Farewell Friendship House, Hello Downpatrick

This morning we woke up and began packing up our belongings for the move out to Downpatrick. As we thought about leaving Friendship House we realized all the good times that had happened inside those walls. The team bonding, the craziness of the children, the wonderful staff, the singing with the women pensioners, all of this has been so fantastic and much more than this list lets on. Sandy Row has truly become a place of home. Walks down the streets of Sandy Row that perhaps in the first days would have been intimidating by reputation are now seldomly without stopping to have a chat with neighbours, kids or other visitors of Friendship House. We honestly have been made to feel at home there.

Onward however Barry (our minibus driver- known to us as "the Godfather" due to the plethora of secret connections he holds in the common world of Northern Ireland) takes us to our new homes for the week. Doug and myself find ourselves at the mercy of Harry and Jenny (but honestly they are truly "class" hosts), Jenessa and Ashley are next door and the boys a 5 min walk down the road. We all went our separate ways, to later connect for Youth Club in the evening.

For the first time really, the team meets after a meal and hours apart. It feels like family reuniting again as we get down to our patented structure- going crazy with the kids, however we are now in Downpatrick. Doug realizes how his expectations have be changed over the past weeks when observing one child winding up to punch another. In his mind he was all over the situation, ready to jump in, take the blow and separate the two boys. In reality the boy was "just faking it" after which the two laughed at the idea of actually hitting one another. Little do they know their view of violence is such a privilege, as we have even learned for ourselves in the past two weeks. I will really miss the kids of Sandy Row, their lives and their friendship have made a difference in our lives and we will continue to pray that Friendship House continues to be a refuge of safety and love for them in the name of Christ.