faithactionreconciliation

Somehow I seem to find myself still awake at 3am and I figure, now is as good a time as ever to write a little somethin' somethin'. I'll also try uploading a few photos...

This past week has been full. I finished my time off and got right into this past week. One of my highlights from my time off was a nap I almost took in a field full of tall grasses. I lay back to watch the clouds pass by (something I haven't been able to do since I was a kid...) and found myself dozing off. It was a great place for a little sleep.

Monday was the beginning of our new Peace and Reconciliation program, Incarnate. So far its been great! This week we listened to lectures by Jon Hatch on "The Kingdom of God". A big theme we talked about on Monday and Tuesday was what we can do to aid the poor. It was interesting to talk about issues such as dropping the debts of developing world countries, about the issue of child soldiers and, about what people are doing around the world. Man, the conversation really got going! Who knew YWAMers could get so zealous?

One thing that keeps on touching me and I just talked with Sujee about tonight is how international we are. I've become so used to it and, dare I say, even taken it for granted. As we sit about our houses or our lecture room, we represent a shocking amount of countries for such a group of people. Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Argentina, South Africa, Costa Rica, Palestine, Canada, England, Northern Ireland... its crazy, isn't it? Our director introduced our group as 'the future United Nations' and while we sat around talking about issues such as dropping the debt, this fully hit me.

So, we spent 3 days in the lecture room and 2 days working at a local Primary school here in the inner-city of Prod Belfast. This is the same school where we are a part of the Breakfast Club (we serve breakfast each morning to primary school kids) so its great to see the kids during the day and help out around their school too. We've been painting classrooms and things look great in there! Haha, we have seen some crazy side affects from being locked in rooms full of paint fumes but, we've all really enjoyed the week. One of my favorite parts about working at this primary school is the school's custodian, Roy. Roys a dad of 4 kids, is a huge Chelsea soccer fan and has a heart of gold. He really loves all the kids at the school, knows their family backgrounds and would probably do anything for anyone of them (even if it means stealing toast and adding extra spoonfuls of sugar to cereal bowls). Hes a great guy and working at the school gives us plenty of time for conversation. The thing that really gets me about this guy is that he isn't a Christian but he is in there serving, laying down his rights, loving those kids, and being an outstanding example to those of us who are Christian. Working in an inner-city school is hard - the kids are tough! - and I sometimes think to myself, man, if I wasn't doing this because I thought God has called me to it, I wouldn't be here... but heres this man. It really makes me think. He may not know Jesus personally but his heart and the way he works in his community is a picture of Jesus and that blows me away.

Alright... its 3:20 and I imagine I should try to fall asleep. Tomorrow morning is a busy church service. My dear Sri Lankan friend is doing a fund raiser at a near by church and I volunteered to help. We're cooking Indian curry during the service and then serving it as people leave the church. And man, Sujee's curry is wonderful! They're (I'm!) in for a treat!

Oh, and just as a little tid bit... I'm still off to Israel and the West bank as of July 15th. I'll be there for two weeks and will be part of a peace and reconciliation project there. I'll be working at an orphanage, riding camels, but am most excited about helping out in a refugee camp. I'll write more about that soon!

Lots of love,
Christy

a few photos:
These were taken at a little village near Gitega in Burundi...








These are the men of the village, trained up to be drummers as an occupation from the time they're approx. 8 years old. This art is phenomenal! Really, truly inspiring and gave me some dreams for possible music ministry in the future. Through their music they preached about the importance of reconciliation and can also speak on AIDS/HIV and the Gospel of Jesus. Not only do they support their commuinity but they enrich their culture and aid their country's peace efforts as well.