The Simple Joys in Life

Yesterday was one of those days in which I realized just how great the simple things in life are.  I had a wonderful day, even though nothing extraordinary happened during it. 

My day started with Thursday luncheon club.  This is a lunch club for those over the age of fifty in the church and surrounding community.  The club starts at 10:30 with tea and coffee, then proceeds to some sort of entertainment or program until 12:30, when lunch is served.  The entertainment for yesterday's club was Karl Heimbuck himself.  Karl came to play the guitar and sing a number of old gospel and western tunes.  I had a blast singing along on some of the songs and having him at one of my normal weekly events.

After luncheon club, one of the other leaders for the Tremont mission trip took me on a shopping trip to some outlet stores a little ways out of Belfast.  Both he and I were in need of some new shoes, and I was having a hard time finding any in town that were reasonably priced, so he kindly took me to the outlets.  I was excited to find a pair of cute adidas trainers for only 23 pounds, but most of all was pleased to build on a friendship with this leader.  I get to spend a ton of time with people from Whitehouse in the church at the various activities and programs I help out with, but rarely have the opportunity to build on those relationships outside of the church in a social setting.

I came home from my shopping trip and made a batch of puppy chow for one of the other volunteers who is travelling to London and then started prepping Karl's and my living room for a painting job. 
          --side story here:  Karl helps out with a youth program called Urban Magnets in which he had hundreds of fliers to write "Thursday Nights" on.  As with most projects, Karl procrastinated, and the fliers sat on our coffee table for weeks!  I was getting quite annoyed with their presence in our living room, so as a practical joke Ellison, Zoe (two of the other volunteers) and I proceeded to cover an entire wall in our living room with them.  Not thinking, we used sello-tape to do so.  The next week, when the joke had run its course, I started removing the fliers, along with a lot of paint from the wall!  Needless to say Karl had the last laugh, which brings us back at yesterday and my painting job.

After getting a first coat of paint on the living room wall, it was time to go to Boys' Brigade for the evening.  I got to the church and went into the main hall where the boys kick around footballs until the start of BB.  As I walked through the doors of the hall, one of the boys ran up to me with his hand in the air, motioning for a high-five.  I gave him a high-five as he said, "Hey Kendra, last week's assembly was class!"   He was speaking of the assembly I did at Whitehouse Primary for the P5-P7 classes in which I talked about the life skills I learned from playing basketball.  During the assembly, I dribbled the ball through my legs and behind my back and spun the ball on my finger - nothing too extremely showy, but impressive for kids who mainly use their feet to control a ball.  This seemed to have impressed this boy, as he tried doing those things with his football after greeting me last night.  It felt pretty good to receive such a compliment from this boy, who up until last night I thought didn't remember my name or even paid attention to my presence at Boys' Brigade.

Spring is in the air

Spring is definitely in the air in Belfast.  The weather is warmer, and you can just feel a spring energy about the place.  With springtime comes a faster pace of activities in Whitehouse Presbyterian and Whitehouse Primary.  The Girls' and Boys' Brigades are busily working to prepare for their respective Display/Parents' Nights.  Both of the organizations are putting a lot of time and effort into planning programs to honor the work that the girls and boys have been doing this year.  Each group has a different flare that they are putting on their display:  the girls with a bit more classy and dance filled program, the boys with a comedy filled program (the more laughs the better). 

Making pizza with the Girls' Brigade

This is also an exciting time of year for SWAT (the youth group at Whitehouse).  Eight of the youth are preparing to go to Tremont, IL for a ten day mission trip around Easter.  They, and their leaders, have been working very hard to raise funds for the trip.  In the past month, I have had a great time attending various fundraisers - a disco night, pub quiz, Chinese buffet meal, and a movie premier of "We Bought a Zoo."  Of most recent activity with the group, a leader was added to the list of people going on the trip, and that leader is me!  That's right, I will be heading back to the states over Easter to take part in the mission trip.  The itinerary is filled with a number of activities which will strengthen the relationships in the group and allow the youth to see God at work in an entirely different context.  Those two aspects of the trip (building relationships and experiencing God in a different context) are at the core of my YAV year, so I am thrilled for the opportunity to share these experiences with people from Northern Ireland in the United States. 

