"The music of divine love plays uniquely in each peron's life. Through individual personalities and personal life events, the goodness of God takes on a melody all its own. The song of God needs and instrument to give it shape and voice...We are all called to be instruments through which the melody of God takes shape. Through our lives God's love seeks to dance and make music in the world." -Joyce Rupp

Well I am sad to say that it has been almost three weeks since I last posted.  Hopefully, I can get you all caught back up with what has been happening in my life. 

After my last post, my fellow Northern Ireland YAV's, our site coordinator and myself went on our first retreat to Corrymeela and the Giants Causeway.  The drive along the coast was absolutely beautiful!! We saw the ocean almost all the way to the place where we were staying.  Once arriving at Corrymeela Knocklayde, which is just a short drive from Ballycastle on the North Coast, we decided to take the rest of the day to rest, play games, and relax.  The boys decided to hike to the top of the hill/mountain that was right outside our door, while the girls decided to nap and play games.  After dinner, the girls and our site coordinator, Doug, went into town to watch the Halloween parade and fireworks.  The parade was good for a small town and included a fire twirler, drum circle, and people on stilts.  The fireworks display was bigger and longer than I ever thought one for a town of that size to have, all the while playing Katy Perry's song Firework in the background.

On the second day of our trip, we made our way to the Giants Causeway.  Before arriving, we stopped at different over looks to see the scenery.  We saw in the far off distance, Scotland, and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, and an island that is known as Sheep's Island.  The tale that goes with Sheep's Island is an interesting one because in the tale/riddle if you put 12 sheep on the island they die from over eating but if you put 13 sheep on the island, they die of starvation.  So how many sheep can you keep on the island?  Nobody really know!! The Giant Causeway is a jaw dropping sight and allows for some incredible photos!!  We walked every where we felt we could stand without falling over from the wind, uncertainty of the ground, and without getting soaked by the waves crashing on the pillars.  The tale of the Giants Causeway is funny but also very clever. 

The tale is of Finn McCool who went over to Scotland to fight their Giants but got scared and ran home.  When the head Scottish Giant got wind that Finn had wanted to fight him, he marched right over to Ireland.  By that time Finn's wife had disguised him as a baby to keep him safe and so that the Scottish Giant wouldn't fight him.  When the Scottish Giant arrived and demanded to see Finn, Finn's wife only allowed the Scottish Giant to see their "baby" because her husband wasn't home.  Upon seeing the baby, the Scottish Giant fled back home because he was scared of how big the father was going to be if the baby was that big.  Silly little tale but fun to tell!!

After our retreat ended, getting back into the swing of things was interesting because I was trying to figure out what day it was and what I needed to do those days.  All in all, I got through them and everything was done!!

On Sunday, November 6, EBM held our first Church +.  Church + is basically supersized Sunday.  We began at 9:30 (set up began at 9am) with a light breakfast of Bacon Butties.  Bacon Butties are two slices of bacon on a bap (aka a roll).  I cooked over a hundred pieces of bacon but I certainly didn't mind because there were so many people for our first one!!  After breakfast, we split into three different groups, a discussion group, a family group, and a youth group (I believe).  I was helping lead the family group.  The focus for the entire morning was prayer and communion because in the normal church service at 11, a team of 18 people who completed prayer training were commissioned into service.  I was one of those 18 and our job is, in pairs, to offer/be available for people to come to us and have us pray with them.  Its something I never saw myself getting into but I am happy to have done it.  It forces me to step outside of my comfort zone and explore life a little bit more through prayer. 

Moving on to this past week (I don't think anything happened the week between church plus and this past week), a big event happened in my life.  On Thursday, I met the Taoiseach (the Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland, Enda Kenny.  Although I didn't have a lengthy conversation with him, I did shake his hand and tell him about what I am doing with EBM this year.  He came to see the projects that were going on with EBM since we are in the middle of building Skainos, to see the projects that Short Strand (our neighboring Catholic community) were doing, and to present an award at the Aisling Awards.  EBM won Best Business!!  Yay for EBM!!!  Oh and not to forget, we were on the news!!  Here is the link for the video!! http://ww.u.tv/utvplayer/video/140742/115279

I know this is a lot in one post but there is one more thing!!  Tonight, we attended the Christmas lighting ceremony.  Although it was geared more toward children, the actual lighting of the tree, City Hall and the street decorations were absolutely beautiful!! I'm sad I forgot my camera in the craziness of trying to get out of the door but I promise pictures of the tree, City Hall, streets and the Christmas market will all come soon!!

For now, I hope you enjoy some photos of the Giants Causeway!!

Carrick-a-rede rope bridge

Sheep's Island

Giants Causeway

Giants Causeway again!!  Look how big!!

Walking out to the tip of the Causeway!

Just to put how big it is into perspective!!

Hope you enjoyed this post!!  More will come soon!!

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding" Albert Einstein

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to talk with somebody who has hurt you to your core?  Somebody who has hurt not only you but also your family and friends?  Ever wonder what peace/understanding would look like in that situation? Well this past Wednesday, I went to a talk between Patrick Magee and Jo Berry.  Pat and Jo are two people who have done this and still continue to do this today in connection with the Brighton Bomb and the hurt that was caused through the death of Jo's father, Anthony.

A little history for those who don't know what the Brighton Bomb was.  On October 12, 1984, Pat Magee set off a bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton England.  The bomb killed 5 people and injured 31 people.  It was an attempt to to assassinate the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet.  Pat had been to the hotel several weeks prior to set up the bomb, which was on a long time delay to allow for the bomb to sit through the upcoming weeks without exploding prematurely.  Margaret Thatcher and her husband were not injured but the bomb did kill Conservative MP Anthony Berry, Parliamentary Treasury Secretary John Wakeham's wife Roberta, Lady Muriel Maclean, Eric Taylor and Jeanne Shattock.  After detonating the bomb, Pat was found guilty and sentenced to prison for the 5 counts of murder he committed, which ended up being 8 life sentences.  He was released from prison in 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement, also known as The Belfast Agreement, is an agreement between the British and Irish governments and was created to address the relationships in Northern Ireland, between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and between both parts of Ireland and England, Wales and Scotland.

Magee agreed, after several miscommunications, to meet with Jo Berry, the daughter of Anthony Berry, to meet and discuss the bomb and life in general.  In November 2000, Magee and Berry sat down for the first time, for three hours and talked.  The conversation started off with Magee trying to explain why he did through a political lens but soon turned to Berry explaining and questioning Magee about what happened and circumstances surrounding it.  From this point on, Magee and Berry have met probably over 80 times to talk with people about their experiences with and surrounding the bomb.

My eyes were opened to an incredible journey between two people from a horrible situation.  These two set a wonderful example to others that reconciliation is possible, from the smallest situations to situations on a grander scale.

On a completely different note, last Saturday (October 29), I went with 5 other YAV's to Carrickfergus.  We got to take the train, which is one of my favorite things to do here, and we were able to do it relatively cheap too!!!!  Once there, we decided that we were starving and decided that we needed to find a cheap place to eat, due to the fact that we are all on a stipend and are trying to live solely on that every two weeks.  After our cheap but delicious meal at the neighborhood pub, we made our way to the castle.  We thoroughly enjoyed our trip through the castle because after about 10 minutes of making our way through the outside grounds, a friend we met in the pub where we ate lunch and who worked at the castle, gave us a free and impromptu tour!! It was awesome to hear, not only the history of the castle, but also hear how the history of his family throughout the generations in relationship to the castle.  All in all, it was a great day and I can't wait to go back and spend a little more time there!!