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May 15 Interview at the Tent of Nations

If you click on the above underlined link, you'll find some familiar faces (including ours!) and a very interesting story of the family and the land that we mentioned in our last blog update. We appear harvesting wheat around the 17 minute mark, but it's all worthwhile and very educational, as it prominently features Daoud Nassar, who is such a humble follower of Jesus and a living stone of the Body of Christ in this land.

Just a few days ago we had an incredible experience at the first ever joint Arab and Jew Global Day of Prayer here in Nazareth. We couldn't help feeling we were witnessing history in the making as Christian Arab pastors washed the feet of Messianic Church leaders from Israel. One Messianic leader, who had earlier publicly repented for slandering one of the Arab leaders, began to weep uncontrollably as this Arab leader who had forgiven him washed his feet. As soon as they finished and exchanged a long and tearful embrace, the Messianic leader insisted on washing the Arabs feet and wouldn't stop until he washed several more! We were all a mess of tears as we witnessed this miracle.

Another highlight was when a long line of people joined in a Jewish dance for worship as the Arabic worship team played on. (I have a hunch that the Arabs will lead worship a bit more than most in heaven :) Wow!) Such freedom to worship together in each other's different styles was also unprecedented until the other day.

The event ended with both the Messianic and Arab worship teams joining each other on the stage for a medley as those in attendance gave thanks and praise to God for the overwhelming success that had taken place and email addresses and phone numbers were exchanged between the groups.

Pray that the seeds sown yesterday would fall on fertile soil and a harvest would be reaped of deep and lasting relationships between the Arab and Jewish churches - Leaders and congregations included. Thank God, who alone was able to accomplish this victory and the many to come!

A few more highlights of our time in Nazareth: Going to (both) sites of the angel's annunciation to Mary, walking through the quite old city, having an excellent time of prayer within the site of the synagogue where Jesus opened the scroll of Isaiah 61 to announce his ministry(Wow!), going to the Mediterranean yesterday, where I did some great body surfing - who knew there were decent waves? I should've had my surfboard - and we also got some wicked sunburns, and this morning we led the chapel service at Israel's only registered evangelical school - Christy and I led worship and Mike shared a bible story, which we all did our best to act out, and Steffi from Germany gave a testimony.. The response from the 150 students was overwhelmingly positive.

Tomorrow we're going to Nazareth Village to volunteer for the day. It is a place where archaeologists uncovered a first century village and is now operated as a regular workplace where people dress, live and work (from 9-5) as people would've done during Jesus' time.

Thanks for taking the time.  :)
Many Blessings - Much Love, Joey and Christy

Wheat Harvest

The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the Tent of Nations was the phrase painted on a rock -
 "We Refuse to be Enemies." This is what we saw as a strong reality as we got to know the people in this family.
We spent 5 days at this piece of land in Palestine with the Nassar family- an Arab family who has been on this land since 1916 when their grand-father bought the land. They lived in caves for many years until recently...What an inspiring family - dedicated to peace in the middle of a crisis that is very real to them.

Settlements have been built up all around their land and have grown over the last 20 years. The picture above shows the village of Nahalin to the left of the blanket and everything to the right is the settlement. Israelis have tried to build roads through their property which they stopped from happening (since it is illegal). In reaction to this, the settlers uprooted 250 of the Nassar's olive trees. Their response was to replant more than were uprooted, not to react in bitterness or violence.

In spite of many challenges, and being in court for 20 years to keep their land, they continue to persevere: When their water was cut off they began digging cisterns. When they were refused permits to build, they built underground. They have installed solar panels for electricity and this is also how they heat water. They have welcomed internationals from all over the world to receive hospitality and volunteer on their land.

Daoud shared their story with us and his heart for peace and reconciliation. While we were there, they hosted 40 religious Jews and showed them around the property. This is Daoud's brother Daher who has been working on the farm full time since he as 18. Daher has a HUGE heart for peace and knowing the his neighbors on the 'other side of the wall'.

There are olive trees, grapes, figs, wheat and other vegetables to take care of in all seasons. We helped with the wheat harvest, digging a cistern and cultivating land to plant tomatoes. It was up to 95 degrees which was HOT for us, but we drank lots of water and made it through. Here's Joey loading wheat onto the tractor...

All of us slept in this tent in beds and valiantly fought off mice, lizards and large spiders. The joys of desert camping! It was a rewarding week - relationally- meeting brothers and sisters who are a living example of Christ's love for all, spiritually learning more of forgiveness and compassion and physically working hard on the land.

