An Cuan

The center that has been given to YWAM has been renamed An Cuan which means "safe harbor" in Gaelic. It is in an incredible location on Carlingford Lough right on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The town where it is located is Rostrevor, which has a population of less than 3000 and just a few shops. It is about an hours drive to Dublin or Belfast from here.

 This week in Rostrevor has been very busy with the yearly music event - "The Fiddlers Green Festival." Our team has been volunteering for the event and also opened a cafe out of the new place here to welcome the community, get to know people and let everyone know who we are and a little bit of what we'll be about here in this community.

The week has gone really well; we've had three music events at our place and many people from the town and around coming in for lunch and asking all kinds of questions about YWAM and outreaches etc. We've had loads of conversations with people and a very positive response to having us here in Rostrevor. Joey also played some music in the cafe which was great. 

This is our last day of leading outreach! We are glad to be moving in to the debrief which should be a good time. The whole team just arrived back from South Africa so we are all sharing stories and enjoying the beautiful area that is Rostrevor. 

Last night we went up the mountain next door to us here and found an epic blueberry patch! It was great picking blueberries, surrounded by heather with a view of the Irish sea. We could even hear the folk music from the village!  A nice reprieve after a very busy week.

We are still praying about spending a season here and it has been grand to get to meet people and get a feel for this community of very welcoming folks!

God is good to us and we are grateful for His tender mercy in our lives -

 He is an incredible Provider and Friend in all the turns of life.

Grace and Joy to you - Thanks over and over for you encouragement and friendship!

Love,

Joseph and Christy

  

Cork

We've been in Cork, in the south of Ireland this week and it has been a great time of getting to know people, working in a coffee shop and book store, helping out with a homeless ministry that provides food on a big yellow bus, and working in the church we're staying in here. It has been rainy a lot of the time and is actually quite refreshing.

Tonight we are hosting an open mic at the coffee shop down town and will be singing as well. Today Christy was singing in the park with a bunch of ragamuffins around...and sending out the hope waves...

Please pray for Belfast as there has been a lot of rioting this week over the yearly 12th of July events.


Love in Jesus,
Joseph and Christy

Summer Madness

So...we just finished our week in Belfast where we set up for and ran a YWAM venue at a huge youth festival - We served free tea and coffee all weekend and hosted a worship session with the Psalm Drummers, plus a few open mics, and a band from Louisiana that played stompin' cajun style music. We also had a hip-hop workshop each day which was FULL of a lot of talented dancers. It was a lot of fun. We spent long days working and Joey drove people and stuff back and forth from the festival to our house a lot! He probably drove a few hundred miles. 

A couple days ago, we all made our way down to the south of Ireland in Cork. This week we will be here working with different churches, (We are leading a service tomorrow at the church where we are staying). Also, there is work to be done in a ministry coffee shop and a homeless ministry that runs out of a yellow bus. 

Cork is a great city with a lot of character and a lot of rain - reminiscent of Ketchikan.

We only have 2 weeks left of outreach and are looking forward to a change of pace after this... Please pray for lots of divine appointments and good connections to be made in our last couple weeks!

LOVE in Him,

J and C