It's not the end, but a new beginning

This past week the members of the 2011 TNT Team began to head home. It was sad for all of us, and many didn’t want to go. We were all amazed at how quickly 3 weeks went. We know that God brought us all together to accomplish something that no other group of people could do. We learned from each other and grew together. Even though we were together for a short time, we became a family. On our last night together, the team shared with the Shankill Assembly about our experiences in Ireland and how the Lord worked through our short time here. Trinity, Noelle, and Heidi are staying longer to continue serving the Lord and the Shankill Assembly. Trinity and Noelle will be leaving at the end of June and Heidi will remain in Ireland until the end of August. Pray that the Lord will use them in the next few weeks and months to continue His work. They will continue to do door to door work and will be going out into the community to meet others from around the area. We hope to talk to teens and kids in particular as we are hoping to expand the youth group that meets on Monday nights. During her stay, Heidi wants to focus on meeting and talking with youth, as she is hoping to build relationships with them. Pray for Heidi and for the Lord to lead her to people so she can build relationships and hopefully lead them to Christ. Please pray for the girls as they do door to door ministry as well.

Team members talk to passers by and distribute 4YOU magazines.

On North Earl St, Dublin

Team member Elisa is the music teacher at Emmaus Bible College and put together a singing group that was used to encourage Christians and reach out to people on the street across Ireland.

Last Day

Yesterday, Regina and I knocked on doors for about two hours in a nearby neighbourhood. We had a few interesting conversations, but the most encouraging one was with a young woman named Katrina. We asked her if she had a Bible, and she said that she did not, but she has been reading some online. She’s searching for answers, because she is not satisfied with just hearing what people in the Catholic church say. We gave her a New Testament and briefly shared the Gospel with her. I John 5:13 was helpful to let her know that she can have assurance of salvation. We encouraged her to read the book of John, and she may be open to someone coming back at a later date to talk with her more.

Please pray for Katrina and also Megan, a girl I talked to today in downtown Dublin during our outreach on the streets. Megan listened pretty attentively, and she said she might try reading the Bible for herself. I was also excited to meet two Christians on the street. One guy was handing out tracts himself, and we were able to encourage each other.

Elisa

Today as we went out to do some street ministry in downtown Dublin I met a man named Owen who is an atheist. It was an interesting conversation. I enjoyed talking to him and being challenged to go and study the bible further. He wanted a lot of evidence and he asked me to prove that God exists and to explain a ‘real’ reason as to why I believe what I believe. But I couldn’t convince him with anything I said. I just pray that God works in his heart and takes some things that we talked about and really ponders some things. We talked for about 30-40 minutes until he left in a hurry. About 10 minutes later he came back. That was really a great sign because it meant that our earlier conversation was effective in some way. At that time, it didn’t seem like he was thinking with a new mindset, but God truly is amazing and nothing is impossible with Him. I really believe that He’ll use our conversation to lead him to Himself. Just keep him in your prayers too please. Thanks!

Trinity

Encouraging Stories

During our last day of door to door work in Waterford, Heidi and I paired up, and the Lord led us to two doors in particular. After about five doors we came to the home of a man named Patrick. We told him that we had distributed magazines a few days earlier and asked if he had received it and had a chance to look at it. He looked at us intently, smiled and said “Yes, it was brilliant!” His response was such a contrast to many of the responses we had heard earlier that day.

He then asked us if we would like to come in. Upon entering his home Heidi and I quickly learned that Patrick was a widower and had lost his wife to cancer nearly 4 years ago. He then shared with us that after reading the magazine he was inspired to go through some of his wife’s clothes and donate them to charity. He was really struggling with his decision and kept asking us if we thought he’d made the right decision.

He then continued to share about his wife and how hard it had been the last few years without her. We could see how broken this man was and Heidi and I really wanted to present him with a message of hope. We were able to share the Gospel with Patrick. He asked us questions, and we sat and talked with him for nearly an hour. He was really open to what we had to say, and we could tell that he really enjoyed the company. We left Patrick with words of hope, as well as the New Testament. Upon leaving he gave each of us a hug.

Please continue to pray for Patrick and his salvation. He is such a sweet man who has been struggling for nearly four years after the passing of his wife.