We have spent a day in Jerusalem to rest before we go to Nazareth...to work with youth.

Please keep this family in your prayers - www.tentofnations.org

Thanks for taking the time -
Love,
Joey and Christy

Today we're off to the Tent of the Nations in Palestine where we'll be farming for a week!

We might not be able to post anything while we're there -
Please keep us in your prayers, and have a lovely week!
Blessings,

J and C

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

Huge Thanks and Love to our Amazing Moms today! We love you and miss you lots! 

And Happy Mother's Day to all the incredible moms we know! 

The last few days we have been helping out with a cool initiative here in Bethlehem - a place for youth to go. They already have a rock-climbing wall so we helped to run that, and they are opening a ropes course for youth and education center with an organic garden where they will employ local people. So yesterday was a lot of hard work in the desert sun, hauling rock and dirt and trying to get that place ready to open. It is a great idea for this area since people are not able to go outside the wall very often and don’t have many options of things to do (especially youth), and we are glad to be a part of helping get it started.

We wanted to include a picture of the delicious middle-eastern we've had a chance to enjoy here: hummus, pita, veggies, olives - Yum! 

And here’s a couple pictures from the market in Bethlehem - Christy enjoying a nice cup of Arabic coffee (dark coffee ground with cardamom pods with sugar), and the creatively displayed tomatoes. 

We are continuing to build relationships, ask lots of questions and pray with people when we can....and it has been good. 

Lots of love!

J & C

Here we are on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem with Manu - a wonderful Palestinian brother. He wants to start a home for widows and orphans in Bethlehem - it would be great if we could support him.

This day spent in Jerusalem was good. We went to listen to Salim talk about an initiative he started called Musalaha - it is incredible -  with a focus of reconciliation with Christian Arabs and Messianic Jews. One of the things they do is send groups of Israelis and Palestinians on camel treks in the desert together to get to know each other and do workshops on reconciliation!

www.musalaha.org

Blessings!

Joseph and Christy

Jerusalem's Old City

There is no where at all like the old city of Jerusalem. A walled city, walled streets, market stalls...It is divided into four quarters - the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Armenian quarters. We went to the Wailing Wall - a sacred place for Jewish people, where they believe the Presence of God dwells (we thank God for the Incarnation of Jesus, cementing the truth that the Spirit of God dwells in men made in His image - not in buildings, stones, or temples built with human hands). It is always intense...people write prayers on little pieces of paper and put them in the wall. Today there were hundreds of Israeli soldiers in front of the wall having a swearing in ceremony, pledging their lives to Israel. Most of them are 17 and 18 years old...

The photo of the gray dome is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is believed to house the stone that they laid Jesus on after He was crucified. 

The markets in the old city are incredible. This photo is of frankincense and myrrh being sold. There is everything you can imagine including delicious Arabic coffee. 

The most difficult part of the day was coming back into Bethlehem. The bus dropped us off at the checkpoint and we waited in line for a while behind many Palestinians on their way home from work. A soldier motioned to us to come ahead of everyone else and we said no. It was heart-wrenching to see how differently we were treated as visitors. The people who live in Bethlehem and work outside have to go through this every day - waiting. not knowing. 

We pray - for those who have been oppressed to find healing and forgiveness, for the broken families to be reunited, for the soldiers to know Truth and see the His image in those they have been given power over, and for the supernatural love and life of Jesus to flow and bring change - for healing in this land.

Leaning on Him,

Joey and Christy

Walking the Wall

What a place...so much contrast - welcoming and open-armed, walled and closed in, joyous smiles and underlying struggle for hope. Joey and I are staying in a flat that belongs to a lovely muslim man, Majdi. He is a shop-keeper, and grew up here in Bethlehem. He is looking out for us amazingly and has welcomed us with much joy. 

We are glad to have a flat where it's just the two of us - a small luxury in our lifestyle.  Adjusting already to the call to prayer in the middle of the night. Slept through it last night (with the use of handy-dandy earplugs-a must have). 

We are going to be going to different villages with some local people who are helping us, as well as Palestinian refugee camps. We will also spend time in Jerusalem later this week...

Today we went on a prayer walk around the wall - it is intense - We are keeping open ears to what God is saying, and listening to the people we meet. May hope and love flow in this land.

LOVE, Joey (Zuzu for short in Arabic) and Christy

Bethlehem

We arrived in Tel Aviv last night and took a bus to Bethlehem (about an hour). We made it through the checkpoint without any trouble.

