Congrats!!....and great Cafe one80!!!

Well, first and foremost, I want to congratulate Samuel and Sarah on their engagement....it was absolutely brilliant. I am so excited for the you two and pray that God would continue to work through both of your lives to further his kingdom. If you haven't heard "the 5 surprise engagement" you should talk to Sarah and I'm sure she would love to tell you how Samuel "whoo-ed" her!!!

Moving on to other things, Cafe one80 was brilliant!! We finished up our last weekend and we had a tremendous turnout! Each night we had a different band that came and played music. It created a great atmosphere to sit back, relax and just have some good craic (fun). Not only that, but we had some great dramas as well as speakers who shared from their own experience how much Christ has impacted their lives. Besides all that, I've heard many stories of young people who made a commitment to follow Christ....so praise God for that!!! So I just want to thank everyone everywhere who was praying for Cafe one80....God definitely showed up and showed off, and it was really encouraging.

There was also a challenge that was put out the last night of One80. Samuel challenged Andrew (my roommate) that he could have the mini that we did up for Cafe One80 (which currently has no engine) up and running by February 15 otherwise Samuel will do Andrew's laundry for a month, was his car for a month, and make him an evening meal once a week for a month. So this has become the talk of the town, and it will be interesting to see what happens. Clearly I have an inside scoop on the situation, but I will not indulge so as to leave the suspense there!! :-)

Thanks again for your prayers and support. God continues to show His faithfulness and sovereignty, and it really has been encouraging! I urge you to continue to keep your eyes on Christ!

Yearning for Him,

Jason

Brilliant!

Well the first weekend of Cafe one80 has come and gone. Let me just say that it was absolutely Brilliant!! We had a great turnout....nearly every night over the weekend the hall was full. There has been a encouraging buzz amongst the young people - they have really been enjoying it. We've even had some people come that we've never seen before, which has been really encouraging.

We are preparing for this coming weekend, which we have three more nights. We are excited because the word is spreading about it and we are hoping to get even a greater turn out. Pray that God would work through Cafe one80 to encourage those that are questioning what Christianity is all about. Pray that opportunities would come about to share about Jesus with some of the young people. Also, Saturday afternoon we have a program for some of the younger kids. This program is called FBIJ (Federal Bureau Investigating Jesus) and I am speaking at it. So pray that God would use me as His tool to speak truth to these young men and young women :-).

I am continully thankful for all of you that follow my blog and are praying for me. It means quite a lot, so I thank you!! Continue to keep your eyes on Christ!!

Yearning for Him,

Jason

Cafe one80

Today we started our youth outreach called Cafe one80. It is going on this weekend and next weekend and it is open to high school age and upwards. For the first night, i twas a great turn out! The nights consist of dramas, testimonies, bands, and guest speakers.....and a cool mini ;-).

It is a great opportunity for young adults to invite their friends into an environment that is laid back so that they can enjoy a bit of craic. Tonight went really well and we continue to be excited for the several nights to come. Pray that God would use these opportunity to bring young men and young men in so that through the dramas, the speakers, and just the conversations, they may hear the Gospel.

The mini was a wee project that we took on because we figured people would love it. Unfortunately, it is just the shell of the mini - it has no engine!! But it is absolutely brilliant! We re-did the interior and put in carpet and did up the back seat. We then put a video camera in it so that people can get into it and have "mini" moments. I'm then taking the little clips that people share on the camera, and turning it into a video that we will then show at one of the other Cafe one80 nights. It definitely is a lot of fun, and the young people love it! (oh and a special thanks to Beau from back home for designing the logo...it turned out great!!)

In terms of prayer requests, pray for Cafe one80. Also on both Saturday afternoons, we are doing a smaller version of it for younger kids (about junior high age), so pray that that goes well too!...especially for next Saturday in regards to that because I will be the speaker for that. Pray that God will use Cafe one80 as a opportunity to reach the young men and women of this community!

I thank you for your continued prayers and support. It is evident that God is working in mighty ways and all of you have played a huge part in that, so I praise God! I encourage you to continue to keep your eyes on Christ! Talk to you soon :-)

Yearning for Him,

Jason

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I am spending Christmas at the Chestnutt's...it has been great fun. We had a lovely Christmas dinner complete with Turkey and Ham. Shortly after that we went for a nice walk along the beach and just got back a wee while ago.

