Hillwalking and Hitchhiking in Ireland

 

Since we have more than enough adult help with the Holiday Bible Camp, half of the trip sponsors helped out at the HBC on Monday, while the other half took their turn on Tuesday.  So, with a free morning, Philip Morrison and I took the Dart down to the far southside of the city where we took a hill walk over Bray Head and down to Greystones.  The cross at the top of Bray Head is worth the hike alone, but when you add in the added beauty of the coast and the Wicklow Mountains, there's not a better way to spend a Tuesday morning, especially when the weather is as good as it was today.  A while back, the cliff walk between Bray and Greystones was closed due to erosion (parts of the hill crumbling into the sea isn't ideal).  So, we traversed the trail to the top and then tried to navigate our way down to Greystones using an alternative trail.  The alternative meant that we didn't wind up in Greystones, but some out of the way farm.  After exploring a potential road that would have gotten us to the village, but after a very long walk on a winding and dangerous road, we were blessed by an ecologist who had just finished up a survey on one of the nearby farms.  Hanna, from Sutton, offered us a lift into Greystones, provided we weren't a couple of crazies.  I told her we were Americans and though that definitely qualifies as "crazy", she gave us a lift anyway.  Philip and I enjoyed some local refreshments before catching the Dart back to the city centre.

After Philip left me to head back to the hotel, I continued north to Raheny where I met back up with the teens who had completed another fantastic day at the Holiday Bible Camp.  The numbers of kids who attended grew by 50% and we were all blessed with a special guest after our lunch of sandwiches and crisps.  Ronan and his fiancé, Arianna shared their faith testimony and a little bit about the ministry they are presently involved in.  Ronan, who grew up in the southeast of Ireland had a nominal faith in his youth and became an atheist as a teen.  However, through time he began to search for something more than the materialist/atheist story had to offer and after a long journey, became a Christian around the age of 30.  His fiancé, Arianna also came from a very secular background, but after being touched by God through Ronan and others, came to faith recently as well.  Arianna is a neuroscientist and Ronan is beginning a new work as a campus minister here in Ireland.  Our group was extremely encouraged by these two stories, and we look forward to hearing from my friend, Davood, who will share his unique Persian/European conversion story tomorrow.

Mid-afternoon, the group split into three, headed down to the city centre and explored, shopped, and ate before arriving here at the hotel.  We are about to have another devotional and reflectional session before bed, and we all hope to get to sleep early tonight, as tomorrow will be a long day - a long day, but we also pray, a very good one! - Shay