Max...

we got a puppy...his name is Max...

the results...

Here are a few of the pictures that I liked from our photo shoot a few nights ago....

Take a look...

Here is definitely something to take a look at:

www.thebricktestament.com

This website has every story from the old testament illustrated with multiple scenes- made from Legos. It's pretty funny...let me know what you think.

Mom and me...and the rest of the family

So, today (though exhausting) was so great. There really isn't anything like a mother and daughter relationship...

This morning my mom and I went to go get her hair cut. She's trying to grow it out with me so it's been fun helping her style it they way she used to help me style mine when I got a short cut...After that I went with her to work. My mom works as a physical therapist to special needs and handicapped kids in a school district on the other side of town. I got to meet her kids, co-workers, and even play a therapy game with one of the little boys she works with. He giggled everytime I called her mom, instead of Mrs...After a good day at work, we ran some errands, getting a little christmas shopping done, along with a little hobby lobby run, to pick up the needed craft supplies for the break.

After a busy day-in-the-life...I went to dinner with one of my dearest high school friends, Paige. She and I did everything in high school...pranks, band, theatre, etc...We caught up since she's taking her turn to leave the country in roughly 10 days. I'm really proud of her. So, dinner was nice since it'll be one of the few chances to catch up over the break. After dinner I headed home to get ready for the infamous...family pictures...

oh boy, when I found out we were doing family pictures I laughed. I've taken our family pictures the past few years on a tripod with my camera, this year...we decided professional was the way to go. We got in there, and were surrounded by little kids. Great. Well, we got in there and the photographer took her knee pads off and said, "yeah, i get to stand for this one." Terrific...strike two. It ended up being a really funny time, the girl (who couldn't have been much older than me) posed my parents in something I would like to consider the "prom pose" It was hilarious. My older brother decided to raise his eyebrows or make a funny facial quirk in several of the pictures, but for the most part I was very pleased with the way they turned out. It was fun to go out as a family and share a few laughs.

Tonight, my little brother went to bed and my older brother headed off to see some friends in Manhattan, so I got the parents all the myself. It was great. We all went into the kitchen and started making Christmas candy. A great holiday past time, if i do say so myself. Instead of the usuals we do every year, this year we got a few extra recipes from off the internet, in a few books we skimmed at Barnes and Noble, and also a few we heard about from friends. It was such a great time. We laughed and munched, and enjoyed a cup of Irish tea in the process. Nothing beats time with your family over the holidays.

home...

I'm home!!! There is snow on the ground, and our house is decorated for Christmas, my family is all together. I'm really happy to be home and begin putting to practice all i've learned and begining to share all i've experienced. Life is good, God is good, and it's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

There's no place like home....

Homeward Bound...

well, my post about paris was extraordinarily long...so, i will make up for it by making this post short...

Paris was amazing, as you previously read... however once we returned to the holiday homes, we were greeted by finals week. Luckily for me, I only had 3 papers, and 2 tests. A pretty easy finals week if I do say so myself. One paper I finished before I left for Paris...So, Sunday we relaxed most of the day and went to night church, then over to Hadden's house for dinner. Instead of singing Irish folk songs, this time we went around and told our "most embarrassing moment..." always a good time, i would like to personally thank my Father for allowing me to have mine. (dad, i know you remember that sunday in church...) anyway, moving on, Sunday was a really good day...

Monday... I slept in. I stayed up late the night before with a paper, so it was nice. Monday we all kinda did our own thing, study, sleep, nothing too eventful, but I didn't want to skip to Tuesday and leave you all curious.

Tuesday...hmm, I read part of a book for class and started getting ready for my final I had today. The rest of the day I started organizing some stuff so PACKING would be easier...so i decided that finals week has these bursts of stress, and then it's really boring, and pretty relaxed, and then a sudden burst of stress and cramming, it really makes no sense. Maybe it has to do with my time management skills, but stress=motivation...

Well, that leads me to today. One final down, it was Christian Life class. I feel like it went well. Tomorrow is our big final in Irish Art, so me and Kaitlyn decided to go for a walk...to Newcastle. Newcastle is the nearest town, roughly about 4 miles. We were smart though, we brought our homework to study at the coffee shop, but after our hour long walk, sadly the coffee shop was closed. Luckily for us we had arranged with our professors wife to pick us up, so we didn't have long to sit around in the cold waiting for her. We just went into a cute little shop next door. It ended up being a really fun afternoon, and a refreshing walk. But, since we didn't spend the afternoon studying diligently, we made up for that after dinner. I feel pretty good about it, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. As you can see, I'm obviously not terribly worried, or I wouldn't be posting on my blog right now...

After tomorrow I will be one paper away from being home, and it's not due until after I get home, so again, not terribly worried about it. Friday my friendship family has invited the whole group over for a BBQ! It'll be a blast for everyone to meet them. Saturday we're going into Belfast one last time to see the castle, and possibly the zoo! Sunday we're having a banquet with all our profs. and their families, and everyone's friendship family from church. Once tomorrow is over, the rest of this trip is full of fun and not so fun packing! For those of you at home, I'll be home Tuesday night (Dec. 9) for those of you at JBU, I'll see you Thursday (Dec. 11)

(Well this post didn't end up being as short as i hoped, oh well!)
I cannot wait to see you all!! This will probably be my last post until I get home, so thank you for reading, praying, and encouraging me these last 5 months during my time abroad. You have blessed me in more ways than you know, and I pray God blesses you in return...

Paris!!!

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. Mine was unlike any other thanksgiving I've ever had, even the one I spent with my brother in L.A.

Let me start at the begining. I went with two other girls named Jenny and Amanda, they're both from Texas, juniors, and have been roommates for three years. They were amazing! I'll never forget our time together in Paris!



We left Wednesday and headed to Belfast to grab lunch and our bus to the airport. Once we landed in Paris we went to go grab the bus into town. We saw a bus at port 12, but we were told to go to port 11 so we decided that probably wasn't our bus. After about 10 minutes I left my stuff with the girls and walked over to the next port to see if that was our bus. I leaned in and asked the man if he was going to the Opera house, which was our stop. He said (in broken english) yes but he was leaving immediately. I said okay let me go get my things quickly and he said "no, now! I leave now!!" And with that he shut the door and left. So I walked back and got the other girls and we went to the next port, where we stood in the cold for 20 more minutes waiting for our bus. I would say, though the French are known to be rude, this was the only rude encounter we had.

Once we got to our stop we started walking around, in the dark, with luggage, to find our hotel. We knew it wasn't far, but we didn't know where exactly it was. Our goal was to get there as quickly as possible. So, we were walking along a street...we thought was the right street. After we realized we were walking on the wrong street this older, short, black man came out of nowhere and asked us if we were lost. After the initial shock of a man appearing out of nowhere, we told him yes. He spoke amazing English. Come to find out he is an American, from Seattle, who had studied in Europe in college, and "realized [he] had a lot more learning to do" so he came back. He's been there longer than we've been alive he told us. He asked where we were from and made small talk while he walked around trying to help us find our hotel. He went into a local restaurant and got directions from the bartender. After we found our hotel he wished us the best and was gone. We talked about it later and were convinced he was an angel. He was wearing a touristy beret with 'Paris' embroidered on it, and speaking to the man in the restaurant he used the wrong greeting. You would think a man who has lived there that long who know which greeting to use, and wouldn't be wearing a tourist beret, trying to fit into the culture and be a local. None-the-less we were very thankful for him, and getting to our hotel.



