July 8-19, 2010
 

The Parker Perspective..........

(all pictures are thumbnails, click on an image for a larger version)

Saturday, July 17 (by Ramona Hieneman)

Morning came might early today as we woke up at 4:00 am to get ready for our sightseeing day. We had gotten dressed, had breakfast, cleaned up and done our daily chores and were on our charter bus by 6:00 am! Most of us settled our heads for a wee nap on the two and a half hour ride to Buncrana, our sister city.

Hard rain welcomed us to Buncrana along with Mayor Pardaig McLauchlan and some of his staff. The rain let up so the Mayor led us on a historical walking tour of Buncrana. Buncrana is a beautiful ocean side town. Highlights of the walk included seeing Lough (pronounced Lock) Swilly which is the site where John Newton survived a violent storm at sea that prompted him to write the beloved him "Amazing Grace" and the Buncrana Castle ruins. The Mayor hosted a tea in our honor and we presented the Mayor with formal greetings from Mayor Allen and with gifts from Campbellsville. The tea included traditional Irish dancers and a time for our students to talk with the Youth City Council of Buncrana. Everyone we met in Buncrana was a gracious host and we all enjoyed our visit.

By 12:30 we were off to Giants' Causeway. By the time we arrived at 2:00, the sun was out and we were treated to a beautiful afternoon on the Northern Coast. The green Irish mountains meet the rocky beaches at Giant's Causeway. We spent time climbing the hills and rocks, having a picnic and looking in the gifts shops. The afternoon of recreation and fun did everyone good.

At 4:30 we boarded the bus for Belfast. Our bus driver took us to a mall in Belfast where we could shop for about an hour. Some of us were thrilled to find a Burger King and most of us just enjoyed looking in the stores that are different than what we have at home.

The promise of the best fish and chips in Northern Ireland had us back on the bus by 7 and back to Murlough house at 7:30. We said goodbye to our bus driver and loaded up our vans and went to "The Galley" for dinner. Most of us had fish and chips (french fries) but some had chicken and even a few hamburgers were eaten. Dinner was delicious and we went back to Murlough house with full bellies.

We arrived back at our temporary home and grabbed our Bibles for worship. We look forward to this time together everyday before we go to bed.

Lights out was moved back to 1:00 am to give us time to get ourselves cleaned up for bed. And bed felt good after a 21 hour day! We are looking forward to church on Sunday.