A Journey of Mission to Belfast: All the things I have missed since my last post...

So I recently posted about Christmas.... well now I am going to go back in time and talk about how Thanksgiving, different events with my youth, Bowling Christmas parties, the first snow, the Belfast Christmas Market, and seeing John Bell went. I am sure there are plenty other things I could talk about but these will do for now.

Wow so It really is hard to remember all the way back to Thanksgiving, but one thing I could not forget if you paid me was the amazing Thanksgiving meal I had at our coordinators house. All the YAV's got together on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (since we don't get off for Thanksgiving) and we started our day by playing some American Football.

This was a great way to start the day. The next thing that took place was cooking... So me and a few other YAV'S cooked before heading to Doug and Elaine's where the huge meal awaited us. One of the main things I love for Thanksgiving are the grands biscuits... so I made from scratch crescent rolls to bring to our Thanksgiving meal. I had also decided to make a desert, so I made cheese cake as well. The day before I was lucky enough to be invited to an American family's house who attended Princeton Seminary and have been living here for 5 years. So they had a big Thanksgiving buffet and invited all their Northern Irish friends to come celebrate. Well as I left I was given a pumpkin pie that also came with us to the dinner at Doug's house.

So at this stage we were ready to head to Doug and Elaine's where we were going to watch American football and eat a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. When we got there they had a huge spread of food, we got turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans, stuffing, and much much more. Then for desert there were four different pies so we were very well fed and it was truly amazing to share in the wonderful fellowship. I truly felt blessed to be able to share a meal around their table with such wonderful food and fellowship.

So most of the other things I am going to talk about lead up to Christmas or are happened right before. First one of the roles I play while here is working with Youth Fellowship. This is a very fun endeavour and one that has me doing many fun activities. Right before Christmas we all went ice skating, and mini golfing. These were fun activities to get the youth involved and to get to know each other better. Needless to say my team won mini golf, and I managed not to fall once on the ice.

Youth mini golfing

Concentrating hard on getting a hole in one

Jonny the assistant minister got pushed over

Me and the youth on the Ice

Moving on from youth group not to the Belfast Christmas Market. This is a international market that comes to Belfast every year. It happens for a month leading up to Christmas out front of city hall. It was absolutely amazing. There was food from all over the world, there were people selling things from around the world, there was mulled wine, and so much more. It was a very nice treat leading up to Christmas being able to go into city center and meet up with people to walk around the market. I wish they did something like this back home.

Inside the Christmas market

Belfast International Christmas Market

The Market From the Outside

One of the many activities that I am involved in is bowling with one of the other YAV'S that lives in my house and his church on Monday nights. This has been a great treat and they have taken me in as their own. One of the traditions that most groups and workplaces due is have Christmas dinners. So I was luck enough to attend four different Christmas dinners.The first one that i went to was with the bowling club from Monday nights. We went to a famous golf club called Hollywood Golf Club which is where the pro golfer Rory Mcilroy learned to play as a child. Another fun fact was Rory was on the plane with me and the other YAV'S on the way to Northern Ireland when we arrived.This was a very fun and entertaining dinner, one of the traditions at any Christmas dinner is you get a Christmas cracker on your plate which has a gift, a hat, and a joke in it and after you open it you wear your hat all night and tell your joke. Well another tradition for this bowling club is to give out gifts for those who had great achievements. I was lucky enough to get a little plaque for being a member of the over 100 club. So that was very exciting. Also the head from the group gets up and dresses up and tells jokes and it is all great craic!

My gift from my Christmas Cracker

The Lovely group of Bowlers

Bob in his outfit to give out prizes

Me receiving my prize

After this Christmas party I went to one for The LINK, the Thursday club at the church, and the Church Staff Christmas Lunch. Now we all know why I need to go on a diet after all this Holiday eating.

My street after the first snow

The First snow fall

So I know most of you are getting snow at the moment but our First snow fall was Dec. 4th. We all got very excited and went out and played in the little bit that we had. We have not had snow since. I guess rain is more typical... oh well.

So to finally bring you up to date... Last night I went to see John Bell in what is called a Big Sing. So there were about 100 people in a room and we went through hymns from the Iona community and he taught them to the big group on the spot and taught us in parts. He is extremely well spoken and told some great stories about where the hymns came from and why they were created. It was an absolutely delightful evening and we were all able to make a joyful sound.

So I think that is me pretty much caught back up... currently I am working away at graduate school applications in my free time and just staying busy with work and the church. Thank you all for your continued love and support. It is great to know that I have people that care even when I am in a completely different country! Miss and love you all. Keep in touch. Lizzydot711@gmail.com

P.S. Below are the pictures from my last post.