We got a early start the next day, because we wanted to do everything! So this was our day in a nutshell: we walked around the Palais de Justice, trying to find Notre dame. Then we found Notre Dame, it was beautiful. On our way out we saw a movie being filmed, but didn't recognize the star. Then we walked to the Latin Quarter, and grabbed Croque Monsieur for lunch. (this is a white bread sandwich with one piece of ham in the middle, toasted, and like an inch of melted cheese on the top) It was an experience, but i wouldn't eat another one. The Latin Quarter was cool, but we didn't spend much time there. then we made our way to the metro, to head to the Louvre. There was a small symphony in the metro station we stopped and listened to for a while. They were really good...and looked like they were having fun. While at the Louvre we took tons of pictures, and saw the Mona Lisa, it was quite anticlimactic, but i was expecting that. On our way out of the Louvre we spotted the tip Eiffel Tower, and it was really exciting. We stopped to get a bottle of water and some very french eclairs before heading off to see the Eiffel. We went to the Eiffel to see it while it was still light outside, and watch it light up for night. We took some fun pictures while we were there hold up the Eiffel Tower because a old French man came up and was trying to pose us, it was hilarious. But the tower lit up bright blue, and had a circle of stars, it looked like the EU flag. After seeing the tower we walked to the Champs Elysees and it was light up with Christmas lights and a christmas craft fair! We walked up it to see the Arch de Triumphe, and then went to grab thanksgiving dinner on the most expensive road in Paris. We got French Onion Soup, another quite French dish, at a really fancy restaurant. It was fun and then we decided to try a different restaurant for desert. We found another cute little diner to sit and eat some creme brulee and coffee. (do you see a trend in all the food we ordered...we ordered the "frenchest" food possible. We were freezing cold, exasted, and our feet were starting to hurt so we grabbed the metro back to our hotel. To wrap our day up, we had a Mariachi band on our metro car.



The next day we got another early start, but not quite as early as the day prior. We started at the Opera house, which was probably the prettiest place we went the whole time. We walked around a took more pictures and it stunning. Then we went back to the Latin Quarter to eat at a small cafe and get baguette sandwiches. After the quick stop we got back on the metro, and in the same place the symphony was the day before was a mens polka band singing and playing their instruments. We got a little confused trying to find the metro to Versailles but we finally found it. It was beautiful, but they had a "Modern" art display which consisted on vacuums, and giant balloon animals, and an inflatable lobster hanging from the ceiling. I wouldn't necessarily call it art, but what do i know. Versailles was nice but it was so cold that we didn't get a chance to spend time in the garden, and they had the fountains off and the statues covered. We went to grab coffee after and I successfully ordered in FRENCH!!!! Probably the highlight of my whole trip, i felt so accomplished. We took the metro back, which was a little ridiculous since our Paris tickets won't work in the suburbs and we had to buy new tickets, but we made it there. We took the metro to the Eiffel, where we waited in line to go up! It was beautiful from the top, but again, quite cold. And, the tower sparkled every hour, which made it look kind of like a giant Christmas tree. After the Eiffel we went to grab dinner at a local restaurant, and then headed back to crash. Two full days in Paris and we were exhausted.



Saturday we slept in, (till 9:30!!!) we were exhausted and really sore from all the walking we did. We took the metro to the airport, and made it there barely before our gate closed. In the airport we met a backpacker. He had been all over eastern Europe, southern Europe, and was now headed to Belfast. He traveled with us all the way into Belfast because we knew what we were doing and knew our way around. We pointed him in the direction of his hostel, which was helpful to him, and he had some cool stories from his travels, so that was neat too.

We made it back to the holiday homes, and we were exhausted!!! ...but we sat around and caught up with the other girls and had a night of story telling. It was a good time. Now only 9 days left, 2 finals, 2 papers, and then i'm home! I can't wait. It's been a great experience and an awesome adventure, but i'm ready to close the door, and enjoy the memories.

(for those of you who made it all the way through that long post...congratulations and thank you)

Let me tell you...

Let me tell you about the girls on my team.

I will start by telling you that there are 11 of them, and they've each been a blessing in my life in a different way.


-This is a picture of a few of the girls...the ones in my house...


Last night the majority of us all sat around for hours and we just laughed, cried, asked each other questions, prayer requests, and talked about everything under the sun. We are all SO different, come from different places, and have different stories, but I know without a doubt that God hand picked each of us for this trip. He brought each of us here, to meet us here in a unique way. My experience wouldn't have been the same without these girls. We all hope and pray that these deep, Christ filled relationships will be lasting upon our return home.

They made my trip... Ireland is beautiful, and the relationships that were built with the locals I'll remember forever, but the friendship I've made with these girls can continue to be built and expanded upon. Things are going to be different next semester, and that's reality...Things will be different with my friends because they've had all semester to continue to grow relationships, and things will be different with these girls because we won't be in a quiet house together in Ireland with virtually no one else around... But, lucky for me, they'll still be around next semester, and God has opened the door for a handful of us to start a school sponsored bible study together when we get back, so we can continue to share with each other how God is growing and shaping us. I hope God blesses them in the same way he's allowed them to bless me...I'm really excited to see how God is going to continue to grow these friendships and meet us in unique ways when we get home.

I leave for Paris on Wednesday for my Thanksgiving holiday. My next post will tell all my stories...I'm really excited!! When i get back, I'll have finals, and then I head home. I'm on the downward slope. I said this before briefly, but I hope you really take time to sit back and think about all your thankful for... Much love. - Andra Beth

Monasterboice, the Shankill road, and the President.

So, I left off telling you about meeting the Irish president. Well, Tuesday morning we all got dressed up and were ushered to the front row of this event. There were community leaders there, and the president put her speech aside and spoke verbatim. She was a very eloquent speaker, and then our prof. Derrick Bingham spoke after her and presented her with a booklet that he wrote on St. Patrick. She was a beautiful lady, and from what I hear she is highly respected in the Irish community. It was a privilege and an honor to hear her speak and she came around and spoke with all of us afterward.

Wednesday we had class, and then got ready to go eat lunch at 'The Crown' which is the oldest pub in Belfast. It was really nice, the atmosphere was incredible. Billy and Mindi came in from JBU for a few days and took us to eat there before giving us a little Belfast tour. After lunch we walked across the street to the Europa, the most bombed hotel in all of Europe. It had been bombed roughly 75 times and so we went in for a cup of tea. Then we walked down the Shankhill road where Billy grew up, and he told us his testimony about being the son of a UVF terrorist. The murals on the buildings told a powerful story of pain and suffering, but Billy's testimony was a powerful story of God's grace. The Shankill road and the Falls road are the main roads in all Northern Ireland where terrorism activity took place. The Shankill road: protestants. The Falls road: catholics. This was probably the highlight of my trip so far.

