whoa whoa whoa... where did the last 20 days go?

Oh hi :) I've had a super busy week! The last half of my first work week went well. The CEO gave me a pretty legit project. Like I said before, I'm working on promoting their big National Day of Volunteering. The CEO put me in charge of putting together the two flagship promotion events that they're hosting to bring attention to NDV. The first one is a knit-a-thon where they're trying to get people all across Ireland to knit for charity. We're going to try and break the world record for "most number of people knitting simultaneously." I had to plan the event, write up an official proposal, contact knitting groups asking them to get involved, and contact charities who we would donate the knitted items to. We've had a lot of groups express interest in being involved, which is encouraging. I have to have meetings with the CEO of one of the charities and the head of one of the knitting groups next week (by myself! eek!). I'm also setting up the flagship event that will feature the Scouts of Ireland (basically Boy Scouts of American, Ireland edition). I sat in on a meeting with them and the CEO of VCI last week which was a really neat experience. I'll be working on putting that event together more next week.

So now I want to tell you about the trips we've taken! In my last post I totally forgot to tell you about our trip to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It was hosted by UCD, so it wasn't the most exciting trip ever, but it was really interesting! For those of you who don't know, Northern Ireland is its own country apart from the Republic of Ireland and belongs to the United Kingdom. It's whole history is based on religions conflict (Catholics of Ireland vs Protestants of the UK). Apparently there's still a lot of prejudice and conflict. In fact, there was just a huge riot there this past weekend. Good thing we weren't there!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3652030/Burning-hate.html

There are still big propaganda murals all around the city, and there's a HUGE wall running through one neighborhood dividing the Catholic side and the Protestant side. When you drive down the Catholic side of the street, all of the houses are sporting Irish flags. On the Protestant side, they all have British flags. I've never seen anything like it! It reminded me of stuff we learned in high school World History about WWII. The picture on the left is a picture of the Belfast wall covered in propaganda murals.

This past weekend we went to Galway on the West coast of Ireland. This was another UCD trip, but it was a little more exciting than the Belfast trip. The city itself was pretty fun. The night life was a little ridiculous. It felt like a college campus times 10. We stayed in a relatively "dodgy" hostel, but it was livable. On Saturday we

visited Connemara, which has some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland (which is really saying something). We also visited the oldest whiskey distillery in Europe (so they say...), and all I could think of was Hot Rod. Also, it felt like we were standing in line for Splash Mountain, so it made me want to go to Disney World really bad. We also visited the ruins of an old monastery, which was beautiful. I was just so excited to get to see some of the countryside! I was starting to get a little claustrophobic in the city. We also went to see the Kelmore Abbey (left) which was AMAZING. On Sunday we went to the Cliffs of Moher (below). That was by far my favorite thing that we've done so far. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It was legitimately a spiritual experience. I was speechless just marveling at God's creation. Ironically enough, the background of my blog is the Cliffs of Moher, which I didn't realize until about 10 minutes ago.

So this past week, God has really been reminding me of His faithfulness. I haven't met one Christian since I've been in Ireland. It's a pretty lonely feeling, but it's also been presenting me with a lot opportunities. I'm trying to have the mindset that I may be the only Christian that these people ever meet. I was able to tell one of my co-workers all about my faith. He had never even heard of the concept of "saved my grace through faith" and not having to earn your way to Heaven. That was really eye-opening. God has been using people in my life like my wonderful boyfriend to encourage me to be a light here. Even though Ireland is seemingly spiritually dead, God has been reminding me that He is still God of the nations and everything in Ireland belongs to Him. It's amazing to me that so many of these people can live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, surrounded by God's amazing creation, and still not acknowledge Him. This nation needs prayer for sure. Being in this environment can be overwhelming because I want to share the news of God's saving grace with every single person I meet, but I know that I just need to be available for God to use me in whatever way He wants, and He will remain faithful to His promises. I'm learning to depend on Him in a whole new way during this trip. Thank you so much for your prayer support! I have faith in God's power to change the hearts of the Irish people.

Sam

Working girl... I feel like a grown up

Well, hi :) So I know I said I was going to try to update pictures everyday, but unfortunately I brought the wrong camera cord with me, and I'd feel bad asking my roommate Kyle to borrow his laptop with a memory card slot every day soooo... yea :)

But anyways, I started work this week! I'm liking it so far. I'm going to be working with 3 other American interns, but they don't start until next week, so I probably won't do any real work until next week. Right now my supervisor is sort-of using me as her assistant since she's going on maternity leave next week. I've just been updating their social media sites and researching better ways to promote their annual National Day of Volunteering.

It's really interesting working with Irish people. I had lunch with the receptionists today... Sample conversation:

Lauren- "Indiana... that's under New York, right?"

Me- "No, it's under Michigan... the one with the lakes."

Lauren- "Don't know what that is... Indiana isn't a state, is it?"

Me- "Yea, it is... it's right next to Illinois where Chicago is."

Lauren- "Bollocks, I don't know anything about the states... so what is Rhode Island then?"

Me- "A state"

Lauren- "but Las Vegas is a city... and New York is a city AND a state?"

Me- "Yup"

Lauren- "Goodness... America is just too darn big."

Oh it's fun :) Anyways, I actually had a really great spiritual talk with one of my roommates yesterday. God toootally gave me an opportunity to tell him about my faith, and it was awesome :) Keep praying for opportunities!... and boldness!

