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.