Monday June 28 we had our team meeting where we spent most of the time discussing the upcoming HOLIDAY! Then Micah had a meeting with East Belfast Mission to learn more about the work they do. They are a social enterprise that does everything from homeless hostels to second hand furniture shops to cafes to meals on wheels. They are an impressive organization and Micah was able to take away a lot. After that, we wasted a lot of petrol. We ran a bunch of errands around town just to have to return items for different sizes. It was an exhausting day.
Tuesday we had another work day in the Ark for our formation meeting. We deep cleaned the kitchen, moved the office furniture from the bathroom back to the office and arranged bedrooms. It was really helpful to get it almost move-in ready! Micah then headed off to a meeting with Open Door Housing, one of the collaborators in Root Soup. Lucy spent the afternoon in the office working with volunteer coordination and beginning to write the history of the community! In the evening we had a goodbye prayer for Faythe who is heading back to America to be with her Grandma before moving to South Bend. Her husband, James will be joining her in South Bend in August as he begins a peace studies programme at Notre Dame.
Wednesday we went to Ian’s Bakery for doughnuts before cleaning the Ark to prepare to MOVE-IN!!! It finally happened, we moved back into our home! To celebrate we had some delicious spring rolls and samosas from the Asian market down the road. After dinner we went to a cell group (small group) from City Church. It was good to be able to meet some new people and relax outside the L’Arche community.
Thursday was a day in the office. Lucy worked on the history of Belfast and responded to tons of emails! Micah began to work on grant applications. In the evening we headed up to dinner at fellow BVSer, Pam’s house. Before actually arriving we got pretty lost!! Belfast is not a nice grid layout as one would hope in a city! Once we finally arrived, the lasagne and company was well worth the trip. After dinner we headed back to L’Arche to pick up Thomas, Larry, Matthew, Makiko and Cami in order to go to Neil’s gig. Lucy only got to see the first band, because Thomas decided he was tired and wanted to go home. Not the best use of £4, but life goes on. Micah thought the opening bands weren’t as good as last time, but had a good time hanging out with the guys and hearing Neil play.
Today, Micah worked in the garden and had a meeting with Orchardville Society, a potential training facilitator for Root Soup. Lucy had a nice relaxing morning and then headed to the Ember to be present for the afternoon. Micah and Scott brought back 18 lbs of strawberries from the allotment so Lucy, Jillian and Jonny spent a long time chopping strawberries for muffins and to be frozen. The evening was spent packing in preparation for holiday tomorrow.
Tomorrow we leave for Cork for our community holiday. We will be gone seven days with the community to help to celebrate L’Arche Cork’s 25 anniversary as well as just hang out as a community. It is sure to be a good time and we will surely have some stories when we return!
We are glad to be back in the Ark. It feels good to be home again. Even though we haven’t replaced everything that was lost from smoke damage, we are glad to be settling back in. Our prayer request would be for our health. Although we have both managed to stay healthy so far we feel like the month of June was a whirlwind of activity. We are ready for the change that holiday will bring.
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