Finale

Well, I've been back about three weeks now, and it still bugs me that this blog doesn't have any closure. So here it is.

First of all, thank you to everyone who prayed for us this last year in N.I. We really appreciate it and couldn't have made it without your support! Thanks for all the letters, postcards, packages, and comments, and for being so encouraging!

Our last few days in Ballymena were really good. We had a lot of fun with people from church, including an awesome Kidzone end-of-the-year party at Monkey Business (think Chucky Cheese) with about 25 kids from church, or 26 if you include me... I got a little carried away. Turns out that over 100 different kids came to Kidzone last year from the estate, with about 20-30 on average. It is such a big ministry for such a small church, which is why it is so good that Elizabeth is going back and can help with it.

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday saying goodbye to everyone, which was sad, but good. Everyone had really nice things to say to us, telling us how big of an impact we had had on them or on the kids we've been around for the last year, which was so encouraging. Sometimes it takes someone else telling you something before you can see it yourself. We even ran into one young woman who knew all about us from her 7-year-old niece named Kennedy. Kennedy became a Christian last year and used to be one of our neighboors. This lady said that she might come to church because she could see how much of a difference it was making in her niece's life!

We also spent a lot of time saying goodbye to some of the people from the estate we've been around the most: Calvin and Marty, Luke and his brother Paul, Michael, Katie, and of course Colin. We actually said goobye to Colin twice because he said the first one wasn't good enough. He told us how appreciative he was of us being there during one of the hardest years of his life, and that he didn't know what he was going to do without us. It was hard to say goodbye to someone like him, but we know God will take care of him, we are hoping that one of the guys from church can start spending time with him, and Elizabeth will be around too.

So after all of our teary goodbyes and late night packing, we slept for about 10 minutes and then went to the airport. We are all currently somewhere in the southeast; Dwight is in North Carolina, Elizabeth is in Georgia or sometimes Birmingham, Erin is at the beach or Bham or Moultrie depending on what day it is, and i'm in the computer lab at Samford looking for jobs. The Fellowship is broken.

Fortunately, there is a sequel. Elizabeth is going back to the City of the Seven Towers in July and staying for another year (have i mentioned that?), which is awesome. And we'll all be back next summer for the wedding. Just kidding:) The blogging continues at elizabethannhill.blogspot.com ,starting in August.

So overall, it was a really good year. The biggest thing for me was seeing how God moves in His timing, bringing us over there for a season to help a hurting church and be around hurting people. And He isn't finished yet.

Until the King Returns,
John

2nd post this year...that's pretty good for me, i'd say :)

it's amazing how the days fly by when something is coming to an end. i fly home tomorrow (eek!), and truthfully i'm quite sad about it. not to say that i'm not excited to see everyone at home...it is just hard to leave a place and people that have grown so dear to my heart, especially not knowing when i'll be be back. OH! and here's some exciting news...ELIZABETH IS COMING BACK FOR ANOTHER YEAR!!!! she talked to sam and alan, who are happy to have her stay and work for hillside again. she is coming back in july with the UCF team and will be staying here when they all leave. we are all super excited for her, and i have to say it is good to my heart to know that someone will still be here to continue the specific relationships that we have developed and grown. YAY!

anyway, since our time here is quickly growing short (john, elizabeth, and dwight leave next monday!), we have been trying to see and spend time with as many people as we can. last friday we hosted a bar b que in our back garden for our friends from both churches as well as from the estate. it turned out to be a beautiful day, and i'm proud to say that we successfully went through...dum, dum, dum...130something burgers and 50 sausages!!! needless to say, we all had a lot of fun. (and just to let everyone know...the guys from the church take very good care of us. we definitely could not have done it without all of their help!)

saturday we went up to coleraine with our friend danny to play on his boat. despite the combination of cold water, one hurt ankle, and one horrible wake-border, we had a great time hanging out. yesterday was our day to spend with our friend paul. we went to see indiana jones (i have to say, i was a wee bit disappointed), had family dinner, wore funny hats (see picture below), and spent the evening playing music and talking. elizabeth and i took a hiatus from paul for an hour or two to hang out with amy, reegan, anna, kay, and lauren.



