A Great Week!

So - we are in Galway, a cool city in the NW of Ireland - here for a day off after volunteering at a Catholic youth festival. We finished tearing down the festival last night.  It was a busy time of helping - 250 people came to the festival. It was a great time of building bridges. There was a REALLY good reconciliation night and a fella from West Belfast spoke...people washed their hands in basins as a symbol of forgiveness and letting go of things and we were there to dry their hands to show how we all need each other. It was a moving time.

We all stayed in giant tents with the joyousness of teenagers yelling until 2 in the morning so we’re a bit worn out, but feel it was important for us to be there and we built some great relationships by volunteering, doing our best, great connections for more to happen in the future.

We got to connect with the Psalm Drummers who are based out of Belfast and love to worship and do workshops with drums - it was grand! 

An amazing part of this week was the day we arrived in Knock we had the afternoon free to drive to Foxford where Joey’s ancestors came from...so the two of us went on a journey to search out his relatives who are still living in Foxford - We went to a pub and asked about the name we knew - Frankie Devaney - and the guy next to us had his cell phone number and gave him a call. So Joey got on the phone and explained that they were related and Frankie came to pick us up and brought us to his house. We had a good chat and tried to figure out the family tree, then he called up all his family -a bunch of really lovely folks who took us out to dinner and invited us to come back! We felt like it was a great gift from God!

Tomorrow we are back to Belfast for a week where we are hosting a coffee/sports/music venue at a youth event called Summer Madness.

God is teaching us more and more how to love and giving us a bigger picture of His heart and purposes for us, for this island and for the Body of Christ to live in unity - Thanks be to God for His infinite love!

Here's Joey at the River Moy - where his Great-great-great and Great-Great Grandfather's used to fish!

Thanks a million for your prayers and friendship!

LOVE,

Joseph and Christy

Ballymun and Dublin

We left Kesh a week ago and stopped at Slane Hill on the way to pray. This is a place where legend says that St. Patrick lit a fire in resistance to the ruling powers of his day and upon seeing the fire, many others lit fires on surrounding hills and brought in the spread of Christianity in Ireland. U2 also recorded their album The Unforgettable Fire in Slane Castle - now we know where the name comes from!

We have spent the last week in Ballymun, an area North of Dublin that has a history of poverty and many issues along with that. We stayed with families and joined in the work they have been doing in Ballymun.

There were seven notorious tower blocks for housing and in recent years all but one have been torn down and new housing built. 

We went in teams and knocked on hundreds of doors in the old apartments and new to invite them to a community group called the Mustard Tree to study the Bible and get to know others. There were many people who we had long conversations and prayer with and some breaking down and weeping, telling their stories. 

 We spent time in working with an after-school program there called the Aisling Project where we helped with homework and other activities. We also ran a fun sports day in the park and it went really well!

Some of the kids needed a lot of assistance to finish their sack race! This boy Jordan really connected well with Joey.

We are now in the center of Dublin for the next couple of days doing work on a 150 year old house that was just given to some friends who are staring up YWAM Dublin next month. We have been painting and cleaning the house to get it ready for the Discipleship Training School that is starting in a few weeks. 

It has been a busy time - good overall - and we are thankful for the connections the Lord is building with us and others around this island. 

Love,

Joseph and Christy

Kesh!

We've been in the wee village of Kesh for a week with lovely folks, warm welcome and glorious weather.
We went to Donegal for Christy's birthday this week and it was absolutely lovely!

We've been prayer walking, working with youth, doing school assemblies, homegroups and times of worship here and it has been a blessed time.

Tomorrow we are taking a group to N. Dublin (Ballymun) where we will be working with the Aisling Project - an after school program for kids in difficult situations. We will be driving a few hours to get there and staying with families.
Thanks for your prayers for renewed strength and energy as we go...and that the Lord will have His way and move in and through all of us!
In His Love,
J and C

Farewell Middle East

Hey guys! We've spent 2 weeks in Nazareth and are flying back to Belfast tomorrow night after 5 weeks in the Palestinian Territories and Israel. It's been a wild ride! There's been a lot happening - much more than we can fit in this blog, let alone process at this point - but here's a quick glimpse of what we've been up to recently. Since we last updated, we've done some work and painting in a missionaries' house, have spoken and done worship in schools and other youth events in Nazareth, worked in a replication of a first-century village, and visited the Nazareth House of Prayer.

 We have been praying for one of Joey's extended family, Huwaida Arraf - a Christian Palestinian - who was on-board and organizing the aid flotilla to Gaza that I'm sure most of you have heard about this week. We are relieved to know that she has recently been released from prison. All of Nazareth was on strike yesterday as an act of solidarity. Please keep this situation with the blockade of Gaza, those seeking to bring aid to the impoverished 1.5 million living there, and for a just peace in this land in your prayers. 

On a (much) lighter note, the other day our contact and friend here, Salim, organized a day off our work schedule to check out some of the "must-see's."

 Here we are on the Mount of Beatitudes, overlooking the Sea of Galilee - It was something else to see the place where 5000 men and many more women and children gathered to hear Jesus speak and partake of some serious fish and bread - 

We also went to the Jordan River and Joey got to take a quick dip - made his day! :)

 We got to go to Capernaum - Peter's home town - which

still has first century ruins - including the old synagogue and Peter's and Jesus' house. 

One of the students on our Discipleship Training School, Rajaa, is from Nazareth, and we have been spending time with her family over here while she's been in S. Africa. This is her mom and sister in their families' orchard. It has been a joy to get to know them. 

Last night, Christy got bit by a huge centipede while she was sleeping and woke up with a start, to say the least. We weren't sure whether to go to the ER or not, but after help from locals and some willing team-mates at 2 a.m., we decided to ice it and wait out the storm. 

Her hand is still swollen like a balloon and hurts pretty bad, but there are no other ill affects - she could use your prayers for a speedy recovery

 - we appreciate it! 

We are thankful to God and our family and friends for the time we've been able to spend here - for the opportunity to share with others and receive exponentially more from some of the most hospitable people we've met. We've made some incredible new friends and will miss them and look forward to being able to bless them and their ministries here some time in the future - as the Arab's say - 

Enshallah (God-willing!) :)

With Love and Thanksgiving,

Joey and Christy