That night me and a few others decided to walk to the starbucks that we were told was "right up the road." We didn't figure we would be going on a 5 mile adventure through Belfast. So, we took off walking. A little less than an hour later we made it to starbucks, 5 minutes before they closed. The whole walk took about an hour and a half, and we estimated it to be about 5 miles round trip, based on the shocked look in our professors face when we told him where we went, and also because there were road signs that said 'City Center' 2.5 miles... and as we got closer to the city center, we got closer to the people with cups. It was a really fun time though, and besides the blisters, it was nice to get our for a walk.

the last interesting thing we've done lately is the Monasterboice high crosses. We drove to see some famous High Crosses. they were very beautiful, and since I had to write a 2,000 word paper on them earlier in the semester, it was nice to see them and have a little prior knowledge about them. (there will definitely be pictures of this on my website, they were incredible).



Tonght we're going to a semi-professional rugby game, and other than that I don't know what else is going on in the next for days except that I leave for PARIS in a few days...(wednesday to be exact!)

hope all is well with you, and that you find lots to be thankful for this thanksgiving season!! Blessings. -ap.

Wilber... and the 'new world'

So, first I will give you a quick update of whats to come and whats been done, then i'll leave you with an amazing story.

First of all, I left off telling you we were going to Dublin. Well, in all actuality, we went to a museum, and then turned right around to go back the almost 3 hours to Dundrum. So the only park of Dublin we saw this time around was from the 'car park' to the building and back again. We went to the Nation Gallery. It had tons and tons of paintings. beautiful paintings. Some by Yeats, and O'Connor, and more people that you may know but that I cannot remember of the top of my head this late at night. Memorable, but a long day.

The next day, again long. Instead of headed south, we headed west, and went to a western county in Northern Ireland, called Omagh. We stopped at a place that was called 'Island Turf.' Turf comes from the ground here and is often used for fire. However as Ireland gets more peaceful, and more of a tourist attraction, turf has become more valuable as well. This place had turf everything! Turf crosses, ornaments, harps, shamrocks, angels, claddaghs, and pretty much any other sign or symbol that can be equated with Ireland. So that was a fun little detour. The purpose of the trip was to go to the Ulster American Folk Park. Though there weren't many 'folk' there, it was a blast! I felt like a little kid again.

So heres how it started out...it was a long museum trail. You start in the old world of Ireland and get to see some old colonies here, then you walk through town and visit a few of the old shops. We stopped at a printing press where they made us a ticket for the boat. After walking through the 'wee' town, we got on this huge ship, and got off on the other side...the new world. We had immigrated to America! So, we walked through the streets of America and sang American songs, since we were the only group there we were allowed to be slightly more obnoxious and patriotic than we would usually be. This whole museum centered around Thomas Mellon and his immigration to America. He founded the Mellon banks, and is the Mellon half of Carnegie-Mellon, the institution in Pennsylvania. It was another long, memorable day.




At the last house in America, we decided to take team pictures, so I propped my camera on a post, put it on self timer, and spent the next 20 minutes taking family pictures with the people that have played the role of my family for the last several weeks.

This leads me to Saturday...story time.

I had an interview project for an independent study that I'm taking while here in Ireland. There are two other girls who are taking the same study as I am, and so we decided to go out and find a nice old Irish man to interview. As we were walking to the local gas station, there was a man on the sidewalk that looked like a friendly, harmless old man. So I walked over to him and asked him if we could interview him...

a few weeks before....
my roommate went for a walk up to the castle in town and ended up making friends with an old man named wilber she came back and told us all about. We had thought about asking her to look him back up to interview him, but we didn't want to drag her into our project, or this poor old man. But a few of the girls had tried to return with Lydia to visit Wilber, but with how busy we've been there never was time.

back to the gas station...
After we asked him the question, he said oh your americans i'd recognize that accent anywhere. I know one of your kind, she and I had a nice chat a while ago. Immediately we were all like LYDIA! so one of the girls ran back to get her. He invited us over for a cup of tea so there ended up being five of us that went up there with this dear old man. We sat and talked to him, his son, Nigel, and Nigel's girlfriend ALL afternoon. Almost 3 hours! We compared cultures, talked, laughed, and crossed paths with people that I won't forget for a long long time, if ever.

Although I wasted one of my only free days, I got so much more information by spending the afternoon with them that it only took me two 1-hour settings to get my paper finished. I was just able to write about in detail everything that went on during my visit to Wilbers.

That's my story, and my update. We meet the president of Ireland tomorrow, and I'll write to you soon after to tell you how it went. Blessings. - Andra Beth p.s.-more pictures have been posted!

27 days and counting...

Well, we're on to our last month here, and honestly I would say it's a bitter-sweet deal. I'm ready to come home and see my wonderful family and amazing friends, but we're just starting to develop good relationships with people here. It takes time to build relationships, and it's just now beginning to take off. So, it will be sad to say goodbye and have to continue these new friendships online, but God is good and has blessed me by putting these people in my life for this time.

Well, the castle i mentioned in my previous post was actually not a castle at all. It was more like a mansion. A mansion that is the Queen's home whenever she comes to visit Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK). This is also where the U.S. president's stay when they visit Ireland. Their guest book was open to the signatures of George W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton. Afterwards we walked through an art gallery and went to a children's toy store. It was a good day, an another story to tell.

Sunday we went to our friendship families house...where I learned to make SUSHI! I was scared that I wasn't going to like it, but making it was so much fun!! We made crab, smoked salmon, and a veggie role (just in case). It actually all ended up being delicious. We had Japanese soup, sushi, and a traditional japanese desert of stuffed tofu with rice-- (or something of the sort, I can't quite remember). I love learning new recipes and trying new things so this was definitely a highlight of the week.

Yesterday the two daughters of our friendship family, Sam and Chrisie, came and picked up a few of us and took us to an indoor rock climbing gym. It was a BLAST! I made it to the top of a few walls, and didn't succeed at others. It was challenging, and something I'd like to continue to do occasionally. That family has been such a blessing in my life!! Saying goodbye to them will be one of the hardest parts of leaving Ireland and coming home.

This week consists of lots of homework and lots of fun. We have some faculty from JBU coming to spend the week and we're meeting the president of the republic of Ireland, we're heading to Dublin, and doing lots more! Check back in a few days to hear what else is going on in our last few weeks here in Ireland. Blessing everyone! -AP

as of lately...

As of lately, we've been pretty busy.

Midsummer Nights Dream in the park was good. It wasn't too cold, which was good. It was interactive, and I ended up with an Actor on my lap, and men fencing about 2 feet in front of me. I've never seen it done quite like this before...in fact, our group decided that the director may have just been on drugs when directing this film, it was quite "unique"...and i'll leave it at that.

