We're Back!!

Greetings from back in Indiana.

We arrived back in Chicago on Friday afternoon and are in the midst of enjoying time with family and friends.

Our last couple weeks in Ireland were fantastic. We had a lot of goodbyes, some which were more difficult than others. We will certainly miss the people that we worked with and interacted among.

In the next week, we will be putting together a final letter to tell you more.

As far as our next move, we are planning to move to Chicago sometime in May, where I will be attending Trinity Seminary in the fall. We are excited to start yet another adventure!

Thank you all so much for keeping up with what we have been doing. We appreciate all of you so much.

Love,

Tyler and Erin

Beantown!

This past week, I had the privilege of going with our basketball team to Boston. The week really couldn't have gone much better. Our Freshman guys had been looking forward to it for many months and none of them returned disappointed. The guys played three games against small school opponents. We won one of those matches and the guys were able to interact with the opposing players after all of the matches.

We did a lot of fun activities as we saw the Basketball Hall of Fame, a Celtics game, and a minor league hockey game They also got a chance to meet a lot of faithful supporters of our ministry in the way of meals and activiities. The kids were blessed and so were the Sportslife supporters.

The trip brought me back to my days as a camp counselor as I was hosted in a house with five of the guys. We took over the basement. It was a great setup as we had foosball and air hockey going on constantly. For all but one of the guys, it was their first time in the USA, so it was fun to see their reactions to the many differences, such as large houses and yards, basements, shopping malls, and fast food. They loved the food, but by they end they were missing their fries with vinegar and curry sauce.

There were countless opportunities all week to interact with the guys and our relationships with them were deepened. They asked a lot of questions about God and Christianity and the hope is that several of these guys will start meeting with Dan for Bible study. There are definitely a few that are interested, which is great.

Erin survived the week apart well and was well taken care of by friends who were here visiting and who are apart of the Taylor group around the corner. This week we will both be working an Easter sports and arts camp with the kids up in Ballymun.

It's hard to believe there are only two week lefts for us here. It will be sad to leave, but exciting to get home in many ways as well.

Thanks again for all of your support and prayers.

Tyler and Erin

St. Paddy's Day

I hope everyone enjoyed their St. Patrick's Day on Saturday and represented the Irish well by wearing your green. We had a great time with the festivities here. Our first big thing was the parade. We were with Erin's dad and a number of students from the Taylor group over here. The parade was quite bizarre to say the least (monsters, sea creatures, and several American marching bands), but it was a very fun atmosphere nonetheless. Afterwards, we made our way to Croke Parks for the club finals for gaelic football and hurling, two very entertaining All-Irish sports. We ended the day with a nice meal at Vance's favorite Italian restaurant back in Greystones and even got to watch some of the NCAA Tourney. It was a great day!

The night before, we had a nice St. Paddy's Day party at youth group. It was a lot of fun and included contests to see who could most creatively act out famous Irish legends and who could create the best Irish dance. The students also enjoyed their Green milkshakes and Pin the Tail on the Donkey using cut-out body parts and a life size painting of St. Patrick himself. We had a number of our regular students bring friends, which is always great.

Next week, I will be traveling to Boston with Dan and our basketball team of Freshman students. While there, we will be playing matches against American opponents, promoting the ministry in an area where a large amount of our support originates, and just having a really fun time. Dan and I are really looking forward to the extended time with the guys. Please pray for safe travel, good interactions with the guys, and that they would all get along also.

Thanks and have a great week!

Tyler and Erin

Upward Basketball Ends With a Bang!

This past Sunday, we finished up our Upward basketball seasons with a fun and entertaining end of the season party. The afternoon started off with each of the eight teams getting to play their parents. This was quite the hoot as most of the adults had no idea how to play basketball. But what they lacked in skill they more than made up for in their competitiveness. Erin put her artistic skills to work as the official facepainter for the afternoon. After the games, we had pizza and pop, which was then followed by a short program. Each of us coaches were able to publicly praise our players in front of their parents, a basketball entertainer performed some amazing tricks, and a short presentation of the Gospel was given. It was a fine day and was enjoyed by parents and players alike.

