December 19th… I returned home from Ireland about a week and a ½ ago… and there hasn’t’ been a day gone by where I haven’t thought about my trip. Now that I have been able to reflect some on the trip I thought it might be beneficial to some if I wrote down my thoughts and perceptions of my trip to Dublin, Ireland.
I have different topics I’d like to touch on so let me first start out with a typical day in the Joneses life (our dear missionary’s who are now 6th months into immersing themselves into a cultural outside of their American/Brazilian comfort zone).
“A Day in the Life of a Missionary Family”
The Joneses in Dublin, Ireland
“Mommy…” the first words heard every morning by our dear sweet Andrea (maybe not always mommy but you get the point”… no need to set an alarm… Lukie wakes up the parents every morning right at around 6:30a.m. Forget about sleeping in when you have a 9-year-old (Grant) a 6 year old (Luke) and a 18 months old (Aislinn) 😎 …
Then starts the morning routine… Cereal is a must in the Joneses family. Just ask Lukie; he’d eat cereal for every meal if he were allowed. After breakfast, at around 7:45a.m or 8:00a.m., depending on the weather, Andrea or Mark start the walk to the “School Bus” stop but not a typical American school bus, a double decker bus… that’s right… haha… and you have to pay to ride the bus, but only for the children. Once the kids are dropped off at school Andrea or Mark start the walk back home. It really isn’t that far of a walk (maybe 30 min tops) but obviously to long for the boys. Once back at the house Aislinn would go down for a nap at around 10:30a.m. or early depending on her tiredness.
Now, would be the 2 hours break to get as many things done as possible (laundry, bills, grocery’s,)… sometimes this time is used for prayer with the Mullen’s (the Irish Pastor’s family)… other times this time is used for tea time with a friend… anyways, it’s pretty much up in the air…
After Aislinn wakes up, usually around 12:00 or 12:30, begins the walk to go get Lukie from school. He has to be picked up at 1:00, so it’s vital to leave a good 30 min to walk to the school. Either Andrea or mark would go get Luke b/c at 2 Grant has to be picked up from school. So usually Andrea would be walking in with Luke while Mark was walking out to go get grant… Aislinn usually goes down for her 2nd nap when Lukie gets home from school.
Once the kids are home from school, snack time seems to be a must (which is typical of all children after school) then homework time. Sometimes after school the kids would have a play date with another friend from school. This either would take place at the Joneses or it would take place at the friends house. And its neat b/c of how relational Irish people are… it seems that any time someone enters your home the polite thing to do is invited them in for a cuppa tea… and what is crazy for us American’s to comprehend is that they usually stay! Hahaha… it’s awesome. I feel like here in America we are always so rushed rushed rushed, and don’t have time to sit down and have a cup of tea with a neighbor, but in Ireland, that is the thing to do (which opens up amazing doors for Andrea and Mark to Build relationships with people)… Dinner usually is around 5… Always a family dinner (which I love) everyone sits around the table and enjoys conversation with each other. After dinner is clean up time, Andrea starts washing the dishes (no dish washer to be found… so sad)… And Marks gets the boys ready for bed… at 7 everyone goes down. The evenings are usually down time (internet time, board game time etc…) And I would say that a typical time for The Andrea and Mark to be in bed would be around 10:00… (not so much when I was there… hahaha)
Other things that took place while I was there…
-Dinner at a church member’s home… which by the way was awesome… I love the Irish… they are so great!
-Cell group… AMAZING. Led by mark and Andrea… a group of about nine 19-20 something year olds come over every other Sunday to study the book of John together. The amazing part was this was something that the Joneses didn’t start up themselves. They were actually asked by some of the students to start it up… What’s even more amazing is that some of the students aren’t believers… So its an amazing outreach that came up simply by the Joneses showing Jesus to everyone they came in contact with
-Going to City Center- Also AMAZING… I LOVE DOWN TOWN DUBLIN! Its just so multicultural. Thinking about it now makes me miss it so much.
-Riding in a Car on the other side of the rode-… that’s right, its CRAZY!
-Getting use to a 5 hour time difference… oh goodness that took some time
-Meeting mass amounts of the Joneses Irish friends, who once again, are wonderful
-Having tea/coffee and a biscuit (cookies) everyday like 2 a day… oh so lovely
-Being there for Mark’s first time preaching to an Irish church… They loved him of course… who doesn’t it
-SOME GOOD JONES TIME!- Coffee, tea, board games every night… does it get any better?
