Hospital

Any plans that were made to happen today kind of went out the window as we discovered that Elise, our team leader, had gone to the hospital earlier this morning. She'd woken up with severe abdominal pains and her host family had called an ambulance. Katie and I had no idea what to do, but we eventually got in touch with the Nick Cooper, the minister at Ballygawley, and got some details.

 

They still didn't know what was wrong, but in the meantime, we were to stick to the original plan. So Katie and I joined Brianna and Libby at the Coote's house, where we just kind of chilled all day and waited to hear more about Elise.

 

It wasn't too long until we found out that it was a kidney stone. But they said it's not too big, so it should pass by itself and Elise was free to go. So we're now in Kilmore (near Ballynahinch), but Elise is still not at full hit points. Hopefully she'll be back on her feet in a few days, otherwise we'll all be a little lost.

 

In Kilmore, we're all staying together in a guest cottage. It's pretty amazing. We'll try to get some pictures soon.

 

Tomorrow we will be participating in Kilmore's morning church service with dancing, speaking, and prayer, then we might take a little ramble along the countryside before the evening service.

I also just found out that the hospital didn't charge a thing for Elise's care. Mr. Paul Coote talked to them, and they didn't charge anything at all.

 

--Dexter

 

What you can pray for: Obviously, Elise. Pray for strength and relief and rest. Continue to pray for the people in Ballygawley; leaving them today was rough on us all and we'll miss them greatly. Also pray for the people here in Kilmore as we all prepare for Holiday Bible Clubs starting Monday.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge!

We started this morning by visiting Richmond Primary school one more time, dancing one last dancing and inviting them one last time to the last night of Holiday Bible Club. After that we went on a little road trip...

 

To the coast! Portrush! Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge! One of my favorite places in all of Ireland! It's a very very very old rope bridge going across to an island that is so beautiful. You can see for miles across the water and in the distance the land of Scotland is visible.

 

It's kind of a tradition for the ballet girls to take pictures at Carrick-a-Rede, but last year we didn't get the opportunity. So this year, of course, we absolutely had to take as many pictures as possible.

 

I love the rope bridge. It was a perfect day for it too, even though the sunshine made it difficult to smile properly for all the pictures.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay long. We had to head back for tea with various people. Katie, Brianna and I had a very delicious meal with a lady named June, who had some fabulous cheesecake that we enjoyed a little too much. Elise, Mrs. Susan, and Libby had tea with Donna.

 

And then it was time for the last night of Holiday Bible Club. It went like normal at first, but at the very end parents came and the ballet girls performed a few pieces. Honestly, not very many people were paying much attention, but some people were, and that was all we needed. Even if just one person is touched, it's enough.

 

After most of the festivities had ended, Mr. Paul had us Americans sing as well. None of us know why -- only Elise and Mrs. Susan have real singing talent. But we got up there and sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, and everyone was polite enough to applaud and tell us it was pretty even though it wasn't.

 

It was kind of rough, because we all knew it was the last night and we all had to say goodbye. More than a few tears were shed, and many, many photographs were taken. But as Katie, Nils, and I said...

 

"Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting." -- Peter Pan.

 

Tomorrow we'll have a bit of a rest before heading over to Kilmore to do another week of Holiday Clubs. It's sad to leave old friends, but it'll but fun to make new ones. And this isn't the end at all...

 

--Dexter

 

PS. It was my birthday today. It was awesome.

 

 

What you can pray for: Pray for all the people here in Ballygawley. They're all very dear to us. Pray also for continued health: Libby might be coming down with something and the rest of us are bound to follow in her footsteps. And pray for the coming week and the people we'll be meeting and working with. Thank you for all your prayers!

Eternal Youth!

This morning we got a bit of a sleep-in, which was wonderful and much-needed. Then we met up with the Eternal Youth club at the church, the group of elderly church-goers and some friends. They taught us how to bowl, but it wasn't ten-pin bowling. In this game, you had to bowl a ball around a stick of wood and get it closest to this other little ball. None of us were all that great at it, but it was good craic and they were all very patient teaching us. Afterwards we had lunch with them.

 

In the afternoon we headed over to Rushmere's shopping center, where I quickly found the bookstore. That was where Katie and I spent the majority of our short time there, while Elise went straight to Starbucks and Libby and Brianna went to T.K. Max (instead of T.J.). Mrs. Susan went off to search for a nativity.

