Alaska welcome

Alaska. On the Island again. We were welcomed wonderfully at 1:30 in the morning by Christy's Dad who came down to meet us at the ferry. Our friends called us to invite us to lunch immediately the next day and then we spent a couple hours with Joey's Grandma and had dinner (halibut!) with Joey's family. Great to see everyone and go to Goodnews Fellowship today and reconnect with the brothers and sisters we love!

We start work on Tuesday.
Joey at Tongass Construction
Christy at The Point - a lovely gallery, yarn, art shoppe and cafe!

We are still wanting to be in Northern Ireland by December so all the moments here are precious. We enjoyed seeing our family in Oregon and Washington and are so thankful for them!

Joey's Grandma gave us this quote on our arrival - thought it was good:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." -Mark Twain

God has been so good to us and brought us this far - we are thankful for His infinite goodness and grace...
More soon -
J & C

Hello!
Montana is starting to become a beautiful autumn scene - what a gift.
We're speaking, doing worship at Headwaters Church this coming Sunday so are preparing for that.
Have been working logistics as well as continuing to spend time reconnecting with people here.
All is well - We are still waiting on approval for YWAM to get Tier 2 visas for the UK; we are praying these will come through soon so we can start applying. We appreciate your prayers in this area.

Hope everyone is enjoying the autumn season!
Love,
Joseph & Christy

Soaking in time with family and friends

As strange as it is to be away from Northern Ireland, it has been lovely to spend time with friends in Montana and see family. It's great to catch up with people and we have been encouraged to connect again with our brothers and sisters here.

Funny enough we are in Montana at the same time as Christy's Dad (we all planned to arrive the same day without knowing it!) So it's been good - we all (with Collette) did worship together at Headwaters last Sunday - it was like a Ketchikan reunion.

In mid-October we will be going to Washington and then heading back to Alaska for a couple months.

We were reading this morning in the book "The Wind from the Stars" and love this excerpt:

"He had ever one anchor of the soul, and he found that it held - the faith of Jesus (I say the faith of Jesus, not his own faith in Jesus), the truth of Jesus, the life of Jesus. However his intellect might be tossed on the waves of speculation and criticism, he found that the word the Lord has spoken remained; for in doing righteously, in loving mercy, in walking humbly, the conviction increased that Jesus knew the very secret of human life.

-Robert Falconer


Love to all, 
J & C

made it to Montana - we'll be here for a few weeks. We had a good visit with friends in Washinton.
all is well! just getting over jet lag.
We miss Northern Ireland!

On our way!

The time has come for us to head back to the states. We leave on September 12th and will be arriving in Seattle and doing a bit of visiting friends and family from there before heading back up to Alaska.

We've just had a lovely two weeks of traveling around Ireland with Christy's parents. It was a joy - especially to spend time together and get to show them around. Everything went really smoothly with the road-trip and the weather was perfect the whole time! We got to visit people we've met along the way and we all did some ministry together at Cork Community Church last Sunday - it was a lot of fun. 

The 8 months we've been in Northern Ireland has been amazing, it has been hard work at times and spiritually intense in some ways, but we've learned so much and our hearts have been stretched for this place. God has been at work in our lives and are feeling a sense that He is sending us back here soon...

So we have a busy few months ahead - prayer, visiting loved ones, and getting ready for the possibility of coming to N. Ireland for a season where we have an open door to be involved in missions, hospitality, worship, networking the body of Christ, living in community and growing in intimacy with Jesus as we follow his call on our lives.

We appreciate your prayers and friendship,

Many blessings, 

Joseph and ChristyHere's Christy and Marty hundreds of feet off the ground on a rope-bridge over the ocean - reminds me of what it's like to trust God sometimes. :)

Ancient church at Glendalough.

This is a new mural we saw in Belfast last week - it was painted in place of an old paramilitary mural. It is encouraging to see some of these changes taking place - little glimpses of healing and peace. Thanks be to God.

encouragement

We found this prayer in a book this week and it really resonated with us -

ROMERO'S PRAYER

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Archbishop Oscar Romero

Well we are finished with DTS and are here in Rostrevor staying at the YWAM community. We've said bye to lots of people and have been wrapping up last minute bits and bobs from outreach.
We are really looking forward to my (Christy's) parents coming to Ireland to see us!

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

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