Trip to Bray, and church in Greystones

Hey all,
We just got back from church a few hours ago and have spent the afternoon "sabbathing" for lack of a better term. Just wanted to give you an update of the first few days of 2009. On Friday, half of us took the bus to Bray, a small town about 5 miles north of Greystones. The other half of us went up to the church where they had been working previously and finished up the projects that needed work there. (Assembling re-painted benches, painting the front gate, cleaning, etc.) In Bray, we volunteered at a youth drop-in center located in an old abandoned warehouse. The center is called the Factory, and it is run by two young individuals, Rob and Lisa. We spent most of the day painting and trying to get the center ready for kids to start coming in, and instantly fell in love with Rob and Lisa. They were so appreciative and welcoming, that we decided to take the whole group back to Bray on Saturday, work, and then have a pizza and a movie party that night. Rob and Lisa had morning plans, so we decided to take the hour and a half walk to Bray along the coast and around Bray Head to the Factory. It was a beautiful hike that allowed us to see some of the most beautiful sites Ireland has to offer.
We spent the afternoon painting, painting, and then painting some more. Once we were finished, we set up a bunch of couches around a large piece of drywall to project the movie upon. We watched "Once," a movie based on an Irish singer, and enjoyed pizza as well. After the movie, we somehow started a spontaneous dance party.
Once we settled down, we shared a few of our stories at the Factory with the volunteers there, and then spent some time praying over the future of that unique ministry. After waiting nearly an hour for our bus, we finally made it home.

This morning we attended church at Hillside Evangelical Church, where half our group has been working part of the week. It was a great service and we thoroughly enjoyed the lunch some of the church moms prepared for us (soup and sandwiches, with of course, tea and coffee). Since then we have been relaxing and catching up on our napping. We can already sense the bittersweetness in leaving Greystones in two days, as we have made some dear friends with the locals here.

I hope all is well back in Colorado, and also with the Cuba team.
Stephen