Bucket o' Photos from Ireland & Spain :)

Here are some pictures from our travels to Ireland, Spain, and the Island of Gibraltar during the mid-year staff conference in January. I promise to post some reflections and things I learned from the staff conference, which was amazing, and such a blessing to my life. But at least for today, I pray you will see these pictures, and experience the beauty of the Creator and worship Him for the beautiful things He has made. Then, I pray you can rejoice in the beauty you find where you are today!!! :)

Irish Countryside...
The coast off of Dun Laogheire.

More Irish coast off of Dun Laogheire.

A beautiful river in the countryside around Glendalough.

A 6th Century Monastery in the countryside around Glendalough.

Irish countryside.

If this picture seems blurry, it's because the rain was coming down sideways that day.

The Upper Lake at Glendalough.

A lovely waterfall on the walk to the Upper Lake in Glendalough.

The Upper Lake in Glendalough.

Dublin...

Trinity College-- founded in 1592 in Dublin by Elizabeth I.

The Campanile in Parliament Square at Trinity College.

The Ha'Penny (half-penny) Bridge, built in 1816 over the Liffey River in Dublin.

The Oliver St. John Gogarty-- a fun pub in Ireland where we saw an Irish band! :)

The Temple Bar-- so famous it has a district named after it

An Irish feast at O'Neill's!.... Y E S.

Jenny & I, enjoying dinner at O'Neill's

The Island of Gibraltar...

A prison/castle-thing on the island. See the British flag--- it's cause Gibraltar is a British territory!

Another sign of Britain: the famous red telephone booths! :)

old cannons signify that Gibraltar has played an integral part in several battles/wars.

The part of the Island you can see from the Great Siege Tunnels-- from the 1700s.

April and I being artsy using a puddle in the Great Siege Tunnels. :)

Look at this presh little mister! It's a Barbary Macaque. Even though they are a tailless species, they are also known locally as Barbary Apes or Rock Apes, despite the fact that they are monkeys (Macaca sylvanus).

April and I on the Rock of Gibraltar! :)

Ok, so I thought it was sweet that a little monkey jumped up on me...

Just look how much fun we're having!...

...Until I realized my little friend had left a little "mess" on my jacket... :(

There is nothing like getting cleaned off by an older gentleman named Hillary with W5-- The Gibraltar version of Windex. I seriously felt like I was in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the father says that Windex is the cure for everything. Ahhhh... what a day. :)

Maria, Dana (girls from a middle east STINT team), and April & I enjoy the lovely cave.

This is a cross-section of a stalagmite that became too heavy and fell; now it's on display to show the cool formation rings of how it developed! :)

Yay caves!

It was so fun to touch a wild animal!

If you look in the distance, you can see Morocco from across the ocean! It was so cool to get to see a new continent! :)

Nerja, Spain...

I couldn't help but take a picture of this lovely rooftop.

This is what the view from our room's window looked like in the afternoon, when the sun was high and it made the ocean glisten!

Everywhere I go and I see flowers in a garden, I always think of my mom! :)

Beautiful Nerja!

This is what we woke up to the 1st morning we were there--- a surprise gift from the Lord: A RAINBOW! :) How awesome!

The view from our room was incredible. I love the bright white buildings with their rusty red roofs against the brown sand and blue sky and ocean!!! :)

What an incredible sunset. :)

Prayer Requests

The missional team I am part of consists of: Steve & Alyssa Dueck, Sam Leopold, and myself. We met yesterday to pray and take note of what we want to be praying for as we continue in ministry here for the rest of the school year. Here are the requests we came up with and prayed over:

• That God would show us how to incorporate Scripture into our friendships and conversations
• That we would multiply our team with faithful disciples of Jesus
• That our friends would make radical decisions/changes in their lives for Christ
• That we'd have boldness with the Gospel, and that God would open doors for it to be proclaimed
• That January and February would blow us away! (Typically these months have the stereotype of being hard to connect with students, hard to do ministry, etc.)
• That initiating with others would be refreshing and fun
• That God would give us wisdom and discernment in our relationships and activities/events
• That we would continually minister to each other and have continued community within our missional team
• That each of us would fall more deeply in love with Christ as a result of serving Him in Rome

Thanks so much for joining me in prayer for me and my team!
Please feel free to email me if you have specific prayer requests; I'd love to stay connected with you through prayer!

Love, Ella :)

Buon Capodanno!

Buon Capodanno, everyone! (...that means Good New Year's). :)

I pray you're all well! We celebrated in Rome having a progressive dinner at some of our houses. We had appetizers at Amy & Beth Ann's apartment. Then everyone went to a church in Piazza Repubblica to hear an organ concert for free! It was really nice to sit in a church and hear a lovely organ played by an "organ master"!! :) Then, we came back to our house (the STINT girls apartment) for lasagna. I cooked it from scratch and it was the first time in my life I've ever done that! Woo weeee the adventures of cooking on STINT!... haha. :) Then, we went to the STINT guys' apartment for cookies and games. Then, around 11:50pm we went onto the terrace to see the excited Roman people set off fireworks from terraces all around the city! Jimmy even bought some fireworks for us so we could participate, too!!! So fun. :) Check out the pictures to see what happened on the terrace, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you back home!!!!!!!!!!! I pray this new year brings us all much joy and closer than ever in knowing God and experiencing His joy every day! :)

Beth Ann, Alyssa, April, and Kendra (a friend of Debbie's!) :) Ready to light their sparkers!

Debbie & Beth Ann :)

Sweet Kerry is PUMPED! Haha :)

Both Brian's (above & below) have some sweet firework tube things! Wooooo!

Alyssa and I :)

Abbey (April's sister!), April, & Amy, sparkling with their sparklers! :)

Sweet Kanda! :)

The firework canister on the left had a big lion's face on it and said "Monarch of the Forest"... Hahaha. :) You can see it below after it was done exploding! :)

Hope everyone had a beautiful New Year's. I can't wait to see what the Lord does in our lives in 2009 to grow and stretch us, as well as reveal Himself to us more and more! I pray it will be a blessed year for tutti! :)