Missio Dei

On Friday, I went with the CU to a conference in Maynooth, about fifteen miles outside of Dublin. It was a long ride down- I slept most of the way! Once we got there, we checked in and dropped off our bags in our rooms. We were staying in a seminary or university of some sort, but it was in this gorgeous old building. It looked like a big castle or estate of some sort. The top two floors had been renovated into a hostel, so we actually stayed in the main building with the chapel. As soon as Carrie and I saw the campus, we knew that we were going to have to go on a photo excursion. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, it was dark, so we had to wait for the next day.

The theme of the conference was "Missio Dei- God's Mission." There were CU groups from all over Ireland and Northern Ireland; probably about one hundred people attended overall. We heard a speaker on Friday night, and then we were able to go (finally) get some dinner. By that time, there weren't very many choices of where to go, so about half of us got Chinese food and the other half got pizza. However, those of us who got Chinese didn't realize until we got back to our rooms that we didn't receive silverware. That was an interesting experience- about seven people attempting to eat Chinese food with small tea spoons and saucers. We didn't really mind that much- at that point, we were just happy to be able to eat.

The showers were another adventure: Carrie, Sarah, and I discovered that night that the water was ice-cold. I ended up just washing my hair in the sink. Apparently, we were lucky, though- when the other girls tried to shower the next morning, there was only a trickle of ice water. The boys' showers didn't have any problems, though (reminds me of REACH).

The next day, we ate breakfast (chocolate-filled croissants are amazing, for the record) and went to hear the speaker again. He was from Australia, so it was really fun to listen to his accent! He spoke three times overall, once each day. On Friday and Saturday, he spoke mainly about God's judgment and wrath. It wasn't exactly fun to listen to, but then on Sunday he spoke about the hope that we have because of Jesus. I think it was probably a good reminder to us that God isn't just all "happy happy joy joy," that He's actually very powerful and needs to be respected and feared, but that He loves us and took on His own wrath to save us. We broke up into smaller seminars. The one that I attended was called "God in the World." It talked about missions, but it was pretty informational. It explained how the missions field has changed in the past twenty years or so; it seemed very practical. I enjoyed it, though.

Saturday afternoon, during our free time, Carrie and I walked around on our photo excursion. We had a blast exploring, but we also got into a bit of trouble. We saw the chapel from the outside, and decided to go look at it inside. We walked in, and I saw the door to where the chapel should be, propped open. It led to a smaller room that looked a bit like a library, and then we saw a set of those huge, really tall wooden arch doors propped open as well. We went through those and ended up on the "stage" area of the chapel. Oops. We took some pictures, and then as we were leaving, we passed a priest who scolded us a bit for being there. We felt bad, but... the doors were open (and we got some good pictures).

That evening, we went out to a restaurant/pub for dinner called Roots. It was pretty good, and I enjoyed being able to just sit down and talk with everyone. When we got back to campus, we worshiped and prayed for a few hours. Afterwords, we had coffee and free time. Carrie and I conned a few of the guys into learning Euchre, and everyone else just sat around and talked and watched. We were successful in teaching them!! All three of the guys learned and (supposedly) enjoyed the game. That may well have been the highlight of my trip. Haha poor guys- now Carrie and I are going to expect them to play with us!

On Sunday, we ate breakfast, listened to the final talk, prayed and worshiped, and then left. On the way back, we stopped at Robin's (one of the guys) house for tea and sandwiches. His family was really nice and welcoming, and it's always good to get food! We left his house and stopped at Rachel's house next to switch cars. Her family was also very welcoming and nice- her mom kept asking if we wanted anything. Finally, we were on the road again, and got back to Coleraine around 8:30.

The front door

The flowers were beginning to bloom-
it was so refreshing to see and smell them again!

the door to the forbidden part of the chapel

Carrie and I at Roots

everyone from Coleraine!

This past Tuesday evening, Carrie, Sarah, and I went to a Bible study headed by Ashleigh. It was a really good discussion about Philippians 1:1-11. We talked a lot about community, which reminded me of YAGA. I think the Bible study will make it a lot easier for me to get to know some of the other members of the CU that I have only met once or twice. I'm really excited about it!

I probably won't update again until after this weekend; on Saturday, I'll be going into Londonderry with some of my friends, and then in the evening we're going to a Ceilidh (a dinner with traditional Irish dancing and music). I will definitely have a lot of pictures and stories to share after that!

Love and hugs!
Erin