Home Sweet Home

My Discipleship Training School) is finally almost over with only two weeks left. Each are filled with activities helping out a youth festival called “Summer Madness” and “Street Reach” in the city of Belfast. We’ll be sleeping in stables which will certainly prove to be a lot of fun. (The horses have been evacuated however it would have been fun to sleep on a horse for warmth). Hopefully, it won’t be too cold! This is a big event every year for the youth in Belfast where speakers come and popular worship bands will be playing. We will help improve the community living throughout Belfast, by cleaning, gardening painting, and all kinds of other tension relieving work! After that, I head to Dublin for a few days, and then finally, I get to come home. I made some pretty amazing friends that I hope I will be able to see again. Saying goodbye won’t be easy.

(At our Graduation)

(At our Graduation)

(One of the Base Directors who helped

make the base feel like Home)

This definitely was a challenging, life altering program that I will never forget. It broke down walls and built new foundations that helped me get a new focus on my life and especially relationships, both with God and friends and family. During this school, I was drawn out of my place of comfort and was challenged to re-evaluate what I believe and why – and how I will use that for my future. It was an intense time to focus on my relationship and communication with God without any distractions. How I previously lived my life was certainly challenged. I have learned many things and am still working on putting those things into practice, both practical and personal. The things and many skills I learned and experienced will not be left behind in Ireland or China. I will carry them with me for the rest of my life.

I Never Knew How Much I Loved Northern Ireland

Ireland is so quiet and peaceful. Not China. China is about as far east as one can get, and for me it was more than I ever expected from jam-packed streets of people yelling and cars honking, to English corners where the most frequently asked question is, “How long will you be staying in Chongqing?” (Just try to imagine this being said to you in a slow Chinese accent) I’m sure many people thought it weird that we were staying there for more than two months but we wanted to full on experience! Just imagine eight tall white people in the middle of a sea of short Asians. We certainly drew many stares.

We also attracted many people who wanted to talk with us, about everything from politics, to music, to how we liked China and how they could get to America to study. Most of the people we talked to were young and on their way to getting jobs. Life for them is mostly centered around getting the best job and a “pretty wife.”

There’s so much pressure in schools that they often are studying for 14 hours a day. Besides learning about all of this, we talked to a lot of people who liked to discuss religion, philosophy and science.  I often found myself surrounded by 5 or more people and would talk for three hours getting question after question fired at me.

(At an English Corner)

(At an English Corner)

To be sure, my fear of man that kept me from telling people how I love God and believe in Him has literally been obliterated. We actually met several Chinese Christians despite the fact that they are a minority.  The churches we visited are some of the most alive churches we’ve ever seen.  It was really neat to find people with something in common with ourselves.

We were always going out with people that we’d met at the English corners and making friends with them. They loved showing us around their city.

In addition to that when we had time, we handed out food to beggars and cold water to hot workers. Seeing them smile as we gave people what they needed and showed them that someone cared was the best thing in the world. God did so many things help us there. We could have gotten lost or stuck in so many instances as we were without communication skills, and no idea how to get around. God always gave us just what we needed right when we needed it, so many times that I couldn’t describe them all. If we were ever stuck in some random crazy situation, it always helped to look at it as an adventure. It always was. (One time, I was alone and got lost in the middle of a city). God is the same in China as He is at home, and in Ireland and everywhere else in the world. When I found myself wishing for a little familiarity away from the chaos of the city, it was always comforting to come home to a never-changing, constant, loving God.