N. Ireland Update #2: Aug. 11th - 15th

Email to Friends of G.Hope:

Tue. 11th

• Correction from the last update: The morning session this week is called Kids' Holiday Bible Club, and the afternoon session with the teenagers is called MIMO. I should have known; silly me.
• After the morning session with the kids, the team packed onto the church bus and drove out about an hour to the eastern coast, to a town called Castlewellan. There, we got off at Mt. Pleasant Riding Club, and got on horses for a trail ride up the mountain in Castlewellan National Forest. All of us made it through the entire hour ride, despite some initial fears (and in a few cases, panic attacks). What a beautiful ride through the Irish forest and mountainside!
• Then, off to Newcastle (a beautiful seaside town at the foot of the Mourne mountain range, the highest mountains in Ireland) for a dinner (tea) of fish and chips.

Wed. 12th

• Amoz's birthday! He got a birthday cake at lunchtime as well as gifts from Danny's nephew and nieces--Isaac, Lydia and Sofia. Coincidentally, there was another birthday party scheduled at church, which included a bouncy castle and face painting, so he got treated to those too.
• In the afternoon, Amoz went to Peter Pan's Playground (a large indoor playground full of very excited kids) with Isaac, Lydia and Sofia and their mum, while Christe went tubing with the rest of the team and MIMO .
• You might be wondering how we are managing with the two little ones. With a lot of help! Sharon and her daughter Carrie, along with many others including kids, have been generously lending their hand at taking care of them. At times, it has been a struggle trying to care for both our boys and the team. So I have been looking after the boys at times when Christe needed to be with the team to process and debrief together.
• Tea with our respective host families. We had ours with Alastair Dunlop (assistant pastor at First Portadown who is filling in for Stafford Carson) and his family.

Thu. 13th

• Lyriq's birthday! She also got a birthday cake and gifts at lunchtime.
• In the afternoon, we went caving at Belfast Activity Centre--not in a real cave, but in man-made tunnels made to simulate the real thing. We had to work as a team and crawl on our bellies through some tight openings--even through waterfalls rushing down on us. Some of us even went completely underwater to get out of the "caves."
• Back at the church for a BBQ that some of the church members grilled up for us.

Fri. 14th

• Our family visited 174 Trust in Belfast while the rest of the team did the last day of Bible Club. 174 Trust is a community development ministry operating out of an old Presbyterian church building that is in the heart of a Catholic community, promoting gospel reconciliation among Protestants and Catholics through some wonderful ministries of deeds. We were very happy to spend some time with Bill Shaw, the director of the Trust.
• The plan was for us to join MIMO in Belfast as they viewed the Tall Ships, but it was raining cats and dogs so the Lee family headed back to Portadown instead. Everyone else had a great time at the Tall Ships.
• In the evening, the Bible Club had its closing ceremony at First Portadown. It was good to see some of the results of our team's work, and how they'd bonded not only with each other but with the other leaders from Portadown.

Sat. 15th

• Theo and I hung back so Theo could get some rest (he was getting tired out by all the back-and-forths) and I could prepare for the two sermons at First Portadown on Sunday. The others headed out to Giant's Causeway--beautiful craggy cliffs on the coastline.

Prayer requests: That our team would have energy to continue on into the second half of the trip, and that there would be some significant spiritual growth in our kids. That there would be good opportunities of worship and service. That they would truly meet the Lord, hear him, and respond to him.

Thank you for your continued partnership with us in prayer!

Shalom from N. Ireland,
Kyuboem Lee