Shortly after our encounter with Patrick the Lord brought us to the home of a young man named Ronnie. He is a student preparing to take his leaving exams. We asked him some questions, and he was really open to talking with us. He shared with us that he didn’t really know where he stood when it came to religion or a relationship with Christ. He had heard the Gospel a few different times in various stages of his life. He also shared with us that he and his friends had been talking about Jesus and had watched the Passion of the Christ just a few weeks previously. He was a very polite, intelligent man. He listened to what we had to say and kept asking us some really hard questions. For nearly two hours we stood there talking to him, we were able to answer his questions with answers straight from the Bible. You could tell the longer we talked with him the more open he was becoming to what we were saying. We could just see that God was working on his heart.

We left Ronnie with a copy of the New Testament, and hopefully some answers. Pray for Ronnie and his salvation. You can see that he is genuinely interested in finding truth.

TIME FLIES!

Back in Dublin!
And what a wonderful feeling it is. No more bed bugs or shower issues.
The team trip is quickly coming to an end unfortunately. Team leader Tim, or, in Jordan's case "papa Tim" has already headed home on Friday morning. We all miss him dearly.

Already we've continued delivering magaizines from when we first began the trip in the beginning of May. Lots of walking. The weather here has been spectacular. Apparently it's unusual that it gets this warm at this time of the year. Compared to our weather in both Newcastle West and Tramor, it's been really nice here.

The church is having a retreat this weekend for the long weekend. Many of the church members are here enjoying the fellowship and warm weather. We've (as in the team) have been helping out with setup for meals and cleanup and such. Helping out in any way we can. Our meetings or "sessions" have been grand. Ron has been leading the meetings in a devotion type setting about the book of Acts. By devotion, I mean that everyone is listening but can feel free to speak thoughts on certain things. It's a really great way to get involved and all bounce off each others' thoughts.

So far it feels like this trip has been going way too fast. But I guess that's why they say "time flies when you're having fun"

Trin and Stef.

Monday May 30th

Today we distributed magazines and invitations to the gospel meeting in the morning. For the afternoon we went out on the doors which seemed a bit daunting at first because we haven't done it for a few days now and most on the team still feel a bit inesperienced (we could use some prayer for that- that God will give us boldness and the words to say to get good conversations going). A lot of us had quite a few discouraging interatctins with people who say "no thanks, we're catlic and we're happy with what we have, bye." or who challenge us and ask what we think we're doing showing up at their doors. But the neat thing is that there were some very open doors that we got along the way too :]

Some people who had great conversations and heard the gospel were Louise, Amy, Claire, 2 lesbien girls, Carl, Mary, and a handful of others. There were quite a few people who said that they would come to the gospel meeting on Sunday night. Carl is 30 has 6 months left to live and has decided he doesn't want God and will take the consiquences but his heart was touched and David said that we would pray for him. Mary had her 2 young children and dispite the distractions, listened very well for a good while and received some tracts and a CD "the uniqueness of Christianity." Louise also had a young girl with her and was against religion and a bit negetive at first but was greatly impacted by the gospel and hearing Heidi's testamony and talked for a long time. The two lesbien girls were very strong in their view of religion and God but were greatly challenged and could see the truth of what Heidi and Katie were saying about the Bible and by the end of the conversation promised that they would check out the books of John and Romans to see if they were right or wrong about the Bible.

Tim and Trinity's conversation with Claire would be the most encouraging of the whole day. As they first began talking they were invited in from the rain to have some tea and they stayed for at least two hours explaining the gospel. Tim says, "If it could be a scale of 0-5, 0 never hearing the gospel and 5 getting saved Claire would be a 4.9 as she listened intently for two hours. She said she wanted to get close to God and she wondered how she could get close to God and they went into the whole process of how she could know God and receive salvation."


It is exciting to see everyone learn about working as a team for evangelism. Over all, it was an encouraging day because there were some who heard the gospel and were responsive to it's truth. We would ask for continued prayers for strength. Each tough conversation and each good one leaves us a bit warn out.

Sunday May 29

Heidi here- During Friday and Saturday's street evangelism there were three teenage girls who were very interested who were in a large group of kids who Trinity and I talked with. Their names are Shavan and Haylee and another who's name we forgot. I also spoke with three Muslim gentlemen and there was one who was very accepting and interested and he could see my genuine heart and he said he appreciated hearing about the gospel. I'd like it if you would pray for these people who had open ears to the gospel.

