07. Jul 2025

Downpatrick - Newcastle

Photo 1: Willy and I on the bus to Belfast"
It did good to have the extra day of rest yesterday and not have to get started so early today. As I was leaving the place where I stayed the night, the owner of the house saw me with my backpack and asked where I was heading. I told her that I was a pilgrim walking from Scotland to Germany. She then asked whether I could pray a prayer of blessing for her and her family.This was the first time on this trip that I was asked to do this... and gladly did so.

I then took the bus from Downpatrick back to Belfast in the hope that my phone could quickly be fixed and I would be back on my way.

Photo 2: "My help in the time of need"
Things do not always go as we hope...
Approaching the shop, I saw two young men in their early twenties waking up from having slept on the street. I went to the shop, and Sanket greeted me with the good news that the display screen for my phone had arrived and he would need about an hour to fix it. So I went back out to the two on the street, talked and prayed with them and bought their breakfast, thus passing on the blessing from Stewart from Belfast.

When I got back to the Phone Shop, Sanket was not yet finished with my phone. In fact he would not finish it at all. He replaced the display, but it would go blank every time it was closed and opened. He tried recalbirating the sensors in both parts of the phone. This took hours... but it did not work. The phone would need to be sent to their main shop to be repaired. That would take at least one week. I suggested trading my defected phone for a refurbished Samsung Galexy S23 that they had for sale for the cost of the display screen that I had already paid for. Sanket called his boss and got the okay on the exchange. He then transferred all my data from the one phone to the next and got things working for me. He even shared his dinner with me and worked 90 minutes overtime without pay to get it all done. Between customers and repairs, we had some good talks and I was able to pray a prayer of blessing for him before I left. I had been at the shop for 8.5 hours!

I decided then to book a bed at the International Youth Hostel in Belfast. On my way there I stopped at a store to get things for breakfast. The security man at the door was a few years younger than I. He showed me where I could put my beg while I bought my things. He also said he could tell that I was "a righteous" man. His name is John Paul and is a follower of Jesus as well. When I told him what I was doing, he asked me to pray a prayer of blessing for him, which I gladly did. The day was ending as it had begun. To top it off, I had a wonderful God-talk with a 13 year old and his mother at the youth hostel. Things may not always go as we hope, but if God is in it, it will be good in the end.

Photo 3: The St. Patrick's Cathedral in Downpatrick

Photo 4: A perspective from the cemetary looking out over the Irish landscape