The Fireworks Saturday night were beautiful!! Since I was out of the country on the 4th of July, it's been awhile since i've seen fireworks. The show went on for a while, and there was a beautiful cool breeze. It was one of those moments where you think to yourself, "wow, i'm in belfast, northern ireland watching fireworks on halloween!" Seemed almost surreal.

The Belfast Giant's game was SO much fun!! I posted pictures of it on my website. We were in the thrid row, behind the opposing team. The atmosphere was so fun and everyone was singing Irish Hockey songs. Even though we lost, it was a very fun experience. Maybe i'll become a big hockey fan...maybe not... we'll see. :)

Sunday we decided to go to night church, so we took that day to work on a paper. These next three weeks i'll write over 60 pages in different papers. It'll be a little stressful, but I haven't had a whole lot of stress so far this semester, so I suppose it's about my turn for some. Church was great! probably one of the better ones i've been too in a while. Our prof. Hadden preached on pain, and how Christ's power is made perfect in our weakness. After church he and his wife fed us dinner, and then sat around and taught us Irish folk songs. So we sat around for a few hours singing and laughing. He told us to laugh more, and stress less. I like that way of thinking.

Oh here's a funny story...So Monday we had a free day after class, and we have 7 books to share between 16 of us for this huge art paper. So a few of us who wanted to get out of the house, and find our own books, headed off to take a bus to Belfast, to find some works in the Queens University Library. Well, after spending an hour on the bus, we got to Queens and spend about 2 hours walking up and down stairs trying to find the books we needed. then up and elevator to floor 8 then realizing it was wrong, and then back to floor 2 to take stairs to floor one to find again where we needed to be...and it went like that for quite some time. After failing at our endeavor, we took a long walk back to the bus station, to spend another hour on the bus back to Dundrum. It was a failed attempt, however it was fun to say we've explored the Queens library.

Tuesday we had Irish Lit. class, where we read Dancing at Lughnasa, a play set in Ireland in 1936. That evening we went to a famous Irish Journalist's house. He was one of the mail journalists during the time of the terrorism in Ireland, and was incredibly interested in our politics. The reason we went to his house, was because he had over 5 million pounds (8-10 million american dollars) of famous Irish art. He had art EVERYWHERE. Hung on every wall, propped against chairs, against his desk, Stacked up on the floor. I mean this man had more art than he knew where to put it all. it was crazy. But the art was beautiful and he was a really interesting character. He asked us a lot of questions about christianity, and JBU, and our prof.'s and everything.

Yesterday we went to C.S. Lewis' church, and saw a stained glass window he had purchased and dedicated to his father that was housed in the church. The stained glass window was by one of the artists I'm writing about in my paper, so i really enjoying getting to see one of his works. Then we ate at McDonalds...(which made me feel quite at home) and went to see a statue of the wardrobe. AFter taking pictures by the wardrobe, we got to drive by his Childhood home. (Called Little Lea). Then we headed home, where I went and bought some Belfast Telegraphs that covered the election.

It's been a pretty busy, but very fun week. We're headed to a castle this afternoon, and I'm sure I'll have more stories come early next week. Hope all is well with you all...

P.S. I've uploaded more pictures if you're interested...
-Blessings. -AP <><

quick update...

So, it's time for a quick update, mostly so I don't have to write yet another art paper...

This week has been really relaxing, hardly any homework, and a lot of hanging out.

Friday we went to PSNI, the police station of Northern Ireland. The presentation was really cool just talking about the police and how they tried to stop the terrorism and how many policeman have died in all the terrorism attacks in the past 30 years. Then we went on a tour of their "Garden of Remembrance" and the BBC showed up and interviewed three of the people on our team.

Saturday was a day of relaxing, watching a TV series on our projector for most of the day, and then went to a coffee shop for the evening. Sunday we went to church at Elkana, where we got to hear one of our professors preach, and then they served us lunch. Another relaxing, hospitable sunday.

There isn't too much news going on this week, but next week will definitely have some more stories to tell. Tomorrow night we're going to Midsummer nights dream in a park in Belfast, hopefully it's not too cold. Friday we're going to the premier of the new 007 movie, and then off to watch Halloween fireworks. (again, weather permitting) Halloween is a HUGE holiday here, they get a whole week of school off for it. And then Saturday we're going to a Belfast Giant's ICE HOCKEY game! Should be a pretty good weekend.


I'll write again soon and let you know what's going on here, but for now I'm gonna head back to that paper!

Blessings! -AP

Blessings...

so, i am extremely blessed.

I've taken time this week to pray somethings over, and I am blessed beyond all measure.

To be honest, these past few weeks I haven't been acting like myself, and I haven't been keeping my eyes focused on God.

This week i decided to focus on God and see what happened...

Wednesday, I went on a walk with my roommate to a nearby castle, and we talked about learning how to love God better, instead of JUST thinking about how much love he has for us. After the incredible talk, we sat and looked over Dundrum, and the ocean, (which is just beyond the bay and Murlough Island) then we spent some time rolling down some hills around the castle area afterward and landing in piles of crunchy leaves. We laughed incredibly hard and ate some ripe blackberries on our way back home that we picked ourselves. :) picture of my roommate and Me!!!



Now, as i mentioned in my last post, i've been homesick lately...So i've been praying that God opens up SOMETHING, whatever it was, that would block my view of home...Well friends, I will be spending Thanksgiving in Paris, under the Eiffel Tower with two girls on my team. The tickets were conveniently cheap, and I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Paris, so as you can imagine, i'm fairly excited. It definitely put a barrier between me and home, because i still have a trip to PARIS to plan first. To top it off, today i got an email from my mom, telling me an unexpected check from and event i worked this summer came in, it's actually just a few dollars more than my plane ticket to paris. God is such a provider.

I still have prayers on my heart about how the rest of this trip goes, mostly regarding my attitude towards it. But I am blessed to be here, (and blessed to realize it!) and I am blessed to have the internet to keep in touch with people back home, even though i take it for granted. And i'm blessed with the girls on this trip...they're amazing and have become such good friends.

God is good, and he's a God who answers prayers...(and he's a God who will do what it takes to get your attention...)

I've been blessed to have people like you who read my blog and pray for me...so thank you for blessing me. It doesn't go unnoticed.

Pictures...

So, I've given the link before, but I spent some time these past few days putting up more Ireland pictures from throughout my whole time here, and also a few more fall break pictures. Here's the link if you're ever interested...

http://picasaweb.google.com/andrasphotos


---most of the pictures include places I've blogged about...


Aside from that, the mexican dinner at my friendship families house went great! Jenny and me, along with the 3 ladies of that household just took our time making all the food, it was the most social cooking experience ever...They have only ever had English mexican food before, and so as you can imagine, they weren't too fond of mexican, but they loved the food and there were few leftovers. It was a really good time. I wish i could spend more time over there with them.

The midterm on monday went well, and we had our first ever team bible study last night which was really great. One of my bosses from admissions (where I worked last year) is doing his masters at Queens and came in from Belfast to lead it, so it was good to see him. Thats about all the news for now...

hope all is well with you! -God Bless -Andra Beth

My weekend...