On Sunday the 29 Tim gave the message and the team was able to sing some special music for the assembly's morning church meeting. It was wonderful to meet more of the believers in the church and it was great to be an encouragement to them as a small assembly.
Later in the afternoon we went out and handed out some last minute invitations to the meeting and a few people wound up coming with us right on the spot. For the meeting our "tnt choir" sang Light of the World and Amazing Grace and Tim gave a powerful gospel message. There was a group of younger boys who were lined up in the front row. They got uncomfortable and left halfway through the message but Jordan felt God's leading that he should go after them. He jumped up and caught them outside the hotel where we were meeting and explained to them what Tim was getting at in his message. He says he's not sure how well they listened to him but he shared the gospel clearly.

Others who heard the gospel clearly and stayed back for at least an hour talking with us was an older Irish man named Michael, a single mom Eleanor and her two boys, an old bachelor named Ceiron, and a Bosnian guy named Jonathan. All had great conversations but the best change in demeanor was Eleanor who was very apprehensive at first and began to understand as our conversation went on. I was really able to share my faith with her.

Friday May 27

The sun is shining, the town square is packed with people and the paint and brushes are ready. It’s a perfect day for open air preaching in Waterford. This was the day we woke up to on the 28th. It seemed that God had prepared a perfect day to go out and share the good news of His son with the Irish people, and that’s what we did. As a team we made our way down into the town square where people were spending their afternoons shopping and sitting in the sun. We began to set up our sketch board while we did our best to avoid the strange looks that people were giving us as they walked by. While Tim began preparing his sketch board message, we went into the streets and began handing out material and speaking to anyone who would lend us an ear. Then the time came to watch messages from both Tim and Ernie as they shared the gospel using paint and paper to speak of the eternal hope we have in Christ. Before long, many young people had gathered to both listen and mock us. This didn’t bother us too much however because it created some very good discussions. “How can we know God is real when we can’t see him?!” One teenager demanded loudly. “Do you believe the wind is real?” someone on the team responded, “You can’t see the wind, only the effects of it!” The young teenager had to stop and think about this answer. The team member continued: “We feel the effects of God through our lives, even though we don’t see Him!” This began an extremely positive discussion at the end of which, 5 bibles were given away! Connections were also made through facebook and email. Overall it was a very uplifting and positive experience and God was quite clearly with us.

Team bonding has been extremely important. We know that if we are not unified, we can’t do the work of the Lord properly. This is why it has been wonderful to have a team that not only works well together but enjoys each other’s company as well. One example of this was yesterday when we were listening to Irish music. In very North American fashion, we began doing our best Irish jigs. Most of us looked like marionettes flopping limply on a string but some weren’t that bad. The best of us was Ernie, who looked like a much older version of Michael Flatley. It was a very fun night.

-Jordan

On the Road Again....

It's time to move on again. We wrapped up our stay at Newcastle West with two more days of kids club, delivering magazines, and witnessing door to door. We were sad to leave the church family there but are looking forward to new adventures in Waterford. Our first day in Waterford was spent delivering magazines and then witnessing downtown in the main square. We did different ministries there from handing out tracks and having conversations with people about the gospel to singing and using paint to explain the gospel to the crowds. We had many different responses from the locals. There were a few encouraging conversations, but sadly, most seemed turned off by the gospel and would run off the minute Jesus' name was mentioned in the messages. One person in the square completely rejected the literature just because it had something to do with God. Others would stay just to mock what we said or believed. I pray that those who stayed to mock, listened to what we had to say and that they would come to Christ. Please pray that the team would continue to be bold even through these kinds of responses as we are going to be in the square again tomorrow.

Also keep in your prayers the plumbing in the house we are now living in. For some reason the water is not really working as it should, and the plumber does not know why.

Thank you to all the people at home who are praying and following the blog at home. We greatly appreciate everything you all do!

-Stefanie

Welcome Heidi.

This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day. We all met in the living room at the cheery hour of 8:45 am. Ernie shared his testimony, and Art led a devotional on John chapter 4. After that we distributed more 4U magazines to Dromcolligher and stopped by the remains of a nearby castle and a local Donkey Sanctuary. When we returned back to the house we cooked lunch and welcomed Heidi. We are so thankful that she arrived safely in Ireland, and now our team is finally complete. After lunch some started preparing for our second day of children's club, while others prepared to do door to door ministry. On the door to door time we encountered many different responses . Some were not open at all, while others were really interested in what we had to say. One person Claire in particular was really interested and wanted us to come back. While half the team did the doors the other half were busy doing children's club which went very well. The team was very encouraged as there were quite a few more kids who came today. It was great to be able to present the gospel to the children and to see how much they enjoyed the songs and the Bible lesson. Then to finish off the evening we all went to Burnett's for a lovely dinner.

