This week has been full of planning, meeting and greeting. This week I worked in Open Abbey for the first time. Open Abbey is where we meet with people who may be just visiting, someone who lives in the area or someone who has never been in Abbey before. We answer questions and chat with them about the church and faith. I really enjoy this part of the internship; you get to meet so many people from many different places, different from your own. I met a woman the other day that is from South Africa, she has lived in Dublin five years but has never been in Abbey before because she thought the building was daunting. Once she had come inside a few of our interns, Katie and Steph were playing music, she commented on how beautiful the music was, and she noted that the music reminded her of services back home in South Africa.Eddie
Wednesday night as we were all walking home we were just about to be at Harvey’s when I noticed a man lying on some steps. His bags were strewn about and looked as if he had fallen; as we got closer I noticed that he had blood dripping from a cut around his eye down his face. I had a deciphering moment – Do I or Don’t I? I knew I wanted to help him but my heart was a little unsure due to fear. What I was afraid of I am not sure…what could this man have possibly done to me in all of his weakness? I was perfectly fine, why was I afraid? Thankfully Luke was walking next to me and saw everything I had just seen. In my deciphering moment I think I began to say, “We should help him,” and Luke was in complete agreement. This was all a little surreal. We went back and asked if he wanted our help – he did. I went and tried to find something in which he could wipe his face down with and all I could find was some yellow napkins. We began to talk to Eddie about his situation in Dublin.
In Dublin you have to have a photo ID to stay at a hostel or bed and breakfast. Eddie did not have any of these things and that’s why he was not able to stay at the hostel he was lying outside of, he had cash just no ID. Luke and I ended up sharing conversation with Eddie and learned about his life. We walked with him to the Garda (police station) where he thought he might receive a new ID, he was declined. Eddie told us he had four children and has been on the streets for twenty years. I guess the part which broke my heart was when he told us that he was riding a bus one time and hadn’t realized that he had been on the bus with one of his children until twenty minutes had past. I’m still thinking about him – he reminds me of someone back home. Most importantly we often lose hope in people and see some as hopeless. Well God has hope in us all and loves us, no matter what walk of life someone comes from I never want to look upon someone without hope.
HowthJacqueline, Steph, Matt Moorman and I went for a couple of hours to visit Howth. We experienced true Irish weather with wind and rain. Howth is a really beautiful place with green cliffs jutting out into the ocean, and homes perched on high hills. The high point of this trip for me was that we got to see seals!!
Prayer Vigil - Friday
This week we had our second prayer vigil. It went really well. I know I have let you guys know how praying out loud in groups isn’t exactly my forte and it’s true, it hasn’t always been. I have been praying about being able to pray aloud, to share my prayers with my team, which at first seemed contradictory to me but God is coming through. This week at the prayer vigil I was very thankful that we did break up into smaller groups instead of praying in one large group, when we did this we were all able to pray in my group. I did not get nervous or fearful, like I had previously, I was just at ease. This is the picture of what God truly is, our comforter. Psalm 62 Thank you Jackie and Steph for helping me through this and understanding!
Sunday school
Lizi and I taught Sunday school this past week. The class ranges in ages from 5 to 12 so we had to keep a lot of kids entertained. I thought it went really well. We taught about Noah’s Arc. We asked all of the kids to draw their favorite animals so we could incorporate it into the story of the arc; one of the kids drew their mom, which I thought was really cute.
Ultimate Frisbee Monday
I was hesitant about going to play ultimate on Monday but I was really glad I went, it was great. My team is extremely helpful especially since most of them are on the Irish National League of ultimate. I found this out yesterday. They must see me do so many things wrong, they have such grace over me! I am really meeting so many people so fast through so many different outlets, it’s amazing. I feel as if I will be in shock when I go home.
Today
Today I went with Alan Boal (pastor at Abbey) and Luke to the Lindsay school for the last day before the school lets out before holiday. They do a show where they sing songs for their last day of school. It was great!!! The kids even did a performance of Oliver Twist which was really cute. Our pastor got up and spoke and talked about America, because he is going to visit there, and brought us up on stage, I played the role of the statue of liberty and Luke played the national anthem via harmonica. The kids were excited. I kind of wanted to stay and hang out with them, it reminded me of the job I left at home! Miss my kids at after school care!
Later on I met up with some artists who are going to show their work in the Abbey Arts Festival July 7th – 12th. It was fun to talk with them about there work and get some input from them about the show.
Tomorrow I am meeting up with Nathania (host family), Kirsten Boal, Christy (year intern), Katharine (year intern), Steph and Jacqueline (team mates) to visit at Nathania’s house!
