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!

One Month Closer!

It has been a little over a month since Karl and I found out that we are going to be moving to Northern Ireland for our year with the YAV program.  Since then, we have been slowly moving through all of the items that need to be completed before our departure.  The biggest item we have been working on is fundraising; we need to raise $16,000 for our service obligation.  As we have been sending out fundraising letters to all of our family, church family and friends, we have realized how truly blessed we are to have so many loving people whom we have formed great relationships with here on this earth!   We are so grateful to have such a multitude of people who we can count on for support through this upcoming year. 

Karl and I can’t wait to find out what our work placements are going to be for the upcoming year.  We still do not know which church or community center we will be working in, but our site coordinator, Doug Baker, is getting very close to lining out those details for us.  Before Doug could arrange our site placements, he asked Karl and me to decide whether or not we want to be placed in the same work sites.  We decided that we would be pushed further in our walk of faith if we branched out and served in separate places.  Therefore, we will be working in separate churches and community centers in order to form distinct relationships and face different experiences which we can share with each other.  However, we will have the opportunity to visit each other’s respective church once a month so that we can experience each other’s worship service.  Since we will not be able to worship together on a regular basis, we are planning on setting aside time weekly to share in quiet, home worship.

As we continue to prepare for our year of service, we are learning that new experiences are waiting for us.  These new experiences will hopefully challenge our faith and compel us to lean on God and each other in order to grow as Christ’s disciples.  We thank you all for your love and support, and ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers.

The Belfast Bulletin: A Year of Service and Love

As most of you know, Karl and I are gearing up for a year of mission service in Belfast, Northern Ireland through the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program.  This journey began for us in the fall of 2009 when Reverend Doug Baker visited our church to inform us of the many opportunities abound in the YAV program.  During that meeting, God opened our hearts to the idea of spending a year living in an intentional Christian community and experiencing/sharing God’s love through relationships.

Well here we are a year and half later, answering God’s call to serve.  There is so much to do to prepare for this experience:  paperwork, medical exams, background checks, paperwork, packing, applying for visas, fund raising, oh yeah and did I mention paperwork?!  But in all seriousness, the most important thing for us to do in this time leading up to moving to Northern Ireland is to prepare our hearts and minds for how God is going to be using us.  Right now, we do not know the specifics of our work assignments for the upcoming year, but we do know that we will be spending time serving in a local church and in community centers offering opportunities for youth. 

Over the course of the year, we are hoping to form meaningful relationships with members of the Belfast community and within our smaller YAV community.  God has such a capacity for love that we as humans cannot understand, but can try to emulate through our interactions with others.  During our year with the YAV program, Karl and I pray that we will see through God’s eyes, hear with His ears, feel with His hands and love with His heart. 

As we continue to prepare for this journey, we are inviting everyone to join us in this experience.  There are many ways that you can support us:

·         Pray for us and for the people whom we will live among and serve this year.

·         Follow our experiences through our newsletters and blogs.

·         Tell others about our plans and our blogs.

·         Support us financially by giving a tax-deductible contribution as a one-time gift or in installments over the course of our year of service.  You may give online at http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/yav/support-yavs/ (include our name in the comments section), or checks can be made out to PC(USA) and sent to the address below (include on the memo line of the check our name and ECO# E210109).

             PC(USA)

             Remittance Processing

             P.O. Box 643700

             Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700