 

We went for supper at the Suitors' house, which was delicious. They also have two adorable little dachsunds and one wee boy named Elliott. Precious! And the other four members of the family were great too, Mrs. Suitor, Holly, Holly's husband Norman, and Rachel (Elliott is Norman's and Holly's son).

 

And then Day 4 of Holiday Bible Club! It went very smoothly tonight (at least my group did)! I received a lot of encouragement from a few of the kids tonight who were able to recount the story to me and helped me diagram a Bible verse on their worksheets. And then there was another boy who came up and said he was finished while I was helping a girl. I told him he could help her with hers if he was already done, and he happily did so. Later, he also held the door open for the rest of the group. Little things like that just make me really happy.

 

The night was also a success in that I had to be in the drama, and I didn't forget any of my lines. Thank the Lord!

 

After the club, the Ballygawley teens and the Americans went to Knockmanny forest, a giant hill that overlooks all of Ballygawley and beyond. We went there last year and had lots of craic and took lots of pictures, but this year the midgies were out. Midgies are kind of like a cross between gnats and mosquitos. They're awful. So we hiked up to the top, took a few pictures, complained about the bugs, and then practically ran back down.

 

Tomorrow we'll visit Richmond Primary School again for just a few minutes, then hopefully head over to Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, one of my favorite places in Ireland! Tomorrow night is the last night of Holiday Club, and it'll have extra features such as parents and food and dancing. Mr. Paul even convinced us Americans to sing something... even though none of us teenagers claim to have any kind of talent in that area.

 

--Dexter

 

What you can pray for: A few of us are still feeling iffy, and we're all a bit paranoid about getting sick, so please continue to pray for our health. And of course, rest as well. We can never get enough of that. Also pray for the kids at the Club, that they would remember everything that happened this week and not only have fun, but feel loved as well. Please pray for us as we dance and sing tomorrow. You can also pray in general for the people here in Ballygawley. They're good people.

Marble Arch Caves

We started off this Wednesday with a visit to Aughnacloy College (the equivalent of an American High School). We talked in a few of the classes and let them ask questions. The first class I was in with Elise and Brianna was great. They all asked lots of questions and we had some good conversations. The second class was a bit more reserved...

 

We did do a few dances in the college, and afterwards a girl came up to us and told us that she was a dancer too, and a Christian, so she really enjoyed the performance. It basically made our day.

 

In the afternoon we went to the Marble Arch Caves, a system of underground caves in Northern Ireland. Beforehand, I was kind of just like, "Meh, caves, whatever," but...

 

It was amazing. And so so beautiful. It kind of made me want to be a geologist, which is saying something.

 

I didn't even bother trying to take pictures underground. My camera/phone isn't exactly state of the art and doesn't do dark photos. Plus, it was wet and usually bumpy and curvy and I wasn't about to chance falling into the river just for a photo. But the others were more fortunate (and talented) and got some pictures.

 

There was one part where the path was kind of dug into the river (they called it Moses' Path) so you could see the water really well. But it was so still that at first it was hard to tell if it really was water at all. And then once I'd determined that it was water, I thought it was perfectly clear and there were more rocks and stalagmites beneath the surface... but it was all just a beautiful reflection.

 

There were many many little features our guide pointed out to us where rocks had formed interesting figures that strangely resembled angels, frogs, and Gandalf's beard. He also explained to us the history of the caves and how it had formed. Despite his repeated statements about millions of thousands of years, it was all very interesting.

 

We had some card trouble in the gift shop, naturally. It's kind of an annual thing I do: have trouble with my debit card in Ireland. I'd already gotten that over and done with last week in Monaghan, but now Libby and Brianna both were having trouble. Katie tried hers too just to see, and it also failed. It wasn't until after most of us had given up and wandered outside that they rebooted their system and the cards started working again. Yay! Happy ending!

 

We headed back for tea at The Manse (which was delicious) and then had Day 2 of Holiday Club! There were fewer kids this time, but that's because there's a lot going on around Ballygawley and some people just couldn't make it in. We were also a few hands shorter, but we managed pretty okay.

 

We played a few rounds of Telephone Pictionary before heading home for an "early" night. And tomorrow morning we have a slightly later morning than usual, so maybe we'll all get some much-needed rest tonight.