I have also been spending an increased amount of time at Whitehouse Primary school in these past couple of weeks.  I am absolutely loving the time that I get to spend in the P4 classroom.  This week, the teacher asked me if I could prepare a lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr.  This was a challenge for me, as I have never planned lessons for that age of children.  But in the end, I put together a pretty fun lesson for the kids.  I started out by sharing about slaves in the United States and the progression to the abolition of slavery.  We then talked about Jim Crow Laws and segregation in schools and public areas.  I had the kids take part in a civil rights march, in which they made their own posters and marched around the classroom chanting "Jobs for all," "Equal treatment," and "Voting rights." 

Making Civil Rights Posters

Another new happening for me in the primary school was speaking at a school assembly on Friday.  The principal approached me on Monday and asked if I would be willing to talk at the P5-P7 morning assembly.  I wasn't sure about what I should speak about, and Karl told me (as he is quite experienced in doing assemblies here) that I should just tell them about who I am and the types of changes I have experienced since moving to Northern Ireland.  I started the assembly by talking about differences between the United States and Northern Ireland - driving on the other side of the road, the currency, and jargon like pants/trousers and chips/crisps.  I then moved on to talk about popular sports in the United States like American football, baseball and basketball.  As basketball is not a very popular sport here, I thought it would be fun to talk about it in more depth, so I shared about my experiences growing up playing the sport.  Through my involvement in the sport I learned many valuable life skills such as work ethic, the value of teamwork, making commitments and learning how to succeed humbly and bounce back from failure.  I went to a sporting shop before the assembly and bought a basketball so that I could bring it into the assembly and show some of the skills I learned through hard work and practice as a kid.  I was very happy to I receive some 'oohs' and 'aws' from the kids when I spun the ball on my finger and dribbled the ball through my legs and behind my back.

Well there is an update on life in North Belfast.  As always, thank you for reading and supporting Karl and me through this year.  Please continue to keep us, our work, and the communities that we are working amongst in your prayers. 

Mountain Top Experiences

In my last post, I mentioned that I led worship and shared the message during church two Sundays ago.  I followed the lectionary, so I spoke on the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-9).  I shared about mountain top experiences and how we all have (or will have) them during our lives.  A mountain top experience is one in which we feel so utterly close to God that we can seem Him and His glory in true clarity.  When we have mountain top experiences, it is easy to want to stay in them and never go back down the mountain.  But the reality is that we have to go back down the mountain.  However, we can take that feeling and the spiritual refueling from the mountain top experience with us and use it to serve and work alongside those people at the bottom of our mountain...I don't want to go on any further because I will spoil the video below!

Whitehouse Presbyterian Church is equipped with wonderful sound and video equipment, and they capture every service on video to share with members of the congregation who have a difficult time physically getting to church on a Sunday morning.  I uploaded video from the service, but had to cut out some parts for confidentiality reasons.  The video is in two parts: the first is the beginning portion of the service (including the children's address in which I accidentally used the word pants for trousers...oops!), and the second is my address.  I hope you enjoy! 

Busy, busy, busy

It has been quite some time since I have last sat down at the computer to write a blog post, and a lot has happened in the past few weeks.  Let's start with retreat.  Two weeks ago we all, the eight Belfast YAV's and Doug, went on a four day retreat to Donegal and Londonderry/Derry (nicknamed stroke city because the name of the town is quite controversial).  Retreats are a time for us to catch up on our R's - rest, relaxation, reflection, and refueling.  I didn't have the greatest start to retreat, as I woke up from a nap on the mini-bus with my left eye feeling conjunctivitis coming on.  By evening time, my eye had turned a nice red color and was threatening to swell shut!  However, Doug drove me into town Tuesday morning to see a doctor and get an antibiotic to help clear it up.  So, moving on from my conjunctivitis, we stayed three nights in a nice house situated on a lake just outside of the town of Donegal.  There was an eleven mile path which went around the entire lake and we spent Tuesday afternoon leisurely walking the path in one another's company.  On Wednesday, we woke and set off to climb Slieve League and take in beautiful views of the sea cliffs of the west coast of Ireland. 

