Winding Down

I ended my last time with the guys Friday night. We started off a bit better with a fire call just a few hours into the shift - burnt toast. That night we had a real burner...in a dumpster. Yep, that's what I did. I was fortunate to experience some of the wonderful youth population of Belfast when a fight between the two neighborhoods (Catholics/Protestants) took place outside on the main street in front of the fire station. Just a lot of yelling and throwing rocks at each other. After I went to bed - I guess they got tired of throwing the stones at each other and put one through the fire station office window.
Even before I came I was told countless times about the traditional fish and chips meals they have. I think the team went out several times during the mission but I always seem to miss it... So the guys decided to make a special trip in town to get me a sample. I did my best but there was no way I was able to finish it all - the rest of them cleaned their plates completely.

After shift we headed back to the cottages to get settled back in. Since there was guys on shift every night, there was a lot of bed shuffling going on throughout the week. The guys were all discussing which beds were empty when I - accidentally! - placed my bag on one of the beds to pull out my computer. That started a whole ordeal about me (unfairly) claiming my bed. I retreated and went to take a shower. When I returned I found all my luggage wrapped in plastic on the bed with a plate of cookies - needless to say I slept in a travel trailer outside that night.

Saturday we had our final breakfast back at the golf course - still didn't get to swing a club. At the end of the meeting one of the Ireland firefighters said he had accepted Christ earlier that week. This turned out to be one of the guys impacted 2 years ago when the team came and saw how much he needed Christ when the guys returned this year. Ian told me he was one of the guys no one thought would soften - he was blown away and very encouraged. Later that evening, we headed to a church for a worship service. I had to sit out for Pete's message with a coughing spasm - maybe it's tuberculosis. On Sunday we went to church and had a final gathering with all the people involved that night back at the Firefighters for Christ headquarters. It was a good time of sharing and saying goodbye.

John was starting to feel a bit depressed so he sought out some victims to boost his ego. We prayed for him that night - he's feeling much better now - the gal still is in therapy.


With that it all came to an end. We got back to the cottages about 11pm - had to pack up and get ready to leave at 5am. I tried for about an hour trying to get the computer to upload the video and photos but it wasn't working and I finally had to give up and head to bed.