dissident Republican IRA..car bomb...

3rd car bombing in april

here is some recent news... just incase your interested

BELFAST — Northern Ireland's first minister condemned Friday a car bomb outside a police station as an "evil and cowardly attack", as security forces warned of the highest threat here for 12 years.
The bomb exploded in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, at about 11:25 pm (2225 GMT) Thursday, said a spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, adding that two people, including an elderly woman, were slightly injured.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but security forces had warned hours earlier that dissident republicans now posed the biggest threat to security here since the Omagh bombing in 1998, which killed 29 people.
"This is an evil and cowardly attack by people who have nothing to offer but murder and mayhem," said First Minister Peter Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which shares power in the devolved administration here.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, from the republican Sinn Fein party, added that the attack -- which came just two weeks before Britain's general election on May 6 -- would not affect the peace process.
"Whoever carried this out offers nothing but hardship, division and pain. We cannot allow them to define our future. They will not break the will of the community," he said.
The police station was unoccupied when the blast went off -- the police had been on their way into town at the time -- and the alarm was raised by local firemen who heard a series of gunshots before spotting a suspicious vehicle.
It was the second bombing in Northern Ireland since the handover of sensitive policing and justice powers earlier this month from London to Belfast, a vital step on the long-troubled province's path to peace.
A bomb exploded near the headquarters of Britain's MI5 security agency in a Belfast suburb on April 12, just minutes after the powers were transferred.
Nobody was seriously injured in the attack, which was claimed by the dissident Republican IRA.
Thursday's attack was also the second attempt to detonate a car bomb outside the Newtownhamilton police station this month. The first, on April 13, was defused by the army.
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin deplored the latest bomb as a "reckless and senseless attack", saying: "Violence and coercion serve no purpose in modern Ireland other than to delay reconciliation."
The recent attacks, which included one on the Newry courthouse and one on the policing board headquarters in Belfast, have sent shudders through the security services on both sides of the Irish border.
"This is probably as severe a situation as we have seen since that Real IRA bombing campaign of 1997 going into 1998," a senior police source said Thursday, referring to the attacks that culminated in the Omagh bombing.
"It feels to us, just looking at it in every way, that this has picked up in terms of intensity and severity."
More than 3,500 people died in around three decades of civil strife in Northern Ireland between Catholics who wanted the province to become part of the Republic of Ireland and Protestants who wanted to stay within Britain.
The violence largely ended with the signing of the 1998 Good Friday peace accords, which paved the way for the current power-sharing administration between the Protestant DUP and the Catholic Sinn Fein parties.
The main paramilitary groups including the IRA have laid down their arms, but sporadic violence has continued to plague the province, including the killing of two British soldiers and a policeman last year.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hDb1aNuvcm0om545kMp6i4o1Q5kw

blessed are the meek

HEllo! so this week was local outreach week .. we did a ton of stuff so i will quickly sum it up.. we went door to door with letters saying how we appreciated the hosptiatily of the people here and if there is any gardenign we could do to let us know and we gave them chocolate and flowers.. we had some people really appreciate what we did and give us hugs and invite us in and others slamed doors in our faces or ripped up the letters and threw the chocolate at us.. we also went down town one day with just a bundle of flowers and sat on a bench or walked aroudn and when we saw someone we though could us a smile we went and blessed them with a flower and prayed for them. people were really thank ful and i only had 2 people reject my flowers so that was great. . i really enjoyed this..we went and picked up rubbish from streets and bushes and sidewalks.. it was great.. i enjoyed doing practical work to bless people. .. anwyays thats all i have for now.. thanks for keeping me in your prayers i just thought i would write a quick update.. miss you and love you all.
love brooke

so its april

the month of march seemed to drag on and on.. but now its finally april.. the weather started to get sunny and warm.. until recent that is.. we have had a week where it has done nothing but rain and wind.. and when i say rain i mean rain.. pouring early morning and all through the night.. we even had a bit of snow one day.. i wont talk about that to much because i know how dry it is back home and i dont want every one moving over here.. these past few weeks have been really good. we had our dts leader speak for a few days on reconcilliation and what that looks like in belfast and then we had a man named Alec who runs a design Dts speak on decipling the nations. this week a guy named Emanuell has been our speaker and we have had soem really good talks and ministry time. this next we is local out reach week, i am heading up to bambridge to learn about a radio station that ywam is connected with called shine fm.. we will be doing some radio training and hopefully actually doing a broadcast from out there which will reach all over north ireland. i get back from bambridge on next friday and after that i only have 2 weeks left in the beautiful damp country. i cant beleive how fast time has gone by... i am excited to come home though and be with my sister as she is getting married real soon and i have actually been accepted onto staff at gull lake again this summer.. i have been prayin for rain for you guys and will continue to pray that god sends the rain from here over to you guys. i love you all and cant wait to share my expierence here with you when i come home. till then..

god blesss

brooke