"I Saw You..."

"I saw you..." Has become a common phrase I hear from the young people I work with.  At the end of May, I moved to Dunmurry Lane near the "rocket church" (it literally looks like a rocket) with my friend Siobhan. Even though my room is a lot smaller, I have absolutely love living there because it's so centrally located. Not only do I have two bus routes to choose from, I also get the luxury of the train into town.

I feel a new sense of independence and mobility as I can walk to the grocery store in 12 minutes (15 on the way back because of the massive hill), to the school I work at in 8 minutes, and up to the YI project centre in 20.  I live in the neighborhood that I work in and I love it.

Today while running errands I ran into several people I knew.  Walking to the grocery store, I wave "hiya" to another group of young people.  I have a brilliant conversation with a girl who I haven't talked to in weeks while riding on the bus. Then when I go into the school to teach, someone without fail will say "I saw you..." Or "remember when I saw you at..." Oh how could I forget!

Even though Belfast is a city, I often feel like it functions like a large small town.  It seems that most of West Belfast is related to one another.  Without fail whenever I go into town, I will run into someone I know (and I haven't even been here a year).  It's nice to be noticed and known in a place that can sometimes feel so foreign.

In coming to Belfast, I didn't just want to "have a job" but rather I wanted to live life here in an intentional way.  People often ask me if I am here as a missionary. Most days I don't really "feel" like a missionary because I talk so much about being a youth worker.  Doing youth work is the way I practically live out my call to be a missionary.

I often think of my friend Kayla who is a missionary in Africa.  This past year, she has just been in Africa.  She has been practicing the art of being. She has been learning about the culture, the language, the people, the village, and how life is done in this part of the world.  Often it doesn't seem like she is doing much, but actually the long term mission is being established through the relationships.  Sometimes, I wish I had the opportunity to do that here. I know that's not my call right now, and to be honest, I have a lot to learn about just being rather than doing.

It's nice to run into people in the Colin Area and around Belfast.  It allows me to live life rather than just work here.  I'm building my life here while entering into the community.  I literally get to walk alongside young people on the streets of Belfast rather than just talk about the youth work theory of coming alongside youth.  It also calls me on to greater accountability and a life of transparency because I never know who might see me.  You never know who might say, "I saw you..."