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

Look Mom, We're on TV!

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