 

--Dexter

 

What you can pray for: Health. Some of us are starting to really feel our allergies and we're not getting quite enough rest either. Pray that we will be get plenty of rest. You can also pray for the kids in Holiday Bible Club. Sometimes it's hard to really develop a relationship with them because we're on the go. Pray also for everyone involved in the club, give us strength and love and wisdom for the kids.

Holiday Club: Day 1!

We started the day bright and early by visiting Richmond Primary School, where we

danced and then taught them some dancing as well while the boys (and quite a few girls) went outside to play games. Brianna and Katie led the teaching of ballet, and the end result was pretty amazing.

 

We had lunch and team devotions, then the afternoon was spent decorating the hall and taking a walk around Ballygawley (sunshine!). We did our very best to make the hall look like a circus, and I must say I think we did pretty awesome. Unfortunately, by the end of the night some of the decorations had deteriorated, but it was nice while it lasted.

 

We split up into two groups for dinner before heading back to the hall for day one of the Holiday Club. It was a little crazy as kids first began to come in, but we all slowly got our bearings and began to interact a little more. Due to technical difficulties, we couldn't sing until the very end, but we heard the story of Jesus' first miracle: turning water into wine. Mrs. Susan and Katie performed day one of the drama Monty The Python's Flying Circus (get it?), in which Monty the Python tells Mrs. Susan all about how his circus is centered around Jesus Christ.

 

We split up into four groups based on school level. I'm with P2/3, the second youngest group. First we had craft, then games (that was pretty crazy), then memory verse, then worksheets, and back to the main room. Jenna and Rebecca demonstrated how they could turn water into wine, but the kids quickly pointed out that that was not a miracle.

 

All in all, the first day was a success. There were rough patches here and there, but we had around 50 kids, I believe is what someone told me.

 

After the club, the youth walked down the soccer field to play some football. And when I say football, I mean soccer. Our football is American football; football is just soccer. It's a big sport in Ireland and Northern Ireland, so we were hardly playing seriously (Americans versus Irish? No.). Though I didn't play at all... I'm a bit too broken in the knees for running around a field (I'm such an old woman at heart). Instead, I fooled around on the playground with one of the Irish girls and we had lots of fun with that.

 

After one asthma attack scare (she's fine, don't worry), we headed home. Katie and I chatted with our host mother Jane for a while over tea about everything from books to funny kids to spiders before heading up to bed. That's one of my favorite parts about this trip: getting to know your host family. They're always very interesting and you can usually find one or two things you have in common. Something about a nice hot cup of Irish tea makes conversation so much better.

 

Tomorrow we visit a high school (or college, as they call it here) before being all touristy and visiting some Marble Caves. Then it'll be day two of Holiday Bible Club!

 

--Dexter

 

What you can pray for: Pray that the kids will come back to club again tomorrow and bring a friend or two, and also that we'll have enough hands to handle that. Pray that all the wrinkles will be smoothed out and we can not only give the kids a good time, but really teach them as well. Pray for rest and health for the team.

Pre-Holiday Club

This morning we visited a Catholic Primary school. Apparently the only reason we were welcome there is because we're ballerinas, so it proves to be a good talent of ours.

 

We performed three of our dances: Gratitude, Good For Me, and Loves Come For Free. All of them have Christian themes, and we introduced each dance beforehand and talked about the meanings. Aside from some brief technical difficulties, all three dances went very well. There were some audible gasps during Good For Me and Love Comes For Free. The principal of the school mentioned how much he liked our music. We then proceeded to teach some ballet to the students... boys and girls alike.

 

The boys were actually more excited than the girls, who took a more serious and shy approach to it. But everyone joined in and before long we had them stretching and doing plies and tendues and chenes. We talked about the steps they liked the most in our dances as well (the jumps). It was all so much fun.

 

Afterwards we had a cup of tea with some of the staff and a nice chat. It was a very good morning and it was very encouraging to see how much they all enjoyed it, including the principal. It's not every day we get the chance to share with Catholic students.

 

For the afternoon we went to Londonderry, the European City of Culture. It used to be a walled city, but it has grown quite large over the centuries so now it expands beyond the wall. Still, like all Irish cities, it has a ton of history. We walked almost all the way around the wall, stopped for some coffee, and then crossed the Peace Bridge.