since this is our last week, it is full of many "last moments." today is my and elizabeth's last art club with the girls. we are having a party and our friend amy is going to come, too! the guys are heading over to calvin and marty's, and i'm pretty sure that they will be two very sad boys when dwight and john leave (of course, dwight and john will be two sad boys, too). later this evening bobby and norman are stopping by for a while. even though we've only spent one day with them since we've been here, they are one of the most encouraging couples we know. we are excited about seeing them again! oh, and tonight is also our very last family dinner...sad.

please pray for us as we are saying goodbye to all of our friends here. pray for opportunities to spend quality time with them and last chances to share the gospel. specifically, the girls on my heart right now that you can be praying for are amy, anna, and danielle. also, please pray for our readjustment when we head back home. it is going to be a different life for us than the one we've grown accustomed to this past year. i mean, we all have to find jobs and everything...yuck. thank you all for keeping up with us and being faithful to pray.

I wish I had witty subject lines....

Oh boy. It is so hard to believe how short our time here is: two weeks from today for the three of us and one week from Wednesday for Erin! These past few weeks have flown by as we are bringing some of our regular programs/clubs/bible studies to a close for the summer and trying to spend plenty of time with all of our friends here. Here's the quick rundown:

-While the girls are continuing the Tuesday after school art club with their faithful 5-6 girls for the next two weeks, John and I have had less faithful attendance from our 5-6 guys in the last few weeks, and so are going to spend the time with the two brothers that we have invested most in, Marty and Calvin

-Ballyloughan, as we have mentioned before, has started a Wednesday night outreach into the estates, and we are helping for the next two weeks with that, leading sports activities for kids

-We are continuing our Thursday door to door prayer ministry until we leave, as we are nearly finished with individually visiting ever home in the estates. While this sometimes proves routine, or without many people to pray and talk with, the past few weeks have been so encouraging! During the last two weeks, we met and talked and prayed with two grandmothers of one of the largest families in the area. When I say large, I mean they each told us that they have a range of 60-90 grandchildren and 20-30 great grandchildren. This family is a traveling family that is very very closely knit and is matriarchal by nature, and so it is a huge thing for us to not only meet these lovely ladies, but to receive such warmth and acceptance from them. We were also able to pray with them and will be giving them Bibles. This is also the same family that supplies about 50% of regular attenders for Kidzone at church at Hillside each week, so please keep this ministry and this family in particular in your prayers.

-Our Thursday night youth club is finished, which frees us up to hang out with everyone. Since the weather has been phenomenal for the past three weeks, and it is light until 10:30, there are many older kids out. John and I have been playing much more football on the courts recently, and it is prime time for strolling around and visiting. It is also clear that the summer is nearing, as the older ones around here start getting into their crazy mindsets again, complete with excessive drinking, late night parties, fighting, police riots, and the like which are already becoming regular.

-Fridays and Saturdays are pretty free for us to meet with any people we are close with, and to just hang around with the kids.

-Besides our weekly events, we are scheduled to have dinner with someone different nearly every single night until we leave, so this is great to get some final quality time in so many different friendships. We have already had tons of great times recently, including going to a huge motorbike race at the coast this weekend (similar to Nascar in popularity and style, but a roadrace), and a huge barbecue with friends yesterday after church. We are soo thankful for the hospitality and level of love that our friends here have shown us this year.

-Finally, this Friday evening, we are having a big goodbye barbecue for pretty much everyone we know here, including people from both churches and especially people from the estate. Some friends from church are helping us with the food and supplies, and we are beginning to tell everyone. Please pray for this time, as we expect and hope to see lots of people we know, get a chance to say a final goodbye, and still share our love of Christ through this final act of kindness.

Well, true to form for my updates, this has become longer than I intended, but hopefully you have found this encouraging and will be faithful in prayer for us through this last bit of our time here. We love you all!

may day and hayley

Last Monday we celebrated May Day.  We really have no idea what exactly May Day is other than it is a bank holiday which means everyone is off school and work.  We think it is similar to Labor Day.  We loved it.  I think it might be my new favorite holiday.  The weather was amazing!  It actually was incredible for most of last week.  Even the 'not so great' days were great.  The days do warm up over here believe it or not, though we usually still wear jackets on the 'warm' days.  But this week we were all wearing t-shirts and flip flops!  

We celebrated May Day with Hayley and Paul at People's Park, one of our favorite places in Ballymena.  We had a picnic, played frisbee and made daisy chains.  Dwight made his first ever daisy chain after learning several different methods.  Erin and John rescued the frisbee from beyond the fence a couple times.

