just a few pictures from our afternoon art club on tuesdays.
27 February, 2008
25 February, 2008
NBA, broken windows, Rocky, UNC bball...
well, it's monday night and we are about to start a new week after enjoying a nice day to rest today. this past week had all of our typical, weekly programs, as well as a few noteworthy events:
the tuesday after school club for the guys had a record-high 7 guys! this is especially encouraging and noteworthy, because the last week had only 1, and the week before, only 2. so praise the Lord for brining those guys out and hearing the Word while having fun hanging out. Pray that they, and maybe some more guys, will show up tomorrow again for the same club.
erin explained in her last blog that we had a really cool opportunity to talk to one of our friends, Michael, on Thursday night after youth club. He invited John and me to go riding around town with him and his cousin, which was a good time, hung out in our house for a while, and then went on a long walk with me and John. During this 1-2 hour timeframe in which we walked around all of the estates at least 4-5 times, we were able to answer a lot of his questions about the Lord. Michael is a really cool guy and has always been one of our close friends here, helping us out when we needed it, whether it was giving us a massive, extra TV he had, offering to beat up other people to protect us, or just inviting us to hang out with him and his friends. However, he doesn't know the Lord, and has made it very clear in the past that he has no interest whatsoever in wanting to ever know the Lord. Yet, we found ourselves on this night, talking for hours about the deepest questions and longings of his soul, and how Jesus can answer those. while he made no decision that night, he now knows the truth and will hopefully ask more questions in the future. pray that the Lord would allow us to have good opportunities to just hang out with michael and grow our relationship with him, and provide the chance for more good talks, and then that he would accept the Lord's call to him.
our friends Luke, Steen, Connor, and Tully have continued to drop by our house regularly and it has become somewhat routine to discuss spiritual matters with them now, so pray that this will continue to happen, but that they will begin to move past this stage and desire more of Christ, forsaking their sin and current ways of life. I also had a chance to go to Steen's house this week and spend time playing his favorite NBA game with him and see all of his NBA apparel he got when he was in the states (Steen is unique for this area, in that he is one of the few who like basketball, and he is obsessed with the NBA). this meant a lot to him and was a really cool opportunity to deepen that relationship, and even get some time to talk with his mom, brother, and grandfather.
sunday was an interesting day. during the bus runs for hillside in the morning, when we collect the kids from all over the estate and bring them to the church, some kids threw rocks at the bus and busted the window in. the bus driver was livid and proceeded to inform me that we (yes, thats right, me and him) were going to track and chase these boys down. so after a long hunt/chase through the alleys and streets of Dunclug, we caught the 3 boys and cornered them until the police came. they officially arrested the 3 boys, but since they were all 13, they took them home to their parents. one of them is named Redroof, the local arsonist and biggest troublemaker in the area, who is not unaccustomed to regular run-ins with the police. we are praying that he will not be mad at me and hold a grudge by getting trying to reciprocate somehow. i also have to go to the police station this week sometime to make a statement. oh well.
on a better note, that night we took the youth from Ballyloughan church to a special service at another local church. there was a band and a speaker and it was encouraging to all of us. after the service we talked to the speaker because we realized that he was American. It turns out that he is from Atlanta, GA and actually went to Samford University many years before us! he is living in Portstewart, northern ireland now with his wife and kids and is on staff at a church there. that super encouraging and cool to us and a reminder that God is Sovereign and has his people everywhere.
last, but certainly not least, Steen lent me the whole Rocky series since i had never seen any of them. so this weekend, i have been making my way through them and tonight the four of us spent family time reliving the cold war via boxing and outrageous acting in Rocky 4. i must say, i don't know how i have made it thus far without seeing these movies....
well, thats all i've got, i'm sure that i've bored you at some or every point, but if anyone is still reading, we love you tons and truly envy your prayers and encouragement. and oh ya, watching live updates of carolina basketball is not the same as watching it live or on TV, but it's certainly better than nothing. Go Tarheels!
until next time,
dwight and fam
the tuesday after school club for the guys had a record-high 7 guys! this is especially encouraging and noteworthy, because the last week had only 1, and the week before, only 2. so praise the Lord for brining those guys out and hearing the Word while having fun hanging out. Pray that they, and maybe some more guys, will show up tomorrow again for the same club.
erin explained in her last blog that we had a really cool opportunity to talk to one of our friends, Michael, on Thursday night after youth club. He invited John and me to go riding around town with him and his cousin, which was a good time, hung out in our house for a while, and then went on a long walk with me and John. During this 1-2 hour timeframe in which we walked around all of the estates at least 4-5 times, we were able to answer a lot of his questions about the Lord. Michael is a really cool guy and has always been one of our close friends here, helping us out when we needed it, whether it was giving us a massive, extra TV he had, offering to beat up other people to protect us, or just inviting us to hang out with him and his friends. However, he doesn't know the Lord, and has made it very clear in the past that he has no interest whatsoever in wanting to ever know the Lord. Yet, we found ourselves on this night, talking for hours about the deepest questions and longings of his soul, and how Jesus can answer those. while he made no decision that night, he now knows the truth and will hopefully ask more questions in the future. pray that the Lord would allow us to have good opportunities to just hang out with michael and grow our relationship with him, and provide the chance for more good talks, and then that he would accept the Lord's call to him.