We will be here in Bethlehem for two weeks. The team is staying in flats and the two of us have our own flat for the first time in 4 months - yay! We are being hosted by a lovely shopkeeper named Majdi.

It is pleasantly warm today and we have done a lot of walking. We went to Bethlehem University for a presentation of a traditional Palestinian wedding which was quite fun!

All is well - we are very happy to be here!
LOVE,
Joseph and Christy

Middle East

3 days until we leave for Israel and Palestine where we will be for 5 weeks.
We have finished the lecture phase of the DTS, which is great! We are looking forward to something new.

Will be in touch and be putting photos on the blog.

Lots of Blessings!
Joseph and Christy

Prayer for Northern Ireland

A lot has been happening in Northern Ireland.
 There has been an increase in dissident sectarian activity in the last couple of weeks, with numerous car-bombings. A cross-community worker had a pipe bomb thrown through her house window last night in Belfast. No one has been injured, thankfully. Please pray for peace and for forgiveness, understanding and reconciliation to increase in great measure.

We are leaving in less than two weeks for Israel/Palestine.
There are 13 of us all together; Joey and I and two others are leading the team. We have been quite busy planning and getting ready for this, while also attending our DTS lectures. This week is about story-telling, telling stories from the Bible, especially to people from oral cultures. It has been really interesting and opens up the Bible a lot!
(http://www.gods-story.org/sts/)

We appreciate you and we pray
for increased blessings in your lives,
Love,
Joseph and Christy

Gratefulness

Reading a book called "Ruthless Trust" A Ragamuffins Path to God by Brennan Manning - It's a really good book! Here's a quote that stands out,

"To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives- the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections-that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God"

-Henri Nouwen

Thanks be to God!

Happy Easter - it is so good to celebrate the love of Jesus today!
It has been a great week. We had a visiting brother from Ghana and we just prayed for everyone the whole week - such a good time.

We had a giving day which people gave whatever they could and felt moved to. People were giving their laptops to others whose computers had crashed, money for outreach costs, favorite posessions...
It is more blessed to give than to receive!

Here's a photo of a Seder meal we were invited to last night at the Brother's house - an Ecumenical group of men who are single for life by choice and live in intentional community.  They invited people from around Belfast from different groups to be a part of this - a beautiful time of unity with Catholics, Protestants, people from different parts of the world who are in Belfast at the moment.

One of the men who was there is a Chinese man named Owen who gave his life to the Lord 2 weeks ago. One of the Brothers presented the gospel to him after a few months of getting to know him and Owen said, "Why hasn't any one ever told me this before?"
Thanks you Jesus for your love that reaches all of mankind...

A lovely day of celebration today for all of creation!

Blessings and love,

Joey and Christy

Joey's Birthday

We were so blessed to be able to go up the North Coast of Ireland to celebrate - Thanks to everyone for the Birthday notes and blessings! Our friends let us use their car and we had a great time getting away for a day. 

We are leaving in about 3 weeks for the midd. east. There is a lot of preparation to be done, and we are keeping busy with that as well as local outreach, and all the other aspects of community, life, and dts.

This week, the weather has been like SE Alaska, wind and rain galore. It is refreshing at the moment. 

Peace and Love in Christ,

Joey and Christy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Lorica (St. Patrick's Breastplate)


I arise today
  through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
  through belief in the Threeness,
  through confession of the Oneness
  towards the Creator.

I arise today
  through the strength of Christ
    with His Baptism,
  through the strength of His Crucifixion
    with His Burial,
  through the strength of His Resurrection
    with His Ascension,
  through the strength of His descent
    for the Judgement of Doom.

I arise today
  through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
  in obedience of Angels,
  in the service of Archangels,
  in the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
  in prayers of Patriarchs,
  in predictions of Prophets,
  in preachings of Apostles,
  in faiths of Confessors,
  in innocence of Holy Virgins,
  in deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
  through the strength of Heaven:
  light of Sun,
  brilliance of Moon,
  splendor of Fire,
  speed of Lightning,
  swiftness of Wind,
  depth of Sea,
  stability of Earth,
  firmness of Rock.

I arise today
  through God's strength to pilot me:
  God's might to uphold me,
  God's wisdom to guide me,
  God's eye to look before me,
  God's ear to hear me,
  God's word to speak for me,
  God's hand to guard me,
  God's way to lie before me,
  God's shield to protect me,
  God's host to secure me -
    against snares of devils,
    against temptations of vices,
    against inclinations of nature,
    against everyone who shall wish me ill,
    afar and anear,
    alone and in a crowd.