We also said good-bye to our dearest friend Hayley this week.  Hayley was the first person we met when we moved to Ballymena last summer.  She was our next door neighbor for a while and we quickly became friends after I walked into her house without knocking a few times.  She took us to Belfast to explore caves, to Downpatrick and Newcastle.  She taught us to play scrabble and then we quickly learned a new meaning to the term 'competitive.'  She opened her home to us and became part of our family.  She even let me have a party in her house one night while she was upstairs on the phone.  And no matter how mean the boys were to Kat the cat, she always let us back in.*

She is beginning an adventure...she left Dublin at 12:30 am last night to visit a friend in Estonia for a few weeks.  There is talk of a European road trip as she makes her way to France to find a job teaching English or writing.  I am a little jealous.  I'd never heard of Estonia and kind of want to go there now.  We love her and can not wait to hear about her travels.  I personally think she is going to be the female Bill Bryson. 

Check out her blog:  http://coffeehelps.wordpress.com

* If anyone reading this would like a cat, Kat still needs a home.  

burgers, indiana jones, and clean clothes

During our time in Ballymena, we have found some great places to eat, one of which is the Spinning Mill. Our friends took us there last summer for breakfast and we have made use of the inexpensive meals over the past months.  A couple months ago, I was invited to have lunch with Dwight and Paul.  I went to the counter to order my sandwich and went back to the table to wait for the guys.  They returned excited and informed me that they had discovered that you can order an extra slice of meat on a double burger for only a pound (approx $2) extra, making it a triple.

So, after months of planning, we took a family outing...

...they ate every last bite.

The new Indiana Jones movie comes out May 22 in Ballymena.  To celebrate, we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark with our friend Danny Sunday night.  We met Danny through working with Ballyloughan Presbyterian Church over the past few months.  He is a physics teacher for an all boys school in Belfast where he teaches ages 12 to 18.  He drives up to Ballymena (approx 30-45 minute drive, depending on the traffic) every other week to help with the community youth club.  He is great.

To continue with news of laundry...the weather has been amazing and I dried my clean clothes outside on the line yesterday.  They smell so good.

All of my clothes are pink...

It's sunday afternoon right now and we are all enjoying a couple of hours of rest and reading in between the morning services and the night services. After church this morning, we were invited to lunch at a couple's house from Ballyloughan. It was a great time and we really enjoyed getting to know them more, and experiencing the love of Christ through their hospitality and the fellowship of the body here. Elizabeth is about to go have a meeting with the elders from Hillside about trying to figure out a way for her to stay on living here after this year. Actually, they are here right now to pick her up, so please be praying that they will have wisdom and discernment in this matter, for Elizabeth really feels that the Lord is leading her to stay.

We had an unexpected, pleasant surprise visit from Colin the other night! He called my phone and said he wanted to see us, which was very exciting, because we have been trying to get ahold of him recently, to no avail. Anyways, he came by sometime after 11 and ended up staying till near 1am. It was so good, and we were able to make him his favorite food ever-bacon! He didn't like our American biscuits as much, but breakfast, football, photo shoots, coffee and tea, and a group walk through the estate was never as much fun. Please keep praying for Colin, that the Lord would continue to seek him, even in the midst of his running from him, and that Colin would give in to the Spirit and yield to his ways.





Yesterday, Elizabeth went to the coast for the day with a friend and had a great time, John and I went rock climbing at an indoor wall again, and Erin guarded the fort. We took Steen, on of the boys from the estate, with us climbing and we really enjoyed hanging out with him, since we haven't seen him around much recently. We also went to Mark and Jacqui's house the other night and made them chicken quesadillas and saw their baby Jonathan.

Well, the only other important thing that I can think of is that I had a tragic blow to my limited wardrobe. I had delayed in washing my clothes for so long that I was finally forced to do it so I would have something to wear. Rather than split it up into two loads, i literally shoved it all into the tightest single load ever...much to my dismay, I realized far too late that I had also included in that load my red boxing wraps. That's right, my ENTIRE load is pink, not an even, slightly distinguishable pink, but bright, random splotches of red and pink everywhere. oh well, I guess I am reminded that life does not consist of these things, but things of far greater importance. I better get used to pink.
Until next time, we love you all!!!!

