praise God for his creative ways of telling me he knows and loves me, how he loves the people that we work with, and how he wants to spread this good news to everyone, as evidenced by a rainbow in the sky!

Becca Giles is from Charlottesville, VA and graduated from UVA ‘06. She participated in the summer internship ‘05-06 and moved to Ireland in May 2007 and is finishing her second year of the apprenticeship, through August 2009.

Loving the Community, the Church, and Each Other

“Ireland is a sad, beautiful place.  God crushed our small ideas about what the Christian life is like, and showed us that following Jesus, like Ireland itself, is heart-wrenching and beautiful.  Many of us began a journey of honest struggle that will drastically change the course of our lives.  The value of living life daily in community was inestimable.  It was there we learned how to repent, forgive, confess, and battle for each other’s hearts in prayer.  God brought together disparate cultures and personalities to give us a really poignant picture of the Kingdom.”              ~Michael Chen, medical student

Each summer, a group of college-aged to thirty-something individuals descend on Dublin to work with World Harvest. They are joined by a group of Irish university students and recent graduates, many of whom are some of the only evangelical Christians they know in their age group. These Irish have demonstrated leadership gifts and expressed interest in being involved in the growth of the church in Ireland. All of them need peer support,  desire mentoring, and value practical experience in ministry.

The summer begins with a course of training administered by World Harvest Ireland and MAP team members as well as our national associates, according to Sonship, STIM, and Alliance for Saturation Church Planting principles. The team will meet for 2–3 weeks to listen to lectures, pray, and interact in various training and team-building activities. It’s a time to explore the dynamics of living cross-culturally and how to bring the Gospel to bear in that.

After going through training in Sonship, STIM and Alliance for Saturation Church Planting principles, Americans and Irish are given opportunities for ministry in everything from kids clubs to the arts as they go in teams to live and work in various parts of Ireland. Each team usually has a different focus; all of them come alongside Irish church-planters or Christian workers to further the long-term vision for that community as they love unbelievers, the church, and each other. No two summers are ever the same; no two people have the same experience. The hope is that through the experience, interns will become more aware of the power of the Gospel in their own lives and out of that awareness will be motivated—even compelled—to invite those in the world around them into relationship with God. It’s also a chance to explore the possibilities of God’s calling on their lives through their time on the mission field.

“This summer my faith has become more real to me as I have caught a glimpse of the radical adventure that is the Christian life.  I have felt God’s presence amidst spiritual warfare like never before and I have tasted authentic kingdom-minded community through a mix of both American and Irish believers.  God revealed my sin and His grace to me in Ireland and I am returning home confident of His love for me and for His children.  The internship in Ireland was both my most difficult and most exciting experience I have ever been through, and I would not trade it for anything.” ~Rebecca Giles, student at UVA

For more info, post here or go to: http://www.whm.org/go

This week I have had two really good conversations where I KNOW the Spirit was directing me. I prayed for my friends as I heard them talk, asking God what would YOU have me say to this person? How can I demonstrate your love for my friend and help recenter both of our lives on YOU, rather that what I can do for the person. One of the jewels of wisdom in the talk I listened to, and also one I have heard at different points of my apprenticeship year is this: ‘what would it look like for this person to be completely wrapped up and in love with Jesus alone?’ and that means that we have to have our imaginations increased. What would a fully redeemed, passionate and free woman look like in the person of ___? (because we are all created differently, which is another reason to believe that person x may not be designed exactly me!)

And that of course leads me to the question- what would MY life look life if I was totally resting in Jesus’s love? If I saw Him alone as the source of identity and Truth? One answer is that I wouldn’t need other people to think, wow, Rebecca is such a great friend. And I would long for others to be caught up in the good news of Jesus and his resurrection which invites us into full life!! It’s a much bigger story than the one my life and my conversations seem to be telling at present. And that one is much more beautiful and exciting.

And it’s all part of my job- I think I have the best job in the world!!

Becca Giles is from Charlottesville, VA and graduated from UVA ’06. She participated in the summer internship ’05-06 and moved to Ireland in May 2007 and is finishing her second year of the apprenticeship, through August 2009.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.  Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.  Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you [...]  For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. “  Isaiah 55:1-5, 10-11.

A nation that you do not know. Ireland.  Beautiful.  Captivating.  Complex.  Shaped by a sorrowful history, as well as an enduring creativity, vigor, and ability to laugh.  Wherein religion has been intertwined with abuse.  Wherein the word ‘church’ in recent generations has failed to provide love and hope.  With older generations plagued with guilt, and the majority of the younger being disillusioned and rejecting ‘faith’.  Before I lived there, I ‘knew’ many things about Ireland that compelled me into life and ministry there.  After arriving, I found out how much I did not know.  No matter how much I learned about Irish culture… how many words I learned to use, how well I knew the layout of the Tesco where I bought my food, how closely I listened to and observed my Irish friends… I was foreign.  I did not know how things worked or why they worked that way.  I wanted to know people.  But I quickly realized that relationships develop and function differently in Ireland than the way that I was used to.  Realizing how little I understood, I felt out of my depth, and out of control.  I felt desperate.  Would I survive?!  Would I be able to relate to people at all??

