Ireland Update 6

Day 16 - Thursday, June 13
Going to the kids' sports day was fun. I got to watch a couple of the girls in my Kids Club group win races, and we enjoyed just hanging out with the kids. Afterward, our team had a chance to wander around in Killyleagh for a while, and we could choose between going back to the cottages for a bit or just staying in town.

Another gal and I decided to walk to a park outside of the city to eat the lunches we had packed that morning, even though it was lightly raining off and on. It was a mile and a half out to the park, but the long walk gave us a good chance to talk. As we ate lunch at a picnic table, darker clouds loomed on the horizon - and then it started raining more heavily. Thankfully we both had our rain jackets, so we could stay pretty dry. We made it back into town fine :)

That afternoon, Kids Club had to be in a different location because there was a funeral at the building we normally held it in. Our theme for the day was thankfulness. It was my last time to teach the lesson, since Jonathan and I took turns switching off. The change in location created some challenges, because a bunch of the kids took advantage of it to take off running around the bigger room where two groups were both trying to hold classes. What's more, Jonathan and I had nearly 20 kids, instead of the dozen or so we had been averaging. Wally happened to come by, so he helped by giving the kids a bit of a talking to. But I kind of had to decide to just teach to the kids who were paying attention and kind of ignore the ones who were distracting themselves.

After a quick trip home for dinner, we returned to Killyleagh for Sports Camp. The rainy weather was still more on than off, so the guys ended up playing football outside, while the gals (mostly) played Frisbee in a small gym room. Part of the time though, a couple younger fellas and a couple of our team members were playing football in there, so we girls just sat around because we were tired of playing. We tried to talk some, just to get to know them better, but the room was kind of loud and they weren't super communicative. But it was still good.

Day 17 - Friday, June 14
Our last day of Kids Club focused on encouragement. In the morning, before we went to Killyleagh for the day, Jonathan and I wrote little notes to each of the kids in our team thanking them for coming to Kids Club. The lesson for the day came from a story that Tracy had adapted to fit. Jonathan read the story to the kids, and they listened amazingly well during that...although a few were still creating distractions. But then during Bible verse time they pretty much paid zero attention. It was pretty frustrating for me, because that was the last time our little team was together...and I really wish it could have felt more successful. But it was what it was.

Once all the three teams of kids gathered back in the main hall, the kids started going around asking all of the JBU team members to sign their shirts or name tags, or whatever they had. That's evidently a big deal to the kids, and it's been traditional here over the past couple of years JBU has been coming.

On Thursday and Friday, our team was also signing several New Testaments to give to kids who had shown a specific interest in receiving one. Four of those were for girls in my group, who had been asking me how they could buy a Bible. So I really hope that they will use the Scriptures to continue learning more about God and having a relationship with Him!

It certainly felt awfully bittersweet once we had an empty church after our last Kids Club. Our team walked (through some gently falling rain) to the same house where we had dinner the first Friday of Kids Club. Then we headed to the pitches for our last Sports Camp. By then it was raining pretty constantly - but we couldn't use the inside of the gym that time. A couple of our dedicated Frisbee players still showed up and asked to play - so we did, even though it was sometimes pouring rain and very windy. So it wasn't a very good game - but we made fools of ourselves together anyway...and got pretty soaked in the process.

Some of the Killyleagh Youth for Christ volunteers came back to the cottages with us for the evening, so it was fun to hang out with them! Wally and Josh also surprise attacked us with Nerf guns, which they had been planning for a while. It was a loud finale to our two weeks of work!

Day 18 - Saturday, June 15
I woke up early Saturday morning, so I went out to a little secret place I found for some much needed prayer/re-orienting time. I'm so glad God is willing to be so patient with me despite how easily I can get distracted and fall back into old habits....

We had originally planned to go to Belfast for shopping and touristy stuff on Saturday. But for a variety of reasons, including G8 demonstrations and rainy weather, we decided not to. Instead, we went to Downpatrick Cathedral, which is one of the four places which claims to be the burial site of St. Patrick. We had gone to see the grave earlier, but the church had been closed. The inside of the church was very beautiful :)

Something we had done the Saturday before that I forgot to mention was visiting Saul Church, the site of the first Christian church in Ireland, founded by St. Patrick.

Anyway, after we looked around the Downpatrick Cathedral for a while, we went and watched "Man of Steel" in the local theater with a couple of the Killyleagh YFC guys. It seemed a fitting way to continue celebrating finishing our superhero-themed Kids Club ;-) A big downside (that had nothing to do with the movie) was that I came down with a cold and started dealing with some pain at the same time.

That evening we went back to the cottages and enjoyed more relaxation time. We've been playing games a lot in the evenings too, which is fun.

Day 19 - Sunday, June 16
Sunday morning, we joined Wally for our last prayer meeting as a team. Then we split up into two groups again. Cary preached at the Presbyterian church, and the group who went to the Church of Ireland, including me, helped Wally teach the Bible class and spoke a bit during the church service. A couple of the girls from my Kids Club group were there, and it was fun to see them :)

After lunch we planned for the celebration service that would be that evening at the Presbyterian church as a final wrap up of our ministry time. Then we had the afternoon to rest and relax, which was really nice.

That evening the service went really well. Tracy said she thought it was the most kids she's seen come to the final service in the past three years they have been here. We had the kids sing some of our Kids Club songs and recite some of their verses. A couple of our team members also shared a bit about our experience the past couple of weeks, and some of the team re-presented the skit they had done during the school assembly on Wednesday. We also showed a slide show with some pictures of our work.

Afterward, the church provided a barbeque dinner, which gave a great opportunity to just hang out and play with the kids one last time. There was a lot more shirt signing, and quite a bit of picture taking. We were all really glad that a few of the football guys came - they evidently haven't come in the past. Loading up our team and driving away afterward was really sad. Several of us were close to tears or actually crying. Several of the kids gave us cards, wishing us "safe home" and asking us to come back again. It was really sweet!

Day 20 - Monday, June 17
In the morning, our team packed up our stuff for a short trip to the North Coast of N. Ireland. We stayed at a youth hostel at Whitepark Bay, which is on the Causeway Coast - a route well known in the country for its beauty. On our way there we stopped at Carrickfergus--a coastal town with a castle--for tea, and also at another coastal town where we had really fresh fish and chips.

We had dinner at a nice and yummy restaurant, but I was feeling rather sick-ish from the cold that has been going around our team. After we got back, we finally had a chance to walk down to "our" beach. One of the guys "went swimming" (really just running in and back out), and I went wading some - but the water was pretty cold! Several of us walked down the coast for a ways to an area that had a lot of rocky islands. We watched the sunset from there, and it was so very peaceful and beautiful!