Sunday
After a phone call or two, we found out some times for worship in area churches. Our choices were Newcastle Baptist, Presbyterian or Methodist. There is also a Presbyterian in Clough (“clock”). The Methodist in Dundrum and Downpatrick were joining the Newcastle congregation today for the circuit meeting. That’s where we decided to go at 11:30 a.m. We arrived in the rain, parked about half a block down the promenade and made our way with the cold wind chasing us! The church is on the main street and is enclosed by an iron fence…very 19th century! The organist played “Danny Boy” during the prelude. We asked one of the staff here at Murlough later and she said there are hymn lyrics to the melody. I wasn’t aware of that at the time and thought maybe the Irish just liked “Danny Boy”.
They served a light lunch and insisted that we join them. It was finger sandwiches of salmon or egg salad or lettuce and tomato. They also had lovely desserts cut into small individual portions. All of this and the tea was served on delicate pink flowered china….no styrofoam for this church! We visited with several, some of our One2Four folks were there, the daughter of Laura Swartzendruber—Kokomo 1st Presbyterian, the pastor’s wife and others. I chatted with a couple who have a caravan (camper) at Newcastle. They are from the Republic of Ireland. They suggested several places we might want to see. I mentioned the high prices in Northern Ireland and the wife said they are higher in the Republic. They cross the border to buy groceries! Maybe these prices aren’t so high after all
Monday
We met with Alan at “half two”, another way to express 2:30. He had some ideas for more ways to connect with the community. He suggested that I might want to help with some brochures and fliers. He approved our idea to write letters to all of the One2Four people. After our meeting, we composed two letters, one for those who attended last week and one for those who did not. (We had a list from Deirdre.) We included fliers for the Christmas Lunch/Dinners that Murlough House will be offering….a 4 course meal for £ 18 lunch and £22 dinner. That kept us busy until after 7 but they were ready for the post office.Tuesday
Bebe went to the Kairos prayer meeting. Kairos is a ministry that reaches out to addicts, the homeless and others. Alan thought Bebe would be helpful to them because of her experience at the Kokomo Rescue Mission. I dropped her off, went to the Wool Shop (I’m becoming a regular customer!) and then to the Post Office. I saw the sign but couldn’t find the door to the Post Office. Finally I went inside the Hallmark Shop and at the back was the post office!! I didn’t have postal codes for all the letters and was chided a bit by the clerk. He sort of harumphed and said "there are four Newcastles in the UK". However, he turned out to be very helpful and said if I just added "County Down" I would not have to call the number to get all the postcodes. I had 44 letters and bought 48 second class stamps plus ten postcard stamps for £ 20 and some odd pence ($32). From there I went to a couple of shops, and then met Bebe at Maud’s for a diet Pepsi! We have only had 2 soft drinks since I arrived! We made a couple more stops and then home to Murlough.  |
| The bed and my electrical jungle! |
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| View from the bed |
Sarah has moved out of the flat so Deirdre and I are moving in. I boxed up my belongings and Bebe and I carried them up the back stairs. My room is 6 ft x 15 ft with one electrical outlet. I have two UK strips connected to reach so I can plug in a bedside lamp. I also plugged in a convertor and my US outlet strip. Years ago my daughter Ricque was a student at the University of Mississippi. She had a similar electrical jungle for her microwave, refrigerator, word processor, etc. My Uncle Jim helped her with something and commented that it was “an electrician’s nightmare”. He was an electrician. I had to think of Uncle Jim and what he might think of my wiring!!
Even a tiny room is nice...I have graduated from 3 drawers to 9 and now have more than I need! The wardrobe is obviously antique. It appears to be hand carved. The downside is that the hangers of today are bigger than when this wardrobe was made and the door will not close. The room is on the corner so I have two outside walls. The window is single pane (required to keep it historic…) and drafty. The lace curtains are lovely but don't do much for the draft. Deirdre recommended that I use a hot water bottle for the bed. I did and it was nice to have the covers warmed! I slept very well under two duvets!
Wednesday
Bebe moved from the room we had been sharing to the room upstairs that Deirdre moved out of. She packed up this morning and we carried her things up. I located a power strip for her so she also has an electrical jungle...tho not quite as bad. This house was apparenly wired when electricity was first introduced and one outlet per room seemed to be more than adequate. Times have changed but the wiring has not.
The team from CSI is arriving today and four couples on Friday. We will have to use the coffee bar, a nice sitting room and small kitchen in a building detached from the manor house but just behind. I went out to check it and spent an hour or so cleaning.
Deirdre asked us to go to the Oasis and make up a room for more guests coming over the weekend. We took off but missed one turn. Pretty soon we were utterly lost. (I don’t feel too bad about getting lost. This was only my 3rd time to drive to the Oasis….Jenn has lived here almost 2 years and got lost a few weeks ago!) We were in the hamlet of Maghera (Mock—hair—rah with a real guttural sound on the ck) so I stopped and went into a pub for directions. I had no road numbers or road names…just “the Oasis”. As it turned out, the bartender lives “next door to the Oasis” which probably means a few hundred yards as there is no house close by. Anyway, he gave us excellent directions and we made it. We couldn’t get the keypad to work so after a phone call, we returned to MH. Richie said the door sometimes swells when it rains and we just needed to PULL HARD! {Note: The Oasis may be an old pub/inn...or not so old. It has six bedrooms with bath upstairs. The downstairs has a breakfast room with kitchenette, a full kitchen, a dining room, a bar and a "library" or game room. We had the One2Four there and a group of ten or twelve could easily be accomodated in the bedrooms. It's about six miles from Dundrum...out in the middle of pastures. Beautiful area!!}
The team had arrived when we returned and Deirdre had lunch prepared so we served the team and ate with them. Then Richard joined us (for sheer strength) and we returned to the Oasis. He punched in the numbers and yanked on the door and we were in! While we made up beds, Richard did some work on the grounds. We were soon off to Castlewellan to pick up some wood for a project at MH. As we went into Castlewellan, I had to downshift a couple of time for the steep grade. Coming out of town it was hard to keep it down to the speed limit…a nice steep hill! Incredibly the road is rather straight. Richard called it curvy…vertically curvy! He does have a way with words!
Our ministry may seem scattered but it seems to me that a part of it is to encourage those who are here fulltime. Thus far, I believe we have been doing that with Sarah, Joan and Deirdre. Our assistance to Alan with the AIM conferences and our participation in staff meetings has also been a part of ministry. I recall a sermon Lou Herchenroeder preached years ago about Caleb and Joshua holding up Moses' hands with the staff. Sometimes our call is to hold up the hands of those in ministry. Our time here will be short (ten weeks) but whatever we can do to assist in the work through Murlough House will ultimately bring glory to God...and that is our primary call.
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