Belfast Bulletin: Serving at Whitehouse Presbyterian Church

I know I keep saying that as every day goes by, the reality that Karl and I will be moving to Belfast next year sets in even more.  But as the events of today unfolded, that reality hit me in the face!  I checked my email this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Doug Baker titled, “Your YAV Placements for 2011-2012.”  The moment Karl and I had been waiting for had finally arrived….we were finding out where we would be serving for the duration of the next year. 

The moment we read the locations of our assignments, we Googled the addresses so that we could see a street view of the buildings we would soon be spending so much time at.  Technology of today is truly amazing!  From our apartment in Laramie, WY, we were able to start to picture ourselves in our daily life in Belfast.   

I will be serving at Whitehouse Presbyterian Church (www.whpci.org), which is situated between areas identified with Loyalist and Republican factions in North Belfast, and is involved in cross-community work within those areas.  One of my roles at the church will include youth ministry (including youth fellowship, leadership of boys/girls brigade groups and plenty of recreation).  I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with the youth of the community and church.  Being involved with youth ministry is something I am very passionate about, and I am very anxious to begin forming relationships within the Whitehouse youth community.  Just a side note….I love the fact that the youth groups are called brigades and that I will be able to be involved in recreation!

Whitehouse Presbyterian Church

As a volunteer at Whitehouse, I will also be involved in cross-community projects for older adults, assisting with worship and pastoral visiting.  These areas of my assignment are less familiar to me, so naturally I am a little nervous about putting myself in these roles.  I expect that there will be numerous times in which I find myself very uncomfortable, but God calls us to do new things and to push ourselves past what we “know.”   I ask that you pray for my ability to be open to God’s call for me in this situation, and for my capacity to love those whom I will be interacting with. 

With my placement at Whitehouse, there are also going to be opportunities for me to work with schools in the area.  I still do not know what kind of work that will include, but am excited to see what unfolds in that area of my service.   

There is still a lot of time and items to take care of before the departure to Northern Ireland, but soon enough I will be taking the bus ride to Whitehouse Presbyterian Church almost daily to engage in the service opportunities placed before me through God and the YAV program….I can’t wait!