Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry this is long in coming. As you can tell this newsletter is combining

the December and January editions. The last few weeks have been

busy, but so fun. The first few weeks of December were spent

celebrating Christmas with friends here and wrapping up things in the

café before going on break. I got to go home to Tulsa the week before

Christmas and enjoyed three weeks of celebrating and reconnecting

with family and friends. It was such a sweet time of being surrounded

by people that have known me for years and seeing how beautifully

God has woven together friendships in my life.

Leaving Tulsa was such an odd feeling. Tulsa was my home for 22 years

and is still so familiar and comfortable. Yet I come back to Galway and it

just feels right. During the bus ride from Dublin to Galway I am always

struck with an overwhelming sense of this is home. This is an amazing

confirmation, knowing I’m where God is calling me to be.

Last year you may have remembered my many pleas for God to send

more workers. Well he has answered that request beyond my

imagination. We have now added three more workers to our staff for a

total of 12 café worker. We are all a little stunned, but excited for the

chance to pursue many of the opportunities we felt God was leading us

into last fall. Please be praying for wisdom on how to use the man

power and talents God has brought together in our staff for his glory in

the next few months. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love,

Prayer Request:

Wisdom and freedom to pursue new avenues of sharing the gospel in the city of Galway.

Continued unity and team formation as we transition into a larger group and learn how to best work

together for God’s glory.

Continued connections with schools in the Galway area.

Laurel’s Life in Ireland December/January

With all the bowl games and the upcoming Superbowl, I thought it would be fun to give you an Irish perspective to American Football. I asked my friend and co-worker Eammon to write a bit about it

from his point of view.

“Let me start by saying I wouldn‟t have the typical Irish attitude towards American

Football. That attitude being that „the game takes too long‟ that „there seems to be a

commercial break every 30 seconds‟ and that „the players are sissy wearing all that

padding when rugby players don‟t wear any padding but take far more hits in a game.‟

I have to say that even though I usually like fast intense sports, like an Irish sport called

hurling or soccer or ice hockey, I do really like American football. I enjoy the whole

strategy of the game. I enjoy the fact that despite a team only needing to keep moving

the ball 10 yards further up the field in 4 plays that it can sometimes be a very

difficult thing to do, I enjoy the „cat and mouse‟ game that can go on between a QB

[quarterback] and a defender like Troy Polamalu from my beloved Pittsburg Steelers. I

also really enjoy playing Fantasy Football and seeing how my players do, and if I‟ve beaten

Laurel in it this week.

Irish and European attitudes towards American Football have changed in recent years

given the fact that we can watch 3 games over here every Sunday night live, plus

Monday Night Football, every playoff game and the Superbowl too. I think football

(soccer) will always be the king of sports over here in Europe but there is a relatively

huge number of people over here still who enjoy American Football like I do.”

Life in Galway

What does your accent say? That may seem like an odd question but not if you stop to think about it. When you listen to someone speaking for the first time you can learn a lot about them not just from the words they say, but the accent and word choices they use. Similar to the United States, different regions in Ireland have distinct accents. What is fascinating to me is the relative size of Ireland (similar to the size of West Virginia) doesn’t seem to lend itself to more than one Irish accent yet there are too many to count. Interestingly, the accents have stayed distinct even with the ease of traveling and communication between towns. The Irish have an amazing ear for accents too and can often tell what town a person is from after listen to someone for just a few sentences. I am blessed that the Galway accent is one of the milder and easiest to understand for a foreigner. The Dublin accent is often regarded as being harsher and a bit nasally. The Cork accent is a bit more sing-songish, while the Belfast accent is very melodious with lots and ups and downs. These are the most distinct accents I can now distinguish, but I still have much to learn for there are many counties between these major cities and each has its own flare with the county accents typically being thicker than the cities accents. It’s amazing to see such variety in such a small country, but it is a wonderful example of God’s love for diversity.

Evangelism on the Streets

Now that we have more people on staff, I have been able to go with the teams that do evangelism on

the streets twice a month on Saturdays. The last few times I have gone out, I have been struck by the

variety of answers we have received to the question of what faith means to different people. Yet

amongst the variety is the common thread of searching. I noticed this a lot with the kids that come to

the retreats too. Many of them say they would like to think the stories of a loving God are true,

but...this is where the variety comes in. Some people feel like there is no evidence for God in a world

where it seems like everything can be explained by science. Others want to just “enjoy” life and not

be under any “restrictions.” Others have questions they cannot seem to reconcile, “like why do bad

things happen to good people?”

Many of these people would say they were raised Catholic but it does not mean anything to them.

I found this to be an interesting transition from when I first arrived and most people in the same

position would just state that they were Catholic. Some people would see this as a discouraging

sign of the decline of religion in Europe, but personally I find it really encouraging. Before people were

content to exist in religious apathy, but when people recognize it does not mean anything it gives us

the opportunity to ask them, “What if it did?” We get to share what faith is Jesus means in our lives

and help lead others down the path of discovering what it could mean in their life. People must

recognize their need for Christ, before they can really accept Him.

It might seem like a peculiar thing to ask, but please pray for discontent; Discontent with the things in

life people try to use to replace God: drugs, alcohol, greed, consumerism, relationships, personal

appearance, prestige, power, etc. Discontent with mass/church and prayer not meaning anything

personally. Discontent with just existing. Please pray that as they become more discontent with these

things, they will find true contentment in Christ.

As we start retreats and school visits this year I would love to

have a team of people committed to praying for these things on a

weekly basis. I will send out a short email with prayer points and a brief overview of what went on

and how you can continue to pray. If you are interested in

committing to pray for us in this way please email me and I will add

you to the list!

LEAD03@gmail.com

Happy 1st Birthday Brooks

Other ways to keep in contact with me:

E-mail: LEAD03@gmail.com

Address: Laurel Dyson

c/o An Tobar Nua

25/27 Lower Dominick St.

Galway, Ireland

Want to learn

more about

An Tobar Nua?

Check out www.antobarnua.com

For more information about

Foundation in Christ Ministry,

visit their website:

www.foundationinchrist.org

If you would like to financially

contribute to FICM

a donation can be made on the

website or sent to:

Foundation In Christ Ministries

c/o Steadfast Financial Services, INC.

691 Cricklewood Terrace

Lake Mary, FL 32746

Thank you to all who have already

given so generously!

Ireland