Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Last Day of School

For the past five months, I have been spending most of my Tuesday mornings helping out in Room 7 of Whitehouse Primary School.  This is the classroom of a creative and thoughtful teacher, Mrs. McClurg, and 26 delightful P4 students.  Today was my last day helping out in the classroom, and it started out like most mornings.  I came into the class and did a few favors for Mrs. McClurg and then took some students into the hall to work on an art project until break time.  After break I took some other students out of the class to work on potion making - a great exercise for students to practice mixing colors and measuring volumes.  When we had made a complete mess of or work area and concocted some interesting looking potions it was time to clean up.  I sent the kids into the classroom ahead of me, while I finished cleaning the rest of the potions up.

I went back into the classroom, and the students got really quiet and looked as if they were going to burst with excitement.  Mrs. McClurg asked me to come up to the front of the class to receive a going away gift.  Two of the students came up and presented me with a book of Irish memories, made by the class, an Irish bodhran (drum) and a Celtic cross necklace.  Each student drew a picture of something for me to remember about Northern Ireland for the book of Irish memories.  There are pictures of the Giant's Causeway, Cavehill, an Ulster fry, fish and chips, the Belfast Marathon, Cadbury Dairy Milk, and more!  I couldn't believe the amount of hard work that they all put into the project, not to mention Mrs. McClurg's coordination of the project.  It was such a kind gesture to offer considering the small amount of time I actually spent in the class.  It goes to show that small things really do matter, and we should strive to make the most out of the opportunities we have to interact with new people. 





Pages from the book
I also prepared a small parting gift for the members of the class - it does not come close to measuring up to the gift they gave me!  I gave each student an envelope with my new address written on it, in hopes of getting some pen pals, and put some jelly beans and a note saying, "Thanks for 'bean' so kind and for welcoming me into the class!" into each envelope. 


I am so blessed to have gotten the chance to meet and work with Mrs. McClurg and her P4 class.  I might not have done anything real spectacular with the class, but I hope my interaction with them helped them to think about people and places outside of their own neighborhoods.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Mission in the Car Park of the Church

As I am writing this post from my comfy living room, the rain is drizzling down outside, scones are baking in the oven, and the Euro 2012 Republic of Ireland v. Spain football match is playing on the television (Spain is up 1-0 in the 25th minute).  Just another enjoyable evening in Belfast!

Before settling into my flat for the night, I was down at Whitehouse taking part in the church's weekly car boot sale.  During the summer months of the year, a team of about 15 volunteers run a car boot sale every Thursday evening.  At about 3:30 P.M. cars start arriving at the church and are directed into a parking space.  People then open up their boots (trunks) and set up stalls to sell anything from baked goods, used books and dvd's, clothing, and toys to their used kitchen sink (that is not a figure of speech)!  If the weather is nice, there can be up to 90 cars in the car park, but we have averaged about 50 cars per week this year. 

I say that I take part in the car boot sale because I don't do a whole lot to help out at the sale.  I usually spend my time walking around talking to various people in the car park - members of Whitehouse who are working the sale, people selling bric-a-brac out of their car boots, and members of the community shopping at all of the different stalls.  If I am not doing this, I am sitting with Anne and Betty at the church's prayer stall.  At some time during the evening I get my dinner from the kitchen volunteers inside the church.  During the sale, the church doors are open for people to come in and buy burgers, hot dogs, chips, crisps, sweets and of course tea and coffee.

The car boot sale is a valuable mission for Whitehouse for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it is a way for the church to be engaged in the community. I was speaking with a friend of mine at Whitehouse last night about churches making a difference in their community. He said a great way to gauge the church's involvement in the community is to answer the question, "If the church closed tomorrow, would anyone in the community, not members of the church, notice?" I can recall two specific instances, once at the grocery store and once at the bus stop, where I was asked what I was doing in Belfast. I told the people that I was volunteering at Whitehouse Presbyterian, and they responded with, "Is that the church that does the car boot sale?" This is proof of the church being engaged with the community in which it resides.

Another valuable aspect of the car boot sale is the different perception it gives to the church. Between the hours of 4:00 and 8:00 P.M., there is a constant flow of people moving in and out of the doors of the church. For a wide range of reasons, church can be a frightening place for people to enter, but during the car boot sale Whitehouse is a nonthreatening place where people can gather around a bit of grub and conversation. The barriers which keep people away on a Sunday morning disappear behind friendly banter and delicious smells of burgers and sausages. I would venture a guess that more people enter the church on a typical car boot Thursday evening than on a Sunday morning.

