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!