We saw some surprising things yesterday. You guessed it – badgers and snow! Snow was falling in the morning as we rode to Belfast with some friends from Downpatrick, Thomas and Ciara. We keep hearing that it doesn’t even snow every year, let alone in October. It was sticking to the ground on the way to Belfast, but none left to be seen on the way home. Such is Irish weather, I guess.
And while pulling up to our house, we finally saw a badger! One of the older men that lives in the big manor house near us sets out lots of birdfeeders and trays of food for badgers. But last night was the first time we’d seen one. Have you ever seen one of these? They’re so strange looking and are about the size of a medium-sized dog!
It’s really, really cold today. I’ve been working at the house, doing second coats of paint and other majorly fun stuff. Mark has been working at Campbell and Kristy’s, as he will be doing until Nov. 10, when our internet is FINALLY turned on. For some reason, though, their heat isn’t working at all today. So I came over to bring one of our space heaters and found Mark wearing 2 undershirts, a sweater, a hooded sweatshirt (hood pulled up) and his coat. Poor guy was freezing!
That’s all I’ve got today. I’m going to get started on the guest room now.
The days have flown by since I posted last and it’s hard to imagine it’s been quite so long. In some ways it feels like there’s nothing extraordinary enough to post about, but at the same time, there are so many things in my head that it’s hard to know where to start. So I’ll give you a few random bits and bobs.
One new thing is that we have a washer at the house, but no dryer. Since it’s so damp (and cold!) here, it takes a good long while for clothes to dry hanging up, too. The washing machine only holds about 1/2 of a normal load at home and it takes about 1 1/2 hours for a cycle to run. Talk about the normal becoming bizarre. Laundry that usually takes a few hours to get all the way done now takes about 2 days. Does anyone understand how this little thing makes “normal” life weird?
We spent all day Saturday at a 24-7 Conference in Lisburn. Ross and Kathryn, new friends of ours who pastor the Methodist church in town, told us about it and we spent the day together listening to some really challenging teachings and talking through it over meals. Talk about a good time. If you know me, you know I could easily spend the next 2 hours giving you a play-by-play of the whole day, including basic outlines of the talks. I’ll try to just give you the big points. Of course, a major thrust of 24-7 is prayer – more time spent with the Lord makes us more like him, more dependant on him, more alive in him, more useful to him. The team that was sharing do work on an island in Spain that has the most clubs, bars and pubs per square mile in all of Europe. They were talking about the lost being the focus of ministry. I was so challenged by my discomfort with people who aren’t like me. By my dislike of going into darkness to be light. By my fear that I’m not cool enough to hang with people that don’t need me to lead worship. By my fear of being too uninteresting to hold a conversation with a stranger. By the fact that I turn my face from need and talk about how simply I live and how much I sacrifice to make myself feel better. I realized that I want to get over my fear of anyone and anything other than Jesus. I want there to be room in my life for him to do anything he wants. I want him to be my King. I want his kingdom to come here.
We prayed Sunday morning while walking around town that God would cross our paths with people that don’t know him and give us the courage and compassion to engage them. One thing we’re continually surprised by is how quickly and obviously God answers our prayers that are already on his heart. That evening, our neighbor, Sarah, came over to introduce herself. She came in for a cup of tea and stayed for nearly an hour. We are nothing alike in personality or beliefs, but we like each other. It’s just the beginning. And I can’t wait.
And on that note, I’ll sign off. I do hope to be back soon.
Well, we all knew it would happen. Sooner or later, the excitement of moving and meeting people and dreaming wears off and you’re left living in a place that’s still slightly uncomfortable, missing your friends, and gearing up for the reality that dreams take work, risk, and hardship. We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. We’ve been expecting it. We’re not cursing God and packing our bags. But we’ve been sad this last week.
It’s one of the great beauties of the Christian life that we can say “I am in the right place. God is good and on the throne. I really want to be with Pat and Lezlie or Jay and Jess (or whoever). I’m really sad that I’m missing the early years of their kids. It hurts like crazy.” And there’s no incongruity in that statement. It’s just the tension of life and trusting God in that tension is one of the most glorifying things we can do.
Sorry we haven’t had a lot to say recently. We really are doing pretty well and getting adjusted. We love you all and miss you (well…most of you).
Mark and Ange
I just published an article on a new website I’m a part of. It’s called Hot & Sweaty Pastor (I didn’t think up the name, but you have to admit that it’s memorable). It’s a new blog set up by my friend Matt Conner. If you’d like to check it out, click here. You may want to read some of the other articles while you’re there. It’s a pretty wide array of people and viewpoints (ok, not really that wide…).
Mark
It’s been a while since we last posted, so I thought I’d throw out a few interesting nuggets:
Most Interesting Person: Yesterday I met an older gentleman named Neil who is world renowned for training rescue and caedavor dogs. He lives right outside Newcastle in the mountains.
God Is Too Good To Us Yet Again: We continue to have these moments where stuff we didn’t even think to pray about drops in our laps. Like when I went to get a mobile phone and they were all out of the model we wanted, but it just so happened that when the kid went back to the stock room they “must have got a new shipment or something” and there was the one we wanted. Or when we were given a piano, delivered to our door for free by a man we’d never met (friend of a friend). What’s up with that? We didn’t even pray for a piano because it seemed to far out there.
Best Food Surprise: Last time we were here we were really dissappointed at the pizza, so we were all geared up for years of sub-par sauce and cardboard crust. But it turns out the little pizza parlor in Newcastle has pretty good Italian-style pizza for only a few pounds. Yes!
Forgotten Pet Peave: People in Europe generally don’t use sheets! They tend to have a fitted sheet under you and just a duvet (thick blanket) over you. For some reason, this bothers me to no end. I can’t quite sleep right – like I just feel naked and can’t get comfortable. Guess that’s my OCD side coming out… (To be fair, we did have a sheet at Campbell and Kristi’s, but not at the new place, which was a simple remedy after the first night)
Tonight we’ll hopefully get to go to the pub and hear some good traditional music. Looking forward to that, for sure.
Mark
