Faith, Fellowship and Fun
by Breda Sunderland

December 27th, 2000. Once again-for the fourth consecutive time–many of us ‘over here’ in the British Isles travelled to Ireland for a few days of fellowship, faith and fun. What began in 1997 as a post-Christmas get-together this year extended for some of us into a New Year celebration!

We had a lot of fun–and more than a few opportunities for faith (more about those later). I don’t know if many of our readers are familiar with the "all-activity, 100% concentration game" Bop It–it’s enough to say that children of all ages had a lot of fun trying to play. A walk in the woods turned into something quite special when snow–an unusual occurrence here in Ireland–transformed the forest landscape into quite a Narnian scene before our very eyes. A shopping expedition to the post-Christmas sales encompassed a visit to Marian Kinahan’s "new" office at the bank (see Fall 2000 issue). New Year’s day was memorable: a walk in the beautiful Wicklow Mountains while the sun shone; a picnic (in December!); a shower; a rainbow…all before rounding off the day with a trip to the movies.

Yes we had a lot of fun during our days together. We were not, however, immune to the challenges that may beset us at any time. For one of us, being "under the weather" proved the perfect situation to resist the temptation to live out the drudgery of feeling miserable and instead count it all joy. It was good to see the difference that faith makes even in the face of the common cold.

On a personal level, some days before Christmas my attention was riveted by something Norman wrote in Yes I Am: "The endless problems and frustrations in life are seen to be the necessary negatives by which He, the Positive, can reveal Himself; and we enjoy the process with Him. We move right on to the simplicity and constant use of the "word of faith,"(my emphases). Our days together provided constant opportunities for faith. For a start, weather conditions seemed to put the whole venture in jeopardy-indeed Dublin airport was closed by snow the day after our guests had arrived. A word of faith was spoken when the heating system in Marian’s house crashed, leaving everyone staying there very cold on a freezing morning (17°F). God honoured that faith and by late afternoon the system was fixed and the house was warm once more.

It was great to have Jon Langley with us. Jon, who was working and living in Boone, N.C., travelled to England to join his family and from thence to Ireland. He brought with him gifts (scrumptious cheese straws and home-made cookies!) together with greetings from the fellowship in the U.S. This greeting for Christmas 2000–penned by Page Prewitt–encapsulates the wonder of the union life:

"Thinking of all of you as you like us celebrate His coming-Unbelievable!!! That God Himself-the creator of the universe-came to earth in human form to:

die for us!
join Himself to us!
and live for us

HALLELUJAH!!"