I summon today all these powers between me
    (and these evils) -
  against every cruel and merciless power
    that may oppose my body and my soul,
  against incantations of false prophets,
  against black laws of heathenry
  against false laws of heretics,
  against craft of idolatry,
  against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
  agains every knowledge that endangers
    man's body and soul.

Christ to protect me today
  against poison, against burning,
  against drowning, against wounding,
  so that there may come abundance of
    reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ
    behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ
    above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie, Christ when I sit, Christ
    where I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who
    thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who
    speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
  through a mighty strength, the invocation
    of the Trinity
  through belief in the Threeness,
  through confession of the Oneness
  towards the Creator.

Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.
 

Dublin

Tomorrow we go to Dublin for the Western European Leadership Conference (WELC)
for YWAM.
We have been busy getting ready for that. Almost 200 people from around Europe
will be there to pray and seek the Lord.
There will be workshops about different areas involving missions.

Our school is serving at the conference... Christy is singing on the worship team and Joey is helping out with other needs.

We had a great break this weekend and hiked up Cave Hill here in Belfast, a very different scene than where we live on the Shankill - amazing views of Belfast, we could see all the way to the Mourne Mountains and Scotland!
Very refreshing time as we have been busy with all that is happening here.

Love and Blessings to All,
Joseph and Christy

Brendan's Mountain Prayer

We are (still) learning to trust. Can you believe it? :) 

Brendan was a monk in 5th century Ireland who felt compelled to leave the shores of familiarity in a small boat without rudder or oar, entrusting himself to the currents of God to take him wherever he wanted him to go. Historical accounts of his journey show him traveling to the likely locations of Iceland, Greenland, and even North America - then back again. Before he set off on his journey, he ascended a nearby mountain (which we have seen), and fasted and prayed for 40 days and nights. This was what he prayed:

Shall I abandon the comforts and benefits of my home,

Seeking the island of promise our Father’s knew long ago,

Sail on the face of the deep where no riches or fame

Or weapons protect you, and nobody honors your name?

Shall I take leave of my friends

And my beautiful native land,

Tears in my eyes

as my knees mark my final prayer in the sand?

King of the mysteries, will You set watch over me?

Christ of the mysteries, can I trust You on the sea?

Christ of the heavens,

and Christ of the ravenous ocean wave,

I will hold fast to my course

through the dangers I must brave.

King of the mysteries, angels will watch over me,

Christ of the mysteries, when I trust You on the sea.

Christ of the mysteries, can I trust You on the sea?

Brendan’s example speaks to us each:

Have I the courage to leave the familiar

and journey into the unknown?

to journey beyond the way I have prayed,

the life I have lived, the sensible and the secure?

to trust God to take me beyond these familiar shores?

This last week there have been small oceans to cross in our lives, but God has been faithful to carry us through. This present week we are learning of and experiencing the outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Pray that we receive all He has for us, as we pray that you receive all He has for you.


Love,
J and C

walking through walls

This weeks teachings on relationships. A great Irish couple sharing stories and wisdom. We had a good chat with the fellow, who gave us some good input about missions and married life.

This morning, walked around our neighborhood, praying and feeling the heart of God for this place. 

We are surrounded by walls.


There is so much going on here, and many contradictions. It is such a warm and lovely people who make their home here....still many of the houses are hiding behind walls and fences,which have been built up intentionally, including barbed wire, and nails in some places, and rubbish all over the place - there is a sense of isolation, fear and shutting others out. 

Praying for the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth - and  for the spirit of adoption to be alive in this place - so many are without an earthly father, may the hope of the most loving Father of all be poured out...
Only the love of Jesus in His people will bring the creativity and grace to walk through some of these walls to love our neighbors in a real way.

 Romans 8:15-17

“So you should not be like cowering fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God’s very own children, adopted into His family, calling Him Father dear Father. For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children. And since we are His children, we will share his treasures,- for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. 

Last night we started learning some traditional session songs with a friend Mike who plays fiddle. Christy playing Guitar and Joseph on the bodhran (Irish drum).  A lot of fun.

Saturday, we are going to Dublin for Valentine’s weekend, have a bit of time together and will get to see Christy’s cousin Jesse play a show with his band, Midlake.

Monday, our small group is putting on a dinner at the Cafe for people who are over 60 - a time to build community and get to know people. We are going to sing "Moon River"...


Thanks a million zillion for your 

prayers and for the example 

you have all been to us. 

In His Love,

Joseph 'n Christy