Conjunctivitis - yuck!

At the top of Slieve League

Sea cliffs at Slieve League

On Thursday, we set off to head home to Belfast, but stopped in Londonderry on the way. Now I mentioned above that Derry is often called 'stroke city' because the name is in dispute - Derry is the preferred name for most Nationalists, while Londonderry is preferred by many Unionists. It was originally called Derry, but in 1613 the city was granted a Royal Charter by King James I, and 'London' was added as a prefix. During the period of 1613-1619 walls were built around the city to keep English and Scottish settlers out. Apart from the 17th century history of Derry, it is the location of the sad event in history called 'Bloody Sunday.' I will not go into too much detail about Bloody Sunday and would recommend you read a bit more about it on your own, but it took place on January 30, 1972. During a peaceful civil rights march, 12 unarmed protestors and bystanders were killed by soldiers of the British Army. As a result of the event, enrollment in the IRA in Derry skyrocketed and acts of violence became a common occurrence in the city.

After retreat, work at Whitehouse Presbyterian quickly resumed.  I delivered my first sermon on Sunday, February 19.  We had a service dedicated to the youth of the church, and Liz asked me to lead the service and give the address.  I have to say, I was quite nervous and stressed about planning a church service and writing a sermon.  When attending church, I do not think about all of the work that goes on behind the scenes of putting a service together - choosing and writing prayers, liturgy and hymns that follow the message of the service.  Needless to say, I felt quite relieved once I was finished planning the order of service, preparing a children's address and writing a sermon.  Now all I had to do was stand up in front of the church and do it!  I woke up on Sunday morning and prayed that God would guide me through the service and calm my nerves.  And He was there for me.  I made it through my first preaching experience!

The stress and worry was lifted from me after Sunday morning, and I started to look forward to Tuesday (February 21).  Collette and T.J. arrived that afternoon, making them our first family visitors for this year.  It has been such a blessing to have them here and to be able to show them where we have been living and what we have been up to this year.  We have had a wonderful time with them so far, and I am looking forward to the few days that we have left with their company.  Karl and I were away this weekend to Drumalis for an Alpha weekend.  As you know, I have been helping to lead an Alpha course at Whitehouse, and an important aspect of the course is a weekend away.  We spent the weekend worshiping and talking about the Holy Spirit - what it is, what it does and how we can let it move in our lives.  It was unfortunate that we were away while Collette and T.J. were here, but the Alpha weekend was an amazing worship experience, and they were able to get away to the north coast in our absence.

Back to School

I woke up early this morning, showered and got dressed, ate some breakfast and set off down the street to catch the bus to school.  Today was my first day to work in the P4 classroom at Whitehouse Primary School.  I have anxiously been waiting for an opportunity to volunteer in a school in Belfast in order to experience another aspect of the culture and to help further community outreach of Whitehouse Presbyterian church.

Schools in Northern Ireland are quite different than public schools in the United States.  The majority of schools in Belfast fall into one of three categories:  controlled (mostly Protestant), maintained (Catholic) or integrated.  Controlled schools were originally church schools and are now managed by the school's board of governors.  They are meant to be open to all faiths, including those of no faith, but are mostly attended by Protestants.  Today, Protestant churches maintain a link with schools through church representation on the school's board of governors.  Maintained schools are managed by the Catholic church and, according to my faithful friend Wikipedia, educate approximately half of the children in Northern Ireland.  Integrated schools are open to those of all faiths, but are not significantly attended because of the low proportion of integrated schools to segregated in the Northern Ireland school system.  It is rather disappointing that there are not more integrated schools in Northern Ireland.   A large majority of families live in segregated neighborhoods, send their children to segregated schools, and therefore kids grow up interacting with only Catholics or only Protestants until they finish Secondary school.  It's not that kids are learning to discriminate against Catholics or Protestants at their respective schools, they are not given the opportunity to interact with one another.  Out of this lack of interaction, there becomes a fear of the unknown.  Therefore, I think that integrated schools can play a pertinent role in reconciliation efforts.