So, it has been a busy busy time since we've been back from fall break...papers to write, midterms to study for, and lots to do.

We arrived back tuesday night..and wednesday had a huge research paper to do, which i successfully completed. Hopefully my prof. thinks so. Thursday, we headed to Belfast to watch Juno and the Paycock, an Irish play set in the 20's about the conflict. We went to the Belfast Opera house, which was beautiful, and noticed that West Side Story is showing this upcoming week, so a few of us are trying to get tickets to that. Friday was a pretty relaxing day, the team went to the department of education, but a few girls on the team were sick, and I was feeling pretty tired so I stayed behind to help them out, and we got some homework done, which was really nice. Well, that brings me to today...

Today we went to Castle Ward, they were putting on a pumpkin patch festival, and Scott and Tasha thought it would be fun for their kids to carve pumpkins while we toured the house. This house, was really awkward. The front half was classical style, and the back half was Gothic. Even the outside of the house was different on each side.


BACK: Gothic


Front: Classical

So, after the tour of the half house, Lydia and I went for a walk around the property. It was beautiful. Green grass, big lake, cows, sheep, overcast sky, beautiful weather. Typical Ireland :)...

Tomorrow we're off to church, and then to our friendship families. I have been blessed by the friendship family, which i suppose is the purpose of them. They asked us what kind of food we missed the most, and Jenny and I both reply instantly mexican. So this week we got an email asking us for our favorite recipes, and if we would be willing to cook for them if they picked up the ingredients. So tomorrow after church I'm making guacamole and enchiladas with Jenny! I'm actually really excited...minus the huge midterm monday I need to study for thats hanging over my head... haha but that's okay, because God is good, and calls us to relax sometimes...

This week has been a real 'home-sick' week. It's been over 3 months almost 4 since i've been home (minus the 10 days between trips) and it's getting kinda hard...but I got a package in the mail from my mom, and got a chance to call my grandparents to wish them a happy 60th anniversary, so those have been really good and God is really blessing me in my quiet times right now.

i'll leave you with my devotions from this morning. I hope they encourage you as they did to me today...

"Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you." Psalm 55:22 ---"when your own problems consume you, you give into fear- that you will fail or let others down. Fear will tempt you to focus on the size of your burden rather than the size of you GOD. When you focus on God instead, you will see him fighting by your side. This kind of faith in God is the only way to maintain joy and peace in spite of your circumstances. Give your burdens to God." -oct. 18

Blessings...-Andra

Can I just say, i've flown a lot...

So, i posted earlier today, but i thought i should post one more, just reflecting on the amount of travel i've been doing, it truly is crazy, i hope you get a chuckle out of all this crazy stuff hahaha...

since June...till now... 14 flights

2 flights to Little Rock, to see my boyfriend... :)
2 flights to Montreal, to do Orientation for a mission trip...
2 flights to Portugal, for the mission trip...
2 flights home from Portugal, to Montreal for debrief...
2 flights home from Montreal...
2 flights to Ireland...
1 flight to Nottingham for fall break...
1 flight back to Ireland from Nottingham...

that's 14 so far...only 4 more on the schedule for now! (and that's to and from PARIS and then home from Ireland in 55 days)

The view from my window lately...

Fall Break

Well, fall break is concluding, I have just finished packing up, and we catch a bus in an hour or so to head back to Ireland...

As I stated, Lydia (my roommate) and I went to Nottingham, England. She has an old friend here that we were able to stay with. Her name is Miriam and she's done missions work in Africa for over 30 years. She was adorable, and very hospitable.

Our first night here we sat around and Lydia and Miriam caught up, along with playing a competitive game of Phase 10. On Saturday, we went to the Chatsworth house which is about an hour drive from here. We had a picnic lunch and the went for a walk around the grounds. The movie Pride and prejudice was partially filmed inside the house, I got my picture taken next to the "Mr. Darcy" statue. Also, the new movie The Duchess, was filmed there and inspired by one of the Duchesses of Devonshire, who used to live there. It was a beautiful house, ith a beautiful garden, I'm really glad we went there.



ps..if you click on the picture it will get big enough to actually see...

On Sunday, we went to Miriam's church, and then to a friends for lunch. After we went to a park and walked around and saw another really big, really beautiful, really old house. This house however, wasn't as beautiful on the inside, because it was a taxidermy gallery. After the walk, we came back to the house, and i headed upstairs for bed. I haven't been sleeping terribly well so it was nice to have an evening to talk to people back home, relax, and head to bed early. Monday we took an early train into a town called Lincoln. Lincoln was an old English, Cobblestone road type of town. We went to a castle, and visited a beautiful cathedral, along with a few local shops. We went and had a cute afternoon tea, and stopped at a bookstore, where i browsed leisurely for probably an hour. After returning back to Nottingham, we went out for dinner with miriam, and then came back and watched some TV. Today we've just been relaxing, and packing up. Tonight and tomorrow i have an Art research paper to write, due thursday morning, along with a team field trip to Belfast to the opera house...so hopefully that gets done without too much stress.

Hope all is well with all of you. Until next time....-AndraBeth

The Book of Kells and The National Museum

So on thursday we went back to Dublin, which is about 2- 2 1/2 hours from Dundrum where we're staying. We got the chance to go to Trinity college, which has a few of the first Illuminated manuscripts, including the Book of Kells, which is the most famous one. Illuminated manuscripts are the gospels, written by monks, that have very intricate drawings and have been made with vellum, they're very intricate..i would encourage you to google it, because it's stunning and hard to describe.

After that we went to the National Museum, it had the Ardagh chalice, the Tara broach, and some of the bog bodies, along with other ancient irish Art that we've been learning about. It really was fascinating, but quite a long day. I wish i could explain in more detail the history behind the art, however I'm on fall break and have currently shut my brain down.

For fall break Lydia and I left to go to Nottingham, England. After arriving at the airport 12 minutes before our flight left, 18 minutes after our gate supposedly was shut, we sprinted through the airport, cut in the security line with many thanks and apologies, we got to our gate with 2 minutes to spare, and made our flight panting and wheezing. I will update you with the adventures we have while we're here, since we actually made it here. Cheers!

-AP

This isn't the way You intended it to be.

So, I had Irish Literature today with Prof. Bingham. He is so knowledgeable and passionate. I always love his class. We've read a lot of C.S. Lewis, and other local artists like Seamus Heaney and Michael McLaverty. He's the one I had to write a paper for on poetry that I wrote about in my last blog. Well, i also had to write a poem for him on a piece of C.S. Lewis' book Miracles. This poem had to be about the incarnation of Christ and that was pretty much it, we had freedom to be expressive and creative after that. He told us that poetry was emotion recollected in tranquility. So we got our poems back this morning and he was really pleased with mine. He told me i got a very well deserved 'B' which, for my first poem, I'm really proud of. So I decided I would let you all read my poem...let me know what you think.

"This isn't the way you intended it to be..."

This isn’t the way
You intended it to be.

