Northern Ireland Update 2

Hi friends, Hi Mom and dad and sis,

Hello from Northern Ireland. After a long travel, we finally made it here to Coleraine. I am still getting used to jet lag. Sunday and Monday were so miserable for me because I stayed up all night packing and we lost a night between Sunday and Monday. Living here is quiet an adjustment. I still wake up at 5 in the morning, wide awake. Also here in N.I., sun sets at 10 at night and it does not go dark until midnight. It completely throws me off because I would get ready for bed as the sun sets.

All the NI memories 4 years ago came back as I walked out the Belfast Airport. I was so glad to be back. The place we are staying in Coleraine is called the Exodus. The Exodus provides living spaces (rooms with bunk beds, kitchen, common area, shower and bathrooms) for group like ours who come and do mission work in NI. Our typical day goes something like this: Wake up in the morning and we meet up for devotions and preparing for VBS. We eat lunch and then head over to the location to do VBS. We come back for dinner and go back out there and hang out more.

It seems like so far, our group is getting along. I really do enjoy getting to know my group members. It has been really great.

Living here has been so amazing. I love to walk around shops and restaurants, and experiencing the N.Irish culture. I love to talk to them because I think their Irish accents are facinating. Today, our group was responsible to cook dinner for our team, so Audrey and I walked to a grocery store and bought foods for tonight. How cool is that? I went grocery shopping in NI. Everything about shopping in NI was so cool because everything was labeled in metric system and in pounds. Tongith we cooked stir fry with rice, the recipe I learned from Mrs. Waite (Mrs. Waite, you would be so proud of me). Everything went well, and it seems that most of them enjoyed the food a lot.

Because of transportation difficulties, we have been going to Juniper Hill instead of Ballymena. Juniper Hill is one of the costal cities, about 20 minutes away from Coleraine. Juniper Hill is a vacation trailer park, where many families spend their vacation in trailers. Because it is located right on the coast, it is a breathtaking site. Many sail boats and visible in the ocean. Oh yeah, the grass is so green! While I was sitting on the grass today, I pulled some grass, cut it into tiny pieces, and then I let it go. This is a ritual I learned from my friend Hannah. It's really fun. You should try it. Except here, it's even better because the breeze carry the grass far, far away.

VBS has been great. I have two responsibilies: I lead worship by playing the guitar and I act goofy, funny, weird and awkward.

Playing soccer has been my one of my favorable moments so far because I get to connect with kids through playing soccer. I always have a hard time talking to random kids, but whenever I act crazy and goofy, they seem to like it a lot. It gives me more confident to talk to them. It has been slow building relationships with them, but I continue to pray that I would be bold and brave.

Please continue to pray for me. Just like what Connie said today during team meeting, we need to show them that we need Jesus as much as they do. And hopefully by playing soccer or doing crafts or singing, they would see Jesus in us. I hope that I won't hold anything back, just as what Jonny told me.

Two more days of VBS and then singhtseeing on Saturday. We are staying here in Exodus for another week. Next week, we are going to inter city of Coleraine.

Thanks again. Thanks for praying. Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring.

ybs

Northern Ireland Update #1

Hey Friends.  

Today is finally here.  It is hard to believe it.  My minds are still playing tricks on me.  I do not even know why I am packing.  Maybe I need to get some sleep.  

I am going to go ahead and apologize for bad grammar and sentence structure.  Sorry.  I stink at writing.  

I am really excited about this trip.  I have never been this excited before.  Knowing that I'll be living in N.I. for four weeks is pretty exciting.  Knowing that not only I'll be living there, but I'll be hanging out with the kids, sharing the love of Jesus for four weeks, is even more amazing.  To tell you the truth, I am also thrilled about getting away from Birmingham for a while.  

Once we arrive to Belfast, N.I., I think many interesting events will happen (and scary too) because the person who is driving our van from the airport to Coleraine (I think couple hours of driving) has no experience with: 1. driving on the left side of the road, 2. driver seat on the right side, 3. roundabout (crazy dangerous, I hear), and 4. (most scary of all) driving a manual transmission.  I hope that we would make it.  

I hope that you would pray for us.  Thanks for reading.  Thanks for caring.  

Because of Jesus,

Young-Bin