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May 27, 2006
moldy blue tortillas
This past week marked the end of my days serving the church in Dun Laoghaire, though I've decided to still do the youth club if I have Friday nights off. They are a blast. Tonight we had six kids which is a record high. We played this game on a table tennis table where we try to blow the pingpong ball off the table at someone else's section. Its very funny when the kids are blowing so hard that they are spraying on the table.
For some reason the team has been exceptionally fun lately. It seems to have usually been good, though not always easy, at times quite difficult. Yet this week, I have had so much fun with the group, as well as being challenged and encouraged.
One particular night, I managed to lounge around a bit at Michelle's house after we had worked all afternoon. Managing to lounge around is a skill I might have picked up as an mk. Michelle, a missionary prodigy (in my experienced opinion), recognized my lounging efforts and thus invited me to eat tacos with her that evening. She made delightul tacos despite throwing away 4 things that had gone off, which we could have used for the dinner. Those items were: moldy blue tortillas, thankfully there were healthy backups; salsa which had been conquered by an alien growth; back-up salsa which was sadly and indistinguishably corrupted; and sour cream which had made friends with the enemy. Despite the casualties the tacos were supreme.
Other nights of the week included Xmen 3, and sipping guinness delicious with Kait, Rachel Hy., M. , Ana (spaniard), and Stephan (german).
This evening, I was surprised when one of the women who works at the Y asked me to pray for her. She was surprised as well when we prayed right then and there. It was a bit awkward but great. Sadly, she said she had never been prayed for by a Christian man even though she has been a Christian for quite some time. She was tearfully encouraged. Prayer is magic, in a very non-druidy but mysteriously God-sensing way. I say do it.
Posted by lukedavidh at 12:16 AM | TrackBack
May 18, 2006
5 countries in 3 weeks
My apologies for not updating. The excuse is that I have been seeing the world.
Three weeks ago exactly, I left this country to see my parents in Granada. I spent two and a half days there hanging with the folks, soaking up the sun, eating olives and tapas, and savoring tasty spanish wine.
I arrived in Dublin Sunday morning after sleeping in London airport, then ran in relay section of the Belfast Marathon. They let me run the last leg 4.9 miles and I raced another guy to the finish line in the last 50 meters... beat him. That left me sore for the rest of the week until Friday morning waking bright and early (4:30) to make it to the airport by 6, to fly to London to fly to Greece.
The missions conference in Eritrea, Greece was a restful, refreshing, re-invigorating experience. We prayed, danced, heard the word and sat in the sun eating lots of olives and feta. It was brilliant.
I left Eritrea Wednesday on a bus headed to athens. Little did I know there was a transportation strike in athens, including all trains and buses. Our bus was sitting in these overcrowded roads (because everyone was driving that day), pretty much not moving. I decided to try my luck with a taxi so I exited the bus somewhere in the middle of a bustling athens. The taxi gods did not approve my demeanor, so I prayed desperately to the one true God. He provided a fairly amiable taxi driver willing to rescue me from my plight. He received a juicy tip of 10 euros. I arrived in dublin later that day.
On thursday I arrived in Pittsburgh without much ado, and that night celebrated Jared Huffman's last days as a bachelor with T. Cobb, D. Weir, K. Bobos, M. Sligh, J. Chapell, J. Shlucter, C. Foster, and others... good times held by all. The next night was the rehearsal dinner (with an open bar) which offered great food, good wine, and tearjerking stories. Wedding bells rang on Saturday. Jared and all the groomsmen (including me), sharply groomed and dressed in black. Erin, as beautiful as ever with lilies in her hair, and her pretty bridesmaids wearing matte yellow dresses with red violet sash belts. K. Kapic delivered the sermon, a charge to love with forgiveness. The reception also provided good food. We danced and toasted and laughed and sent the bright-eyed lovebirds on their married way.
Sunday flew to Philly after sitting on the runway in pittsburgh for 1.5 hours, which caused me to miss my flight to Dublin. US airways put me in a holiday inn with food vouchers and I caught the next plane to dublin on the following evening. From Dublin airport to Belfast via bus for leadership training and team fellowship, then back to Dublin yesterday. Back to my humble little room with Vincent. My part of the room is trashed... I have some work to do.
All in all, traveling is done for now, thankfully, and I don't want to set foot in an airport or on a plane for at least a couple months. I now respect my Dad even more for the work he has done.
Posted by lukedavidh at 3:32 PM | TrackBack
May 4, 2006
Cows and... Flamenco!! tsss...
To catch you up:
Two Saturdays ago we left on Voyage de Prier (prayer trip number 2), organized by Kait and I. It was splendid despite some slight miscommunications. We travelled south again to Wexford, stayed in this cottage a friend of whm owns, enjoyed wonderful food, played much Phase 10, celebrated Kaits birthday. We met with the leaders there, discussed and prayed for the summer. On Monday we traveled South and West to Bantry. At first Kait and I had planned to stay in the Bantry church, but the pstor would not hear it and insisted that all six of us stay in his house with his family. We had some great food, made good progress on ideas for the summer, and soaked up the farm lifestyle. Not only is he a pastor but he is also a farmer. He owns a fine stock of beef cows and his brother runs a dairy products company using his own dairy cows as the source. One day Joel, David (michelle miller's fiance) and I rode on David Ross' (the pastor) tractor with him to pick up a bail of silage from his brother's farm. His brother gave us a few raspberry cream mousse treats fresh from the farm kitchen. During our time in Bantry we came up with some good ideas for the Arts team this summer. It should be an exciting time
Dang, the Irish countryside was fantastic, and I realized that I may love cows. They were fascinating me. When we stayed at the cottage, it was right next to this cow pasture and I went and talked a bit to the cows, figured out their ages by the tag numbers on their ears (if thats how it works). I loved the way they gathered and watched me as I watched them.
As my life unfolds here, I am realizing that there is a good amount of extravagance in every culture that eventually may seem humdrum as it repeats and repeats. But for me now, these lifestyles and cultural expressions are rich and wonderful. As it was in Granada last weekend...
We returned here in Dublin on Wednesday and I left Wednesday night to fly to London to sleep in teh airport to fly to Granada in the morning. It was great to be with my Dad and Gini. Dad showed me around a bit and insisted on paying for most everything. I ate fresh healthy food including the most tasty olives.
Anna Signorelli and I went to see a Flamenco performance. It was brilliant.
In a small room that might have been a cave, 30 people crowded in on stools and benches against the wall to wait for the performers. A guitarist, singer, and dancer enter, weaving their way through everybody to find their three seats in the front of the initimate space. A soft orange spotlight focuses on the small flamenco group, about 6 feet from me being three rows back. They talk to the crowd a bit and then begin this soft exchange of spanish guitar magic and passionate smoky song. The two women build the rhythm clapping and stomping with numerous crescendos of sound. After a couple songs they move the chairs to the side and the dancer begins her feat. Her performance seemed to be mostly about her feet rapidly pounding the hollow floor. Her movements merely accentuated the sound. It all flowed together so fluidly and passionately. The guitarist almost made me want to quit playing. Here's some pics:
Posted by lukedavidh at 12:15 PM | TrackBack