Last 2012 post: Cartoon Edition

It's been so long since I've updated my blog and it was almost overwhelming thinking about everything that's happened since the last post! So, I drew some silly pictures to help me stay on track with everything I need to tell you, my beloved reader, about.
 
First, in mid-October, I took a canoe trip with the Youth Fellowship at our church to a bothy (cabin) in the middle of a lake in Enniskillen.
 It was really cold, really rustic, and a really great way to bond with the leaders and kids!

Then, a few weeks later, the Belfast YAVs took their first group retreat to the MOURNE MOUNTAINS!
The misty silhouette of these mountains in the distance is rumored to be C.S. Lewis' inspiration for the fantastical world of Narnia. No Big Deal. We did a little hiking, a few side trips, and a lot of laughing and bonding.






One of my favorite parts of the retreat was our trip to a local monastery. We were able to have a wonderful conversation with Brother Terry, who had some wise and insightful things to say about living in community -- which was especially relevant for our group. And something about being in that beautiful setting, with these men who left everything behind in order to give their lives to Christ, to commit themselves to the ministry of prayer, and to BE unity... totally wrecked me... in a good way.  It made me rethink my casual and lazy prayer-life and inspired me to see everyone as Christ -- even (and especially) when it's difficult because they are dirty, rude, foreign, deformed, or disagreeable.  As Brother Terry said: "Christ rarely comes to us in ways that we expect or would like."

"Every monk, every Christian, every human being must be about prayer, work, and community life. These are the yearnings that were placed in us at creation."

We were then able to attend a worship service at the monastery, and the singing, chanting, and prayers were so beautiful! I felt so blessed and the service felt so ancient and deep and spiritual that I was moved to tears.

And then I voted in my first Presidential election via Absentee Ballot! Very exciting! It was interesting having conversations with locals about the election and predicting what the outcome would be. It was cool getting a global perspective instead of being bombarded with American ads leading up to November 6th. I also discovered that voting brings out the Patriot in me! :)

And most importantly, I recently had the enormous privilege to piece together a video of interviews from the boys at The Link drop-in center, talking about a trip to Dublin that they took earlier in the year. I've only been here about 3 months, but I was absolutely "chuffed" hearing such tolerant attitudes and poignantly simple wisdom as they reflected back on everything they learned from their experience. We could all learn a thing or two from these boys. I highly recommend watching the video below!



The Link showed this video at an Awards Night for clients and members, celebrating all that they had accomplished this year. We were so proud of everyone there, and have great hope for what they are capable of accomplishing in the future!

Thanksgiving has passed (with Belfast friends instead of family) and preparations for Christmas are in full swing! I probably won't post again until after the holidays are over, because I've got some big plans that will keep me busy into January! I'll be turning 22 in a foreign country, my Dad is coming to visit the week after Christmas, and then another volunteer and I are off to Barcelona for New Years!
See you in 2013! That is, if the Mayan's got it wrong and the world doesn't end before then... I like to think that we'll probably be okay :)

Happy Fall! (slips on a banana peel)

Autumn has definitely arrived in Northern Ireland! The fresh air suddenly feels more cool and crisp, and I’ve been staring unbelievingly at the calendar that says “October”. My first month in Belfast has already passed, and each week seems to fly by and blend into the next. While I’m still getting acclimated to the weather and other cultural elements, my new environment is starting to feel more familiar. The locals keep asking if I’m “settling in”, and I think in a lot of ways I have done just that – wiggled into my small niche in this community, and then let myself relax a little bit.
  
Here are some of the highlights from the advent of Autumn:

As part of my cookery/craft responsibilities at The Link, I decided to assign an Autumn/Halloween theme to the Tuesday activities in October! We started with a giant paper tree attached to the wall of the drop-in, decorated with leaves that I drew and photocopied, and the members used all their innate creativity and fabulosity to color them in!

Funny cultural misunderstanding - before hanging up the letters, didn't realize "Fall" is largely unknown as a synonym to Autumn.

Next week it was on to caramel apples (or toffee apples, as they call them here)! I had never made toffee apples before, but the online instructions seemed simple enough. They turned out really well (even if their appearances weren’t perfect)! It’s the taste that counts!

