Well, I did it. I made it to Ireland! This past month has consisted of lots of jet lag, tea, and laughs at all the cultural mistakes I am making. Did you know they call pants, trousers here? Because I didn’t lol. I found housing immediately after arriving which is a huge blessing. I am living with a house mate named Claire. She is also an American but, that’s about the only thing we have in common. The differences between us have been quite comical in our day to day routines. I am loud, she is quite. I love colour and she loves neutrals. She plays the violin and I sing off key. I listen to gospel and she listens to hymns. But you know what? We both really love Jesus.

I have been settling into my day to day duties in the OM office. Something I have learned about Irish culture is how relational it is. Relationships matter most, even over work. This is something my American brain is just not used to. This makes for very fun work days! Lots of chats and laughs while we drink tea and eat scones. Speaking of tea… 

If you know me, you know that my heart beat sounds like coffee brewing. I sweat espresso. Coffee is my one true love. Since being in Ireland I have been introduced to Irish tea. Which apparently is different from the way English people make it. But let me tell you, I think I found my long lost love. If my body didn’t reject the idea, I would drink coffee all day long. Of course that doesn’t make me feel the best. Tea however, you can drink all day long without getting that sick feeling. Tea is the new coffee.

Now on to the heart stuff…

Before the visa delay I was very mentally and emotionally prepared to leave. After waiting for a couple months my mindset slipped back into normal American life. This has made the transition a little harder than expected. Don’t get me wrong, I am OVERJOYED to finally be here. I will say that I am missing home more than I thought I would. Staying connected with family and friends has made all the difference. Little messages of encouragement have turned weepy days into song singing days! Not to mention I really love my team. There is a Dutch family serving here in hospitality and operations at Lacken House. They arrived not long before me and have made me smile and laugh more than I have in a really long time. I feel the most myself around them and their children. Which is so interesting considering we are from two very different cultures. 

I am on the hunt for a home church. I have visited quite a few now and have one I am seriously praying about attending regularly. Churches are very different than in the states. There just aren’t a lot of evangelical believers here. Which is why I am here to begin with. We want to see Ireland saved. But that makes for a harder time finding Christian community outside of my OM family. 

I am finding this transition in general a lot more difficult than I had imagined. Or maybe I am just not handling it how I thought I would and therefore, I am disappointed in myself for not being able to just hop in and go! I need to give myself grace and remember that moving to a new country and into a new culture is hard.

In order to stay connected with all my American peeps, I thought it would be a good idea to add a my current faves at the bottom of this blog post. This way you all still get to now the small things in my life rather than just the big things! I’ll add this after prayer request each post. Keep scrolling, you’ll find what i’m talking about.