It's nearly May!

we are alive! haha, and two of us are back after being in the states for a week! its been a busy last wee bit, so sorry we havent written in a while, ill try to catch you up on the main stuff

lets see, first, erin and i went back to bham last week for two separate weddings and it was such an awesome time of refreshment and encouraging time with friends and family! the weddings were beautiful and it has rejuvinated us for our last 5 weeks here (4 for erin)! how crazy is that-a full year nearly gone. anyways, we are all glad to be back here together again

all of our normal clubs and bible studies and meetings have been going well. our tuesday afterschool club has been slightly crazy for the past few weeks and we are having a difficult time getting the kids to behave and pay attention, especially for the boys. John and I were really frustrated after this past week and are trying to figure out how to get them to act better and listen to the bible story, so pray for us about that.

since the nights are getting longer and brighter, everyone is out late at night more as well. this is good for hanging out, but also hard to get kids indoors for our youth clubs, etc. so this will probably be our last thursday of having youth club until after the summer. instead we will just have the time to be around the estate and hanging outdoors with everyone. Ballyloughan church is also starting a summer project where people from the church come into the estate every wednesday night and do cleanup for needy people, football clubs, door to door ministry, and just being around the estate to form relationships and help in any way. we are going to help with this as well, and are praying that it has a positive impact and that the estate accepts and is thankful for this effort.

just before going to america, i was able to go to dinner with eamonn (aymon), a friend i have made from the gym. it was a very good and encouraging time and though he is very anti-religion by his own profession, we spent a large portion of the night discussing spiritual questions he had and he learned what i believed. though it was quite intense at times, i think he was pleased with it and he said that after returning from my week home, he wanted to have me over to his house for dinner. i have been communicating with him since being back and we are trying to find a time to hang out again, so pray that the Lord provides this opportunity and that he will begin to respond to the Holy Spirit's promptings in his heart. pray also that i may have the words to say to him, because it is very intimidating to openly contradict his beliefs with my own, and to know the balance in when to speak and when to not push him.

john and i have been rock climbing with mark in the past week and are starting to go more often. we are trying to get several guys from the estate to go with us this saturday, and make it a regular thing. we even are beginning to plan an overnight climbing trip with them before we leave, so pray that all of these opportunities come together and guys will want to go.

well, im sure there is much more, but this is getting long. we will do better at updates in the next few weeks. as we sense our time beginning to draw nearer to an end, pray that we will be very intentional with our time and make the most of all of our opportunities. The Lord is teaching us so much and I am constantly reminded of his faithfulness and sovereignty! Praise Him for his love to us and you and the people here.
until next time, we love you and miss you all. dont be afraid to send us encouragement!

Dinner guests

John and I had a wee dinner party tonight.  Amy Lynn and her two and a half year old daughter Reegan came over.  We had tacos.  John gave Reegan black beans.  She did not like them.  She ate a plate of shredded cheese for dinner.  Then Reegan had her first music lesson.  It was a great night.

Downpatrick and Newcastle

Erin and Dwight are away to America for the week to be in friend's weddings.  John and I decided to take a day trip with Hayley and Paul on Monday.  We headed towards Downpatrick, the burial place of Saint Patrick and decided in Belfast to take a different route through Portaferry so we could take the ferry.  We ended up going to an aquarium and stayed for the 'hands-on' program, during which we got to pet sharks and sting rays and hold starfish, sea urchins, and clams.  We were by far the oldest ones in the group, unless you count the parents of all the wee children.

We took a very short ferry ride over to Downpatrick.  We saw the possible grave of St. Patrick and the Cathedral, which had a beautiful stained glass window.  We think the window portrayed images of 10 the the disciples.  We think they left out both Judas and Judas Iscariot and added Peter and Paul to make 12.  We went in search of a mountain with a statue of St. Patrick.  The mountain turned out to be a hill, but the view was amazing. 

Feeling spontaneous, Hayley decided she wanted to go to Newcastle and since she was driving, we all happily agreed to the adventure.  We walked along the beach and the boys taught Hayley to skip rocks.