Prayer Requests:
Please pray for Claire, the woman we met today who was really open to the gospel.
Also pray for a last successful day doing children's club tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers and support!

ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE!!

Our day began with a team morning meeting. We spent time in prayer, praise, in the word, and one of our team members shared their testimony. Its great to get together before the day starts to dedicate the day to God and ask him to be in control of each situation we will have with the Irish people that day.

Then we set out to small towns surrounding New Castle West to deliver more ''4You'' magazines.

This afternoon some of the team went door-to-door to spread the gospel to different neighbourhoods

in New Castle West. Fortunately, most of the door-to-door experiences were better than the last time.

At one door, two team members spoke to one man who believed his good works and regular church

attendance would get him to heaven. They questioned his strategy with what the bible says, and after

about a 15 minute conversation, the team members left the man contemplating the gospel and holding

a book entitled ''Ultimate Questions''.

The other team members took part in a kids club this afternoon. There was about seven to eight kids with whom

we had the opportunity to teach a bible lesson, sing songs, play games, and teach a bible verse.

The lesson was well received and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

As far as praise reports: We are thankful for the successful door-to-door evangelism today and for the seed

of the gospel that was planted.

Prayer requests:

- That people receive the gospel well during door-to-door tomorrow.

- That the kids club goes well tomorrow.

- Pray for good weather! Sun and heat. :)

- Pray for energy and joy for the team.

THANKS!

-Katie.

Debut at Ireland fair

The Irish people are very cordial, but it has been difficult to engage them in personal conversations relating to anything spiritual. Yesterday was our first day of door-to-door ministry, and although there were a few good conversations with people, it was pretty frustrating.

This morning, we sang special music at church, and three team members taught the children's Sunday school class. After lunch, we attended an Irish fair to help with the church's booth (face painting, handing out literature, etc.). Near the end, we had a chance to sing for everyone--a band playing/singing for most of the fair gave us some time with the microphones, so we had our Ireland debut :).

Praise the Lord that Jordan encountered a man yesterday who was very interested in the gospel magazine we were distributing.
Please pray for dry weather and continued strength. We have very busy, long days and need a lot of energy to work well together.

Elisa

Team member Jordan Evans sharing the devotional at the Shankill Bible Church's mid-week prayer meeting.

Ireland Welcomes the Queen! How about the Team?

The TnT Team arrived in Ireland to begin almost 4 weeks of outreach this past Tuesday, the very same day Queen Elizabeth II arrived to spend 4 days visiting the Emerald Isle.

(The photo shows the queen being shown the Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin which is a 1200 year old ornately illustrated Celtic copy of the the four gospels)

The arrival of the queen was momentous as this was the first visit of a reigning British monarch to Ireland in 100 years. While this queen has spanned the globe over her 85 years, it has never been considered possible for her to set foot in this country just off the west coast of Britain. Even now, her visit has resulted in the largest security operation ever seen on this island.

For some 800 years until this past century Ireland was under the rule of the British monarch and there has never been an acceptance of that fact on the part of the large majority of the Irish. 800 years of unrest and rebellion culminated in the regular sounds of bombs and bullets from the 1960s until this past decade. The effect of this queen's visit is already making a difference in Ireland. She announced that the Irish and the British are now "firm friends and equal partners". Significantly the queen also frankly offered, "With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently -- or not at all." The reality of a lasting peace is now sensed by many in Ireland and the UK.

How about the 2011 arrival of the TnT Team? While not on the level of the welcome received by a visiting monarch, first the saints in Shankill, Co Dublin and now in Newcastle West, Co Limerick have warmly welcomed the following team members: Tim Hood (BC); Heidi Koppen (IA); Art Cavenagh (MB); Ernie Imken (NY); Stephanie Perkins (GA); Katie Doolan (MB); Noelle Cottom (OH); Elisa Cooper (IA); Trinity Yarish (MB); and Jordan Evans (MB).

Paul the apostle quoted in Romans 10:15, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" PLEASE PRAY that as a result of the team's visit to Ireland there will many who are reconciled to God, who will experience peace with God, through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul then goes on to say in verse 17, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." There will be much sowing of God's Word over the next three weeks: 30,000 4YOU.ie gospel magazines, hundreds of other tracts, scores of New Testaments, not to mention the public preaching that will take place in buildings, on the streets and in parks across the south of Ireland.

Whatever the impact of the queen's visit, we know the team's visit will have an eternal one!