our friends Luke, Steen, Connor, and Tully have continued to drop by our house regularly and it has become somewhat routine to discuss spiritual matters with them now, so pray that this will continue to happen, but that they will begin to move past this stage and desire more of Christ, forsaking their sin and current ways of life. I also had a chance to go to Steen's house this week and spend time playing his favorite NBA game with him and see all of his NBA apparel he got when he was in the states (Steen is unique for this area, in that he is one of the few who like basketball, and he is obsessed with the NBA). this meant a lot to him and was a really cool opportunity to deepen that relationship, and even get some time to talk with his mom, brother, and grandfather.
sunday was an interesting day. during the bus runs for hillside in the morning, when we collect the kids from all over the estate and bring them to the church, some kids threw rocks at the bus and busted the window in. the bus driver was livid and proceeded to inform me that we (yes, thats right, me and him) were going to track and chase these boys down. so after a long hunt/chase through the alleys and streets of Dunclug, we caught the 3 boys and cornered them until the police came. they officially arrested the 3 boys, but since they were all 13, they took them home to their parents. one of them is named Redroof, the local arsonist and biggest troublemaker in the area, who is not unaccustomed to regular run-ins with the police. we are praying that he will not be mad at me and hold a grudge by getting trying to reciprocate somehow. i also have to go to the police station this week sometime to make a statement. oh well.
on a better note, that night we took the youth from Ballyloughan church to a special service at another local church. there was a band and a speaker and it was encouraging to all of us. after the service we talked to the speaker because we realized that he was American. It turns out that he is from Atlanta, GA and actually went to Samford University many years before us! he is living in Portstewart, northern ireland now with his wife and kids and is on staff at a church there. that super encouraging and cool to us and a reminder that God is Sovereign and has his people everywhere.
last, but certainly not least, Steen lent me the whole Rocky series since i had never seen any of them. so this weekend, i have been making my way through them and tonight the four of us spent family time reliving the cold war via boxing and outrageous acting in Rocky 4. i must say, i don't know how i have made it thus far without seeing these movies....
well, thats all i've got, i'm sure that i've bored you at some or every point, but if anyone is still reading, we love you tons and truly envy your prayers and encouragement. and oh ya, watching live updates of carolina basketball is not the same as watching it live or on TV, but it's certainly better than nothing. Go Tarheels!
until next time,
dwight and fam
22 February, 2008
quick update and prayer requests
1. our tuesday art club with the girls is now in full swing. so far we've talked about how we are made in the image of God and let the girls create whatever they wanted, the next week we talked about God's love and how we should love others and made valentines, and last week we talked about friendship and the girls wrote pen-pal letters to the girls that my mom works with at her church back home. we have a group of 6 girls and are having so much fun getting to know them! pray for us as we are planing the weeks to come and pray for the girls as they are hearing about the Lord.
2. last night we had 35-40 kids come to the thursday night youth club, which is about 15 more kids then usual. Michael, one of our friends here, came back home with us to hang out after the club. the guys went walking around with him and they had a really good conversation about God (i'm sure dwight will update more on this later). Pray for Michael and for more opportunities to hang out and talk with him.
3. we are continuing our group time with some of the Ballyloughan youth this sunday night. we met with them two weeks ago to talk about what they wanted to discuss. we've decided, for at least the first few weeks, to talk about how to grow in your Christian walk. pray that we will be able to develop trust with these kids so that we can have an open, truthful, and encouraging time together.
4. on the alternating sundays, we've planned to have a bible study/open discussion and question time at Ballyloughan with the kids from the estate. we're still in the process of evaluating whether or not this is the best time or place to have this group of kids meet. pray for God to give us wisdom in this, and pray that He will send the kids that He wants to be there.
also, pray for Anna, Danielle, Katie, Amy, Toni, Chelsea and Jade. these are some of the girls that Elizabeth and I have gotten close to and hang out with on a regular basis, and the Lord has laid them on our hearts.
thank you for being so faithful to pray for us!
2. last night we had 35-40 kids come to the thursday night youth club, which is about 15 more kids then usual. Michael, one of our friends here, came back home with us to hang out after the club. the guys went walking around with him and they had a really good conversation about God (i'm sure dwight will update more on this later). Pray for Michael and for more opportunities to hang out and talk with him.