We ended our day by going for coffee and ice cream at Maude's.  We sat outside and talked about what kind of bird we would like to be and watched the water.  It was a great day out.
This week, John and I are holding down the fort.  We had our afternoon clubs at Hillside, with the help of Paul, Louise, Brid, and Amy.  We taught the parable of the Good Samaritan.  I had the girls make cards of encouragement for someone as an example of how to show love to others.  We ended 10 minutes early because they girls were making 'kick me' signs and gluing them to each other's backs.  Obviously they listened really well today.

pictures and sister

My baby sister, Laura arrived from Spain Wednesday afternoon for a long weekend.  She is a senior at Auburn and is finishing university outside of Madrid.  I haven't seen her since Christmas and am enjoying getting to introduce her to our friends here.  Erin and I met her in Belfast on Wednesday and brought her back up to Ballymena.  We went to dinner at the Blackstone Restaurant with our friend Paul.  Erin and I have been waiting to go for ages since we heard it was the best restaurant in town and thought Laura's visit was as good excuse as any.  The food was amazing and the music was interesting.

Yesterday, we took her along on our 'prayer walk' around Millfield.  Every Thursday afternoon, we help Ballyloughan with a door to door prayer ministry.  We met a really cute little girl named Caitlin who had a bag full of bread to go feed the ducks at The People's Park.  She was very excited.  

It was a beautiful day, so we met up with Katie and went on a walk around the estate to take pictures.  The kids have all been off school for two weeks for Holy Week and Easter Week.  They are in the process of going back to school at the moment, so some were out playing while we walked.  We got to see Lizzy Carson and her girls, a family in Millfield we met on a walk last summer.  They were out in their front garden one day last July and happened to have a trampoline, so of course I introduced myself and asked if I could jump on it.  We have been friends every since.  Erin used to help Chelsea, the oldest daughter, with her homework last autumn.  We enjoyed chatting with them and some of the other kids we met along the way.

Some pictures from our walk:

One often comes across interesting things when walking around Dunclug.  I have seen a dead cat, a decapitated doll, a burnt motorbike, a dog hanging from a rope of the football goal, and now an abandoned trolley.  You can't hep but to take a picture.

On Tuesday while locking up after the afternoon art club at Hillside, I noticed a bit of graffiti on the church gate.  I have quite a fondness for this particular art form around here.  I'm not sure if the artist here was trying to communicate here.

On Monday, the boys left for France to snowboard for a few days.  The weather was perfect, so Erin and I recruited Paul for a trip to The People's Park.  The bit of water in the picture has ducks and swans.  Since we have been here, we have learned that the swan is protected by the Queen and you will serve eight years in prison for killing one.

On Easter Sunday, I went to a sunrise service at Mount Slemish.  I took this picture through the car window, so you can't see how clear this rainbow was.  I have never seen one where the green was so clear and bright.  Since I was in the car with a physics professor, I learned the scientific explanation of how rainbows work.  They are from God.

We are off to the coast for the day.  The boys get back tonight, hopefully in one piece. 

it is late and i am tired...

hey to all friends and family!!! ok, so it's been a few days and i wanted to give a brief update of what has been going on here, so here is the story:

all of the kids have been out of school for a week for easter and most are still out of school for this upcoming week. this has given us tons of cool chances to hang out with them. though we haven't had any of our normal clubs this past week due to the holidays, we have seen the kids more because we all are free to hang out. several girls have been coming by the house nearly every night and have asked all of us our testimonies, and continue to come by.

on tuesday, john and i took three boys from the estate-luke, connor, and tully-to go to an indoor climbing wall in belfast for the day. we went with mark and russell and it was a great time and the guys really loved. we really enjoyed having such a cool activity to do with them, and are going to try to plan many more, even going on outdoor trips when the weather is nicer.

after our friends matt and jamie left on easter, we had a brief visit this week by some of john's family. his sister and brother-in-law and brother all came and stayed with us for a few days, and it was a real treat to see them and get to hang out.

our good friends from Hillside, Robin and Heather, have bought a special channel on their tv during march madness so that we can go over to their house and watch the NCAA tournament! this is super exciting since it is a big thing that we have missed from home right now. all the games are actually shown live, and so are in the middle of the night. the last two nights i went over to their house around 11 or 12 at night and stayed up till around 5am watching the games...last night the others joined me. although i am quite exhausted, it was well worth it to see UNC advance to the final four! go tarheels!

