Welcome, one and all, to Burnable Leaflets: Spring edition. This morning’s dreary drizzle has given way to a beautiful February day in Belfast, with blue sky, singing birds, and daffodils just beginning to bloom outside our window. It has been a long time since our last post. As many of you may know, most of that time was spent in the USA: Ben returned to Nebraska in early November, and Laurel just before Thanksgiving, because of the passing of Ben’s dad. Our time in the USA was mournful and joyous, painful and strengthening. We miss Da(vi)d deeply, and we are grateful for every moment we were able to spend with our family and friends in the States. That time was rich with more stories than we can tell here - many thanks to each one of you who made our trip special. Now we have been back in Belfast for six weeks. On the way back, Laurel volunteered to be bumped from one of her flights, and missed another! On the day that we arrived, we learned that the resignation of a key member of government had forced the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly, with a contentious new election to be held soon, amid acrimony and recrimination. (Sound familiar?) A few days later, Ben got locked in the park on his way home, and instead of climbing the spiky, spiky fence was reduced to getting out across a golf course and through a hedge. With stubborn optimism in the face of the omens, we dived back into our life and work in Belfast! This spring we are recognizing how lucky we are to be in Northern Ireland. In order to live in appreciation of this beautiful land, we are taking every opportunity we can to take day trips to see the sights around Belfast. Here are the highlights: One Saturday, we went with our new friends Kali and Brent to the coast just East of Belfast, near Holywood. There is a beautiful coastal path that runs along beaches, cliffs, farms, and estates. It was an easy, rewarding trip that further convinced us that we need to travel while we’re here! More recently, we took a bus to Rostrevor, at the southern tip of Northern Ireland. CS Lewis told his brother that he imagined Narnia to have the landscape of the Mourne Mountains around Rostrevor! There we visited our friend Austin, a graduate of AMBS who is working at the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base there. He gave us a tour of An Cuan (“The Harbor", what they call their sprawling old home). It was lovely to see a familiar Indiana face, and to catch up with all of Austin’s great doings. We climbed a small mountain to see the Cloughmore - Irish for big stone. I’ll give you one guess what we found at the top! As the story goes, one day the famous giant Finn MacCool was across the bay from where Rostrevor now lies. He spotted another giant in Scotland, across the sea, and they proceeded to have a competition of feats of strength. On the third day, Finn picked up this stone, threw it across the bay, and landed it on top of the mountain. He promptly laid down and fell asleep in exhaustion, and you can still see his profile in the mountains. Also in Rostrevor, we saw the Northern Ireland tree of the year 2017, which is in the running for European Tree of the year. Voting is still open! For you tree enthusiasts out there, check it out: treeoftheyear.org. And just yesterday, on the way home from church, we passed the train station and decided that it was time for another weekend adventure. We went North from Belfast to Carrickfergus, home of the Carrickfergus castle - one of the oldest castles in all of Ireland. We had a great tour guide who told us with relish of the pee and poo that they would dump over the walls onto invading armies, and the animal guts that the armies would hurl back over. Say what you want about the content, it was memorable! We know there are more adventures in store. In the next few weeks we’re excited to receive lots of visitors, which is a great opportunity to share our new country. Look for more updates in the future!
Keep in touch!
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September 2017
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