But a good friend here in Cork told me something the other day and I just was so blessed by it I thought, "I must blog about this!"
I have been in Cork Ireland for a year now and I absolutely love it! I work closely with the pastor's family and behind the scenes at the church. God has shown me just how blessed I am to be serving in a place where I have awesome fellowship and my gifts are being used. There are still many things that challenge me though. I am a missionary but I must admit I am not gifted in evangelism. It can be quite intimidating. The church here does a outreach twice a month and at first it was very hard for me feel any sort of confidence in sharing my faith.
What we do is stand in front of the post office on Friday nights and hand out free tea and coffee to people heading out to pubs. I could probably do a whole post on these experiences alone (which I should!) I often end up being a bit of novelty as I have such a funny accent being from America and all. Then they'll find out I'm from California and that is when the teenage girls shriek!
My friend Eimear, at church, told me that her cousin was over at her house and was telling her about how she got a free cup of tea from these Christians outside the post office. "And there was this really nice girl. She was so sweet." That girl was me! Eimear's cousin didn't remember "the American" or "the holy roller" but "the really nice Christian girl". She hadn't ever really encountered Christians in that kind of way. She hadn't seen that we are normal and nice!
I wish I had had a chance to talk more with her. But even when I don't have a opportunity to share the gospel with someone it is very important to me to be as friendly and nice as possible. To give people a positive "christian experience".
Then Eimear told me about another girl in my favorite shop Lush that she has bumped into several times in town. I go to Lush every week! Even when I don't buy anything, I just hang out with the workers and smell lotions! Eimear said "you must know my friend Aan-Sofie?!" Lush girl says "Oh she's really religious right. She's a Christian I think." Now, I rarely talk about my faith there, and I have never talked to this girl in particular. But she knew!
After being here a year these are the things that are really encouraging. That I am, even in little ways impacting the city. True, dozens aren't converting. But people in the community know what I stand for, why I'm here and can see that not all Christians are attempting to burn the Koran.
Even a small impact is an impact!