A Long Walk - Newcastle West, Co Limerick

The team is almost all here! Two more of our team members arrived late last night, and we're settling into our new house. This morning, we met together for a time of worship and devotions before specific preparations for our ministry. We spent about two hours delivering gospel magazines to neighborhoods in Newcastle West. It was quite a walk, so we were thankful for dry, sunny weather. We put most of the magazines in mail slots, but occasionally we met someone in their garden. The Irish people are really gracious and friendly and were happy to take the magazine. It makes us somewhat excited although still somewhat apprehensive about going door to door. Please pray for us to not be afraid but have confidence in the Lord to work through us. This evening we ate dinner together with some of the local believers--we have enjoyed getting to know them, and they will be leading us in local ministry for next several days.

We are excited about the rest of the trip, but we would appreciate your prayers for stamina and unity as some are tired in adjusting to a new environment and schedule.

Until next time!

Elisa

DREAM COME TRUE!

Arrived in Ireland. Wow! What a beautiful country. We arrived here and the first thing I noticed was the accent. That's when it hit me: I'm in Ireland!! (which is a dream come true by the way).

We've met some really great people so far. We were taken around Dublin on a grand tour hosted by two of the guys or 'lads' as they'd call them here, from the church. It was fantastic! Already I feel totally welcomed and at home here. I'm so excited for what God has in store for our team. Lately we've been taking evening walks which are lovely. There's a nearby village Shankill that we've been spending a lot of time in buying the delicious chocolate they have here and then we sometimes take a walk down to the beach which is also very near. Now I'm making it sound like it's all fun and games. Which it definitely is.

But apart from touring around and exploring, we've also spent some time going out and slipping the gospel magazines into the mailboxes of the neighborhood houses. And we've also spent a portion of the day learning about Ireland's history and beliefs. Ireland is so far everything I'd hoped for it to be and more. And I know that God has an amazing plan for our team and what's next to come. Tomorrow we head for Newcastle West, Co Limerick to work with the Burnetts, Shanks and the Newcastle West Bible Fellowship.

Trinity Y

The LORD Has Provided!

For the past several years we have been trusting the Lord to provide tens of thousands of copies of the Irish gospel magazine, 4YOU.ie. This is a 16-page, full-colour glossy magazine that is packed with relevant, interesting and challenging articles explaining the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again this year, through a donation from an organization in Canada, 30,000 of these magazines will be distributed throughout the Republic of Ireland via TnT Teams. 16,000 will go out in the city of Waterford alone.

We continue to trust the Lord for His provision for all the other expenses associated with this year's outreach. Please pray with us.

As God's Word goes out, remember: "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Romans 10:17

Ireland 2011

Only two weeks to go!

This year's team members are only two weeks away from arriving in Dublin, Ireland to begin what will be almost a month of intensive orientation, training, evangelistic outreach and ministry to Irish believers and assemblies. I know that some will be becoming increasingly fretful and even fearful re this whole experience from making sure they have everything they need, to traveling overseas, meeting a whole lot of new people with whom they're going to be living at close quarters, fellowshipping with Christians and churches they’re unfamiliar with; being involved in door to door and open air evangelism. No doubt there are even some that might be thinking, “What have I got myself into?”

This is a good time for us to pray for those who have taken this step of faith. It is a good time for the team members to be reminded that it is the Lord who has led them to this decision. It is a good time to be reminded from the scriptures that the best antidote for fear is faith. When faith soars fear sinks! We do well to remember the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He (the LORD) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Isn’t it great to know God will use even our weakness as we trust Him. I believe one of the reasons we have enjoyed such blessing year by year is that our teams are made up of saints who are fearful yet faithful in the Lord’s strength.

It is important to be reminded about the Lord Jesus as He commissions His disciples in a very applicable passage in Matthew 28:16 “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.”” Simply put, as the Lord Jesus sends His disciples to teach and testify, He assures them of His power and presence. All the 2011 TnT Team members can be assured of the same.

The Lord has blessed us with 10 team members so far who will be joining us for all or a part of the mission including 4 who have worked with TnT Teams in previous years. We continue to pray for some additional help. This means we will have only one team that will work in three different areas of the country: Co Dublin, Co Limerick and Co Waterford. They will be working with national believers, workers and missionaries who are experienced in evangelism and ministering the Word. For everyone but especially our first-timers fear will give way to faith and this "trusting the Lord" will be the key to what is accomplished for eternity.

Please pray for these team members as they prepare, as they travel starting May 13th, and as they serve the Lord in Ireland, some until June 25th.