Friendship

Just a few thoughts I've had recently regarding friendship. 

Looking at the friendship of David and Jonathan, a friendship that shouldn't have even happened. Jonathan was in line to be the next king, yet David was already anointed king. And yet "the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt." (1Samuel 18.1-5) What strikes me with these verses is that it is Jonathan reaching out to David. Jonathan, the next in ling to be king, is reaching out to David, his rival. Jonathan makes the covenant, because he loved David as his own soul, Later in chapter 20, Jonathan proves his friendship by protecting David from Saul and aides in getting him away safely. Verse 41 we see them as they good-bye to each other, "and they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, 'the Lord shall be between me and you and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.'"

Fast forward to 2 Samuel 9 when David asks in verse 1, "is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" Because of the convent that David made with Jonathan, David goes out of his way to Mephibsheth, the son of Jonathan. "Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, 'All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibsheth you master's grandson shall always eat at my table." (2 Samuel 9.10)

To me this is such a beautiful picture of the gift of friendship. two people that by the worlds standard shouldn't have been friends. Surely there as a clause in the covenant. (It was made before they were at war with each other). There was non of that here! Because God was at the center of the their relationship, (was the foundation of the relationship), Jonathan had the freedom to love David and put his desire to be king aside to truly love the Lord's anointed, even to the point of death. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." (John 15.13-14)

I guess the question I want to ask after all this is; who can you befriend/pray for that by our social settings/cultures, we shouldn't befriend?

Strangely enough, I also have some personal experiences that go along with this a little. They really don't have anything to do with Jonathan and David, but rather the saying good-bye and moving country's and making new friends where you literally have no history together. You have to try harder. Fight for those friendships. If I had just moved states or city's, I'd just have had to start at ground zero with a friendship, but because I moved country's I'm actually stating at negative zero! So, I guess a little like Jonathan and David, I have to fight for friendships here. Fight the desire to just call it a day and go where I'm "known". Be intentional. And in the end (theoretically) my friendship's here will be deeper and stronger. (Not deeper than my friendships at home, I'm not saying that just deeper in a different way.) 

Praise God for His grace! Just like David and Jonathan, when God's at the the center of the relationship, anything is possible! 

So, hang on to your hat, and go be intentional!

Forgotten Love

For the Youth Fellowship girls night at the church, I volunteered to bake pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Because it's fall, and they're my favorite, and... enough said, right? 

The hitch came in though with canned pumpkin puree not being a thing here. Like... how am I supposed to make pumpkin muffins without pumpkin?! 

Randomly enough though Julie had been given a massive pumpkin just a couple weeks earlier. She doesn't even like pumpkin, so... what do you do with a pumpkin? 

Why, you cut it in half, gut it, bake it, skin it and puree it of course! And presto! Pumpkin muffins! Like no biggy.

Gutting it 

Baking those bad boys

Skinning it!

Pumpkin Puree!

Ta-da!! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins! 

The real finished product

 Conclusion, why have I never made my own puree before? Never again am I buying the canned stuff! 

Not only were the muffins a success, the girl's night was too! 

The Live Hamster Wheel

The first image that pops into mind when people want to know how I'm settling here in Ballymena is that of a globe or a log. With someone running on top of it, because of perpetual motion they're able to stay atop. I however I am somewhere on the side, unable to ever quite get on top, because once the log is rolling, physics denies me the chance to ever get atop. 

Or the idea of a hamster wheel comes to mind. And with that the image of the human size hamster wheel at the City Museum in St. Louis, MO. I had the privilege of experiencing this wheel just weeks before I came to Ireland. It's a wooden circular structure that you stand up in. You have to kind of jump start it (literally jump to getting it rolling, then you just walk in a forward motion (or backwards if you're talented like that), going as fast as you want. It's the most bizarre feeling! You feel as though you are climbing up and up, and must surely be upside down by now. But when you finally come to a stop, you discover that you haven't actually gone anywhere! 

Somedays that's what life here feels like. 

Walking into the middle of a ministry is much like walking into the middle of a deep conversation. No matter how much I feel like I'm understanding here, there's alway something new that I have no idea about...

The Belfast City Mission, that I'm involved with on Thursday's, is much like a hamster wheel. Just as soon as I think I'm "getting it", something new happens. I actually love this aspect of Thursdays! A typical day involves me teaching English for about an hour and a half. Who the student is and if it's just one or two changes week to week. After that from 4-6, I'm in a different part of Belfast helping babysit school age kids so their moms can learn English.

