On the road again!

After a week the team left Newcastle West this morning bound for Waterford to work with David and Beth Wilson and the Waterford Christian Assembly for the next week. They should have arrived earlier this evening. Along the way they were taking in some of the sights around Killarney and stopping off at Blarney. Don't know if anyone kissed the Balrney Stone!

Just to let you know, we got 3 emails today from Paudge at the 4YOU magazine office letting us know of people in our area who have requested material from the magazine.

One in Rathkeale: Graham, he came to a kids club we did in Rathkeale 12 years ago, he must be in his 20's by now. Pray for him as he asked for the booklet A Way Out of Despair and the one on Reality.

One in Newcastle West, a woman looking for a bible and the A Way Out of Despair booklet

The other was in Kilmallock (Charleville area) who wanted a Bible and Gospel of John.

We are encouraged by this quick response and look to the Lord to continue to touch hearts.

Colin  

Dear praying friends,

We have the TnT Team with us right now, so far we have visited 4000 homes with the 4YOU gospel magazine. While out on the doors two nights ago we came across a  woman (Ann) who had come out to our Carols by Candle Light service, she said she was impressed with the service as she had not been to one like that before, after a lengthy talk, her husband said they would like to come to church on Sunday, and what would be a good time. We are looking forward to seeing them at 11am on Sunday morning, their neighbour was Emma (19) who was also interested and said she was open to come along to church, she had been to the Jehovah's (Witnesses) as she has an Aunt in them, but had stopped going, also two ladies were met with a couple of other team members and they also said they will come out to church next Sunday as they already had commitments this weekend.

Yesterday we were in Rathkeale, the next town up from us, we delivered magazines in the morning then after lunch knocked on the doors. Do pray for Edmond, he is a man who had a troubled past. After 10 min on the door he invited Nathan and myself in for a talk, while he is open He thinks he is OK because of some vision he had that told him everything was going to be good. He took a New Testament and said he would read it later as he was painting the house, he also said he would be interested in a bible study and coming along to meeting sometime. He said that he had planned to go see a movie that afternoon  but for some reason decided to stay home, and now he knew why. One mother we met in this estate remembered me from a kids club we had in the previous neighbourhood she lived in, this opened her up and we had a lengthy chat. What is amazing is that club was held 12 years ago, and her daughter in now married with children. I told her I had a picture of the group back then, she would like to get a copy, so we know we have at least one more opening there.

Sinead is a woman who has been coming along to the meeting for the past month and a half, her son came to the Easter club. She has been attending the family service for the past 6 weeks and while she thinks she is OK, she is open to talk, do pray for her and her husband.

One bit of good news this week came from Ewa and Adam, one of the Polish couples in the meeting. Ewa was telling me on Sunday night that her friends Beata and Mirek were saved through the week. Ewa and Adam had been speaking to them for quite a while now and Ewa thought Beata may have gotten saved but she was not sure. Thankfully they both told Ewa & Adam that they had  come to faith in Christ that week. We are so pleased for Ewa & Adam as this is the first fruit in their gospel efforts.

Do pray with us as we follow up on contacts and also for those who said they would come out to meeting, that the Lord would prepare their hearts to receive the gospel.

Colin & Natalie

 

Today (Tuesday) was a beautiful Irish day. It started out a little cloudy with a couple sprinkles in the morning, but by the afternoon, the sun came out, and it turned into a gorgeous day! Our job for the day was to “blitz” the town of Rathkeale, in the morning with magazines and in the afternoon with door-to-door work. Rathkeale is an interesting town; it’s a traveler’s town. The travelers are an entirely different culture of themselves; they are similar to what some would call gypsies. The travelers spend most of the year traveling with their campers, horses, and families around the countryside. Some are rather shady people known for stealing and having no regard for the law. While they spend most of their time travelling, most of them have homes in Rathkeale that are boarded up for the whole year until they return home for a month or so around Christmas. They are a close-knit community and don’t trust outsiders so we received some shadowy looks from people in the morning as we distributed the magazines. Right before we left for lunch a group of young traveler boys gathered around heckling us; they were harmless enough, but we got a taste of their culture.

In the afternoon we returned to Rathkeale to follow up about the magazines that we distributed and try to share the Gospel with people. Doors can be rather discouraging and draining sometimes, and we definitely felt that in Rathkeale. We got the usual slammed doors and disinterest; we also had the people who just didn’t care. It’s so hard to talk with people who say, “I’m going to hell, and I don’t care” or “I have my own religion. I don’t need yours.” Several groups got chances to share the Gospel at doors, and one group got invited inside. One group gathered a rowdy crowd of traveler kids as they moved from house to house in an estate, and the kids gave them a hard time. It was a bit of a discouraging afternoon, but we have to trust that after we do our work, the rest of it is up to the Lord.

We ended the evening with dinner at the house of another member of the assembly. We have been overwhelmed with the kindness and hospitality of the families in the assembly. Each night we have had a delightful dinner fixed for us at a different house, and the food was amazing. We are all going to return 10lbs. heavier so you may not recognize us when we get back. J The kindness and hospitality from everyone has been such a blessing!

Please continue to pray for seed sown.  Also for the following people we met today who heard the gospel first hand and showed a varied response to it: Maureen, James, Aileen, Thomas, Michael, Jerry, Seamus, Ray, Edmund, and the always present “ Mary.”

Hello friends!

Today, in Newcastle West, was an early day. The team was up and out at 6am in order to make a morning trip out to the Cliffs of Moher to see a magnificent exhibit of the Lord’s creation. The cliffs were a great eye-opener for some as to the magnitude of the Lord’s power, and also a wonderful experience of Irish history and geography. Though most slept both ways, it was a great time for the team to spend together. While returning to NCW the team delivered magazines to a few small towns and estates and then went to the apartments for lunch. After lunch more magazines were delivered to the towns between NCW and Glin, including Athea, Carrigcarry, and Shannagolden.

The team had dinner at Colin and Natalie’s, joined by their family in order to celebrate Natalie’s birthday, another wonderful time of fellowship, followed by some door-to-door work (most of the team’s first time)  With the door to door work there were a number of people who listened intently as the gospel was presented and we trust the Lord will take the seed sown and His spirit will continue to work in the hearts of many here in West Ireland.

Many funny moments today between sleeping team members and friendly banter but we’re still trusting the Lord for strength and direction, and hoping and praying for those we speak to and the local believers.

We appreciate all your prayer and support,

With love, TnTTeams

The Burnetts and Shanks, along with the church-planting ministry in Newcastle West, have a ministry called "The Ultimate Decision" that seeks to reach out with the gospel by making all types of gospel materials available at their UD trailer that they set up at fairs and festivals throughout Ireland.

Missionary Andy Shanks: "It's great to have the team with us. Apart from all the hard work they have brought good weather with them! As well as Newcastle West there have been many small villages and rural areas covered with the 4you magazines. As always the team is appreciated."