One of the things I get to do here in Belfast which I’ve never done before is make home visits to people who aren’t able to get out much. Most of them are older people in nursing homes or in their own apartments with family members looking after them. I was excited about doing it because I think that people need other people around them. I know how much I hate it when I’m alone for just an afternoon or evening. I can’t imagine going days or even weeks without having someone visit you.

Making home visits is honestly very trying for me. I didn’t know any of these people before visiting them and many of them don’t hear well or can’t understand much of what I am saying to them. Combining that with my natural awkwardness doesn’t make for very many long conversations. I’ve had to learn a lot of patience (which is something that, unlike awkwardness, does not come naturally to me) and look for small successes when visiting. For many of the people I visit, who have severe health problems, I feel helpless to do anything for them. But I was lucky enough to have Doreen, our church Deaconess, take me on my first home visits and introduce me to the people. She did a great job showing me how to relate to the people and find the positive behind each visit.  For many of the older ones, I’ve found that asking about their past – such as their work or their military service – helps get them talking and gives them some pride while doing so.

I’ve also been amazed by how much work some of their family members put into taking care of them. I’m normally visiting with a person for thirty minutes and, by the end of it, I am drained because it is so difficult to communicate. Most of the family members who are living with them have full time jobs, working at least 40 hours a week. Then they come home and spend the rest of their day taking care of their family member. I have no idea how anyone could have the strength to do it. They are just amazing people.

Two Fridays ago I began working in one of the local secondary schools, helping out the Religious Education teacher. I’ve loved it so far, partly because I’m not the one in charge, partly because I’m the new American who all the kids think is cool, partly because I now get to work with 60 more kids each week, but mostly because the classes are full of kids from my neighborhood who aren’t all avid churchgoers. I love my youth group. The kids in it are passionate about coming and incredibly energetic and excited when it comes to anything we do. But if I only worked with them, I would be missing out on meeting a huge percentage of youth in the community. Although most people here still identify themselves as either Protestant or Catholic, most of them don’t actually regularly practice being either. Like in the US, most youth will never be a part of a youth group. And they still need to be cared for just as much.

The first week I worked at the school, I was surprised at how open the kids were. I’m used to only superficial comments and questions, but the youth have been open about topics such as whether they go to church or not and fighting with Catholics in other parts of town. I couldn’t believe how many of them asked if I was a Christian or not. When I went to school, that would have been one of the last questions I would ask anyone. This past week I did a powerpoint presentation for them about my life and what I was doing here (it was actually the first powerpoint presentation I’ve ever done). I talked a lot about how important my college ministry group at Kent Prez meant to me and my past three summers with Youthworks. I never fully realized before the importance of having churches from any denomination working and worshipping together for a week. Everytime it came to my section on Youthworks I emphasized that both Catholic and Protestant youth worked together and that, when I worked in Davenport, it was a group of Catholic nuns that revitalized a neighborhood overrun with poverty, drugs, and crime. I don’t know how much any of it mattered to them, but as the year goes on  I’m hoping something sinks I’ve done affects the way they see their life and their community. Right now, it is just kind of nice that, since a lot of the youth live in my neighborhood, they recognize me and say hi to me when I walk by them on my street or when I ride on the same city bus as them.

One of the highlights of my year in Northern Ireland so far happened last Wednesday night while at Alpha. The group I’m in is made up of half people from Whitehouse Presbyterian Church and half people from a Catholic church in Portadown. I never thought that much about it, but about halfway through our discussion a woman interrupted with a very good point. She mentioned that when she grew up she never could have imagined something like this happening. Never would Protestants and Catholics have sat down together, especially not for a religious program like this. Others brought up their memories of walking home from school and having to take their ties off in certain neighborhoods because the tie could tell people whether you attended a Catholic or Protestant school. The discussion made me realize how special of an event I was really at.

I have to admit right now that I feel like I am being served more than I am serving others. Since this process of being a volunteer has begun I have been extremely
blessed with people caring and helping me. Those back home supporting me, praying for me, or even just sending me messages online and thinking about me, it really has meant a lot to me and has given me a lot of strength and comfort as I’ve been working over here.

And the congregation I’m serving at Whitehouse Presbyterian Church here in Belfast is constantly serving me. So far they have already taken me all over Northern Ireland to see Scrabo Tower, Cave Hill, the North Coast, and the Ulster Folk Museum. Every Sunday a different family at the church has been kind enough to have me over for a huge lunch. It is an incredibly friendly and caring congregation that is always looking for ways to make my year here better.

One amazing thing about Whitehouse is how hard people new to the church work to make it a great church. The church puts a lot of energy and resources to run a course called Alpha about twice a year. Alpha gets people from the community who don’t have a church background, don’t know what they believe, or flat out reject Christianity as completely false, and encourages them to talk about their doubts, questions, and concerns about the church. Through this course the church has gotten people to come who haven’t had anything to do with church for ten to twenty years. The people who have gone through the course don’t just attend Whitehouse, they have become a big part of the leadership of Whitehouse. We run an Alpha course on Wednesdays right now and the guy leading it, Derek, wouldn’t have had anything to do with anything church related until a few years ago when he went through the Alpha Course himself. Another guy at the church, Jonny, was called Whitehouse’s “resident atheist” for years before finally telling people earlier this year that he couldn’t run from God anymore.  Jonny now does more work for our youth group than I do.