All this hurt
All this pain
All this doubt
All this shame

You came to Earth
As a helpless little baby

To restore
To redeem
To reclaim

I wish people would
Just open their eyes to see

All your power
And majesty

Instead people waste
Their time and energy

Trying to prove
Your birth a joke
Going against
Your miracle

This isn’t the way
You intended it to be.
You came to Earth
As a helpless little baby
I wish people would
Just open their eyes to see
Instead people waste
Their time and energy

I see you
Everywhere I look.
I see you.

Your birth
Your miracle
Your power
Your majesty

Yet I see

All this pain
To restore
All this hurt
To redeem
All these hearts
To reclaim

This isn’t the way
You intended it to be.

friendship families and learning....

so, i know i just posted yesterday, so don't be too overwhelmed with my exceeding amount of posts haha...

This blog is mostly to be a break from homework but also just a few of my reflections on what I've really been learning lately.

Currently I'm sitting at my "friendship families" house doing a little homework, drinking a little americano (espresso and water) relaxing and enjoying myself. Jenny and I are sitting on 12 acres of beautiful hills and ponds, with cattle, in a beautiful house with tons of art and wonderful hosts. Its actually been a really fun afternoon. We went for a walk around the property, they have a some buildings on the property that are traditional Irish 'servants houses' built in the 1500's now renovated and made into a workshop. Hopefully the rest of the team is enjoying themselves as much as me right now.

Spending time in Portugal, and now in Ireland, I'm learning about environmental conservation and environmental issues that we don't talk much about in the US. The church I'm attending in Ireland has provided a "friendship family" and mine is fantastic.

They are environmentally conscious, having a solar heated heat and hot water system. Also, here in Europe they have switches for their plug-ins. Chargers for cell phones, computers, and really whatever else are constantly running energy through them, so here when they're no in use, they can be turned off, like a light switch closer down to the floor. Every place here has recycling bins, even the beaches of Portugal were lined with them. Even the toilets have 2 flushers, (1 for #1, 2 for #2) to conserve water. It's really encouraging to see other people making an effort to help the environment and economy by doing the little things they can do. It's so simple to do our part, we just have to be willing to do it.

(this blog doesn't really flow, it's more a compilation of thoughts and reflections...hope you're prepared...)

Also, I'm learning a lot about the Christian life in America and really having to process and think through the way we as Christians are perceived. I really wish we could love better. I know individuals are loving, but collectively as a people, i wish we could come across as loving, not critical, or judgemental. Today the pastor preached about church splits, and how churches split because of miscommunication, and often times our egos, always thinking we're right and not taking on the humble attitude of Christ. He said we each have individual talents and abilities but need to use each others gifts to make our stronger. Like an orchestra. 3 violin players won't sounds as good together as a violin, flute, and cello. But if they're willing to work together, they make beautiful harmony. I thought it was a beautiful picture of the Bride of Christ, living harmoniously as one. It made me think of Siloam, apparently all the churches in town had one big service a few weeks ago. I heard nothing but positive feedback from it. I'm convinced that's the way the church is supposed to be. One body, many members.

So, one of my classes is Irish Lit. It has absolutely intrigued me. Post of you know I'm not one much for reading, but lately i haven't been able to get away from books. I read Ender's Game in Portugal, and loved it! not only do i not like to read, i don't like science fiction...I guess I do now :)...But the reading material we have is just amazing. In Irish Lit. we're doing a section on poetry. At first I wasn't really into it, but I had to write a paper about it and now I can't put it down. I even e-mail a few poems out to people, so they could enjoy them. I'm surprising even myself with this love of learning that has taken over. One of the classes is reading "This troubled land" about the conflict in Northern Ireland, but it's the class I've replaced with an independent study, but I'm reading it anyway and it just helps explain the rich culture here. I love it.

Well, that's kind of a conglomeration of what I'm learning and doing. There's so much more, but as I already stated, this was primarily a break from homework.

A simple request, to conclude my post.... My team is almost at our halfway point, and that's generally when homesickness hits, along with quarrels and whatever else. Pray for our team attitudes, towards one another and those in leadership. Pray for Scott and Tasha as they lead this team, may they have wisdom in their leadership, and pray that we continue to remember that God is our family, although it's inevitable that we'll miss our families, he is all we need to sustain us.

thanks for reading...

The Northern Ireland Assembly

Well this week we got to move into our permanent residence for the remainder of our time here. We're staying at Holiday Homes and the view from our backyard is Dundrum Bay and the Mourne Mountains. This photo is my view :) (but when the tide is out, the bay is completely empty and it's just a mud field...



This week has been quite relaxing. On Tuesday we went to Belfast to celebrate a girl on our team's birthday. We went to "The boy in stripped pajamas" which is a really sad movie, but very well done. After that we went out to dinner and then on home to get ready for class the next day.

Yesterday, we went to the Northern Ireland assembly; Stormont. We got to meet with members of the UUP (Ulster Unionist Party), the Green party, and Sinn Fein (the nationalist party) and we got to hear all three different opinions government, parliament, and the troubles in northern Ireland. It was really cool to hear about everything going on, then after we got a tour. Here is our team at Stormont.



After we got back to Dundrum, we hung out for a bit before going to Kareoke! It was so funny. This week we're going Dublin for an art tour, and then off to Nottingham for fall break!! i'll post more next weekend! bye friends!

Bart and the Vikings

Well, classes are in full swing and I’m really excited. I'm not quite in school mode since we're still doing a bit of traveling. I'm enjoying lectures, but not quite focused enough to really get into homework.

Here are the classes I’m taking, (I know you all are curious)

Political Philosophy
Irish Literature
Irish Art and Culture
Christian Life
Cross-cultural Communication (independent study)

We have been exploring towns nearby and Tuesday we made it to Belfast to walk around, do some exploring, and some shopping. A few girls on my team and I went to a restaurant called The Ground Floor Apartment. Our Server there was named Bart. Bart was a Polish guy; I would guess about 27 years old. He's been living in Belfast for 3 years now, studying to learn English. He started to share about the conflict in Northern Ireland when he discovered we were Americans. It was good to have a non-bias insiders view on the whole issue. He kept looking around like he was telling us a secret and when people would walk by he acted like he was taking our order. He said people don’t like it when we talk about the conflict. He was saying that he lives in a protestant neighborhood but since he’s polish people automatically assume he’s catholic. Even though he’s not. He said that he knew someone that got hit by a car on the Shankill Rd. (the main road of the protestants during the conflict) and broke his leg, and when people came by to help but then found out he was catholic they beat him up instead. He said this happened last week and as much as people claim there’s peace, there’s really not. He said it was much more of a "not-so-obvious" war. Bart broke my heart for the people of Ireland. It reminds me of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because Bart said that if you ask a Catholic why they hate Protestants they would answer you, “Because I do.” And as cheesy as it is to compare Shakespeare to Irish History, the Capulet’s and Montague’s hated each other for generations and had no idea what the conflict was. Here, the conflict was based off national borders, but yet now it is so much deeper than that. The conflict is based off long-term hurts and wounds. It’s so sad to see a country that is missing so much the thing they need: They need to know the freedom of Forgiveness.