In between these 2 ministries I have about 3 hours. The people that run this ministry know that I'm up there for the day, so they'll ask if I have plans for the afternoon. Since I don't, they will take me along with them to just have tea with one of their Saudi friends or I'll go along with someone to pick up a converted/undercover Muslim from the grocery store and go back to her house to have tea. Or, as was the case this week, there wasn't even an English class! Just a party with about 60 Somalians and food! So much amazing food. (Felt a bit like Thanksgiving!) So basically this week was helping with food prep from 10 in the morning, serving the food, and then cleaning up. About three o'clock I finally was able to leave. But not without first being volunteered to take 3 Somalians home. Thankfully they spoke enough English that they were able to direct me where to go! 

After I got them all dropped off and was feeling pretty good about myself, I suddenly remembered that I'm driving on the other side of the road in a "big" city. A city where they drive really close together and park even closer together. I found myself on a two-way street, but due to the parking on both sides of the road, it's really a one-way street.  All of a sudden, there's a rather loud clatter from my left side. It took a moment for me to register that that clatter was me hitting something (confession time!). Looking out the left side of my car, I realized my left mirror was gone! (Dying of embarrassment right about now!) All I wanted to do was cry or laugh, or... hamster wheel moment. I realized how exhausted I am - not only have I spent the morning trying to learn and understand Somalian culture, but I'm learning it through the Irish's eyes as I'm still trying to learn the Irish culture. 

After this exciting moment, I continued my afternoon with babysitting. 

Babysitting entails usually 2 adults (once there was 3!) and about 8 children from about the age of 13 all the way down. 5 are siblings, 2 are cousins to the 5 and the 8th is probably somehow related as well. The last month with these kids has been crazy town! One week I get to play football for 2 hours with the boys or another week is spent just doing math homework with a 9-year-old for well over an hour. The next week was just playing/consoling a baby while 8 children ran around completely and totally out of control! And mean while, somewhere in the building there's an English class going on. After all this, you're left asking "what's the point of it?" The point of all this crazy town is teaching the mom English so that we can share the Gospel with them! And if that means we have 2 hours of.... But their moms learn about Jesus, then it's worth it! I've heard so many stories about the Muslims just asking why we (the Christians) are being so nice to them.... They're noticing, they're thinking about it. 

I had this story all written out yesterday, and had written some prayer requests, but like the classic blonde that I am, I didn't save my changes before closing, and it was gone. So before I could rewrite this, I actually had to go back to Belfast to do more of the same babysitting. Which was a first time for me to do it on a Friday. Honest moment. I was not excited about it. At all. Just tired from all of Thursday's happenings and not ready to face crazy Somalian children again. But the guy that teaches the English class, Luke, was't sure anyone was coming to babysit.... So, I told him I'd come, so he'd have a "for sure" sitter. 

My prayer requests that I had typed out before I left, that no one saw, that were never "officially" prayed, were that I would learn how to balance ministry in Belfast with my ministry in Ballymena and Ballykeel, and find time for myself, without feeling guilty. And also that I would learn the Somalian children's names, because only being able to retain 1 name out of 9 is just not a good thing. And that I would figure out how to bring some structure and control. 

Yesterday (Friday) felt like such a break through! Personally, just seeing God answer some un"prayed" prayers. I felt, for the first time ever, that I actually had the kids' respect! (I'd never realized how important that was until I had it!) So yesterday was controlled craziness. I had literally 5 girls hanging on me for almost 2 hours, there was so much love happening it was incredible! And I was remembering their names! I'm not really sure how to explain it, but the crazy town had turned a corner of crazy out of disrespect to crazy out of respect. Does any of that make sense? Or am I just rambling?


In conclusion, yesterday was golden and God does answer the desires of our hearts (in case you, like me, forget that)! 

Learning What it Means to Live the Gospel

So there Marty and I were yesterday, in Belfast, just drinking tea and talking with a lady from New England called Elizabeth. Waiting for Stanley to come. Stanley, along with a man called Willie, run a ministry for Somalian refugees, (teaching them English). Eventually Stanley turns up, with two Somalian women. We're still just chatting, drinking our tea, very laid back, comfortable. Conversation turns to me and Elizabeth (who is one of the English teachers) asks if I have any experience teaching English. Thinking of Japan, I say "yes". Elizabeth then asks if I'm certified to teach English. No! (But I do have experience, that counts for something, right?) Elizabeth then says - in true New England style - "Well you have to be certified to to teach English!". Well... this just got awkward! Stanley quickly jumped in with the plan that I can just "assist" - conversation. Brilliant! (Mind you, this ministry is running on a shoe string budget and very few volunteers). 

