HOLA MUCHACHOS!!!! I hope everyone is grand but I am here too update you all once again! This time I'm here to inform you all how my first 2 month of serving in Athlone has gone. The first month here overall went very well. It was fabulous settling into my new apartment here with my 3 amazing housemates. We live in the city so I've had plenty of time to explore and become closely acquianted with the many shops and cafes in town. It made me very happy to discover many coffee shops in walking distance from my flat! But trust me I do not spend most of my time here visiting coffee shops.... maybe. Anyways my leaders here have made sure to provide us with plenty of work!! Fun work though nothing I don't enjoy doing because it all involves serving our awesome Lord and Savior!! Depending on the week or time of the year we'll have some other odd jobs on our schedule but here are a few things we do on a weekly basis. Every tuesday and friday we go out with OM's big red bus to help with serving free tea and coffee. During that time we also go out and hand out tracts to people in the town while also sharing the gospel with people in the town through conversation. We also help out with kids club every wednesday, which it is so fun working with the kids! Then we just help with normal cleaning of the church and doing other odd jobs when needed. I've also ha dthe opportunity to teach sunday school once already. During the Christmas season we were especially busy. Busy with things like singing carols at nursing homes and planning church christmas parties. All those lovely things that are done at Christmas time. After all that hardwork was over we had a much needed break! During that time we visited some friends up north and some of our other teammates. It was a great time off. Now we are back to work and being productive again! I hope to update you all again at the beginning of february but we'll see how that goes! These past two months have been amazing in many ways but also quite a struggle in others. In all honesty I've struggled with alot of things these past couple of months that I never thought I would go through. Thankfully I have had a great God by my side every step of the way. In the times that I felt like everything was falling apart the Lord was there to reassure me in one form or another that all this was only for a moment, that everything would be ok. Because his plans are greater than I can imagine and sometimes we have to experience pain to learn and grow in our walk with him. But it's a new year and even though I've struggled a bit I know God has an amazing path laid out for me. Ready to see how he continues to use me the rest of this year. Striving to be completely consumed by his love. Lastly I am just extremely grateful for the family and friends God has given me who continue to support me in any and every way possible. Thank you to everyone who is constantly praying for me and looking out for me. Just continue to pray that God will give me peace with some of the things I've been struggling with recently and that God will continue to show me how I can best serve him each and everyday so that I can be completely focused on him. Love you all and stay tuned for more news to come in february!!
