A-town update

Hi friends!
I can't believe we'll be home with you all soon! We're praying for all of you, our friends and family. 

LATELY:
We're really loving life in the slow lane over her at the moment, with so much time to study the word and to spend time with amazing people. 

COMING HOME?!
After the surf camps we drove to a northern a town still owned by the Spanish, there we were able to get our visas renewed so that we don't have to leave by August 4th. (We look forward to being home of course but a month in Ireland before we start back to work would be expensive!) The drive was beautiful and we were so blessed to get to see so much of the country. 

We haven't booked flights home because we are looking into flying standby with sunway travel so that we can get direct flights. So we will probably be home Friday August 9th, 16th or 23rd!

RIGHT NOW:
Noel has has a throat infection all week so we've been housebound for the past 5 days. Rachel is fighting it well with just headaches & slight fever. So do pray :)
Also our bank cards were cancelled yesterday (apparently AIB have a new system and we're outdated!) so pray our one remaining credit card keeps
working!

Frisbee-ing at A-town beach. Ramadan creates lots of space on the beaches!

Our favourite 13 year old surf buddy in his rash guard that matches Noel's :)

Noel's colleagues from T came to visit at the weekend and we had ice-cream Tagine!! 12 scoops of deliciousness!

Orphanage surf camp :)

Surf camp

Last week we were blessed with being able to help at a surf camp run for children of an orphanage. It helped us to miss SU's Summer Swell camp less too!

We entertained between 15 and 30 kids each day with surf lessons, sports, games, songs and swimming. We also did a beach cleanup with encouraging results as other kids on the beach pitched in to help!

The children, who were ages 6-18, were incredibly well behaved and really enjoyed themselves. At least 75% of them are also now better surfers than Rachel who is still working on getting to her feet (practice practice!!).

God blessed us with a great house to stay in while we're here as well as great people, perfect weather and unforgettable memories. 

Like on all camps, team friendships were made fast and we loved spending the week living with 4 American guys who are working in various parts of the country. It was so great to get to know many new people and their stories and to share a short part of our journeys with each other. I never thought communal living could be so easy!

One of the most encouraging parts of this trip for us has been getting to know the people like us who are living in this town. We've been encouraged by their hearts and by hearing the incredible things our Father is doing here. 

We have decided to stay on for a few days to help with another surf camp and to spend time with people. We are feeling incredibly blessed by this time of freedom in our lives, full of opportunities and sunshine. 

We miss you all and look forward to getting home too :)

Noel leading morning games!

 

Getting ready for the water!

The Texan contingent... and a random guy with 4 legs

Beach clean-up time!!

4th July!!

The Friday party :)

 

Some of our awesome team

A sea slug!!

Kids on camp no.2

 

View from casa del volunteero's!

Summer update

Hi all

We've been Internet free lately so apologies for the silence. Lots of encouraging things have been happening for us to share with you though!

Firstly "A-town" has been a huge blessing. The C community there has welcomed us with open arms and made us feel part of the family. We've spent lots of time fellowship-ing with people, praying with them and chatting though things. Nollaig (Noel's "Arabic" name!) has taken the boys & men surfing lots and I've enjoyed doing a bible study with some of the ladies. Nollaig has survived driving in the city and we've been loving some added freedom of travel. We've been spending lots of time in prayer & Gods word ourselves too. What a great time!!

Secondly, Josephine came to visit! This was such an encouragement for us and makes it much easier to stay for another few weeks as we're not so homesick now :) We had an incredible week seeing the southern parts of the country's most beautiful spots and enjoying each others company. 

Thirdly we've travelled 6 hours north to help at a surf camp for kids from an orphanage run by some like minded people. It's been an amazing time and we'll fill you in soon!

We miss you all and promise to book flights home soon!

Our inspirational friends

Paradise valley

Birdwatching with our guide at The national park

Handcrafted rugs made my local women from used materials. Amazing. 

Things heating up as we drove north

Some of our surf camp team, more pics to come. 

Xx