Team Ireland update...its about time. :)

Hey everyone,

You may be wondering, but we are still alive- we have just been busy and have slacked off a bit with updating the blog.

There is much to update on, but we’ll try to fill you in on everything. After finishing at Faughanvale, we had five days off to travel and recuperate. We didn’t realize how tired we were until we stopped moving, and then it hit us hard. We left the camp on Sunday and stayed at a hostel in Londonderry by the North Coast. We were in a room with about five other people and had some pretty weird, and funny experiences. On Monday we traveled around the city on walls that are old- maybe very old?! We visited a museum about the history of the “troubles”, which is what the violent times of unrest are called. That night we met up with some friends from our last camp for dinner and then headed to Downhill Hostel, which is right on the ocean. The woman who owns it used to go the UPC, so we felt at home even though we were a far way from it. We stayed there for two nights and had a blast. We borrowed wet suits and boogie boards and Kiel and Jenna rode the waves, while Nicole and Quinn pretended to know what they were doing! We traveled along the coast by bus to Giant’s Causeway, which is a huge area of hexagonal stones of different heights that extend out of the water. We also visited a rope bridge that moved a little too much for Quinn and Jenna’s comfort, but we all made it safely across- both times! We caught the train back to Belfast for a few days where we traveled around the city with friends and took a sweet tour of the city on a double decker bus.

On Saturday, we got a three hour car ride down to Mullingar (in the Republic), but not before resting up by sleeping in until 1 pm- it was amazing. Nicole had never had fish’n’chips, so we stopped for dinner at a place that we were sure would make her fall in love. However, the fish was more like an eggo waffle with its squareness and it slapped us on the chin when we tried to take a bite. We recovered in time to meet the Mullingar team of 18, most of whom were from the North and not the Republic. The pastor of Mullingar Presbyterian, Steven, was joined by his sisters, Cathryn and Susan, in the running of the camp. It was hard to shift back into camp mode after the break, but everyone was great and we soon were joking around and laughing. Unlike Faughanvale, we did two Holiday Bible Clubs each day, one at 10:30 and the second at 2, so we were constantly running about. We had around 65 kids at the morning session and 40 in the afternoon, but the afternoon bunch seemed just as energetic, or maybe crazy, as the morning. The church was VERY small and we had to move into an army tent outside for certain activities. This also resulted in us staying with families of the congregation and community. Jenna and Nicole stayed with the Wilsons and their two sons and Kiel and Quinn stayed with the three other guys at the house of a man named Cyril who arrived home at 3 am and always left the lights and tv on. Our theme for the week was Champions, and Steven used his guitar skills to write a song to the tune of ‘Don’t Stop Me’ by Queen? The camp was very different from Faughanvale, but was just as great. We were exhausted, but were blessed by the kids and the great team members who kept us sane, or at least laughing. We had to leave Mullingar early and miss the last two days of events to head to our next camp, Lowe Memorial, in Belfast. We have more to write, but are going to wait a day or seven so that you will have something to look forward to and we will be able to say that we have posted more.

To everyone who makes it this far, we thank you for loving us and being excited about what God is doing through and in each of us. Please keep us in your prayers and we’ll write again soon-hopefully.

Jenna, Nicole, Kiel, Squinn (or Squid or Squinn)