On Saturday we went to a Viking festival. It was hilarious. It reminded me of a renaissance festival, but of course with Vikings and a much smaller scale. There was one Viking names Andy who said he’s been doing this for 14 years for the love of it. The view from the park where the festival was held was absolutely beautiful! I think I spent more time looking at the view than at the “Viking fight.” After the Viking festival we came back and got cleaned up and went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant.

More places we’ve seen this week include: the Inch Abbey, a beautiful Abbey of ruins that we spent some time taking some pictures and such, Saul Church, St. Patrick’s memorial church the first Christian church in Ireland built around 432 AD. Tolleymore Forest a beautiful forest that we went hiking in for quite some time.

So, that’s a brief rundown and what’s going on right now. We’re headed to our houses on Monday and are continuing class daily along with fieldtrips to different sites occasionally. Hope all is going well at home and I’ll update more in a few days!


P.S. Here is a site you can check out some of my favorite pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/andrasphotos/Ireland?pli=1#

The Bogside Artists and the Murlough House

Today we went to Derry (Or Londonderry- depending on whether you're a nationalist or a loyalists) and got to visit the Bogside. The bogside is where bloody Sunday happened in the 1970's so there is a lot of really rich history there.



We got to see about 10 huge murals that were painted on buildings by the bogside artists that really represented the whole war from a neutral point of view. One of the artists gave us about an hour tour explaining the symbolism behind each mural. It was really powerful to hear his story, since he lived through the turmoil.



After our time in the bogside, we went back to our N. coast cottages, and the next day we went to the beach. It was so beautiful. I have been to the Atlantic more times these past few months, than i ever had in my life. It's made me appreciate the Majesty of God. On Sunday we went to a vineyard church. It was just like an American vineyard church, except people had accents and they served tea rather than coffee, but it was good worship and just a relaxing Sunday, with subway following. It was just like I was at home :).

After church we drove up to Dundrum, the quaint little town I'll be residing in for the next few months. We couldn't get into our cottages until the end of Sept. so for now we're staying in the Murlough House. (pronounced Mer-logck) This is a house for missions groups that come through and we're about half a mile from the beach, about 3 miles from the cottages we'll be staying in (across a beautiful bay) . So you can image the beauty I'm surrounded in. I'm excited to get to know the locals of the town and just submerge myself in Irish culture.

that's all for now. I'll keep you posted...

Leaving Dublin...

Well, we left Dublin and headed up to our next stop, Enniskillen. On our way there we stopped at a place called Knowth, an old above ground burial. It was a short stop, but had a pretty view, and was our first view of Irish countryside, instead of a cityscape.

Once we made it to Enniskillen, we just walked around and got to see the town. It was much different from Dublin. It was our first stop in Northern Ireland, and the volume was quieter, the pace was slower, and the accent was heavier. It was a smaller town but it was cute. It reminded me of Siloam, kinda the Siloam of N. Ireland. :) We spent 3 days here, having the first of each of our classes. It was good to meet our professors and have some time to rest. It rained the whole time we were here, the rain was remnants of Hurricane Hannah, the same storm that hit the U.S.

Enniskillen was pretty uneventful, we were supposed to do some sightseeing but the rain changed our plans, but thats okay, we needed the down time. We left Enniskillen yesterday to head up to the North coast. The North Coast is beautiful! the people on our team that have been the Ireland before said that the North Coast is their favorite part. We got to visit Giant's Causeway. It's right on the ocean and has hexagon shaped stones that stick up in the air, i'm not even sure how to describe it, but we got to climb all over the rocks and I got to take a lot of pictures. After climbing for a bit, I just sat down and soaked in what I was seeing. It took my breath away, God is so majestic.

After Giant's Causeway, we went to Carrick-a-Rede. A long rope bridge that takes us across to an Island with a beautiful view. It's about one Kilometer walk from the car to the rope, and when we were almost there, it started to DOWN POUR. But, we were almost to the bridge, so we didn't turn back. We crossed the bridge, took a few pictures, and then walked 1K in the pouring down rain. (luckily we all had rain jackets but every part of us that wasn't covered in a rain jacket was soaking wet, but it was still pretty fun.)

Now we're in some cottages while we spend our time on the North Coast, just relaxing and enjoying the quiet and green of N. Ireland.

Welcome to Ireland...

Welcome to Ireland...Well friends, I've made it here with out too much difficulty. Our plane took off on time, only to turn around after an hour and land back in Atlanta for us to switch planes, because something happened... but I'm not totally sure what. After arriving a few hours late to Dublin, we met up with the rest of our team. We headed to our hostile and got settled in, then headed off for a walk and then dinner. We walked through the Temple Bar area, which is the Bar area of town but also has tons of shops and restaurants. But in Ireland, what's not the bar area right? Just kidding, that is quite a stereotype. They do drink beer like we drink coffee, but it's much more a social thing here.

We've got to have a lot of free time walking around and really soaking in Irish culture. We went to an old prison that held rebels from back in like the 1920s in the Michael Collins era. We saw the post office where one of the battles took place and watched the Michael Collins movie that night. So, a lot of history regarding why Ireland is the way it is today. The next day we went to the Chester Beatty Library in the Dublin castle. It had origin sketching from Rembrandt (the artist, not the toothpaste!) and also original excerpts from the bible. I got to see one of my favorite passages from Ephesians in its original Hebrew writing, done by Paul himself!! So incredible. Today we went to an Anglican church called Christ’s church in a HUGE cathedral and then went shopping the rest of the day. It's been a great, relaxing time adjusting to the culture. I'm exciting to continue. We leave Dublin tomorrow to head west for a few more days before heading in Dundrum.

I'll leave you with an old Celtic blessing...

May the blessing of light be on you—
Light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
And warm your heart
Till it glows like a great peat fire.

-ANDRA BETH

wrappin' it up...

Hello friends! i wanted to wrap up my time in Portugal with a final post.

I flew home from Canada on the 21st, only to head straight to JBU to visit a few friends before heading home, I made it home late last night. Debrief was a really good time, it was a chance to reflect on all the experiences I had, and all the work God did not only in my life, but also in the life of my team and the people in Portugal that we interacted with.

Some of my favorite memories will be:

~ Working at the kids camp along side multiple other cultures. (German, Brazilian, Canadian, Portuguese, and several African cultures, plus me the American)

~Seeing God answer my prayer for living water through providing rain.

~Putting on a silhouette skit of John 15: The Vine and the Branches.



~Getting to experience the joy of the Portugal Christians at 3 separate churches, and seeing the same joy at all of them. No matter the size of the building or congregation. They were full of love.

~ Learning more of how to serve God through photography, a gift He has given me.

~ Getting to share my testimony and help lead worship in the Loures church.





~ Learning to pray using Scripture and experiences the power of praying God's own heart. And also learning that Prayer is ministry.