3. we are continuing our group time with some of the Ballyloughan youth this sunday night. we met with them two weeks ago to talk about what they wanted to discuss. we've decided, for at least the first few weeks, to talk about how to grow in your Christian walk. pray that we will be able to develop trust with these kids so that we can have an open, truthful, and encouraging time together.
4. on the alternating sundays, we've planned to have a bible study/open discussion and question time at Ballyloughan with the kids from the estate. we're still in the process of evaluating whether or not this is the best time or place to have this group of kids meet. pray for God to give us wisdom in this, and pray that He will send the kids that He wants to be there.
also, pray for Anna, Danielle, Katie, Amy, Toni, Chelsea and Jade. these are some of the girls that Elizabeth and I have gotten close to and hang out with on a regular basis, and the Lord has laid them on our hearts.
thank you for being so faithful to pray for us!
18 February, 2008
Captions
For some reason, I wasn't able to explain the pictures in the last post, so here you go...
1. Our new home!
34 Dunvale
Ballymena
BT43 6NX
2. Hillside Community Church - one of the local churches we are working with
3. Dunvale - the estate we live in
4. A traditional Irish Fry - a typical fry includes an egg, bacon, sausage, soda bread, potato bread, and black pudding. Erin and I found a cafe that lets you create your own fry by choosing five pieces from a list. We have gone to breakfast with our friends Anna and Danielle a couple times and enjoyed this cultural experience.
5. This is the main street in Dunvale - the end house in where our friends Bridgene and Paul live. It is by far the most cozy house in the community. They are incredible generous and have opened their home to us more times than we can count. Bridgene has had us for dinners that deserve a blog post of their own. On Saturday night, we watched Manchester United beat Arsenal 4-0!
15 February, 2008
After the snow...
...came a week of incredible weather, which was much appreciated. It warmed up for a few days and we had actual sunshine!
We are still settling into our new schedule and are enjoying our new programs so far. Last fall, our friend Hannah (her dad is the pastor of the church from Nashville that comes every summer) lived next door for a few months and started an afternoon dance program for girls in the community. Due to our lack of dance skills, Erin and I decided to turn it into an afternoon art club. The first week we had five girls and let them loose with various craft supplies left over from the UCF team last summer. The results were quite impressive. This week we made Valentines Day cards and watched as two girls made cards for the same boy. At the end one of the girls changed the name, so all is well is the world of 10 year old romance. We meet on Tuesday afternoons for a little more than an hour. We have a short Bible study, a snack, and an art project. We have talked about being created in God's image and love so far. Any ideas are very welcome. We are also planning to have a night near the end of our time here where the girls can display their artwork and invite their parents.
We made our weekly visit to Ballykeel this week and met a bunny rabbit named Pepper. Please pray for our relationships in Ballykeel. Our time there each week is very limited and usually show up as the kids are getting in from school and going straight to dinner. The days are getting longer, but we still only have a little bit of time.
Several years ago, UCF went to Doury Road, another estate near Dunclug, for the first time. We went around knocking on doors trying to meet people. The first door I knocked on was opened by a man named Barry who informed me he was a Christian and had been to New York. He then took me around and introduced me to kids and families in the area. He even brought a kid who had been away to our program the following week in another area. I have seen him a few times since I've been here this time and found out he lives in Dunclug now. Dwight and I ran into him last week and got to spend some time talking to him. We both walked away very encouraged. The few minutes spent with Barry were like a breath of fresh air. He is a youth worker and is running a fitness program for the teenage boys in the area. Two of his nephews are good friends of ours and we live next door to his sister. He has a heart for the youth in this area and spoke about his faith with a sense of maturity that we have not often seen here.
Sorry we have taken so long to update, but in our defense, we just got internet. Hopefully, we will be better about it now.
later.
elizabeth
We are still settling into our new schedule and are enjoying our new programs so far. Last fall, our friend Hannah (her dad is the pastor of the church from Nashville that comes every summer) lived next door for a few months and started an afternoon dance program for girls in the community. Due to our lack of dance skills, Erin and I decided to turn it into an afternoon art club. The first week we had five girls and let them loose with various craft supplies left over from the UCF team last summer. The results were quite impressive. This week we made Valentines Day cards and watched as two girls made cards for the same boy. At the end one of the girls changed the name, so all is well is the world of 10 year old romance. We meet on Tuesday afternoons for a little more than an hour. We have a short Bible study, a snack, and an art project. We have talked about being created in God's image and love so far. Any ideas are very welcome. We are also planning to have a night near the end of our time here where the girls can display their artwork and invite their parents.
We made our weekly visit to Ballykeel this week and met a bunny rabbit named Pepper. Please pray for our relationships in Ballykeel. Our time there each week is very limited and usually show up as the kids are getting in from school and going straight to dinner. The days are getting longer, but we still only have a little bit of time.