finally, me and john are heading out tomorrow afternoon to get a few days of holiday. we are meeting up with his brother who lives in scotland, and we are all going skiing and snowboarding in the french alps for several days! i am sooo excited about this, since it has always been a life goal of mine to go boarding in the alps. and they just got a meter of snow this past week! pray that we are safe and dont get hurt!

well, thats most of what has been going on. our time jumped forward an hour last night, to catch back up to our normal time difference from the states. the weather has been slowly getting better over the past week or so, and we are really hoping that april will bring us much more sun and blue skies, free from rain.

well, i gotta go pack. we love you guys tons! and miss you all! oh ya, and why does no one ever really comment on elizabeths posts? we were wondering that and i told her i would ask/chastise...thanks to will and pat for their comments on hers...we love comments, so please leave some love and encouragement!!! Praise the Lord for his faithfulness! Read John 15 this week and let these words dwell with you as you go throughout your days.

until next time,
Dwight

Pictures!

Saint Patrick's Day parade in Belfast

Reegan Lynn at the Easter Community Service.  Her mom, Amy is a good friend of ours and 'posed' Reegan for this picture.

The boys have found a new hobby - playing video games on the internet.

Happy Easter!

Our internet went out again!  We're not sure what happened, but it is up and running again.  The past few weeks have been pretty busy.  We helped with an Easter Community Service at Ballyloughan.  The St. Bridget's Primary School choir and the Dunclug Primary School performed.  We had a great time hanging out with members of the church and some of our friends from the community.  Erin was adopted by some kids to play follow the leader and ran around with a line of kids dancing behind her.

Matt Francisco and Jamie Simpson left this morning after a 10 day visit.  We loved having them here and especially loved their gift of The Office season one dvds.  There was a good bit of sightseeing done over the past few days and a rented car, which was actually returned in one piece with no injuries.  

We helped Lorriane with a program for the first year class at Dunclug College last week.  This was the end of a course on relationships she teaching at the school.  We each had a table of kids we led in discussions about bullying and other various topics.  It was fun to interact with kids who live in other areas as well as some we already knew.

We also got to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Erin and Matt went to Dublin for the day.  John, Jamie, and Dwight climbed Mt. Slemish (the legend is that St. Patrick tended sheep on Mt. Slemish and drove out all the snakes from Ireland, but according to my 8 year old friend Lauren, that is impossible).  Every year there is a pilgrimage up the hill.  Our friend Paul and I went down to Belfast to watch the parade which displayed lots of asian styled costumes and a good bit of reggae music.  We met up with Dwight, John, and Jamie and walked around the city for a while.  The weather was amazing so we all took advantage of the chance to walk around without rain jackets.

All the kids are out of school for Easter holidays - the Northern Irish version of Spring Break.  All of our activities were cancelled this week and we are looking forward to hanging out with bored kids during the day.

The next few weeks will be different as we have visits from John's family and my sister, the boys are going snowboarding, and Erin and Dwight are going home for a couple weddings.  Our time here is quickly coming to an end.  Pray that we will make the most of the next couple months and take every opportunity presented.

this is good stuff if anyone cares to read it all....

well, i would just like to start this post by announcing my jubilation over the massive game last night! in case anyone doesnt know, UNC beat Duke last night for the ACC regular season title. yes, the game was on at 9, which means it started here at 2am, and yes, i stayed up until near 5am watching the live updates on sportsline.

in other news, the weather this week has been very fickle, raining one moment, then clearing up for a moment with a wee bit of sunshine and blue sky, then rain, then a downpour of hail for 4-5 minutes, then rain, then snow (we woke up the other morning with an unexpected layer of snow covering everything, though it melted within hours). you get the idea. it does that about 20 times a day. but mostly rainy, im afraid...and very windy. this makes it a bit difficult to be outside with the kids, though i do feel that it is improving, albeit rather slowly. so, john and i were able to play football on the courts with some of the boys this past week, which was a fond memory of this past summer, and a hopeful view of weather to come.

the tuesday afternoon club this week went fairly well, with about 7 guys and 5-6 girls, our typical numbers now. both groups can particularly rowdy, though, especially when it comes time to do the devotional part, so pray that the kids will calm down and pay attention to the lesson. pray that the spirit will work on their hearts and make his truth from his word come alive to them, as many of them are not christians.