Another bit of useful information about the schooling system in Northern Ireland is the school years.  Children start attending Primary school at age 4-5 and are in Primary 1 (P1).   Primary school goes from P1 to P7 (age 10-11) from which kids move on to Secondary school.  During their P7 year, students take transfer exams, and the results determine which Secondary or grammar school they will attend.  For the first three years in Secondary school (Year 8-10), students study a wide range of subjects which include geography, English, mathematics, science, physical education, music and modern languages.  During Year 11 and 12 students select which subjects to continue to study for General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations.  Based on their GCSE scores, students may choose to be finished with required school or to continue with two years of Advanced Level subjects (called Lower and Upper Sixth). 

Whitehouse Primary School after the fire

Whitehouse Primary School is a controlled school represented by the Church of Ireland.  Like Whitehouse Presbyterian, it was the victim of a fire but has been able to bounce back tremendously and stronger as a result.  The school was burned down in July 2009, and was rebuilt and reopened in September 2011 with a new slogan, "Whitehouse Primary School - Learning to Live."  The new facility is spectacular, designed very efficently for use of space and energy (using natural lighting and automated thermostats and lights).  The walls are creatively covered with displays of student work, and there is such a fun buzz in the building - you would never guess that it has only been in use for five months.

The new Whitehouse Primary School

I was welcomed into Mrs. McClurgh and Ms. Burn's P4 classroom at 9:00 this morning with a class full of smiling faces.   Immediately, two girls in the class volunteered to give me a tour of the school.  Next, I assisted kids on the computer in making covers for 'Target Books.'  I didn't get a full explanation of what the Target Books were, but to my understanding the books are to help the kids keep track of their reading targets.  Each student was asked to put two or three pictures of things they were interested in on their cover.   I enjoyed getting to help them with this because it gave me a chance to start learning the students' names and interests.  At half ten (10:30) the kids went out to the playground for a break (not called recess here).  During the kids' playground break, the teachers go to the staff lounge for tea, coffee, scones and pancakes.  I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and a fruit scone.  After break, we returned to the classroom, and I assisted some of the kids in making a poster for their reading.  The class is reading "The Twits" by Roald Dahl and are making character posters.  I worked with three of the students to draw bubble letters reading "Mr. Twit" to put on the top of his poster.  We then thought of words to write around Mr. Twit describing his personality and looks.  They used words like hairy, disgusting, horrid, stinky, etc.  This activity brought me to the end of my time at the school this morning.  I left the school at noon, very happy to have had the opportunity to interact with the kids and teachers.  I can't wait to go back and expand on the relationships and classroom interactions I started today.

Come, work with us and weave us into one

In Belfast, this is The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  Most churches acknowledg this by holding ecumenical worship services and/or giving a message related to Christian unity. 

On Tuesday, Zoe and I attended an ecumenical service at St. Anne's Cathedral.  The service was very traditional:  Bishops, Reverends and Fathers dressed in their finest robes, the St. Stephen's boys choir opening the service with a processional hymn, and numerous litanies between the message and hymns. 

However, one item in the service really touched me that night.  We sang a hymn, which I was unfamiliar with and did not know the tune of.  Most hymnals here do not have the music printed, so I was struggling to sing along.  Instead of trying to pick up on the tune and sing quietly so no one around me would hear my mistakes, I took the time to just listen and focus on the words of the song:

Spirit of love, you move within creation
Drawing the threads to colour and design:
Life into life, you knit our true salvation,
Come, work with us,
And weave us into one.

