Laramie UPC Day 2

Laramie UPC's second day with us here in Belfast was this past Sunday. I haven't gotten around to blogging about it until now. So here it goes.

The day started out at Whitehouse Presbyterian (Kendra's placement) where the faithful group from Wyoming led the congregation in worship. The Sunday was dedicated to Christian Aid, an organization that fights poverty around the world. Keeping with theme, Jason preached from John 15 where Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches. Jason used the passage and some great storytelling to explain how we are all connected in Christ, no matter where we are or our economic situation, and that because of this if we can help then we should help. It was a great message and a great service.


it was windy!

After worship we heard the story of Whitehouse Presbyterian from Rev. Liz Hughes. Whitehouse has had more than its fair share of ups and downs. In the past ten years alone it has been burned down and flooded. But the congregation has proved hard to keep down and is certainly thriving after many renovations and fixes.

We then had Doug Baker give the group a talk on the history of Northern Ireland before getting on the mini-bus and taking them around the city to see murals, peace walls, and many other sites of interest. We ended the tour at the scenic Scrabo Tower where the wind made us feel like we were back in Wyoming!


Jason and Richard in Scrabo Tower


After the tour we went to Woodvale Methodist for a tremendous roast dinner. Thanks again to Patricia and all the others in the kitchen who made the delicious meal possible! As we ate, the group from Laramie was able to share in fellowship with many from the congregation at Woodvale. We then proceeded to head over to Malvern Assembly with some of those from Woodvale for an ecumenical Sunday evening service. Malvern Assembly is a Pentacostal church in the Shankill and there were members from multiple churches in the area worshipping together at the service. The service was a little different for the members from Laramie UPC. It was certainly more along the lines of a Pentacostal service than a Presbyterian (or at least a PC(USA) service) but this allowed for some good discussion later in the evening. Sunday was another great day with Laramie UPC! Again, Kendra and I are so blessed to have the support of such a wonderful church family back home.




a view from the top of Scrabo



Malvern Assembly