 

Peace Bridge, as Trevor explained it, is kind of like a sign of peace between the Protestants and the Catholics. They've had a lot of history in Ireland and still today they don't get along too well in some places. But Peace Bridge is very cool and very beautiful, and quite a nice walk.

 

After all that we headed back to the Ballygawley church for some fish and chips and then started getting the hall ready for Holiday Bible Club. Kids started registering and we started painting (oh my gosh just wait until you see the absolutely fabulous clown painted by Elise, Brianna, and myself).

 

I don't have an exact number for the kids who signed up, but I know it's not a whole lot but not a terribly small group either. But we will take whoever we get, knowing that they're the ones that need to be with us.

 

Tomorrow we go to Richmond Primary School, then help out with some toddlers, then finish setting up the church, then dinner, then day one of Bible Club!

 

--Dexter

 

What you can pray for: Lots of team members are still struggling with sleep, so pray that we can get enough rest to keep us going. Always, for health as well. Pray for Richmond tomorrow as we dance and talk and teach, and for day one of Holiday Bible Club! That includes drama, music, games, crafts, worksheets, and general fellowship with the kids we'll be working with.

 

Saving Crows!

This morning Katie and I went to the Presbyterian church in Ballyreagh. I can't speak for the others, but I assume their experience was similar to ours.

 

During the service, the minister, Nick Cooper, invited Katie and I up to the front to ask us a few questions and introduce us to the whole church. Normally this is scary, but it wasn't so bad. He asked us about our day-to-day lives at home, what brought us back to Ireland for our third/second time (my third, Katie's second), and what our plans were for the coming week. We talked about how great the people are and how beautiful the countryside is, and about the Holiday Clubs and going into schools and dancing. After that we were allowed to sit back down and enjoy the rest of the service.

 

One of the main differences between Irish Presbyterian churches and the churches in America is the music. Not so much the style (though they do tend to use hymns and songs that aren't quite as popular and recurring as they are in America), but the frequency. There will be at least five times during the service where the congregation stands to sing praise: right at the beginning, after prayer or Bible reading, again after the children's address, again after another prayer and an offering, and one more time after the sermon itself. It's pretty cool.

 

After church we had lunch with our host home (have I mentioned how great they are? Because they are) and then just hung our or chilled. The others said they spent most of the afternoon sleeping or journaling (totally understandable since they just got off the plane yesterday). At our place, we had a little adventure.

 

First we just went to visit Chloe's horse. Chloe is the niece of the family we're staying with, and she was hanging out for most of the weekend. So we walked over there, fed the horses some, and then went to visit Chloe's dog. While we were leaving that excursion, a bird fell out of a tree. That's right. He just fell out. We immediately decided to save him.

 

I say "we", but mostly I stood and watched and tried to contain Chloe's dog (who had hopped out of her pen and was very excited about the bird). But Katie, Chloe, Amy, Katie (two Katies!), and James fought tall grass and nettles to save that bird. We named him Nettle after the hardships we went through to save his ungrateful feathers.

 

The little guy is currently in the Hardy's garage. Poor guy can't fly, and he was very panicky in th beginning, but he's seemed to calm down. We're pretty sure he'll be okay.

 

There was an evening church service that most of us participated in as well. It was on the plagues of Egypt, and throughout the lesson we would each stand and read a passage of Exodus. Then at the end, Elise joined the praise team to sing "Still, My Soul Be Still." It was absolutely beautiful. I hope to never forget that moment.

 

After the service there was fellowship over tea (what else?) and we had a very involved conversation/lesson about USA geography with some girls named Ruth and Gillian. We then met with Nick Cooper to go over details of the week (which you will hear about as they unfold), and then went over to Donna Hall's house for pizza and hangout time!

 

There was pizza with corn on it. And very good craic (fun). We taught Daryl how to waltz, played a few rounds of dominos, and Libby ended up trying on Donna's old wedding dress, which fit her amazingly well.

 

All in all, a very fun day. Tomorrow registration starts for the holiday clubs and we'll be going into one of the schools to dance and invite them to the Holiday Club!

 

--Dexter

 

What you can pray for: Always, the health of the team. You can pray specifically for the school we'll be visiting in the morning (unfortunately I cannot remember the name and don't have our itinerary), that they'll be open to us and excited for our club. Pray that we will clearly communicate our message through our dancing and speaking.