Day 1

Friday, March 13:

Last night I stayed up quite late studying for my theology and world religion exams. I figured I'd be able to catch up on sleep in the van to the airport and on the plane. I neglected to remember that I am horrible at sleeping in vehicles and that we'd lose four hours due to time zone changes.

At 3:15 PM we met at Eisenhower circle to wait for our van to the airport. We did the whole circle-up-and-pray-like-Christians thing and got on the turnpike, a three hour drive to Newark, NJ - just south of NYC. We were through check-in and security with no lines or hold-ups, which was wonderful. As we sat at our gate, eating Chinese food, I spoke with a European man who told me to expect cold and rainy weather, which was the norm in the Belfast region.

On the plane, I sat between Jo and Quinn. For half an hour, I contemplated whether I should catch up on sleep or watch a movie on the awesome Continental Airlines personal video screen. Eventually, I compromised and played a game of virtual mini golf with Quinn because his screen would not turn on.

Despite the fact that I could not sleep in the upright position for more than 45 minutes on our six hour flight, I am a new fan of Continental Airlines. They gave us blankets and pillows and had a kind staff. They also fed us like mad. I'm pretty sure we had six meals before getting off the plane.

The best thing about our flight was the sunrise. I have some pictures of it. Gorgeous and very surreal - pink and orange. I thought a lot about how a child might wake up to see a plane flying over such a colorful sky, but then I remembered that we were flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Oh well.

I don't think that God ever intended for humanity to be able to see the tops of clouds. I think about this whenever I am on a plane. It's so mystical. If you've been on a plane, you know what I mean. It's like another universe that only God was supposed to see.

We arrived at 8 AM local time outside of Belfast. The drive to Craigavon/Lurgan (the town we would stay in for the week) was fantastic. It was everything I expected Northern Ireland to be. That became apparent to the others in our group as I attached the adjective "enchanted" to everything that I saw: "Look at that enchanted forest," "Look at those enchanted sheep," "Check out that enchanted palace."

We arrived in Lurgan at the Church of the Nazarene, which was the church we would work with. We looked around for about a minute, but then we all collapsed on mattresses for several hours of daytime sleep. We were exhausted. In Northern Ireland, heat is expensive, so we often were cold in the church because we'd leave the heat off. I didn't bring a pillow or sleeping bag, so sleeping in the cold was tough. I ended up waking up because the midday sun was peaking through the windows. I stood up to close the blinds more. After I did that, Jason and Quinn simultaneously gave me thumbs up. Chad Frey, Professor at Messiah College and Director of the Agape Center of Service and Learning, was still out snoring. I dug in my bag for my overcoat, knowing that it had worked well in the past as a blanket.

We woke up to the noise of two joyful women working in the kitchen adjacent to our room. We walked out into the main room that connected these two rooms and found nice chinaware set out across the table with soup and bread prepared. Food is the Northern Ireland form of hospitality, and in a patriarchal society such as the island of Ireland, women cook nonstop. Our stomachs were always full.

After the meal, some local youth group kids started showing up at the church. We met Gary and Dowdsy, senior high schoolers who would be our two junior leaders for the week.

The kids played football (aka soccer) with us for awhile. I had my dirt bag, so I taught them hackysack. They accused me of teaching them to be gypsies, instead of American culture.

In the evening, we met Connie, Pastor Steve's very active wife, who had us take showers at WAVES. Waves is a fitness center where we would use the public showers (unfortunately, not the pool) throughout the week.

With wet heads in mid-forties temperatures, we walked a few miles back to the church. Dinner was about ready when we got back, and it was fantastic. They love potatoes. We also found Nutella in the kitchen, which is a delicious hazelnut spread.

The kids came back later that evening with some new friends as well. Jason and I sang a few songs on guitar with them. Then we watched one of Rob Bell's Nooma videos entitled, "Dust." It's about Jesus being our rabbi and stuff like that. He's got some good videos, for sure. The night closed with a popcorn and soda snack (gotta love Irish flavored water) and two games: "womp" and "signs."

Honestly, the culture in Northern Ireland, I realized early, may be different than the United States, but it is not that hard to adapt to once you get past the accent and a very small amount of social norms.