Thanks for your prayers for the SU Christmas Dinner....it went really well and many of the students that attended were encouraged :-).

I have some nice Christmas pictures, so as soon as I get a free moment (with a little more time) I will post them up for you to look at. But until then, have a Merry Christmas!!!

Yearning for Christ,

Jason

Merry Christmas!!....nearly ;-)

I just wanted to wish Merry Christmas to my family back home!! :-). Today is the day that worked out for all my family to get together and celebrate Christmas. So I hope that they have a fun time together, and I just wanted to let them know that I love them and am thinking about them. So MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love lots,

Jason

The Pirates of Penzance!!

Well the last week has proven to be quite busy. A week ago I started helping out with the sound for the high school's musical performance of the Pirates of Penzance. This entire week they have been performing in the evenings for people in the community. It's been good craic!!! Not only that, but it has been a great opportunity to hang out with many of the students and get to know them more, so for that I have been very grateful to help out in such a small way ;-). Tomorrow is the final performance and I'm sure it will go well because each time they get better and better.

Well believe it or not, Christmas is right around the corner. And with that comes the busyness of the holidays. This weekend we have our Sunday school Christmas parties, which will be good craic. And even next week, there are a few Christmas parties and the school for the different year groups.

However, there is one particular event that I want to draw your attention to. This coming Monday we are having the Scripture Union Christmas Dinner. We have invited any and all that want to come. Right now we have about 110 seniors (that is those in year 11 and up, which is about age 14-18) signed up, and there may be more still. So we are very excited. The reason I draw your attention to it is because I will be doing a short talk at it. There will be non Christians at the dinner, so I ask that you would pray that God would use this dinner for His glory....we are really excited! :-)

Next week is also the last week of school before Christmas Break. So that means this week will be the final week for mentor groups until after the new year. Pray that over the holidays I would have the opportunity to continue to connect and possibly hang out and have a bit of craic with those who are in my mentor groups.

Finally, next Thursday we are hoping to have a big movie night with the high schoolers out on Kittys Road, so pray that it will go well and that kids would want to come :-).

I again thank you for your prayers and support :-). I also love to hear from you, even if its just to say hi, so feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email. Continue to keep your eyes on Christ!!

Yearning for Him,

Jason

Busy Busy Busy... :-)

Well with Christmas right around the corner, things are getting quite busy around Kilkeel!...a good busy that is ;-). Last week I had a great opportunity to have Thanksgiving Dinner with a couple other Americans that I know in the town. It was quite lovely....we had turkey, stuffing, and nearly all the fixins ;-), so it was a very nice meal!

This past Friday, Samuel and I also had the opportunity to begin connecting with some of the high schoolers on Kittys Road. It was great craic!!! We pretty much just walked around to different houses and rounded up some of the kids and ended up muckin about for a couple hours (having fun that is). It was a cold night, the the "thing" to do was to water down one of the streets that had a slight hill to it so that it would freeze in order to allow the kids to slide down on it. I can honestly say that I've never had quite as much fun with a road as I did with them that night. So all in all, it was a good connecting point and opportunity to spread the word about the youth club that we want to get started. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks we are planning on having a game night or a movie night to get the word out more and get kids excited about coming. So continue to pray for those connections :-).

Things at the school have been quite busy. Next week is the school musical, which is really exciting. The musicals are an event that is always looked forward too. However, this year they are a wee bit behind, so right now the atmosphere is a wee bit tense around the school because many of the students are trying to get it all set for the end of the week dress rehearsals. I'm sure it will turn out good.

I also started helping out a wee bit with the PE classes and helping facilitate the sports and games that they play during those periods. This has been quite fun and provides another great opportunity to connect with many of the young men that I see at Youth Fellowship or in mentor groups and those sorts of things.

I'm still trying to figure out the car situation. It's not so much as finding a car, but it's more about finding the most inexpensive insurance. A car would help quite a bit in connecting with many of the young men that I am working with and would make things easier, cause I would have more freedom and not have to depend on other means. So we are looking into those options, but pray that God would provide an opportunity and a way for that to happen....I know He will (The earth is the Lords and everything in it!!! ps 24:1!!)

Well I continue to thank you for your prayers and support. God is doing a great work over here, and you have been a part of it through the support you have given me, so I thank you!! Continue to keep your eyes on Christ :-).

Yearning for Him,

Jason