Lastly, the car boot sale is a great fundraiser for the church and local charities. Money is collected for the burgers, sausages and chips, for the cars setting up stalls and in charity buckets at the entrance to the car park.

Well, the rain has stopped, Spain is now up 4-0, and I have sampled a scone fresh from the oven. I think I will call it a night!
Kitchen crew serving up burgers




Bucket collection

Two of the men behind the madness



Thursday, June 7, 2012

Belfast Tour Guide

It has been a little while since I have updated my blog...May was the month full of visitors in Belfast.  I wrote my last post the morning my parents left, and since then we have hosted three other sets of visitors: Laramie UPC, James, Marcy & Kelly (Karl's brother, sister-in-law & friend of theirs), and Rob & Jenn (friends of ours).  Karl and I feel abundantly blessed that we have had so many people come visit us here.  After this month, I can quite confidently say that I am a trained tour guide of Belfast!  I don't want to bore everyone with all of the things we did with our visitors, but I will do a quick recap of the past 3-1/2 weeks:

Laramie UPC Visit:
Sarah playing with the garage at Tots & Co.
The group from Laramie was in Belfast for five days.  Over that time, Karl and I showed them our churches and the 174 Trust and tried to give them a taste of what we do on a weekly basis.  I was particularly excited with the time they got to spend at Whitehouse Presbyterian and with the people of my church.  On the Sunday they were here, the whole group took part in leading the morning service at Whitehouse.  It was almost dreamlike having people from Laramie speaking at my church in Belfast.  On Monday a few members of Whitehouse volunteered to drive the whole group to the North Coast, and on Wednesday the group helped out at Tots & Co.  Karl kept a more detailed account of their visit here - you can read his posts at www.handinthehand.blogspot.com. 

I am so, very thankful for our church family in Laramie and for the people of the church who came to visit us.  During their visit at Whitehouse Presbyterian, Rev. Liz talked to the group about how well I transitioned into the congregation of Whitehouse and the importance of my focus on building relationships.  She thanked the people from Laramie UPC for teaching me those values and for being a church which understands the importance of building relationships.  I would like to echo Liz in that - I am exceedingly fortunate to have been part of Laramie UPC, a church filled with people who care about me and about being in relation with all of God's people. 
Richard, Marcia & Elizabeth helping at the C'mon in Cafe
Patti at the 174 Trust Disabilities Club

James, Marcy & Kelly's Visit:
These guys were here for five days too, and they brought wonderful weather with them!  One day of their visit, they took a tour bus up the North Coast and came back with sunburns - not your typical Northern Ireland experience!  We had a great time taking in the typical tourist things in Belfast:  Belfast Castle, John Hewitt's for traditional music, Titanic Museum, Botanic Gardens, Ulster Museum, Victoria's Square, etc. 

Rob & Jenn's Visit:
Rob & Jenn at Whitehouse's Jubilee Tea Party
Rob & Jenn were here for a week, and we repeated a lot of the tourist attractions we went to the week before with James & Marcy.  One new thing we did with them though was going to Holywood to play 9 holes (Rob & Jenn played, Karl and I walked with them) at Holywood Golf Club, home of Rory McIlroy.  We took the train to Holywood and were planning on walking from the train station to the golf course.  We stopped at a local pub to ask for directions, and the pub owner thought we were crazy for wanting to walk there.  He told us to jump in his car, and he gave us a lift.  On the way to the course he drove us by Rory's old house and school.  Aside from the site seeing, we spent most of our time talking and playing cards with Rob & Jenn.  It was so good to see them and catch up on the things we have missed in Laramie this past year. 

Playing pinochle in our Dublin hotel


Posing in our golf attire
Jenn putting for eagle
We had a wonderful time having so many visitors in the month of May.  Not only was it nice to see family and friends after almost 10 months of being away, but it was energizing to see Belfast through newcomers eyes.  Many things that I have become accustomed to since being here were so different to our visitors.  They asked a lot of questions about the history and current political issues of Belfast and how the church and religion play a role.  This stretched me because I had to verbally articulate my thoughts and opinions, and it allowed me to reevaluate things I have learned over my time here. 

While it was wonderful to have visitors with us, I struggled to stay connected with my church and YAV family here in Belfast as much as I would have liked over the past month.  I have eight weeks left in Belfast and want to spend that time in the presence of those whom I will miss dearly when I return home.