Dungannon: In Retrospect

Now that the roofs and floors are done

we must wait for the storms to come

In a year, what will be gone?

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As the years plod on, Dungannon may grow

or it may slow, populations may hit all time lows.

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But we will journey and we will learn and love

we will toil and thank the Lord above

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for the finest treasures

are  simple ones we cannot measure

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Thank you, Dungannon

Monday

Today was our first day of work. My team worked on putting tin roofing on a roof of a house owned by two sisters. Their parents, who had built the house in 1921, died eight years ago and the older sister has a cognitive problem; the other sister cares for her. It's great to know that by the end of the week, their ceilings will stop sagging when it rains; the tapping of rain on the tin roof will be a testament to God's power to change us through service and selflessness...

The roof was very hot, but my team worked well together, and by 4 pm we had done about half of the roof!

Sunday

On Sunday, we split into groups and visited local churches. There was a fiery rant at the Freewill Baptist Church, a guitar-playing Reverend at the Methodist Church, and a 12:00 mass at the Catholic Church. After we returned from our respective services, we had lunch. We then split into groups: one group went by car to the spring near the Dungannon, and others hiked about a quarter of the way to the spring when they were unable to proceed further because several fallen trees blocked their ways. We (I was in that group) chatted and played and sang (a bit) for about an hour. Afterwards, we had dinner, which was barbecued chicken. It was succulent enough. Compline was from the New Zealand BCP.