A few minutes later I hear Elizabeth holler from a back room, "Jes! Your first student is here!" Wait, what? I have a student? That means I'm teaching? 

Sure enough, my first day and I already have a student! One-on-one, beginner, ABC's and very basic conversation. 

Afterwards talking to Luke, a volunteer that teaches beginner classes, he found out I was going to be there every Thursday - he got excited. Apparently there's another guy that comes on Tuesday (the English classes are Tuesday and Thursday), but they were in need of someone for Thursday. So, I'll be doing basic English in a one-on-one setting, (sometimes there might be 2)! The girl I'm going to be teaching is very quiet, reserved-shy. She's 24, and has 4 children. Talking to Willie afterwards she had to flee the country, but her children are still there. When Marty and I asked how that worked/why that was - Willie went on to explain very probably what had happened. It's no wonder that girl is quiet and reserved! 

Willie then went on to talk about the Muslim refugee's. So many of them are from such rural areas that they have never had the chance to hear the gospel. There are people who have simply denied Christ and there are people who have never even heard of Him. Those are the people that it's still our responsibility to "go" as Jesus commanded  and take the Good News to. That can be done just through teaching an English class - being relational, talking about Jesus. Not through preaching, just comfortable conversation as your being a friend to someone in a foreign land. 

I keep thinking about what Willie said, he's so passionate about showing the love of Christ to Muslim refugees! The timing on this, well, really and truly, God's timing is just amazing! I've been doing a Bible study on Monday nights with the church. This week we studied the Prodigal Sons, in Luke 15. There were 2 different types of people Jesus told this parable to; the sinners & tax collectors and the Pharisee's - the younger brothers and the older brothers. Tim Keller, in his sermon "The Two Prodigal Sons" makes a rather brilliant observation "The way you know that you are communicating and living the same gospel message as Jesus is that 'younger brothers' are more attracted to you than 'elder brothers'". You see, Jesus was always surrounded by the "younger brothers". If the church is made up of mostly "older brothers" we need to be able to accept the embrace the Father gives us when He pleads for us to join Him in the feast. To be free to run in from the field and welcome the younger brother home! To love and welcome the hard-to-love's. To know the Fathers love for us is such a way that we are free to love the "younger brother's". I'll confess I don't have a natural heart to see Muslims reached. I am the older brother. Praise God though, I'm still a work in progress! 

All this to say, I am very excited about getting to be a part of this ministry in Belfast, about getting to be part of something bigger than myself, and seeing what God is going to do in this next year.

New Kid in Town

I can not believe that I've been in Ballymena, North Ireland now 2 weeks! Totally insane to me!

I'm living at the manse for the moment with the minister I'm working  for. Before I introduce the McNeely's, let me explain what the manse is. The manse is the house the minister and his family lives in. Normally it's literally right next to the church, sometimes it's actually a little way away. In the case of Ballykeel, it's right next to (as in slightly behind). Ok, so now that we have to first question taken care of, let me introduce the McNeely's. Marty, the minister that I'm working for, and his wife Julie, have 2 children, Joshua (12) and Martha (8). Fantastic family! So so gracious! They are not only housing me and feeding me and just taking care of me as I adjust to a new culture, etc. They have also taken in my Serge team leader, Bruce, for 6 months. So, family of 4, suddenly transformed to a family of 6! (2 of them American...). 

I feel like my thoughts and thus this post are going to be a bit all over the place, just because I feel like there is so much to tell! So I'm sorry for any of you English majors out there if the flow of this doesn't make any sense. 

The first couple days here were reversing everything I did my last couple days in the states. That was weird. For example, my visa. I went through this whole long process to get a UK visa, upon getting here, I got to actually go and get said visa. My phone too. Getting that all taken care of in the States, then going through that whole process again here. The last really crazy reversal was all the good-byes I said in the states... I'm now saying "hello"! 

Note on the visa thing. I am, officially, the first Serge missionary  in North Ireland, (with a North Ireland UK visa). Always wanted to make history... done! 

I'm also the only American apprentice with Serge in Ireland to be able to drive! Yep, I get to drive a little purple Nissan bubble car!! Marty keeps apologizing for how old it is, it's color... says it'll keep me humble. I however am excited about it! (Super easy to find on the car park!) I'm learning how to drive on the left side of the road, that's fun. But thankfully the car is automatic, so I only have one thing to learn, not 2! Also learning how to do round abouts. Which, naturally is loads of fun!