Several years ago, UCF went to Doury Road, another estate near Dunclug, for the first time. We went around knocking on doors trying to meet people. The first door I knocked on was opened by a man named Barry who informed me he was a Christian and had been to New York. He then took me around and introduced me to kids and families in the area. He even brought a kid who had been away to our program the following week in another area. I have seen him a few times since I've been here this time and found out he lives in Dunclug now. Dwight and I ran into him last week and got to spend some time talking to him. We both walked away very encouraged. The few minutes spent with Barry were like a breath of fresh air. He is a youth worker and is running a fitness program for the teenage boys in the area. Two of his nephews are good friends of ours and we live next door to his sister. He has a heart for the youth in this area and spoke about his faith with a sense of maturity that we have not often seen here.
Sorry we have taken so long to update, but in our defense, we just got internet. Hopefully, we will be better about it now.
later.
elizabeth
04 February, 2008
Birthday week!
Well, it has been a busy week and weekend, and it is good to have this day off to kina of relax and get ready for this next week. Especially since last night we spent the night at a friend's house from Hillside and watched the Super Bowl from 10-3:30am. It was tons of fun and we were really grateful for their hospitality that allowed us to feel like we were still enjoying such classic American event. We spent the night at their house in some spare bedrooms and since we take it easy on Mondays, we had the liberty to catch on some sleep and relax.
so this past week we began some of our regular "scheduled" things that will take place each week, and they all went really well. all of our meetings throughout the week with the church to plan and pray and study the Word are going really well. We printed out flyers that announced the start of our after school crafts and sports club on tuesdays, so we are very excited about that starting tomorrow. pray that the Lord will bring out the kids that he wants and that we will be able to use that opportunity to share the Word during that time. Our time each Wednesday in Ballykeel is going very well and though it has been quite cold and nasty, we have still had a lot of kids that love seeing us come out. the youth club continues to go very well on thursday nights and we have begun to use this time to tell the kids about the Bible study that will take place every other sunday. we started that this past sunday evening and it was a good start, with 5 kids showing up. we hope that these numbers will grow as they spread the word and get interested in talking openly about any spiritual questions, topics, etc. we continue to have kids dropping by the house each evening, which has been such a blessing. our friends luke and tully and steen continue to ask tons of questions about the Lord and are very interested (these three also came to the Bible study on sunday). luke especially seems to be prompted by the Holy Spirit's leading, and he accepted a Bible that we gave him to read, and he said he would, in fact, read it. please pray for them.
this week is special because erin's birthday is tomorrow, the 5th, and john's is the 7th! we are so excited and will have a birthday party on wednesday. it is also very special because erin's mom will be coming in on tuesday for a week, and we are all excited to see her, erin especially.
the other good news is that it snowed this weekend! friday night we got about an inch of snow and all of the kids were out playing in it until late, so we joined them. it was so much fun, but sadly short-lived, for in the morning it had all melted, as seems to be the pattern here if there is ever snow. it was fun while it lasted.
well, i wont bore you all with more details, but thank you so much for your prayers, please keep them coming. we love you all.
dwight
so this past week we began some of our regular "scheduled" things that will take place each week, and they all went really well. all of our meetings throughout the week with the church to plan and pray and study the Word are going really well. We printed out flyers that announced the start of our after school crafts and sports club on tuesdays, so we are very excited about that starting tomorrow. pray that the Lord will bring out the kids that he wants and that we will be able to use that opportunity to share the Word during that time. Our time each Wednesday in Ballykeel is going very well and though it has been quite cold and nasty, we have still had a lot of kids that love seeing us come out. the youth club continues to go very well on thursday nights and we have begun to use this time to tell the kids about the Bible study that will take place every other sunday. we started that this past sunday evening and it was a good start, with 5 kids showing up. we hope that these numbers will grow as they spread the word and get interested in talking openly about any spiritual questions, topics, etc. we continue to have kids dropping by the house each evening, which has been such a blessing. our friends luke and tully and steen continue to ask tons of questions about the Lord and are very interested (these three also came to the Bible study on sunday). luke especially seems to be prompted by the Holy Spirit's leading, and he accepted a Bible that we gave him to read, and he said he would, in fact, read it. please pray for them.
this week is special because erin's birthday is tomorrow, the 5th, and john's is the 7th! we are so excited and will have a birthday party on wednesday. it is also very special because erin's mom will be coming in on tuesday for a week, and we are all excited to see her, erin especially.
the other good news is that it snowed this weekend! friday night we got about an inch of snow and all of the kids were out playing in it until late, so we joined them. it was so much fun, but sadly short-lived, for in the morning it had all melted, as seems to be the pattern here if there is ever snow. it was fun while it lasted.
well, i wont bore you all with more details, but thank you so much for your prayers, please keep them coming. we love you all.
dwight
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