It really was an amazing privilege for us to work with these basketball leagues. Youth sports in this rough neighborhood are a necessity to the growth and development of these kids. They need activities that keep them involved and working towards something bigger than themselves. I have definitely been impressed with how important these programs are and how cool it is to do it all with the backdrop of Christianity.

A few other notes this week:
- We had a All-Worship night at youth group last Friday and it was received well. This Friday, we will be having an outreach emphasis as we will be having a St. Patty's Day party.
- Erin's dad is back over on business for a week, starting today. We are looking forward to some time with him and will be taking in some of the many festivities surrounding St. Patrick's Day this Saturday.

With love,

Tyler and Erin

Yesterday was Erin's 23rd birthday! It was a fine day indeed. We celebrated by having tea and dessert at a nice hotel in Dubin (owned by members of U2), taking in an art exhibit, and watching a couple movies over Chinese food back at home. Thanks for the calls, emails, and cards. They were appreciated very much.

The Upward basketball leagues concluded their seasons on Sunday. The girls capped off a great season with another win while the guys couldn't quite get it going, but played extremely hard. This coming Sunday, the whole family is invited as we will have players vs. parents games and a pizza party, followed by a celebratory program. It should be a lot of fun as many of the parents have not touched a basketball before. Please pray for a great day with the families.

Erin continues to enjoy teaching. She really is building some good friendships with her fellow art teachers and enjoys the comaraderie that she has with them. Also, she is really enjoying teaching junior high aged students, which she hadn't done yet before the first of the year.

We are barely starting to see evidence of the baby now. The week before we return home will be when we have our first scan. Will it be a boy or a girl? We'll see!

Have a great week!

Tyler and Erin

A Timely Visit from Mom

Last week, Erin's mom and her friend came to visit. This was a nice treat for the both of us, especially for Erin. The three ladies took off for a few days to go to Kilkenny and Waterford. They had a great time relaxing and shopping. It doesn't sound like I missed much...just kidding! While they were here, we also paid a visit to a nearby monastery and spent some time in Dublin. The ladies also seized the opportunity to make red velvet cake and it was enjoyed by all.

Upward basketball is down to the final week of the season and our final practice was this evening. The guys were pretty wound up as usual, but nonetheless, I think they did pretty well during the devotional time in which we talked about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and how Jesus saved us from slavery to sin. The girls were adorable as usual and they enjoyed the players vs. coaches game that our team had. The players took us by a bucket.

Erin had another doctor's appointment yesterday and had to face the needles involved with blood tests. She took it like a champ. We will be having our first ultrasound just before we come home, so we are looking forward to that.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. We hope you are all doing well!

Tyler and Erin

Valentine's Fun

On Friday night, we had a successful Valentine's Day banquet for the youth group at St. Mark's. We had about 60 youth seated around tables in the sanctuary. One other youth group in town joined us for the event and much fun was had by all. Throughout the night, there were activities and games, including "Name that Romantic Movie" and "Speed-Chatting." One of the great attributes of the church over here is that churches really work together and it was evidenced on Friday. Please continue to pray for the youth, that they would develop real and personal relationship with God. Also, please pray that many of group's friends who came for the banquet would start attending the youth group on a regular basis.

As for Erin and I, we had a unique Valentine's Day ourselves as we traveled by city bus for two hours to find a Papa John's pizza joint. That was the romantic evening that Erin wanted and it was fantastic to have some good old American pizza. Yesterday, we also had a great time on North Bull Island just north of Dublin. The island is full of small dunes and wild grass. It was a gorgeous day for it, which we understand is quite the opposite of the weather back at home in the States.

Today, we have another round of Upward basketball games. Devotions with the guys' team went very well this week. We talked about trusting in God. The guys are a pretty rowdy bunch, so it was a blessing to really have there attention this week. Continue to pray for the kids that we are working with and also keep Dan (my boss) and Amy in your prayers as they are due to have a baby this week.

This morning, Erin and I greeted her mother at the airport, so this week should be a lot of fun with her and her friend around. It is always good to see family.

God bless you all in everything that this week holds.

With love,
Tyler and Erin