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Newsletter January/February 2012 |
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Since Thanksgiving where have we been? |
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In November we were reflective and thank full. Now we are fully into 2012. Three weeks and five days in California. We prep two weeks before, getting gifts and getting ready. We settled for two weeks afterward. Thinking we haven't spent Christmas in California since 2007, we thought it would be good to do, and it was. Since returning on January 13th, Ward read poetry at St Brigid's Church of Ireland, and now has development to do it again at the main St Anne's Church of Ireland cathedral. The subject is mental and physical health. He is being pushed to submit poetry to an Irish poetry competition, and Mo at Studio 23 has also asked us to present an evening of poetry for St Patrick's Day. Ward is continuing with his writing group of amazing people. Marda was asked to bring the message for the Women's World Day of Prayer (part of an international event) on March 2nd. This will be the first opportunity for her to bring the "word of God". The subject is Malaysia and justice. So far the links are her multi-ethnic background, the suffrage movement, and working in male |
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dominated strongholds. When asked to do this, Vidda, her sister said she hadn't thought much about international or justice issues. Neither had Marda, but now she will. She accepted this assignment as an opportunity to stretch. The 3rd residential weekend was held in the Wicklow Mountains, and Marda was the spokesperson for the Shankill Women's Centre group, on how we see ourselves, how we see others, and how they see us. The women were honest and expressed strong deep seated feelings and fears. The outcome of the session was to get on again as individual women. It was beautiful to see. After this session we viewed the movie "Crash" which illustrates American racism. Great movie! This residential program is one of the final programs of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. As Peace III money dries up these programs will be retired but hopefully morphed into new ones. The Glencree Women's Program sought to empower and engage grass roots women to participate in the peace process. Eileen from Parkinsons UK called and said she met someone on the Skunk train while in California last September who knows us. She recently found the name: Socorro! Maria Garvey, our partner in The Loom introduced us to a documentary film maker who asked “What does peace look like?” Another opportunity to document the soul and offering of peace. Marda was asked to help Jack by getting two more quotes on the Gathering Place project. Two days of chasing around yielded the source of contract furniture in Northern Ireland and a good quote on some tables, Italian chairs, sofas and screens. The new lounge/prayer/discussion space is going to be gorgeous. The pews are out and the construction is proceeding. Would you believe that we haven't yet taken the time to return to our favorite Chinese restaurant which we use to frequent twice a month? Some of you are saying eating out twice a month what about poor missionaries, and others are saying you haven't eaten out since November! Well we have eaten out. Quite a bit in California where we spent 3 weeks in Berkeley. and five days in Los Angeles but even after three weeks back we are not quite back into a routine and Chinese food at Sun Kee is one of those cherished routines. January 23rd brought in the year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar. We want to have a bold and energetic year. Maybe a little less eating is part of that energy. What is our work? Getting estimates. Praying together. Listening. Visiting. Running mums to the hospital. Helping. Picking up and driving. Hand holding at the dental office. Attending local history class. Family tree class. Pottery class. Writing group. Shooting pool at the local Workingman's Club. Encouraging. Helped a person move his stuff after they pulled all the copper out of his apartment and getting a washing machine. We write Stothers' Corner for the church bulletin. Ward brings an original Call to Worship each Sunday. Our work is just coming alongside the people and sharing our abundance. If our work makes sense to you would you engage in our support? A phone call monthly? An email? A small donation? Pass our newsletter or website on to someone interested in peace in Northern Ireland, Celtic Christian influence, or post-career work. Come to visit and consider faith based volunteer work yourself. Peace. Email: wardstothers@cten.org To view the .pdf version with all the photos. Print or email our newsletter |
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