My housemates and I got to witness a little piece of Northern Irish history and culture when we watched the Ulster Covenant Parade march past our street. A century ago, people occupying several counties in the north of Ireland (a regional area known as Ulster) signed a pact, vowing that they would remain a part of the United Kingdom no matter what, using whatever means necessary to prevent being subject to Home Rule in Ireland. (Whatever means necessary – implying the use of violence to achieve their ends.) The Parade celebrates the Covenant and British citizenship, with band after band playing flutes, accordions, and drums – very loudly! Bands are a controversial institution in interface areas of Northern Ireland (places where Unionist and Nationalist neighborhoods are in close proximity) due to the intimidating nature of their drumming – but that’s a whole other story!

The new season also marked a new adventure as I began to lead an informal weekly art club at Regent Street Presbyterian. I’ve never lead anything like that before, so I was pretty apprehensive that those who came would actually want me to teach them something! Mostly it’s been a kind of open space for people of all ages and artsy interests to explore whatever tickles their fancy. Last week I did do a demonstration on basic hand and facial structure guidelines – it didn’t go too badly, and those who attended seemed to enjoy it! Phew! Thank you, God, for the chance to enjoy creativity!

Colorful Donaghadee behind me

I'll leave you with some images of a visit to the quaint sea-side town of Donaghadee! It was a beautiful day, and we could see the distant shore of Scotland very clearly as we walked along the coast and looked to the east!

~ As a side note, for those who are interested, BBC radio in Northern Ireland (called Radio Ulster) broadcasts a local church service every Sunday morning at 10:15, rotating through the denominations and towns, and next Sunday (October 14th) my church, Regent Street Presbyterian, is going to be on the radio! And I'll be part of the broadcast, doing two readings! All of Northern Ireland will hear my strange American accent in the midst of the normal accents of the ministers and other readers.
If you're interested in listening to the 45 minute broadcast, you can, thanks to the wonders of technology! You can listen to it up to 7 days after the 14th by clicking on this link: Radio Ulster broadcast of Regent Street Presbyterian.
I hope you'll tune in! It will be a rare opportunity to connect my U.S. community with my N.I. community!

"So you are no longer outsiders or aliens, but fellow-citizens with every other Christian -- you now belong to the household of God." - Ephesians 2:19 (J.B. Phillips translation)

Pancakes, Spoons, and Hills

Highlights from my first full week of work:

 The Link Family and Community Centre

Three days a week, I get to hang out with youth for a few hours during the afternoon drop-in sessions at The Link.  Local teenagers have the chance to shoot some pool, play some video games, check their Facebook, or chat with friends (maybe while chowing down on a pile of chips (fries) from the Chippy around the corner).
To be perfectly honest, I was really nervous to start this work placement. But little by little, I've grown to know the guys in drop-in a wee bit more each day.
My favorite part of drop-in BY FAR is when I lead a "Cookery" session.  I love messing around in the kitchen, and Cookery is an excellent way to teach some basic cooking/baking skills, have positive interactions with a few of the kids at a time, and then share our creation with the rest of drop-in!  So far, we've made chocolate-chip pancakes, toasties (grilled sandwiches), and spaghetti bolognese (fancy-talk for spaghetti and meatballs)! Mmmmm! It's a fun give-and-take: they teach me about words and types of food that I've never heard of before, and I tell them about the similar American version.

Another part of my role at The Link is helping with the Young women's group that meets once a week in the evening.  These girls are a HOOT!  The first night I was hanging out with them, I taught them a classic (also slightly violent and rowdy) card game that I learned when I was their age: SPOONS!

It's a fast-paced race to avoid being the lone player left without a precious spoon.  They love it and keep requesting that we play! I'm all spooned-out by the end of the night.
We also started our Zumba sessions this week!  Tons of fun, and lots of making up your own moves when you can't follow the instructor.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone more as the weeks go on at The Link!


Regent Street Presbyterian Church

My main job at Regent Street Presbyterian so far has been learning names and trying to remember them! But I'm catching on fairly quickly and this congregation reminds me a lot of my church home in Florida.  Everyone I've met, staff and lay person alike, has been so encouraging and supportive.
I've already had the opportunity to help coordinate a candle-lighting reflection time during one of the evening praise services, meet lots of youth during Sunday morning Bible Class, and tag along on some pastoral visits.  In the future, I'll become even more involved in the Youth Fellowship team, and even lead some of the Children's Moments at the front of the church on Sundays!  I feel so blessed to be welcomed so warmly into the life of this congregation.

