first camp :: trip to lisburn :: online photo album

We are tired. This weekend we hosted a group of 68, a Baptist youth group. It was pretty wild, but we actually had a pretty good time. Well over eight hours of that time was spent doing dishes, though, and wasn't as fun. Comes with the territory, I guess. The other folks that work at the camp are really characters too, so we've loved getting to know them.

I spent Friday morning walking around downtown Lisburn. It was pretty uneventful. I had hoped to meet someone interesting, but I didn't even meet any boring people. I did find the church where Keith Niall works (he's the youth pastor that Cheryl and Dawn met on their last trip), but he wasn't around. It's a beautiful city, though. In the downtown area there's a coffee shop about every 200 yards, mostly paired with a restaraunt, bakery, or ice cream shop. One thing that you can be praying about is that God would bring us into contact with some people who aren't part of the church culture. It can be hard to get out of the bubble, especially for shy folks like Ange and me. One thing we're hoping to try is playing music on the street. We'll see how that goes.

One last thing: we're taking a lot more pictures than we could feasibly post on the blog, so we've created an online photo album. You can see all the pictures that didn't make the cut and even order prints if you're super crazy (in other words, if you're our parents). Here's the URL: http://guinns.myphotoalbum.com/.

We've been here for three weeks today. That's pretty wild, eh? Thanks again for praying with us. May God bless you today.

-mark

N.Irish word of the day: craic = a good time. Yes, it's pronounced like "crack." They use it in some funny ways. Some examples:

• "That was some good craic." = "I had a really nice time tonight."
• "Hey, Tommy, how's the craic?" = "Hi, Tommy, how are you?"
• "Give me some of your craic." = "What's going on in your life."

All of which would mean something very different in the States. The real question is, what do you call it when a bunch of plumbers get together at the pub?