First few days in Ireland and Trumpets (click for more pics)

We arrived in Ireland a few days ago. The flight was only 6.5hrs from Charlotte, NC with Aer Lingus. Be aware of the luggage amount and weight limits for your carrier as an extra checked bag cost us $100 (vs $60 as shown on their website).

Currency exchange is available at Dublin airport plus there are ATMs everywhere to get cash. Be sure to let your card issuer know that you will be traveling so they don't block your card and check if they will charge you extra atm fees for cash withdrawals and if they charge foreign exchange fees. Our bank gives us a refund on cash withdrawals.  Prices are about the same as the US - so this means you should plan to spend a third more than if you were in the USA due to the exchange rate. 

We have been enjoying some rest and relaxation amongst Gaelic and some lovely weather. We kept the Feast of Trumpets with a small band of faithful brethren.

Very nice hotel we stayed in for the first couple of days and where

View from the hotel

Golf course at the hotel

Saggart Village

Local pub - we went in just to look but didn't stay - too smokey

Local restaurant - good food

Nice tree-lined walk back from village

Getting ready for services to begin

The full complement of the Irish family

The Odingos will have their first Feast this year.

PCG Then and Now

I was up early this morning and still thinking about the 23rd Anniversary of the PCG on December 7. I have been attending since 1993 so have seen a lot of the progress.  Here are some before and after pictures from the early 90s to now.

Our 13th Anniversary...our story

This week on December 5th was our 13th anniversary. Since I am English and Kenny is American, we often are asked how we met. So here is our story which I hope will also be encouraging to many who are single and see if you catch an interesting correlation in the story. 

Let's start way back in England in the WCG days. I attended in London at the Indian YMCA in Fitzroy Square (incidentally there were 200 of us). A friend in the congregation met a Canadian at a feast, they married and moved to Toronto and we kept in touch. Fast forward to 1993 when I visited my Aunt in Toronto and by that time my friends had joined the PCG. I was in Toronto for 3 weeks and a few days before I left for home, my friends and I had dinner. I asked them about the PCG and in a few weeks 1993 I was attending myself. 

For 5 years I lived in London and had 2 feasts in the US, 2 in England and the last one in Tobago. After returning from the feast in Tobago in 1998, my Canadian friends called me and mentioned that they had met a nice guy from New York and asked if he could call me. I said sure and I think he called me that same day. We got on well immediately and found we had a lot in common in our lives and personalities. We spoke on the phone for a few weeks before we met face to face and the rest is history!

Wonders of God's Creation - why migration?

I just watched "Wonders of God's Creation: Animal Kingdom" on Amazon Instant Video. Apart from providing inspiring insights into the complexity and ingenuity that God has put into living creatures, it also made me think about a repeated theme of the animal kingdom - migration. It seems that migration occurs in much of the fauna - birds, flying insects, fish, sea mammals - all have a cycle of migration, why is that? Why has God put that theme of migration throughout creation? Maybe it's to remind us humans, who are the ones observing this trend, that we too are on a journey. Each species is equipped with the necessary attributes that make traveling thousands of miles possible, sometimes without stopping such as in flying over oceans - another testament to that there had to be a creator!

In the video it shows how Atlantic Salmon exhibit great strength and perseverance as they migrate out to the Atlantic and then back to their home to lay eggs and then die. They have to survive predators all along the way and literally jump over obstacles (they can jump as high as 10 feet). The salmon have extremely sensitive sense of smell which guides them back to their home waters - apparently every body of water has it's particular essence (another fascinating fact of creation).

I don't have the answer to "why migration" but it's something interesting to ponder at night when sleep eludes one!

Lessons from our Shiba Inu

Our dog Petra is a Shiba Inu which is a Japanese breed known to be reserved and independent. Recently he has taken to coming into our room at night whereas he usually stays in his bed outside.  The other night when he came in, I woke up and while I was getting back to sleep I began to think about dogs and how they are a unique animal that seems to be have been created to be "man's best friend". I wondered about the characteristics of dogs and what they could teach us maybe about our relationship to God. Here are a few of my thoughts. Bear in mind that our dog is an inside pet and I'm not a dog expert by any means and this is the first dog that I have ever had so these are just my ideas. I'd love to hear what others think.

Dogs rely completely on their owner - unlike cats which roam outside freely and can catch their own food, a dog seems to me to be totally dependent on their owner for everything. They eat when we say, go out when we say etc. This is how we need to be with our Father, relying completely on Him for everything. 

They love to be close to their owner - eventhough my Shiba Inu is independent he still likes to be around either me or my husband. He'll sit in the same room but just isn't the type to need to be petted, as long he is in the vicinity of either of us he's content. If we      move to another room he'll follow. I know other dogs are very much more affectionate and need a lot of petting. We need to love to be close to God.

They love to eat what we eat - this may be bad training on our part! but our dog knows when we have some juicy beef bone or possible left overs and he will wait until he's certain that he's not getting any before he'll eat his own food. When I come in from shopping he looks eagerly at the bags to see if  I'll pull out any goodies for him. We are given so much spiritual food straight from the mind of our Father and we need to be eager to eat it.


They can be stubborn - As I mentioned, Shiba Inu's are by nature independent. Sometimes he will be lying down and I will call him and he'll just ignore me. I might have to call him three times and make my voice sharp for him to even look up! We need to not have this characteristic and be receptive and quick to respond to God's direction.

Dogs quickly bounce back from correction - whenever Petra does something naughty and gets told off or spanked he'll slink off by himself for a while. It won't be long though until he comes shyly back looking for a rub. That's how we need to be when we are corrected and realize that it's for our good and God never stops loving us.                        

They fast and seclude themselves when they need to recuperate - A few months ago Petra was attacked by a couple of pit bulls and had some fairly severe lacerations to his back, neck and leg. He was in pain and shook up. When we brought him home from the vet he spent the next two weeks barely eating, not wanting to interact with us and hiding in the bathroom or other quiet areas of the house. Exactly 14 days later he emerged back to his normal self. Sometimes we need to take time out to fast and reflect to get ourselves back to spiritual health.

What are some of the lessons you've observed from "man's best friend"?

                                     

FOT 2012 in Tampa Pictures

My feast pictures are online click here - I hope you enjoy our view of Tampa!

Why I love the LGD

The Last Great Day has a special place in my heart. When God was calling me, one of the questions that started to nag me before I knew the truth was about those who were apparently condemned because they had not accepted Christ eventhough they never had the opportunity to hear anything about him such as people in far flung places throughout all the ages. It just didn't seem fair.

Then I started reading the Plain Truth and understood about the Last Great Day and that this is not the only day of salvation. How glorious was that knowledge and now things made sense.  So every year on the LGD it takes me back to my calling and how wonderful it is to know that God's way is totally logical and full of love for all mankind.

Feast of Tabernacles 2012

Here we are on the Last Great Day, hard to believe it has arrived so soon and I'm only now getting around to posting something. We've had a wonderful feast at the new site in Tampa and I'll be doing a post giving a summary of this beautiful new site.

Wishing everyone a wonderful LGD, cheerful goodbyes and safe travels home.