Holly's Blarney

home safe & sound minus one mole

i am home safe & sound. i got home late saturday evening from interlaken, switzerland. i was leading the teens attending the conference with the parents. these teens live all over the world & have some amazing stories! i loved sitting around sharing airport security stories...a part of my life that a lot of people don't understand (all the traveling that i do). we spent the week looking at ephesians, hiking, chatting late into the night, & playing catch phrase. one stage during the wk i said "i am a tired extrovert who doesn't want to miss a moment with the teens." i was touched by every single one of the teens there! i can't wait to hear about the stories that God writes with their lives! photos to come...

i did lose a mole on my leg during my stay in switzerland. there was a doctor there for us during the wk. i had a mole that kept getting all funky so i had him take a look at it. he got really excited & exclaimed "it's not cancerous, but i will gladly remove it for you! i was praying last night the God would allow me to use the  equipment i brought." i couldn't turn the man down although i despise pain & shots. his wife held my hand as he injected me with a numbing shot. she continued to hold my hand while i smelled my flesh burning off. it's healing just fine!

Wagamama

Here are some shots off my phone from our yummy Wagamama's meal. Noodles noodles noodles!! The ladies started off the chopsticks but after a few minutes we all gave up. Tegan lasted the longest :)

My girls!

i love my girls! megan, tegan, jojo, elyssa, & meadhbh are the bomb! the OM ship Logos Hope was in town recently. me & the ladies (including helen & mary) headed into town for a yummy noodle meal at wagamamas & an evening on the ship. while walking to the ship, i did a little bit for my girls to set the mood for the evening;

tegan made this little video & posted it for the world to see. embarrassing, slightly! part of the job, yep :)

here are some photos that tegan took as well:

The scary lady in the bathroom

As promised here is the story of the Georgian lady in the airport bathroom. It was 3 am Georgian time (12 am Irish time, 7 PM East Coast time) & I had just taken the craziest middle of the night cab ride of my life. I had checked in my bag & bought a few pressies for the fam. I ducked into the toilet quick before heading to security. I heard another lady in the bathroom when I went in & she was still in her stall when I went to wash my hands. I was standing at the mirror when out from around the corner this old ladies sticks her face up my mine & stares. She had not flushed her toilet & had just jumped around the corner at me. I screamed really loud. She starred. I began to shake. She starred. I grabbed my bag off the counter. She reached for my arm & tried to get me to look into her toilet stall. She was saying something in Georgian. I maneuvered around her outreached arm & bolted out of the bathroom. Was the lady trying to stuff me into a toilet stall? Or was she asking me to flush her toilet although it clearly stated in Georgian & English how to flush the toilet? I don't know the answers cause I bolted. I am positive that following my gut & bolting out of the toilet at 3 am was the right move.

But it was a clear reminder that I need more prayer for protection. After being wallet-less in Barcelona, my traveling alone confidence was greatly shaken. I travel all the time! I love traveling! I love reading a magazine on the plane & drinking coffee around the world! I love the amazing experiences that come with traveling, but 99% of the time the actual traveling is done alone. While I was in Barcelona & my church family here in Dublin was praying for me, my friend Anthea was convinced that I needed more prayers for protection. I & all that are use to my travels have taken for granted the safety that the Lord has always granted or the bad stuff He has held back unknown to me. As I left for Georgia, I was covered by prayer as I asked my friends here to pray for me. I got text through out the wk reminding me that they were praying for my protection. Please pray for my protection as well as I travel.

I am traveling to Interlaken, Switzerland June 15-27 to speak to Missionary Teens from around the world. These teens are attending this conference with their families as there are sessions for the adults as well. This is a time for these missionary families to get rested & refreshed.

Georgian Youth Summit aka The missionary goes on a missions trip

8 days in The Republic of Georgian in the Kakheti Region. We went to train & encourage youth workers from Georgia, Armenia, & Belarus, but in the end they encouraged & taught us just as much. The Georgian's could & should write a book on hospitality. By the end of the week I had been feed enough to go into hibernation for at least 3 months. The Georgians will go without food to give to their guest. They were buying us gifts as a thank you. It was humbling.

I went to Georgia with Tagg, in Holland, & Kelly, in Slovakia. We met up with Brian who has lived the past 5 yrs in Georgia & is married to a Georgian woman. Tagg taught on how to build a youth ministry, I spoke on discipleship, & Kelly lead the topic of leadership. As it turned out, we all spoke on our strengths. Our excitement for our topics spilled out! We lead our sessions like real youth groups equipped with games they could use.  It was energizing to see the youth leaders engage, ask questions, & leave with practical ideas for their students.  I am confident that our goal to train & equip & encourage youth workers was accomplished.

Brian & Maja hosted the three of us. It was so fun spending time with Brian & Maja & their two children. Brian doesn't get much interaction with other Americans. He was encouraged to see that he had been leading his youth leaders down the right track. I think he's spirits were lifting as we lived life with them laughing, sharing stories, & engaging with his world. We all came to love Brian & Maja as if they were our own.

Kelly has done a great review of the wk (click below to read his insights):
Kelly's Blog on the Youth Worker Summit

I went a little crazy on the photos! I took somewhere around 500...yikes!! I put together a slideshow of the best shots for you (not all 500). Get a cup of coffee ready & click here to see the slide show. May your eyes be opened to a world you didn't know, but hopefully through the photos will come to love as I did.

PS I just noticed that all my lovely photo captions did not transfer over. I will work on those tonight.

