It was the best of times, it was the best of times...
Things are great! We were able to stay 3 nights at that fabulous little B&B in Portrush, a beautiful little town right along the northernmost coast. From here we could see the Giant's Causeway (which we will definitely be visiting!), and the entire ocean, as one very stormy day resulted in some fantastic pictures.
We experienced our first traditional Irish "fry" at the B&B... bacon, sausage, beans, eggs, potato bread, soda bread, toast, coffee, tea and juice. Whew! It was very yummy though, especially the potato and soda breads. Apparently the test of a woman's success as a cook is determined soley upon her ability to make a tasty soda bread!
We would take the bus or train twice daily from Portrush into Coleraine, where the Causeway Coast Vineyard is located. The rain here has been heavier than ever, and there's even pretty severe flooding! Some of the public transit has been down as a result, but it's drier today and the water level has dropped quite a bit, so hopefully this continues!
As of now, we are staying in a dorm-style building a wee distance from the church with the Slovakian missions' team. We'll be able to stay here until the 26th, free of charge, and meals covered! Again, what a HUGE blessing! We were thinking about that struggle we hit a few days back and realized that if we hadn't gone through that, we wouldn't have fully appreciated just what an incredible gift from God it is that we are here and being used all day long to bless the church! I think we came into it a bit cocky, thinking that as long as we were polite, we'd find work in exchange for lodging, but instead our speedy journey to the north has really taught us to rely fully on the Lord to meet all our needs. Life is grand!
We are helping with all the meals, set up, clean up, and housekeeping this week. There is one itty bitty washer and drier in the Exodus building (where we're staying) with which we are using to wash 30 beds worth of bedding from the previous team. (Heather, I want your massive washer and drier!) Haha, the loads take almost 3 hours per machine, so we'll be washing and re-bedding most of the week when we're not in the kitchen. We also went through the evangelism training with this team, so will be popping out onto the streets with them when we can!
From the 27th until the 31st we'll be housesitting for a man named Coney while he is in Germany--clearly another God thing that the day we need to be out of Exodus someone offers to take us in that very night! :) Coney has two bikes that he's fixing up for us (!!!) so that we don't have to pay to bus to the church daily. WOW! We're not sure what our tasks will be once we're at his place, but many of the pastors are taking their vacation after this week, so we hear there will be lots for us to do.
All the people up here are SO friendly and welcoming! You can address any person on the street and they'll respond with a smile--including all police and public transportation workers! It's quite a breath of fresh air, I must say :).
We've discovered the best chocolate in Ireland: Galaxy! It's just a smooth, milk chocolate bar (you can get variations, like fruit-, or nut-, or caramel-filled, etc), but it's divine! And funnily enough, we've asked maybe 8 Irish people what their favourite type of sweet is, and they ALL, from the tip of the Republic of Ireland to the coast of Northern Ireland, have sworn up and down that Galaxy is the winner. They all love Lindor/Lindt too (mmm!), but it's "posh" chocolate to them... not just a corner store snack.
Right now they have Ben and Jerry's ice cream for sale on at Tesco (like Save-On), and David thinks we would be foolish not to buy some... I agree! So toodle-loo for now, dear friends! We'll be in touch :). xoxoxoxox