I guess the question you might be asking now is why on earth do I need a car? Ballymena (where I'm living) and it's surrounding towns, are a bit like Huntsville (where I'm from), yeah, sure there's public transportation... but it's just not very practical. People live too far away, or too close... a car just makes sense! So there you go. 

So, what is Ballymena like? Well... honestly, not my first choice, if I'd been given one. Thankfully, I was not given that choice. It's funny actually, people have such an idea of Ireland... must be nice to go there! Wouldn't we all like to go there? "Mission trip" Don't they have the religion thing down there? But when I first got here, I was a little taken aback by it. Ballykeel is a lower income estate  (neighborhood), working/middle class, government housing.... These people know life. If I did't know for a fact this was where God wanted me, I'd wonder if this was really where I was supposed to be, am I really the girl for this place? 

From the little I've gotten to experience of the church, I'm amazed by the healthy variety of people that walk through it's doors. It's crazy to me the number of generations in the church! You can have 3 generations, and with that siblings and cousins and in-laws... a bit confusing when you discover that half the church is actually related to itself (ok, exaggeration!)!

As they (Marty and Bruce) have been just letting me get my feet back under me and figure out life here in Ireland. I've gotten to do a lot of running. Through that God had shown me Himself in Ireland, by allowing me the chance to just, literally, get lost. Last week, I was supposed to just go for a 6 mile run.... Been doing 4 miles, time to spruce it up a bit... 15 miles later! It was such incredible! The rolling hills (let me remind you, I was running, meaning the "up" part of those "rolling" hills, not fun!), country roads, pastures, cows, sheep... Slemish off in the distance, clear skies.... When I was support raising, my spiritual mentor, Mama Murph, while spending a holiday in the UK, encouraged me with this verse: "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills." PS 50.10, and here I was just a couple months later... seeing God's cattle upon a thousand hill!

There was my little Ah-ha moment, as Ken Leggett would say. 

Every other Wednesday is apprentice team day with my fellow Serge apprentices. This past Wednesday was just such Wednesday, which means I got to spend a couple days down south in the big city of Dublin. It was fun. I had this fear going into it of the trains and.... And like most things that get over thought out, it was grand! No hitches! I have to say though, for as much fun as I had, I was glad to be back in the North, back in Ballymena. (Just not meant to be a city girl). So, in conclusion of that thought I started ages ago, I am so thankful that God's ways are not my ways, nor His thoughts my thoughts. And that, as with Ruth, He can change my heart. Teach me to love a people I would not naturally love on my own. 

Every other Sunday evening is a thing call Youth Fellowship, YF. For youth 11 to 18. I will be participating in that, and hopefully during the week getting together with some of the girls, for one-on-one time. Monday evening's are Good News Club, for children 4 to 10. Which I will also be helping with. Tuesday's I'm hoping to be able to volunteer at a Salvation Army resell store, here in Ballymena. Thursday's are going to be find me in Belfast for a couple of days of big city ministry. Ministry Thursday will be ministering to Somalian refugees, teaching them English. Then on Friday nights I'm going to be part a ministry called Nightlight, basically ministering to drunks out on the streets of Belfast. Just offering them a cup of tea/coffee, being there for them as they wretch, witnessing to them just by loving them.

If you've stuck with me thus far in this post, thank you! I'm done now. 

Final Thoughts on Fundraising

I was going to be so good and write every month at least! Ha! Three months later….. Summer was crazy, as I’m sure is the case for most people. I just honestly couldn’t be bothered to slow down and write more than a very short update email maybe twice in those summer months. 

I was though going to write about the garage sale my parents did as a fundraiser for me, and how really amazing that was. Like for example these neighbors I met for the first time, that bought our canoe from us, and the total God moment that inspired when they found out all the money made from the garage sale was going to getting me to Ireland. 

Or I was going to write about….. I can't even remember, but I'm sure it was going to be profound! That's what I get for not blogging. 

I didn’t even bother to write about actually making 100% with both my one time and also with my monthly. (Kind of a big deal!) The really amazing part with that was my deadline for reaching 100% with my monthly was August 1st. I was like at 98%… not there, but close enough that I wasn’t worried about not being able to leave the 1st of September. I happened to be talking to my brother the evening of the 1st, and he asked where I was support wise, I told him I was about $40 a month from reaching my goal. He immediately responded that he could do that. 100% on the 1st!! Someone once encouraged me with “God loves a cliff hanger”. Seriously, it’s true. 

