A former Presbyterian minister forced out of Limavady in the 1980s has made an emotional return to the town.Reverend David Armstrong had to flee after receiving loyalist death threats for exchanging Christmas greetings with Catholic parish priest Fr Kevin Mullan.
Mr Armstrong now serves in County Cork as a Church of Ireland clergyman, having retrained as an Anglican minister.
He said he made the journey back to his old hometown after accepting an invitation from a former adversary.
"That person wanted to speak to me because in the past we would have had a difference of opinion," he told the BBC.
"That particular person has got that bit older, he has been reflecting and wanted to see me.
"I had a most beautiful time in his home - it meant something that words couldn't express, where someone looks at you straight in the face and says 'I'm absolutely thrilled to have you in my home'."
In October 2008, six unionist councillors blocked a motion to grant him and Fr Mullan the freedom of Limavady, and Mr Armstrong admitted he had felt apprehensive about returning to the town.
"Limavady still draws me and I think highly of the place - it's one thing to be rejected by a group of people and have to flee the town and the country, but it has a drawing power," he said.
"I decided to wear a tie rather than a clerical collar because i thought if someone saw me wearing it they may say, 'What is someone like you doing back here?'
"Six of the DUP members decided we were either not forgiven or certainly not wanted back."
The vote for the SDLP motion was eight in favour and six against, but a two-thirds majority was needed.
Mr Armstrong said leaving Northern Ireland was never in his plans before his controversial Christmas message of goodwill.
"I was an Ulsterman - I was from the province of Ulster - so I bear scars as do my children, and they sometimes run very deep," he said.
"It's not easy to be rejected nor to feel one's ministry is insufficient, but I suppose in the 1980s when bombs were going off and people were being killed, the middle of the road was the easiest place to get knocked down.
"It felt extremely lonesome to be called a traitor or to have people shouting Bible verses at you, telling you that if you were killed the person who killed you would be doing God's work.
"Having people holding a Bible and saying they wish you were dead does come harsh upon you and it does leave scars."
While he was in the town, Mr Armstrong visited a Catholic and a Protestant school.
Mr Armstrong said the young people he met there left him "convinced there is a brighter future in Limavady".
"I was swept off my feet with such love, courtesy, kindness and graciousness," he said.
"I have very high hopes for the future and I thank them abundantly for the way they received me.
"That made up for the sadness my children felt - they felt particularly sad I had been rejected yet again (two years ago) because they felt after 20 years or so the country had moved on a bit.
"I am now convinced that those six people represent themselves but not tomorrow's inhabitants of Limavady."
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SIC: BBC