Though we have frayed the fabric of your making,
Tearing away from all that you intend,
Yet, to be whole, humanity is aching,
Come, work with us,
And weave us into one.

Great loom of God, where history is woven,
You are the frame that holds us to the truth,
Christ is the theme, the pattern you have given,
Come, work with us,
And weave us into one.

The words resonated within me as we finished the hymn.  The focus of this year is building relationships and breaking down barriers that divide people.  This hymn helped me to remember that it is the spirit of God that will help us to be one, and that He will work with us and weave us into one.

Starting a New Year

Almost an entire month has passed since I last blogged!  Sorry folks.  I could say that I have been too busy, but the reality is that I just didn't think I had anything worth writing a post on.  That is until we had Tyler come visit us this past week.  I was talking with him about the importance of keeping this blog and how I like to try and balance my writing between basic updates about what I am doing on a day to day basis and deeper reflections on my experiences.  He helped me to realize that as important it is for my followers to read about my spiritual journey and my contemplations of this year of service, it is just as important for me to write about the ordinary things that I am involved in day in and day out.

With that said, here is an update on what has been going on during that past month:

Karl and I travelled to Dublin for 4 days around New Year's Eve.  It was so nice to be able to get away and spend some quality time in each others' presence.  Our schedules here are quite hectic, and we rarely get a chance to spend a whole day together without having to worry about where one of has to go in a couple of hours or what one of us has to get completed before the day's end.  We spent our time in Dublin walking the city and visiting various art galleries, museums, photography exhibits and libraries - if there was a free attraction, we were there!



Dublin Castle Grounds

St. Stephen's Green in Dublin

After our trip to Dublin, we had a few quiet days in Belfast to rest and get refreshed for going back to work at our placements.  On my first day back to Whitehouse after the new year, Liz and I met to talk about how things are going and what areas of my work, those that interest and challenge me the most, I might want to put more time and focus on.  With the start of the new year, I am going to be taking on more responsibility with the youth group, am acting as a leader in the Alpha Course, and am going to get to work in a primary school once a week in order to expand on the community aspect of my volunteer work.  The Alpha Course is a very popular course in the UK which is aimed at helping people, both believers and non-believers, to explore Christianity and learn the basics of the Christian faith through questioning.  You can read more about it here: http://uk-england.alpha.org/alpha/about-alpha.  As far as my involvement in the school, I have only had a preliminary meeting with a teacher at Whitehouse Primary School, but will start working in the classroom next week (stay tuned for more to come).

Some other undertakings of the past month worth mentioning are the start of leading a Boys' Brigade cooking badge, the visit of our friend Tyler, starting to train for my first marathon, and last, but not least, baking a new type of scones (you know how much I love to bake).  I'll start off by telling about the new type of scones I baked; I know you can't wait to read about that:  blueberry, white chocolate. Enough said. 

Each week in Boys' Brigade, the boys split into groups for badge work.  We started new badge classes in the new year, and I am working with another leader, Julian, doing a cooking badge class.  Last week we made French toast with the boys, and we are going to do pizza tonight.  We haven't set the menu for the rest of the weeks, but I am looking forward to teaching the boys some new recipes. 

Londonderry

Last Wednesday, Tyler arrived for a visit and stayed with us for just over a week. It was so nice to have a visitor and to share with him our new home, our work, and the new community that we are a part of. Over his visit, we had a blast showing him around Belfast, travelling to Londonderry for a day, introducing him to all things Northern Irish (food, slang, clothing...), and giving him a taste of our YAV community.



Peace Bridge in Londonderry

Lastly, with the start of this week, I have begun a training program for running my first marathon on May 7.  Karl is probably going to be running the marathon too, but as you are familiar with our personalities (me being more Type A and Karl being more Type B) he has not started training yet, while I have a 16 week program typed out in Excel.

So there you have it, that is what has been happening over the past month in Belfast.  Happy New Year, and as I can't say it enough, thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting Karl and I through this year.