Too Sweet

Hey Friends!
It has been quite a busy last few days and I have been having such an amazing time.
My team won last week 1-0 and have another match Wednesday !
Also.. in training on Sunday I recieved an elbow to the face and chipped my bottom tooth and have a big fat lip... all in the love of soccer right?
I recieved my international clearance yesterday after they announced this week's roster, so I will be playing with the reserves on Thursday, which is SUPER exciting to start playing matches...below is me super excited (before the elbow in the face)...

The training here has been different but I am learning a lot and being challenged. My teammates here are very sweet and they have a great attitude about competition and team unity which is something we are focusing on as a squad. I also visited our home pitch this week and it is a beautiful turf stadium, probably one of the nicest in N.Ireland. It is a great atmosphere because the 4G pitch is both the Men and Women Crusaders home field.

My teammate Sarah, also works for the IFA (Irish Football Association) so I was priveledged to be able to help  her run an all girls school district soccer 7 aside tournament. School soccer here is how you get scouted for county excellence teams and national teams..  a little different than BC's school soccer system.

We started our bible study yesterday at Ros' house and are working through the Moldova pretrip studies. We had some very interesting discussion on the holy spirit and how reliance on the holy spirit can give comfort, empowerment, wisdom and direction. While this topic is huge it was good to scratch the surface.

I also kept in touch with a lady named Rosi who I met on my London flight and she took me sightseeing and to her farm to meet her horses and family. She was very sweet and generous in showing me her country taking me along the coast, seeing gigantic castles, taking me over on a ferry and to some of her relatives houses. I also saw Scottland in the distance !

Everything is wonderful here and I hope everyone reading this deciedes that this summer they stop putting off something they've always wanted to do and just do it.

LOVE
Natalie