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? The Lord spoke early and often to me through the year.  Why did I feel the need to know things?  Why was I so desperate to be in control?  What are my relationships about, anyway?  How powerful do I think I am?!  Did I really think that it was up to me to make things happen in my relationships, or in peoples’ lives around me?  Yes I really did.  I began to see how my desire for relationships was more about me feeling good and being affirmed than about loving other people.  Truly, my methods for finding life did not satisfy.  I was incredibly insecure.  I didn’t believe that God actually LOVES me, and I didn’t trust him.  Consequently, I didn’t hope or trust that people would love me.  In those early months, I was afraid to ask Him to show up, because I was terrified that He wouldn’t do it.  I felt lost, vulnerable, and afraid.

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David… I began to hear these promises and others from Scripture as if for the first time.  I didn’t need to figure out or fix anything!  He loves me!  In fact, He loved me even when I was making a mess of things?!  He has taken on the burden and consequences of all of my brokenness and sin, paid the cost, and loves me as if I had done nothing wrong.  Forgiveness.  Completeness.  Safety. Freedom!  The steadfast, sustaining presence of God.  Rest.  Soul- satisfying peace…Tastes of His goodness grew my confidence and hope.  I began to believe that HE would actually work on my behalf and on behalf of those that I was growing in love for around me.

SO SHALL MY WORD BE THAT GOES OUT FROM MY MOUTH; IT SHALL NOT RETURN TO ME EMPTY, BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH THAT WHICH I PURPOSE, AND SHALL SUCCEED IN THE THING FOR WHICH I SENT IT. The Lord accomplished so much this year.  He gave me deep friendships (the very thing I feared I would not have!).  One Irish friend was a talented, but shy and hesitant musician.  My first summer, she was an intern on a 2 week outreach team that I helped to lead.  On this team, we were exploring visual art and music as a means for worship and an avenue for relationships, and what difference it makes that God’s love frees us from fear of failure or condemnation.  Though nervous, this friend stepped into her fear and performed publicly twice.  During those weeks, she and I connected quickly and surprisingly deeply as friends, and stayed connected over the year.  I got to watch and cheer as she began to spend more time writing songs and taking opportunities to perform publicly, her confidence and joy in playing growing all the time.  Her music is beautiful.  Heartfelt, honest, and hopeful.  When I listen to her sing, I taste Jesus.  Where will this path lead for her??  The Lord knows.  This is one life in which change has been clear.  Many of our summer interns, both Irish and American (17 students total in 2007 and 19 total in 2008) came away from the summer with a deeper understanding of God’s grace and the confidence and hope that is theirs in Christ.  Together, we were able to serve Irish churches, Dun Laoghaire Presbyterian Church and the young church-plant in Trim being two examples!  One of my favorite parts of this summer was getting to directly disciple one of our American students.  I love discipling!  I felt honored and so excited to have the opportunity to walk with her deeper into her questions and fears, and to see Jesus reveal Himself to her in new ways through the summer!  Her faith came alive!!

There were other relationships in my life this year in which change was less clear.  For example, I spent many awkward hours with the teenagers at Dun Laoghaire Presbyterian Church.  Hanging out with them, I felt unsure and out of my depth most of the time.  However, in our bi-weekly Bible study, I got to be there to listen and participate as Rachel led them in thinking about their lives and about who Jesus is.  To this day, I do not know what difference it made that I was there.  But I count it a privilege to have known and loved those kids.  And even more so, to have labored for a time with Rachel in her desire that these kids know Jesus.  It was and continues to be my desire that Rachel know she is not alone.

I also don’t know what will happen with the arts initiative that I was working on at my church.  We experimented with a number of ideas, such as arts outings and attempting a regular space in our Saturday service for people to share something creative.  No one was ready to decide on a specific ongoing agenda, and when I left, no one jumped at the chance to take over the position as lead instigator.  Although I was tempted to be discouraged, I had to trust and remember that GOD brought all of these people together, HE will continue to work, AND programs form and function differently in Ireland.  At the very least, the outings helped to grow a sense of community and connectedness through people discovering common interests.  It also began to expose gifts that people have, and to give them an arena to express ideas and to get involved, which I think prepared some to step into gaps that were there when our Minister Andrew and his wife Tara left the church in June.

In the midst of it all, God gave me a life in Ireland that was very sweet.  He put me in a church, and a house with a housemate that became home for me.  He gave me a team that were my family.  He gave me space to discover Himself and who He is making me to be.  I love culture.  Learning and adapting to Irish life was exhilarating.  Experiencing God’s glory on the move there, I felt more alive than I ever have before.  Indeed, I believe I am a missionary!

Becca Shirley is from Pennsylvania and is a graduate of University of Deleware ’06. After many short term visists to the Dublin Prayer Conference, Becca interned with MAP’s summer program in 2005, joined the summer staff in 2006, and was an apprentice May 2007-August 2008.

That being said, we know that our team is in effect much bigger than just 5 women- it makes up those who have had history in Ireland throughout the past 10 plus years, those who are serving us at the Sending Center in Philadelphia, the greater WHM-Ireland field, and those Irish friends that we love on this side of the ocean. Our hope then is that we would get occasional guest writers to share from those perspectives as well.

Our greatest hope of having a blog is that it would fuel much prayer and much worship of our King who is advancing his kingdom in the world. We have the privilege of reporting from Ireland, but you our readers can report of the ways you see what God is doing in your neighborhood.

Please do consider this blog a dialogue then between you the reader and us the writers. We would love to hear your responses to our posts in the comment section. Thanks for dropping by!