Saturday, July 14, 2012

A Lesson Learned...

The past 4 days have been INSANE! Ha I figured for some reason that once Rique moved out here and he and Emma joined the team life would get so much easier for me. How wrong I was! I am thinking it's just cause God is REALLY doing some things behind the scenes and the enemy is firing everything at once in a last attempt to stop it.

Getting Rique on Wednesday was not anywhere near as easy as I thought it'd be. Ems and I drove to the airport in Dublin and arrived a couple mins early - good thing too cause the terminal car park was full and we ended up having to park in a different terminal! We arrived at the actual terminal right at 8:15am unfortunately he arrived over an hour early! We found a couple who had been on his flight sitting in the lobby and then we really started to question where he was. (How could they be through and he was no where to be seen unless something had happened to him.) We began to search the airport thinking he might've gotten confused as to where we were meeting him. Maybe he had gone to the restroom. Maybe gotten something to eat. Half an hour goes by and still no Rique. At this point my phone is flashing red and I know the battery is about to die. I texted Alan to let him know we couldn't find Rique and texted my sister back home to be praying. 45 mins have now passed since we arrived at the airport, nearly 2 hours from when he landed. I am now convinced Rique's being held in customs. Praying, we waited (we didn't know much else to do) Finally I got a text from my sis saying she got through to him and he was stuck in baggage claim! Praise God it was the luggage and not customs! Shortly after her text my phone died. Not long after that Rique appeared. . . without his bags! Poor guy, first time to fly and the airline has lost his bags. He leaves once more to talk to an attendant and fill out forms only to reappear 15 minutes later with his guitar and suitcase in hand! Come to find out he had been waiting at the wrong luggage shoot! I was so relieved to have him safe and with all his bags, however both Ems and I (and Rique) were completely exhausted as we headed to Belfast.

BRIGHT SIDE: The dream team is now complete!

After introducing him to Cecil, Alan, Hannah, and a couple others we headed to McDonald's for some lunch. Gave us a chance to get to know each other. Bought a few groceries after and got the rooms set up at the church for the three of us to live.


Emma went to visit a friend that night so I took Rique down to Lough Shore. Unfortunately it was in between the tides so there wasn't much beach but he got an idea of what it's like. We got caught in a heavy rain storm on the way back and I must say, I rather enjoyed it. Been awhile since I played in the rain. Haha welcome to Northern Ireland Rique!




Thursday was the 12th, a protestant holiday. Instead of heading into town to see the bands Ems and I lounged around the church drinking tea and coffee while Rique slept in until about 2pm. Ha got hit hard with the jetlag! Youth that night was amazing! I wasn't expecting too many kids out because of the holiday but there were near 50. Most were hungover, but there all the same :)

That night we stayed at Emma's parents house in Bangor. About 20 mins from Belfast (Across Lough Shore from Jordanstown). We had Friday off thanks to the holiday, but Emma had work at the card shop (Saturday was her last day). Rique and I spent the day walking around Bangor - GORGEOUS outside. He had his first chippie. . . not the best but he really enjoyed it. :)

Street Reach that night was really good. The sun was out once again and we were able to visit with loads of people! Vinny led an elderly woman to Christ - Praise God! Rique also got to meet alot of the teens and had a couple good conversations.

Afterwards, Rique, Ems, and I all went to a house party. Nicole (the prego girl who climbed Cave Hill with Jacs and I) invited us to her boyfriends birthday party. Ems and I really wanted to see her so we went for "a couple minutes". We ended up staying for a couple hours! Even though the majority of those there were drunk when we arrived we still had some solid conversations with quite a few. God gave us undeniable favor! BIG THINGS are happening!

Today was a bit crazier of a day. We stayed the night in Bangor cause Emma had her last day of work starting at 9am. She dropped Rique and I off at the train station to catch the train into Belfast and then the bus from Belfast into Jordanstown. We had near two hours to get to Adopt-A-Block. We arrived into Belfast about half nine pretty easily. To save a few pounds we opted to take the bus the rest of the way to the church instead of the train.

Bad mistake! You know when you try to cut corners and you end up hitting the corner instead. . . ya that's what happened. Because of the 12th holiday the bus times were still a bit off and our main bus wasn't running. We spent the next hour running around town trying to find a different bus to take only to see the one we needed at too far a distance ahead to catch. Talk about frustrating. We then decided to head to a different bus stop to take the bus to Vinny's house in Monkstown. At this point we were walking quickly towards it. I was looking back to make sure another bus wasn't coming when I heard Rique shout; "Julie look out!". I turn just a tad too late. I  smash face first into a lamp post!

On the ground I couldn't help but laugh. . . stressing as I was just was not worth a broken nose. If God wanted us at Adopt-A-Block, God would get us to Adopt-A-Block!

. . . and he did. Unfortunately it took 2 and a half hours and a swollen nose for me to learn my lesson!

Later that afternoon we went back into Belfast. Rique needed to grab a couple things and I wanted to show him a bit more of the city. Waiting for Emma to get off work I took him down to the Botanic Gardens. On a Saturday it is the location for about 300 teens to get drunk. The impact of the scene hit him like it had me (and still does every time I go). We saw several of the Friday night regulars completely drunk (one sober) and got to talking with them. Breaks your heart and fuels the urgency that something needs to be done.

I've been home for a little bit now and I can't shake the images in my mind. What can we do to help? What can I do? I know now more than ever that this is why I am here. I felt the initial calling when I was at Dee Coor's funeral but now it's hit me even harder. i needed that too as it's been such a challenging week for me. The passion that was fading over the past week just got drenched in petrol!

I am exhausted tho and we have youth camp coming up next week. Please keep us in your prayers over here as God is doing some BIG THINGS and there are even bigger things on the way.

-J

ps Happy Birthday to my brother! You are getting SO OLD! Love you x

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