Ireland Report (part 1)

I arrived on Tuesday morning July 1. The rest of the team was scheduled to get there on Friday the 4th, but the complexities of travel necessitated that I get there early. It ended up being a great thing that I was there early (I'll explain why in a second). As I collected my bags and made my way out to the departures lobby, I thought about the next step. This ended up being a major theme for my time across the pond. I learned the practicality of Elizabeth Elliot's brilliant advice: do the next thing. For me, the next step was to make contact with the Boals, interns and other folks at Abbey Presbyterian. I didn't have too specific a plan; I figured that I would find a relatively cheap hostel until the rest my team arrived and that I would keep my guitar and maybe one bag at the church. I called the Boals, caught a bus to Parnell Square, and actually met Alan on the street (Alan Boal is the pastor of Abbey Pres.). We went into the church, and I met each of the interns in person - Liz, Luke, Wes, Jacqueline, Paige, Katie, Steph (whom I knew from Covenant), their team leaders, David and Kathy Fidati, and then Katherine and Christy, with whom I go way back (at least back to December and the previous summer, respectively). The Fidatis, Katherine and Christy offered me the couch in their apartment till my group came, which was a huge help since even a "cheap" hostel is going to be relatively expensive and sleep there is not necessarily a given.

I was able to meet with the interns that day as they went over what needed to be done in preparation for the Arts Festival the next week. Every time I've gone in the past I've seen Abbey's work develop and grow, and this time was no exception. Six nights of the Arts Cafe. Lots of local Dublin musicians, artists, and poets would share their work; the first three nights would be "anchored" by Suzie Young and Soul Connection, a jazz group from Belfast, while the last three nights would be anchored by my team. There were plans for a hip-hop workshop as well as recitals in the sanctuary during the day. A lot of work still had to be done.

One thing that had to be done was the organization, setup and testing of the sound system. Alan's predicament is that the Dublin City Council isn't going to substantially fund arts endeavors based out of Abbey until Abbey gets reputable, established acts and artists to come and participate in the festivals and cafes, but Abbey can't exactly bring those kinds of groups until they get funding. A catch-22, as we Americans might call it. Thankfully, Abbey had managed to get Soul Connection to come, and they were both established and incredibly talented, but as professionals, they had specific needs when it came to sound. This is why it was great to get there early. Steph White and I were able to go through all the equipment available to Abbey and piece together a kind of cyborg sound system that we miraculously got working, complete with monitors and 2 aux mixes apart from the main. Abbey Pres. actually helps facilitate 4 different congregations (including its own), and each time the congregation that meets in the basement (French-speaking African Pentecostal) has been gracious enough to let us use their sound system. So between what was downstairs and what we found upstairs we were able to get it functional.

On Wednesday I took a train out to Kilkenny, where I was planning on meeting the Bennetts, a family I've become close with each time we've gone out there. For the first time on an Ireland trip the team was not scheduled to go out to Kilkenny, so it was my intention to go and see them on my own while I had some time. I spent the afternoon and evening in Kilkenny, making my way to Kilkenny Presbyterian for their midweek meeting. There I got to see some old and new friends from past trips, and after the meeting Cliff Bennett and the boys, Jack and Oliver, came to pick me up.

Cliff Bennett works with a chain of pet stores in Ireland and his wife, Alice, is an established artist (I've seen some of her work and she is very talented). They have two boys: Jack is 12 and Oliver is 9, and they are some of the coolest kids I've ever met. I met the Bennetts in summer of '06, when Cassie Pettit, Ellie Novenson and I went to their house for lunch after church. We learned a little bit about them - they're originally from Zimbabwe (of British descent) and moved to Ireland years ago when things got complicated for white people living there. The boys showed me the ins and outs of Hurling, an amazing sport they play in Ireland. By the end of our lunch, the boys and I had hit it off pretty well, and they gave me a hurling stick (a "hurl" or "hurley") to call my own as well two hurling balls (the "sliotar"). It was awesome.

Anyways, I've seen them each time I've gone back and it's always been a highlight for me. This time I was actually able to stay with them and spend some time with the boys, which was the perfect way to start out the trip. On Thursday I took an afternoon train back into Dublin and hung out with the interns some more before crashing that night on the couch. In the morning I would go to the airport to meet a team composed largely of people I had never met in person and who had only met themselves the day prior in the Atlanta airport.

To be continued.