PS I will tell you the story about the scary lady in the Tbilisi airport at 3 AM in the morning in the next few days.

I have a new website thanks to some generous donors!! Hopefully it will be easier to remember then this blog address :) www.hollyonthego.com

Istanbul Airport

Sitting at Starbucks in the Istanbul airport. That's a Turkish newspaper in the photo.
I'm waiting to catch my next flight to Tbilisi, Georgia (the republic of Georgia). Myself & two other GEM co-workers are leading a youth workers training course for Georgian youth workers. Pretty crazy heh?!? I'm excited, but nervous about travel because of Spain.
Operations reclaim wallet is slowing coming along. Trying to sort out if I can get the Austrian license re-issued since I don't have residency anymore. Also waiting to see if renter's insurance will help me out at all. It was around €750 worth of stuff. Ouch!!
I'm in Georgia May 6-15th. Please pray for safety & the training times. I'm sure there will be many if stories to share upon my return!

Walletless in Barcelona

I had just taken the train from the airport into the centre of Barcelona. I was transferring down to the metro when my wallet was stolen. I went to put my metro pass in my wallet, but when I went into my bag it was gone. The distress & panic that over took me was horrific. I was instantly aware of my aloneness & lack of Spanish. Then began the instant list in my head of all that was taken; €350, US driver's license, Austrian driver's license, Irish immigration card, 1 credit card, 2 bank cards, the yellow fun wallet that I loved, & my emtional security. 

I was walletless yet God sent angels. I felt so alone & couldn't stop shaking, but God kept sending me help. Angels came in the form of, Mary, Steve B, Ana, & Gladys (a Spanish woman I had never met), a kind Spanish policeman, AIB teller that cared, & a genuinely concerned voice at the end of the phone at my credit card company. In 3 flights of stairs my excitment for Spain was gone, luckily my phone & passport were still present. Mary & Steve began texting me phones to cancel my bank cards & visa. One of my angels even instatnly wired me money through Western Union.

A lot of things were taken from me that morning, but my lovely mama told me that she believed that God would return everything to me & more. I am taking her words & trusting in God's goodness. I return to Ireland this evening. Soon I am going to be navigating the trains again, but I will be repeating (possible out loud at times...that should scare them off) "I am NOT alone!" I return to Ireland walletless, but keenly aware that angels exsist & that God sends them right on time!

 

This is where it all went down...coming down the stairs on the right.

Palm Sunday Sermon

Palm Sunday at Dublin West was an all age service organized & planned by the teens (with a lot of help from Dave & myself ;) ) I delivered the sermon. We read the Luke passage out before I spoke & had the children & different parts of the congregation yell out the sounds of the passage. It definitely brought the Bible to life! Here is an MP3 of the sermon. Go easy on me as it was my first sermon! (New prayer letter coming to a mailbox near you in the next week)

Download Holly Davis-Psalm Sundaymp3  (click this link & it should download to your computer)



Here is a photo of the Palm Branches that people wrote on & laid down in expectation of what God could do with their hopes! (must listen to sermon to fully understand)

Connect Review

What a great weekend in Kilkenny at Connect! It was not a weekend without challenges though; I went to drive down only to discover a flat & find out I need four new tires, one of the leaders wives got sick once he left home & he had to return to Dublin, another leader got a wax earplugs stuck in his ear & spent a whole morning in the ER. The craziest of all the challenges turned out to be the best. Just as Andrew beginning the Saturday evening main stage talk the power in ALL of Kilkenny went out! The whole entire town lost power! So what do you with 300 students...we began singing. We had an hour of spontaneous worship. We then hooked up a sound system to a lad's car & had a disco. We were having so much fun that when the power came back on 4 hours later, the teens began to boo. We turned the lights back off & kept dancing!

If you would like to see the main stage talks here are the video links:

Welcome: (Alex, Linda, & myself)

Main Stage 1 (Alex & Suzie)

Main Stage 2 (Jonathan & myself)

Main Stage 3 (Andrew & Suzie)

Main Stage 4 (Tim & myself)

I did not get many photos as I was a little preoccupied ;) There was a guy there taking photos for us & once we receive the cd of photos, I will post more.

The boys prepping for their one of many movies.

Who's got my shoes?!

The power went out & we found a stash of glow-sticks. The teens started spellings out to entertain themselves.

Peter leading worship with power.

Tim & I on main stage during our talk.

The Busy Week Ahead

I returned from Chicago last wk & I have been too busy to experience jet-lag. That is a good thing or a bad thing depending on whether you are a glass half full or half empty kinda human. I am going to go good thing this time around.

This weekend is the nation wide youth retreat, Connect, down in Kilkenny. I will be heading down on Wednesday to start help setting up with the rest of the steering committee. We have been praying & planning for this weekend for almost a year now. This is the big event! It all comes together this weekend! We would all covet your prayers as 350 students from around country gather together.

The music is being lead by two different church bands, one of them being my church Dublin West Community Church. Peter is one of the leaders & Dave is playing the drums.

I myself will be speaking during two main stage teachings times with two different men, Jonathon & Tim. Saturday morning Jonathon & I are talking about "Who do we connect to?" & Sunday morning Tim & I am speaking on "How do we stay connected?" I am also do a break session called "Holly's Kitchen" on Friday evening.

(Here are a few shots from my reunion time in Chicago. It was so fun to see everyone! It was encouraging to hear what God has been doing in all our lives.)

(there were a lot more people at the reunion then this, but unfortunately they didn't come to the reunion room straight away & missed the shot. )