So, that's just a few of the lessons and ministry experiences that I will always remember. I want to thank you all for your prayers and support, you helped me learn that God provides and to trust in his plan and timing. I pray God's blessings on you for your willing to answer his call on advancing global missions.

Well, my ministry time is over, however keep checking back! In 7 days I leave for a semester of study in Northern Ireland. I would love to continue to share in my experiences with you!

more pictures!

1. team: This is part of the team washing walls in the Massama church.'

2. city: This is Portugal, taken from a castle in Lisbon.

3. building: This is the Portugal flag, seen flowing from many houses and businesses. This one is being flown from a bank in downtown Lisbon.

4. team: This is the team on our first day at the aquarium looking at the big fish tank.

5. Child: This is a little boy that went to one of the churches we attended. He was really shy.

pictures!

i have a folder of my favorite 30 pictures to show you blog readers! i got 5 posted right now. I will briefly explain them...

1: Piano: The piano picture was taken during practice at the Loures church. We've gotten the oppertunity to help lead worship (play while they sing in portugese). It's been challenging but a good experience.

2: Group: It's my team and me at a cove with feirce waves.

3: Tree: Thats a cork tree, they harvest cork here! This tree has been freshly harvested, they get harvested every 10 years or so.

4: Wedding: It's the bride at the African wedding we went to!

5: Lighthouse: This is a lighthouse that was down by the cost near one of the monuments.

The final week

What a better way to understand a culture than go to a wedding! On saturday we went to an African wedding. It was about 3 hours long. The bride and groom danced down the aisle with their party, the bridesmaids had air horns. The first half of the wedding was a church service with lots of special music, and the second half was the wedding. We left before the reception but apparently all the wedding guests dance and present their gifts, one by one.

Sunday we went back to the Massama and Loures churches, and then to an Egyptian restaurant. It was neat because Portugal has a lot of North African influence, so we continued to experience how the cultures overlapped. Our team leader had been to Egypt, so she helped explain a lot to us during the meal, where we were seated on the floor on big round pillows.

Monday was Muslim day. We spent the day in Lisbon observing Muslims, and that evening we went to a Mosque where we got to watch the prayer time, get a tour, and hear the call to prayer. It was a really unique time and a great experience for me. Learning about Islam, from Muslims is the way to go. I feel like I need to learn more about different religions, mostly so I can pray for them more specifically.

Today, we went to Fatima, (who happens to be one of Muhammad's daughters). Fatima is a pilgramage for Catholics. We got the chance to observe and pray and just understand Catholicism a little better. After that, we went and checked out a few different cathedrals a bit North of Lisbon. It's been a good few days of observing more of the culture and the religious differences here.

Tomorrow we spend the day debriefing with our missionary hosts, Otto, Marcos, and their wives. Thursday is the big day of packing everything up, cleaning our house, and going out with the larger missionary team we've worked with. We fly back to Montreal all day Friday (the 15th), we get to the airport at 7:30 am our time, which is about 1:30 a.m friday morning in Kansas. I leave Montreal on the 21st, and am excited to see all you of and hear how God has worked in your lives during the past few weeks as he's worked in mine.

Mid-term retreat

So, we got to have a time of relaxation halfway through our time in Portugal.

About 3 hours south in very southern most part of Portugal is a place called the Algarve. The Algarve is the Florida of Portugal. It's the vacation spot with warm beaches and lots of tourism. During the months of July and Aug, everyone gets 3-4 weeks vacation and a huge majority come down here.

We're getting the opportunity to swim, go to the beach, do a little shopping, have some team prayer, and it's just been a great time of rejuvenation. Our hosts Otto & Marjorie returned from their trip to the states, so they're joined us here at our retreat. (they also brought food from the states for us!)

The camp we're staying at has a really cool ministry. The take youth girls for two months & teach them basic household chores, cooking, and other things they need to make it, (motherhood related, how to fill out an application, etc.) After the two months is over, they follow them, and keep in touch for two years to help them get their feet on the ground. While they're here they're also shown tons of love and taught Christian values. It's really neat to hear about this kind of ministry.

One night we got to go up to the top of a mountain and watch the sun set and pray over Portugal. It was a really encouraging time.

I want to thank you for your prayers. God is teaching me stretching me and knowing I have your prayers is very encouaging.

God Bless---- ANDRA BETH

A change of plans...

We just got back from our midterm retreat in Algarve (which is the Florida of Portugal). There were tons of fruit trees, and it was a really good time. I'll go into detail when I have more time.

The purpose of that post is to tell you that our trip to North Africa has been cancelled. I don't know many details, but I'm trusting God blinding and trusting our missionary hosts to follow Gods direction. God is a mysterious God, but he calls us to be obedient. Please pray that our team listens and obeys Gods guidance in the next week of making plans of ministry to do to replace our North Africa trip. Blessings...

Portuguese Sunset

With the Germans...

Hello friends! It’s been quite a busy week; sorry there hasn’t been an update.

So, in Portugal it never rains during the months of July and august. I was going for a walk and just starting praying That God would rain down his living water (John 4:13-14) on a country that is thirsting for him and is quenching their thirst with things that are leaving them thirsty (Psalm 63:1)… Those two verses have kept coming up in my life so I prayed with them in mind and just quoted them back to God. The next 3 days there was a light rain!! It was so cool! The missionary we’re working with was so in shock about the fact that it rained. He said in his 3 years in Portugal it has never rained in July. God is good. ☺

Well, after the Germany team arrived and we painted the Loures church…it was a good time of fellowship, service, and laughter. There was language barrier but most everyone on the team spoke a little bit of English. We ended up becoming really good friends with the team and it was sad to say Goodbye knowing we probably won't see them again, but though the interactions were brief, they will leave a last impact.

Last Sunday we went to a church that spoke Portuguese, Lingala, and French. It was an African church and so there was a lot of dancing and clapping. It was long, and unlike North America, but their passion was evident and the service was very fun. Afterwards we went to the Loures church with Marcos. I love that church, the people there are so friendly towards us. But in the last 3 sundays we've been to 5 churches and no English services, so pray that God gives us endurance and continues to fill us in our solo time with him.

Monday through Wednesday we put on a kids camp at a bible college for all the kids that attend all the MB churches. There were about 15 kids and it was a really good time. The kids spoke a little English, but communication was still hard. We worshiped, played games, and had a luau... It was evident that God was at work in the kids life. There was one kid named Selso, and he really stuck out to me all week. He just had a huge heart for God and a desire to spent time with the guys on my team and learn from them about God and life and sports. He was like a sponge and so respectful. He even joined our team during team time for prayer once. He was just an awesome kid.

The German team left this morning and today we're just relaxing and recovering from a long few weeks. We had a retreat in Algarve, Southern Portugal on friday through sunday, and then we leave for Africa for the remainder of our time. There are two weeks left until I'm back in Canada for debrief. God has been good to us here, and I'm excited to see what he does in the next few weeks. Pray for our time in Africa, that God will protect us and give us guidance and knowledge, and for the man who will be taking us over there, that he has compassion towards our team.