Day 5 - Belfast

Our days start early here. We're up at 6am to leave for the hours journey to Belfast at 7.30am. However, by the time we arrive in Belfast the 'grannies' look like it's already halfway through their day. They are busily watering their garden.

I learned a lot about praying for people when you don't really know what to pray for, for them and what they can understand of what you're praying for.

Today we did more Home Based Caring. Cat and I were chuffed to bits when the grannies who we'd been out with the day before demanded that we go with them again. (More so as it had felt like picking teams at the football match with us all stood there waiting to be picked by the grannies!). I found myself more in my comfort zone with the visiting, although it was all relative as I still never knew what was going to happen next!

We met more of the same kinds of people we’d met on the previous day. Elderly sick people, although we did meet a mentally ill girl. I say girl, she was actually older than me – 40. But she had a childlike quality and was in this beautiful dress that made her look stunning despite the torment going on behind her eyes and the tinge of grey in her hair. She had such a vacant face.

Another house we visited and had to take our shoes off before entering. I’ll admit I was thinking, ok what am I going to tread on here! But we were ushered into the lounge of a lady suffering from TB. We were all crammed into this lounge. 3 grannies, the lady, Fele, Cat & I and it was all a bit surreal especially as when I sat down I was kind of aware that I was sitting on something that looked a bit like someone’s wig! And so the grannies were doing their thing – sometimes talking, sometimes just sitting but suddenly sitting in this lounge I felt God just sweep round the room and say to me – look at these women, aren’t they amazing. I love them so much’. I had an awareness of His love for them and felt tears stinging my eyes as once again I tried to stop them flowing. As I felt God’s love for them, I found myself falling in love with them despite the fact that I’d known them less than2 days and couldn’t even communicate with them properly.

As we were walking back to the compound with the Grannies, after visiting, one of them turned to us and explained with the help of the other Grannies that one of them had cancer and was about to go to the clinic. She wanted us to pray for her. So there and then in the middle of the dusty road, Cat and I prayed for her. It almost felt like she was saying, I've seen you praying for all those people, now I want some of that for me! What a privelege!!!! And once again so humbling.

Today the children wanted to play with us and it was hard to know what to do with them especially with the language barrier. There was no space to play anything particular. We were just all sat under a large tree. I found myself circling my finger round one girls palm and resisting ‘round and round the garden and that was it the kids were all over me. I was having hands shoved in my face left, right and centre. These kids love being tickled!!!