Today was the first day of sunlight

Update!

Traveling: Every flight was delayed and we missed two, but after 60+ hours of traveling, some complimentary hotels stays, and leading a chinaman around Newark, we arrived in Ballymena (only 1 1/2 days late). oh ya, and we argued with a Buddhist priest about truth, creation, God, and his mac being an animal for a good hour. We were picked up at the airport shortly after arriving by two of the men on the Hope in Ballymena Team-the organization here, Niel and Russell. They helped move us into our new house, which they have been preparing for us for the past few weeks, and if I may say so myself, is a very nice place. it is a small, but nice house in an estate called Dunclug, one of the primary estates that Hope is reaching out to. The church we have been associated with in the past and will work with some, Hillside Community Church, is in this estate as well.

Jetlag: it stinks. John woke up each morning wanting to eat a full steak dinner. We are almost through with it now, though, thank the Lord.

Orientation: We having been spending a lot of time with Russell and Danielle, who are the Hope team members overseeing us four interns, which has not only been extremely helpful in our adaptation to this culture, but a great time of more fully understanding our role here in the community and with Hope. They have a 3 month old son named Samuel and it has been fun getting to know them a lot more over lunch and tea (dinner).

Ministry: After a quick night of rest on the day of arrival, we woke up on Thurday and went to our first school ministry at a local special needs school. Hope has been granted permission to go into all of the local schools and have free reign to talk about any religious material. It went really well, though we were all still slightly disoreiented. We sang some worship songs with them and then did a puppet show about the story of Daniel in the lions' den, followed by more songs, this time with the puppets. This was, of course, followed by tea and coffee with the Hope team, which is not only practiced about 3-4 times a day, but was useful in keeping us awake. On Friday evening John and Dwight were informed that they were going to have the opportunity to play in one of the first ever 5 vs. 5 football (soccer) tournament going on the next morning. It went very well and was a great opportunity to meet many new people, especially footballers we hope to develop further relations with. Though we lost our two games, both were only by one goal, and John scored the only goal of our team. Then we were able go with the youth from Hillside church to climb a local mountain called Slemish, where St. Patrick spent time herding sheep. We were also able to meet with some of our old friends here from previous trips, especially one friend named Collin. Tomorrow, Dwight is going into one of the local schools to speak to all of the students who are about to enter secondary school. Then Elizabeth will do the same on Wednesday, and John on next Tuesday. All of the Hope team will do an assembly at another school this Tuesday, similar to the one we helped with the day after arriving. This will be our last school program until after the summer, because schools get out in less than two weeks.

Weather: Though it is rumored that it was sunny and warm only a few days before we came, nothing but incessant rain and cold has filled each day up until today. We got our first sunlight and slight warmth today, which was incredibly refreshing. It is again rumored that it is to be nicer this week. Time will tell.

More to come after we get more settled! And we can't wait until our fourth companion, Erin, arrives next Tuesday. Sorry this post took so long to get up, and that it is so long, the others will hopefully be more timely and less boring.

From the interns, we love and miss you all! Keep praying!