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Getting a lift to the conference venue rather than a bus and two trains!  Welcoming the Irish Relay Workers and a reunion with a friend I hadn’t seen for a year.

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224

Buzzing.

Just spent the night speaking to teens about Daniel.  Great bunch, great dynamics, great drama, great God.  Loved it, loved it, loved it!  I got the chance to sing a couple of my songs and hear them beg for my myspace details (they’re only young – they don’t know any better, bless em!).  They totally LOVED acting out the stories, did it really well and seemed to grasp the actual application of it all.  I thought that working with students would have put me off teens, but nope!

Another whiff of recording opportunities…  Watch this (my) space!

I LOVE the blogosphere.  Its geeky, naval-gazingish (or nombrilleux pour ceux qui parlent francais) and downright time-consuming, but I LOVE it.  Tonight (when I should be wrapping and packing and sleeping), I read posts that made me laugh, cry and hope all over again.

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220

Seeing our Relay Workers begin to realise some of the skills they have gained this year, discovering how valuble they are in lots of areas of life.  Just getting the chance to hang out and have fun with them, too.

Cocktails in Maynooth after a head-clearing evening walk.

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219

Took the train down to Dublin this avo.  Its actually very relaxing even if it takes forever: reading, listening to my ipod… grrrrrreat.

Dinner with “collegues”  – who are so much more than just that – outside a restaurant in a surprisingly quiet waterside area of Dublin as the sun set.  Food was great too.

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201

The French IFES’ movement (and my excuse to come to France) started this afternoon and I was launched into French conversation and singing French praise which was cool.

However, the best conversation of the day started in French and ended up in English… 

I did a Bible College placement in Tours in 2005 and met Raphael and his wife at the church I was working with.  Back then, he was doing a little volunteer work with the GBU (French IFES/CUs) and I got to hang out a little with him at a CU meeting he was at.  So, because of his links, he was at the conference.  The moment of recognition and welcome was really cool – he’s so fun and generally one of the nicest people I’ve encountered.  But, anyway… we had a great conversation about life, discipleship, evangelism, France, God, faith… And he invited me to come lead worship at a conference in France in November!  It was just SUCH an encouraging and inspiring conversation.  Awesome.

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183

I am grateful for a couple of hours this afternoon – first one in good conversation with a friend from my home church who’s a student in Magee and then secondly a chance to read and think.  I find myself re-inspired and more ready for the last 5 weeks of term than I ever expected.

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179

I had forgotten how incredible e:con is – the excitement of passing on vision and seeing people get it, take it and prepare to run with it is so exciting!  I’m glad that a bunch of the students I work with  made it down.  I look forward to seeing them work together.

I was also grateful for a big double bed to sleep on rather than sofa cushions. Hurray for housemates that stay away a night here and there!

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178

Thursday – the kick off of our annual CU leaders’ training conference.  I was glad it was finally here and looked set to be much less complicated than anticipated.

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164

Being someone who often needs a sounding board when trying to think things out, I had the pleasure of being a sounding board this avo!  This particular verbal processor is great to hear from – she’s come a long way and is excited about going even further along the ‘journey’!  I’ve loved seeing her confidence and enjoyment of the gospel grow and look forward to seeing more!

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158

Not just saying this because soapbox did and I feel I have to reciprocate… but we DID have a great team meeting this morning!  Discussion, interaction, productivity all laced with a good dose of banter!  I suppose its the contrast of working alone a lot of the time; just being able to share with people in the same line of work is pretty refreshing and encouraging.

I picked up a 12 string guitar that I’m borrowing for a while.  Gonna go all alternative country… watch this (my)space!

Then I caught up over dinner and a movie with a friend.  Well, actually the movie bit didn’t work out but the thought was there!  She was in sparkling form and it was good to talk.

I got to see the centre of the why-not-smile-diy-disaster drama…! It looks good now!

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