Day 5

The fifth day. Adequate amount of sleep. Steve drove us just after 7 AM down to WAVES where we did our routine. Today would be spent at Lurgan Jr. High.

The junior high school was perhaps my favorite of all the schools we went to. Kids that age are so predictable. They ask you offensive questions and are entirely honest, and I love it. Preteen rebellion is so transparent.

My group consisted of myself, Meghan, Jo, Quinn, and Genna. We went to the classes where the subject "Religious Education" was being taught. Jo, a pastor's kid, and Genna gave a sweet co-speech thing about how Jo used to judge Genna for being Catholic. Eventually, after overcoming prejudgments, the two became friends. Then Genna would talk about how Catholics can learn from Protestants by looking at their heart and passion, while Protestants can gain knowledge from Catholics. The whole Protestant vs. Catholic thing is much different in the states, according to the students in the schools. On the island of Ireland, the religious separation is not too religious. It's mostly a cultural association/dispute over land/argument of who has the better football team. But still, there are frequent killings and acts of violence.

We had four classes totally that day. My favorite part was when we allowed kids to write questions down on paper anonymously for us to answer. Some asked if we lived next door to celebrities. We explained that the flight to Hollywood is as long as the flight to N. Ireland. Some asked if we liked burgers. In every class, at least one question was geared toward fast food.

One kid asked, "Why do you think America is best? it was founded by us." I had the awesome opportunity of answering his question. I said America was not best. Give me a reason why it is. Please stop being arrogant patriots.

"What kind of car do you have, a Ferrari?" and "How many pints of Guinness have you had?" were among some of my other favorites.

After school, we walked down the hill to the church. I went with Pastor Steve and Quinn to pick up pizza. I didn't even notice at first, but the place was called "Bada-Bing NY Style Pizza." The pizza guy knows P. Steve well because he is a frequent customer/evangelist. Steve explained that that pizza guy wasn't "saved" but has "religious" relatives. Again, spirituality is a lot different in Northern Ireland. Anyway, the guy gave Steve free Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and a great deal on the pizza and chicken.

The pizza and chicken were fantastic. I couldn't eat enough. Then I peer pressured Steve into letting us eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream even though I think he was going to save it for his family or his congregation or something noble like that. But c'mon, it was Ben and Jerry's. I swear I'm not selfish.

That night we could either stay at the church for a congregation prayer meeting or go to the Presbyterian church across town for a guest speaker. Due to the topic of the sermon, we decided to go across town. The speaker was a Burmese missionary, part of the persecuted church. English was his 6th most fluent language. He spoke about the harvest being ripe, but not enough laborers to bring in the harvest. This is in reference to spreading Jesus' Gospel. His speech seemed really cynical toward Buddhists which kind of surprised me. I went to talk to him after the sermon about this fact, but it was hard to communicate for him, as he is not primarily a speaker of English. So instead of answering my questions he just invited me to teach at his Bible college in Burma once I graduate with a degree in cross-cultural ministries. Who knows? I gave him my email. That might be cool. That might serve God's Kingdom. Probably won't happen, but we'll see.

All of us recognized that evening the paradox of hearing about foreign missions while on a foreign mission trip. I have no further commentary on that paradox.