Ireland was great too!

Posted by: jessrings on Buzznet

Christopher Meloni
Well I wanted to give an update about Ireland as well! I was only able to spend about 2 1/2 days there and only in Dublin, but I really enjoyed getting to know the Irish pastor and his wife that MTW is partnering with, and the 5 summer interns that we have there. It was interesting getting to participate in some of their outreach programs, and learning more about the historical conflicts between the protestant and catholic church. The church that we are working with is called Abbey Presbyterian, and it's located in a building that's over 100 years old and it attraches a lot of visitors from Dublin and elsewhere. The interns are able to great the people at the door, hand out brochures about the church, serve tea, and answer any questions. I was able to participate in this as well, which is called "open abbey". It was a ton of fun getting to meet people all over the world! It was interesting hearing some of the visitor's questions, especially the ones that came from the Irish people. They would ask things about what it meant to be a presbyterian, a christian, or would make statements about how they had never been in the church before because it used to be that catholics weren't allowed in protestant churches and vice versa. I learned a lot about the conflicts that occurred between these churches. I think now most churches in Dublin I'm sure are looking towards the future for healing.

I also randomly met Christopher Meloni in a cafe while I was there! He plays Sgt. Elliot Stabler on the TV show Law & Order SVU. I am a huge Law & Order fan and I've seen the SVU one a bunch of times, so I immediately spotted him when we went into that cafe, located right next to the church, for lunch one day. Of course when you see someone you think is famous, you have to discuss it over with your friends to confirm that it's really who you think it is, then you have to go over to the person and talk to them to make sure. That person was me. I think he saw us talking about him, because when I walked up to him and said "are you...." before I could finish he said "yup". He was in Dublin doing a play, and it he looked and acted just like he did on TV! It was great. We chatted for a few minutes before his food came and then he left.