I was having a hard time the other day missing everybody and just being out of my comfort zone here, and then I read something out of Crazy Love by Francis Chan that really challenged me. Talking about the profile of someone who is radically obsessed with God: "A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. Obsessed people know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God... Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity: they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them." It doesn't matter if I feel uncomfortable here, God has me here for a reason, and I want to be available to be used by him rather than be grouchy because I miss everyone. I shouldn't be focused on that, I should be focused on God's eternal purpose and His plan for me here. I've been super encouraged by the reading I've been doing in Psalms recently, so that's helping. It's such a freeing feeling to surrender your circumstances to God. Thanks to everyone who's been praying for me! :)

Sam

Days 2-4

Woo! I love Dublin! I'm having an amazing time so far. I haven't done much other than go to class at UCD, but it's been so great just exploring the city! I've been going on runs, and it's not even torture because there's just so much to look at!.. also it helps that there is zero humidity and it's usually about 55 degrees outside :) Class is suuuuuuper boring though, omg... but I'll be done with it after tomorrow. I get 3 credits for a class that lasts 1 week. I feel like I'm cheating the system :)

These are my fantastic roommates and me on our first day of school! These guys are fantastic. We're all gonna take weekend trips together to Edinburg, London, Paris, and Barcelona and I can't wait! Our whole program is going to Belfast in Northern Ireland this weekend, so that should be fun :) I'm really just excited to finally see the countryside! The city is amazing, but i want to see some of those rolling green hills. I got to experience my first real Irish pub last night! Exciting stuff. I also had my first ever Guinness!

I got to walk around the city by myself a lot today. I had an interview with VCI this afternoon, and their office is a 45 minute walk from my house. It's pretty far, but I really don't mind because I get to see so much of the city on my way :) I pass St. Patrick's Cathedral every day, and it's AMAZING. I'm gonna stop on my home from work one day and go inside. Not a whole lot to report other than that :) I got to see my family on skype today, which was awesome. Keep praying for opportunities to share my faith. Thanks! Sam

Day 1!

Day 1- Success! I got to our house at about 9 AM and met my roommates for the summer. Kyle, Matt, Ben, Laura, Charlie, and Robb. They seem pretty great! This is a picture of our cute little street...

and this is our lovely home for the summer ;)...

By far the jankest house on the block, but that's ok. It has character or something. The inside isn't THAT bad. The bathrooms are... interesting.

Dublin is so great! It's a big city, but it really doesn't feel like one. It's probably a good thing that I'm not Irish. I would never stop talking because I would love the sound of my own voice so much. But anyways, my flight was uneventful. I slept on and off. I sat next to a really nice family and was able to talk to the mom about my faith a lot. Once I got to the city I had the best taxi driver of all time. It's been an overwhelmingly positive experience so far :) Class starts tomorrow and lasts the majority of the day. Prayers are still much appreciated. I miss everyone!

I can't seem to grasp the fact that I'll be in Ireland in 28 hours...

Wow, I can't believe I'm finally leaving for Ireland. I've been working on making this trip possible since this past August... and now I leave in 12 hours. I don't think it's really struck me yet that not only will I be spending the next two months in one of the most beautiful places in the world, but I'll be an ocean away from EVERYONE that I know. It feels a little daunting, but liberating at the same time. Not that I don't absolutely love all of the amazing people that God has placed in my life, but it will just be nice to not care even slightly what people think about me for once. I'll spend two months with these strangers, and then more than likely, I'll never see them again. This is awesome from the "I don't need to do my hair today because I don't care if these people like it or not" stand-point, but it's very heavy from the "I only have two months to try and share my faith with these people" stand-point. I know that God is sending me to Ireland for a reason, and while my internship will be an awesome résumé builder, letting God use me to win souls to Christ will be my most important task. Prayers that I can keep that perspective and that God will give me boldness would be much appreciated :)

So here's a little summary of what I'll be doing in Dublin. I'll be there for 8 weeks. My first week I'll be taking an Irish history course at University College Dublin. After week 1 I'll begin my internship with Volunteer Centers of Ireland. VCI puts people who are looking to volunteer in touch with local non-profit organizations and volunteer groups. I'll be doing marketing/PR/communications for one of the local volunteer centers. This includes preparing press releases, press packets and publicity plans; coordinating media competitions, listings, and interviews; and dealing directly with potential media contacts... honestly, I have little to no idea what all that means, so this will be an adventure :) The VCI website is www.volunteer.ie if anyone is interested in checking it out.

This is what I'm hoping this blog will look like this summer... It's my goal to post one picture to this blog daily with a little description of the picture. I also want to do one written update a week. I want to tell everyone what I've been up to as well as try to be an encouragement by sharing how God has challenged me/helped me to grow over the week. We'll see how it goes :) The best way to contact me would be through facebook. Also, I would love love love to skype with people! My skype username is samgephart (creative, I know). I'm going to miss everyone like crazy this summer (especially this guy named Chris), but these next 8 weeks will be over before I know it. I would absolutely love it if people would leave comments or just message me on facebook. I tend to get lonely pretty quickly, so this whole "I don't know anyone" thing will probably start to get to me soon. I'll be praying that everyone has an amazing/safe summer, and like I said before, I would really appreciate prayers for boldness/opportunity for sharing the gospel with the people I meet. Thanks sooo much for reading!

Sam