Ireland From My Point of View

I can honestly say that everyone who went on the Ireland trip enjoyed their time serving and spending time in a foreign country together. I can also say that the trip was a success. With that being said, I believe everyone has their own view of how everything went and how they felt the most used and I want to share about the trip from my vantage point.

Starting out I have to be honest, I was very, very stressed. 

I had been on three mission trips to Costa Rica as a teenager so I wasn't really stressed over the thought of ministry overseas. What I was afraid of was all my responsibilities. On all those other trips I was just a team member, doing whatever I was told, but on this trip I was put over certain areas and also stretched beyond what I thought I was capable. 

I was put in charge of leading worship on Sundays for the Church, and also to teach in front of a bunch of youth. 

Now, though I lead worship a lot here at IGNITED, I have to be honest, I still get extremely nervous. It is hard to psych myself up enough to do it, and now I had to figure all that out here in a foreign country. 

Looking back now that we are back and it's all finished, I can say that it was not as hard as I seemed to build it up to be. For the most part, it went really smooth and I thought that the Lord blessed our worship.

Next, what made me stress the most was my teaching. I had never really done any kind of teaching besides a short devotion at the Summer Retreat last year leading up to this, and now I had to teach kids in Ireland for almost 40 minutes. I was so scared and nervous that it physically affected me. Throughout the trip I was almost a different person. I was even more negative then usual (yep, it's possible) and I felt like I was getting on people's nerves.

My teaching went alright though I did only talk for just under 30 minutes. After it was done I was so excited that I struggled to sleep that night because I could not believe that I actually made it through. 

I think it is important to note the ironic part of all this. I was teaching on fear. I was teaching on how to overcome the very thing that was destroying me. 

Through the whole circumstance, though I think it may have taken 20 years off my life from all the stress, in the end it was good for me, because I was able to dwell on God's Word in a different way then I usually do, and now whenever I fear I have my own teaching that I can turn to, along with others. It's funny how God works sometimes.

Overall, though I was tired and cranky some of the days on the trip, I can say wholeheartily that I enjoyed it and would go again in a heartbeat if I could.