i have had several encouraging encounters this week, as well, specifically at the gym. since i have been working out most mornings at gym near here, the Lord has really provided some cool opportunities to develop some new relationships. i have met many believers and have been very encouraged by simply seeing that the Lord does have other people of his in this needy area, and to see them regularly and share with them. I have also met a few others who are not believers, but whom i have been able to go a bit deeper with in our relationship. one guy is named Eamonn (pronounced Ayman) and is a 42-year old man who is married, has kids, and is school and town bus driver. However, he loves intense skateboarding, rock climbs, surfs, has a shaved head, earrings, tattoos, and acts quite young. for some reason we have hit it off great and work out together a lot. though he is very turned off to "religion" and insists on having no part of it, he seems interested enough to discuss the subject and seems "timidly interested" (if that makes sense) in my views. i have previously suggested hanging out sometime over coffee or lunch/dinner, but he has seem noncommittal. recently however, he has several times suggested that we go out for pizza and this week, he gave me a lift home during which we discussed some of my "Christian views", and then exchanged numbers, so as to get together for pizza soon. please pray for Eamonn and that the Lord would sovereignly appoint more opportunities for us to hang out, maybe at dinner soon, and that the Lord will give me the wisdom on how to best speak the Truth in love, because he is quite cautious and cynical about anything resembling "religion", though it is clear he knows nothing of Jesus. One other person I have built a relationship with is names Byron, who is a personal trainer at the gym. Byron is the uncle of one of the boys that we are friend with in Dunclug named Rory. Byron has always been overly affable in gym, daily giving me pointers and help. He recently broke up with his girlfriend and moved back into the Dunclug with his mom, who lives near us. We have invited him over for dinner and he is supposed to come next Friday, so be praying for him, as he is not a believer, either.

lets see...not a whole lot else has been going on...we have our bible study tonight with the youth from Ballyloughan and we are taking them to a monthly worship gathering for late teens to young adults, which we have heard is very good. we are excited about that. and erin is an aunt! yay! her sister had a baby this week, so that is exciting, but hard to be away for...so pray for aunt erin. this friday, matt francisco (erin's boyfriend/me and john's best friend) and jamie simpson (john's girlfriend) are coming to visit, so we are excited about that too! thanks for all of your prayer and support you offer! please keep praying for us and the people here...and feel free to lave encouraging comments, we like those!

until next time,
unashamed Carolina fan in a land where no one knows or cares,
Dwight and Co.

here are a few extra pics to spice up your day:

this is the picture we used to promote the afternoon club for boys in the estate





this is the four of us on the London Eye, just before Christmas




this is an unnecessary picture of john in a wet-suit...an awesome wet-suit...

friends....

We got to spend some time with Mark and Jacqui this week and meet the newest member of their family, Jonathan Mark.  He is tiny.  He was born a month or so early and is a testimony to the power of prayer as he and Jacqui are both doing well. We had a great afternoon catching up with Mark, Jacqui, and their five year old Katie.  We watched dvds of the boys rock climbing, Mark skiing, and their trip to the Canary Islands. 

We had dinner with Norman and Bobbi Murphy, a couple UCF met several years ago.  The entire evening was refreshing and encouraging as we caught up with these friends and picked Norman's brain about missions.  Pray for their family as they travel to visit their son and daughter-in-law who are missionaries in Peru.

On Sunday night, we met with a few kids for our community Bible study.  It was interesting as the conversation topics shifted throughout the evening.  We talked about drugs, death, poverty, and our purpose in life.  Pray for the kids who came: Anna, Danielle, Luke, and Tully and for us as we plan for this time and spend time with these kids.

Please pray for our friend Paul as he interviews for a new job on Friday, 7 March.  This new job will change his work schedule and allow him to be free in the evening and weekends.  He has a great attitude about it and know it is in the Lord's hands.  In fact, I have learned that he has a better attitude than I do about pretty much everything.  We are all very thankful for his friendship and his example of truly trusting in Christ.

And last but not least... Manchester United beat Lyon 1-0 last night!

afternoon art club

just a few pictures from our afternoon art club on tuesdays. 

 

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

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!

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!

Pictures!

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

a few days late...

it snowed!