Climbing Cave Hill

 Nature! Exercise! Getting our fingers in some clay and grass! Yeah! Woo!

The view from the top -- awesome!

~

Despite the similarities in the Northern Irish and U.S. cultures, I'm regularly reminded that the life experiences of those around me has been totally different than my own.  Sometimes, while hiking a giant hill or worshiping in a church or watching Gilmore Girls on T.V., it's easy to forget about the deeply embedded divisiveness in the country I now live in. 
Many lives and perspectives are still broken from the past, and there is a generation growing up now who is inheriting the burden of their parent's conflict.  A conflict they don't fully understand yet.  And yet many young people take up their parent's "cause" as their own, even if they've never had any personal interaction or conversation with "the other side" (i.e. Catholics -- in Ireland, a term having less to do with religion and more to do with political persuasion).  I am filled with grief when I think that this is the reality kids in this country are dealing with.  Maybe all we can do is challenge the prejudices we encounter, and hope that the challenge makes at least one or two stop and think about what they're participating in.

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  -- Galatians 3:28

Today

Dappled trees on a rare sunny day outside of Belfast

"It is a moment of light surrounded on all sides by darkness and oblivion.  In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another just like it and there will never be another just like it again.  It is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth.  It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death.  If you were aware how precious it is, you could hardly live through it.  Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.

'This is the day which the Lord has made,' says the 118th Psalm. 'Let us rejoice and be glad in it.' Or weep and be sad in it for that matter. The point is to see it for what it is because it will be gone before you know it. If you waste it, it is your life that you're wasting.  If you look the other way, it may be the moment you've been waiting for always that you're missing.

All other days have either disappeared into darkness and oblivion or not yet emerged from them. Today is the only day there is."  -- Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life

This devotional meditation struck a real chord in me, and I think Buechner poetically reminds us of a truth that we oftentimes forget.  It is especially easy to forget here in Belfast, when many of my days are so filled with planning ahead and dizzying new sights, people, and ways of living that I overlook how precious my time here is.  How irreplaceable.  I pray that starting now, today, I will be mindful, and I won't take any of it for granted.   

Small moments in my first precious days of Belfast
 

Wild blackberries. Sour and seedy!

First day of work: AM meeting, PM sailing

Making tomato soup from scratch... Looks gross!

 

Ehh...  a little less scary after doctoring it up!

 A Litany of Thanksgiving

Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving
I begin with the simple things of my days:
Fresh air to breathe
Cool water to drink
The taste of food
The protection of houses and clothes
The comforts of home
For these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

-- Howard Thurman

Belfast turned me into a Baby

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people." 

-- Howard Zinn

This quote was shared in a documentary about a particularly awful day during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland called "Bloody Friday".  Food for thought.

In-country orientation is over, and there has been lots to process.  Northern Ireland initially strikes me as a country of contrasts.

Land of extraordinary natural beauty (and extraordinarily friendly people):

(And SHEEP!)

 Land of open wounds and conflict:

(Pictures taken inside a car -- sorry for the poor quality!)

(Murals located in East Belfast)

While I've learned more about the history, culture, and geography of Northern Ireland than I thought was possible in a week, I feel far from comfortable trying to explain the complexity of the world I now inhabit.  Somewhere in the middle of our first week, I didn't feel dissimilar to an infant -- pink and bug-eyed and ignorant -- trying to process and understand this fascinating and thorny world for the first time, totally dependent on others to take care of me and teach me everything I needed to know.
I'm not quite so overwhelmed with information anymore, although there is still plenty to learn.  Mostly, I'm so glad to be in this place, with its long, long memory and its capacity for warm, warm welcome.  And we have been welcomed so graciously by our neighbors, placement supervisors, new congregations, and our site coordinator and his family.
I'm still a liiiittle nervy about starting my work for the first time tomorrow, but we were reminded today that sometimes the best way to learn is by jumping head-first into the deep end and figuring it out as you go along!

