I have just got back from visiting four of the intrepid missionaries from Port St Lucie today. Stevie and I started of by driving north to Ballymoney where Miss Molly Skinner is based. She is based in Ballymoney town centre in a very cool and well decked out youth centre called 'Cheers'. We walked in and found Molyl sitting interacting with two young men as they played some pool. She is doing very well indeed and fitting in well to her team. They all seem to get on well and she seems to be building good friendships. She described the youth they are working with as being great and has already been involved in leading a game up front at their evening 'drop-in' ministry. I think she will be fine there and will continue to flourish.

From here we moved in to see Megan McKenzie at Ballymena. They are involved in childrens and youth ministry and seem also to be doing well. They ahd maded a movie togetehr for their outreach in the evenings which was based on theLord Of The Rings Trilogy. It was hilarious and Stevie and I had a great time watching it. I did not get to spend a lot of time with them as they were just entering their planning time for tomorrow, but she seemed to be interacting well with her team mates and they seem to be gelling well. I will hopefully get to see more of Megan and her team next week when I go out on my travels again.

From Ballymena we travelled to Ballyclare and then onto Kilbride Presbyterian Church where Asa Conant and his team were enjoying dinner. Stevie and I naturally took advantage of the good Christian women that were copoking dinner and when asked if we would like something we said that we would never refuse dinner when it is offered. We enjoyed beautiful home made lasagne with peas and chips (fries) followed by ice cream and chocolate cake. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! I wondered how Asa would be away from the rest of the Floridians and caite (his girlfriend) in particular, but I am really pleased to report that he is doing well. God seems to have stepped right into the middle of my worry and put an amazing team around Asa that he gets on with and seems to mix well with. This team as a whole seems to get on well. They were laughing together a lot and had been out and about in the community doing ministry in the afternoon. Asa will also do well in this team.

We tried to visit Doug Gifford at Carnmoney Presbyterian Church after this but were unsuccessful as his team were out having dinner at individual houses, we will try tomorrow to see him.

So with spare time on olur hands we called in with Bailey Swager on our way home. Bailey is based on Belfast's Ormeau Road at St Jude's Church of Ireland (Episcopalian). This is an area of town where I both went to school and then worked early on in my community work life. It is a hard area to work in and an area where kids will definitely not be sugar and spice and all things nice. Bailey and her team mates are experiencing this. The youth they are working with are youth that will think nothing of cussing out an adult who is trying to help them. It is a way of life for them and Bailey is finding that hard - as are the rest of her team. They are doing a daily children's ministry in the morning and then following that up with a youth drop in ministry (coffee house ministry) in the evenings. The stress of being disrespected and wondering if they are getting anywhere is making the team tired as well as discouraging them. They need prayer. I told Bailey that she will come out of this stronger and that she will learn big lessons from it all. She was also worried about the fact that she might be getting through to the kids. However, she showed immense wisdom by saying to me that she understood that the work she was called to Northern Ireland to do might not reap immediate fruit. She knows she is investing in something bigger than what she knows. I like that kind of wisdom.

Okay, I have to go. It has been a great day and I really enjoyed seeing everyone. but, I have to go now and make a phone call to Rich as I promised I would,

Asa and Lisa, AJ would like to know if you all got him into his classes for next year. I promised I would ask.

Blessings