The past 3 months I think have been my favorite months of the support raising journey. The first month, June, was working through why God had not opened the door for me to go to Ireland by June 1. Then figuring out what I was supposed to be doing for the summer. And struggling with would I even make the new support deadline in 3 months! But the end of June, beginning of July I’d really gotten in the swing of support raising, close enough that it was easier to tell (/ask) people “Just 8 people at $100/month!” then “just 8 people at $50/month!” 

About the beginning of June, I started officially transitioning out of my church's youth group that I had been heavily involved in for the past 3 years. Strangely during those months of weaning off of youth ministry I got totally sucked into volunteering at Manna House (a soup kitchen/ clothing closet/ who knows what else) and into rowing! I also learned how to swing dance! 

Confession, by the middle of July when I started closing in on my deadline, I started freaking out a little about what if I didn’t want to actually go?! What was so wrong with staying in Huntsville? Living a normal life…. Then just as strangely as that was; by the middle of August, I was totally ready to go! Had checked out, mentally. Packing my room, I thought I’d get super emotional and sentimental. I was so excited!! I’ve seen all 4 of my siblings leave. Every fall, all these college freshman leave…. Finally it’s my turn to leave!! Through the whole crazy month of August of wrapping things up, talking to the bank, talking to the insurance, getting a will and a POA, going to the doctor’s, getting a new laptop and figuring out my phone situation, I was never once stressed! Someone explained to me that was called peace. As soon as she said that I realized that was exactly what it was! I can’t really explain it, this peace that surpasses all understanding just engulfing me! Knowing this was exactly where God wanted me, doing exactly what He wanted me to be doing. With that came such joy!! I was probably the most annoying person to be around that last month. Beaming like an idiot! Almost literally almost bouncing off the walls! 

Final reflection on support raising. Even though my goal was to reach 100% by the 1st of May, and I did all that I could, and still didn't  make it. With that came confusion. But then when I did make it, it was very obvious that it was God’s timing, and His timing is perfect! His plans are not mans plans, His ways, not mans ways…. 

Hidden Blessings

I think I've written about this before, hidden blessings. Sometimes I'm a slow learner, or sometimes I just need to learn something multiple times. What I'm learning (slowly apparently) is that the more desperate I am for God, the more I need Him, so the more I look for Him.... And the more I find Him. So... just maybe coming to that place where we "need" God, isn't a bad thing. I just make it out to be, because it hurts the pride a bit that I might have had to come to the end of myself.... "We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle." -Oswald Chambers

Rambling!!

When all I was going to do was share 2 experiences from today of hidden blessings.

I called a local non-denominational church this afternoon, to find out about their partnering with me as I go to Ireland. In about a 30 second conversation the receptionist was able to establish that I was not a member of their church and thus was able to tell me that they only supported members going to the mission field. Hanging up, the first thought was "Thank you for not wasting any more of my time or hope". (One more church to check of the list!) Second thought... "seriously though, I'd really like to get the field, how is that going to happen?!". There's another church that I've been trying to get a hold of for the past 3 weeks. To no avail. Almost scratched them off the list, (how many times do I have to call and leave a message before someone either answers or calls back??). But in a moment of desperation I totally pulled a Gideon's Fleece. Which I know you're really not supposed to do.... Almost in tears, I said a very off handed prayer "if You want me in Ireland this fall, they're actually going to answer the phone this time". Dialed. 3 rings and a "hello, this is Blank church." Speechless. It literately took me several seconds to collect my thoughts and say "hi! This is...".

Ok, God!! Ireland in the fall is it??

Naturally, I didn't pray in that off handed prayer that this church would not only answer their phone, but that they would partner with me... So as excited as I am that I actually talked to someone, they may never get in touch with me. The point for me is God's (re)confirmation that He wants me in Ireland. Regardless of how it happens, I just need to trust Him.

The second little thing that happened was getting a random call to babysit Friday night. Those of you that know me, probably wonder why this is a big deal, because I'm "always" babysitting. The big deal for me was the who it was and the timing. Just when I had again flippantly prayed that God would provide me with some form of work for this summer. The who was someone I'd babysat for once last summer. I see them every now and then, and just presumed that they didn't like me..... I'm just humbled by how the God that cares for even the sparrows, cares about me, and my petty problems of work.... (Matthew 10.29-31)

See? Hidden blessings. But I have to be at that point when I'm desperate, to be looking for them. Why is that?? 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for it's leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. -Jeremiah 17.7-8