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

when it rains, it pours

hey to all our friends and family from the constantly rainy NI! seriously, we have had very very few days here since being back that it hasn't rained at all. as in, maybe none. but anyways, here is a quick update coming from the computer of our friend hayley, who is graciously letting us use it while we still have no internet.

well, this past week went very well and it seems the location of our house has turned out to very convenient thus far, because we are constantly having visitors and friends stop by, which we love! we have had some boys that we are close with stop by several nights last week and this weekend, and one night, we got into a very good discussion about the Lord! it really has been amazing to see how the Lord is opening up doors in this way, and these boys heard the Gospel very clearly for maybe the first time in their lives. pray for them by name-luke, steen, conner, and tully. speaking for myself, it seems that there have been more direct Gospel opportunities in this past week or two than usual- the Lord has opened up the door three times with seperate boys for me to completely share about the Jesus with them, so praise the Lord! keep praying for more "random" stop-ins at our house. i know the girls have had plenty of these as well, so pray for amy, tony, and katie for the girls.

this sunday we are starting a bible study for the kids from the estates, which had seemed to be something that they seemed interested in, so please pray the the Lord will bring who he wants to this on sunday, and that it will be a safe time for the kids to learn and ask about the Lord...and invite their friends.

last week, we also had the chance to meet with some young believers and are starting weekly bible studies with them. john and i will meet with kerry on friday afternoons to study the Word and then with Marty and Calvin on friday evenings to do the same. please pray for these times of discipleship and that the Word will take root in their hearts and grow. our friend Colin has also made contact with us again and seems to be doing better than before Christmas, so we are encouraged by that and hope to start some sort of regular discipleship with him, also. please pray for all of these opportunities.

well, thats about it for now. we love you all and miss you.
dwight

Our Apologies

Sorry for the embarrassingly long time since we last posted, if anyone still reads this then we plan on posting again regularly now that we're back. We're back! We got in 8 days ago, had no trouble with our passports, and moved in to our new house in Dunvale, which is pretty much the same area that we have been living in, except now we are in a more central location (the address is changed on the blog). We have met with and are officially working with the two churches that we built relationships with last semester, Hillside Community Church and Ballyloughan Presbyterian Church, and we are really excited about what we are going to be doing with them. We plan on posting later about the switch, but it is great to be working with churches in the estate! We don't have a phone or internet yet, so our gracious ex-neighbor Hayley is letting us use hers until we do. Here is how our week is shaping up to look like:

Monday: Mainly our day off, but the girls may help with childcare for a mothers and toddlers event at ballyloughan when they can.

Tuesday: We will meet with the main youth worker from ballyloughan, named Lorraine and have some time in the Word and to pray over the week together. We then have an afternoon kids club through Hillside which will have crafts, sports, homework help, etc., as well as a Bible study

Wednesday: We have an afternoon club with Lorraine for anyone from the estate either not in school or work- more or less a time to just hang out and build relationships. Following this club, we will go to Ballykeel to hang out with the kids we know there.

Thursday: We will do a door-to-door prayer ministry around the estate during the afternoon, asking the people what we can pray for them about, and either praying there with them if they would like, or writing it down to pray over later. This evening, we have a weekly youth club that meets at Ballyloughan, where most of the older kids that we know go to play and hang out.

Friday: Free afternoon to hang out with kids. That evening, we have music practice at Hillside for church on Sunday, as well as meeting and prayer with the elders, Sam and Alan.

Saturday: Free time to be with the people. This evening, the boys will help with a youth club for the younger kids from Ballyloughan church youth group.

Sunday: We will rotate having two interns at each church every Sunday morning. Hillside only has an evening service once a month, so we will attend that service once a month and Ballyloughan each other Sunday night. After the evening service,once every two weeks, we will run a youth Bible study for older kids in the church youth group. On the in between weeks, we will run a different Bible study for the kids from the estate, which is a really big step for them. So pray that as we spread the word about this bi-weekly Bible study, many will come and it will be accepted.

That is the basic schedule of planned events each week, with a lot of time in between to be available to hang out with kids and people from the estate as opportunities arrive. We also have several people who we will be meeting with weekly to either disciple through a Bible study, or to build on the relationship.

Well, as we said, we don't actually have an internet connection in our house yet, which is why we haven't blogged yet since we have been here. We will try to update as we can until we get the internet, which could be another 1-2 weeks. So please be patient with us, and continue to pray as we continue building on the relationships that the Lord has given. Spread the word that we are actually using our blog, for anyone who may be interested, and feel free to leave us any comments. We love you all!