Our first task in approaching
                  Another people
                  Another culture
                  Another religion
Is to take off our shoes
For the place we are approaching is holy.

(Quote from the illustrious "Unknown" -- way to go, Unknown!) 

Keep Moving Forward

As I'm getting ready to leave the United States in a few hours, I thought I'd share this scene from the movie Meet the Robinsons (which is one of my go-to feel-good movies)!  This past week of orientation has been challenging and exhausting and enriching, and on Saturday night the reality of what I was about to do really hit me.  And I was scared out of my mind.  The next morning we attended services at local churches where the congregations commissioned us for our journey, and we were asked to briefly share our story.  This is what I shared:

I am trying to follow Christ’s call in my life, I am inadequate, and I am scared.  That’s all I could think about recently after envisioning the youth with whom I would work this year in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The primary focus of our work and relationships in Belfast is to bring an “outside” perspective to their long history of inter-community conflict and violence.  Although the level of violence there has reduced dramatically, the past has left deep scars and division, especially in the urban-working class districts.  Including the lower-income neighborhood where I will live and work and build relationships with youth at the LINK drop-in centre and the Regent Street Presbyterian Church. 

I’ve mostly been excited about the prospect of a whole year spent in a community of need with other volunteers – it’s a chance to listen for God’s call more closely, a chance to stretch myself, a chance to work with youth, and a chance to immerse myself in another culture, and learn from the people I meet there.  However, I can’t help but ask the questions: How will I relate to them? Will I be able to make a difference? When the investment of my creativity, compassion, and love of Jesus isn’t enough to visibly or tangibly “change their lives”, what do I do?  That’s all I have to give!  I am scared of failure, and I am scared of my own inexperience and inadequacy in the place God has called me.

Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD!  Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth.  And the LORD said to me,

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.  See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

                                                                        -- Jeremiah 1: 6-10

Maybe God is saying: “Yes, you will be inadequate. That’s the point.  You’re not going to Belfast to show Belfast teenagers how fun and eloquent and spiritual Grace McMullen is.  You’re going in order to be broken.  You’re going with nothing to give, so that I can be the one giving. And I give all good gifts.”

I, personally, do not know what lies ahead of me in Belfast.  I know there will be struggles and challenges that I have never faced before, but I also know that there will be excitement and learning and support and love… so much love.

God, give us courage to hasten toward your call.  Give us courage to walk forward with our minds and spirits and hands open and empty, so that we cannot hold onto pride, entitlement, or prejudices. I pray that we have to reach for the hand of the person next to us, and our palms get sweaty and slippery as we walk forward into the unknown.  The Lord’s power works best in weakness, so let us boast only about our weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through us.

 

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

 Yodeling Appalachian Vacuums
Young Adult Volunteers

Today (August 19th, 2012), I am a young, inexperienced, idealistic, creative, and compassionate volunteer with the enormous privilege and responsibility of being a missionary for Christ and his church in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  Very, very soon, I'll be leaving on an early morning flight for an orientation in Stony Point, New York where I'll reconnect with other Young Adult Volunteers who will be dispersing to the four winds at the end of the week.  Up until 48 hours ago, my brain had still failed to grasp these facts.
These past few months I've had to remind myself: "this is not about me."  It's easy to only think about myself when I repeatedly talk with others about "my preparation, my excitement, my experience." But I am only a small part of a much larger redemption story in Belfast.  There is so much freedom in saying, "It's not about me." Suddenly, your own worldly success and ambition don't matter as much, and you're free to be a vessel for the Holy Spirit, wherever it leads for the glory of God. Your life's measure of success now comes from Christ, who says, "I already love you. You've already won." What joy! Nothing we do is in vain.

With all that said, I'm going to try to update this blog with more pictures and videos than words.  Words are wonderful and indispensable, but I don't want to bore my audience with ramblings about my feelings.  How uninteresting.  I'd rather show you my experience, supplementing with words or ideas when needed.
I really love words, so we'll see how this goes!
Without further ado, please enjoy the relevant and diverting video below! I was ignorant before watching it, and I'm sure many of you are currently ignorant about the definitions of United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, and where Northern Ireland fits into all of it. Educate yourself!

NOW YOU KNOW!