Gorey & Greystones signing off

Good morning parents!

We are currently sitting at the gate waiting for our flight, and as I look around, I see lots of tired, but accomplished faces. Your teenagers are spent, but in a good way. These last few weeks in Ireland have been an absolute blast, and watching your teens serve has been extremely encouraging. God showed up, and used each and every one of them for His glory. 

You should be proud. We'll see you soon!

In Christ,

Tim

FLIGHT INFO:

Aer Lingus 105

*we should be arriving at Cornerstone around 3:30pm

Last Day in Greystones

The last day is here :/

It was a sad night at the drop in center. Many youth came out to say goodbye to us as we held our last drop-in at The Cove. It was bittersweet, but we are confident in the work that God has done over the past few weeks.

Our ohana ("family", for those who haven't watched Lilo & Stitch) ended the night reflecting on our trip. We spent some time in worship and going through the days that we were here, writing out all of the memories that we had over the course of the trip.

There were some hilarious memories, as well as some awesome, serious ones.

We as a team are so grateful for the opportunity to serve such amazing people and pray that they would only continue to grow in their faith.

Yours Truly, 

The Cove Crew

Blogging Game STRONG

Good morning friends and family!!

Today is the final day of our trip here in Gorey, and we all have mixed feelings--sad to leave our new friends and old friends, but also happy to see you all soon.  We've been having a blast here the past two weeks and it has been a true blessing to see each and every one of your kids grow so much individually in their walk with Christ and with each other.  They are all amazing young men and women of God who have worked hard and served humbly and have just been so fun to get to know! :)

We have had some awesome experiences the past few days; here are a few sweet pics to give you an idea:

(Jeremy's/Clutch's 16th birthday ICE CREAM cake..homemade by us girls; special thanks to Caroline for working at Ben & Jerry's)

A lot of the girls bought sweet ukuleles from the local music store...YGUB

(Youth Group Uke Band)

Our second open mic night was a success...soo many kids came out to sing along to "Party in the USA"

Our trip has been AWESOME and we the leaders are so proud of all of your kids.  They have shared the love of Christ with all of the Irish teens and have showed them how much they are cared about and valued.  Tonight will be a very sad night to say goodbye to everyone, but with modern technology we know that we can all keep in touch on Facebook, iMessage, Twitter, etc to continue those relationships and good conversations...It is a bittersweet day! 

This will be our last blog post...see you all tomorrow, 'Merica game STRONG.

"Tan game strong" - Karly

It was a beautiful day here in Greystones! 

We had a relaxing morning which consisted of rest and time spent with God, a team walk, and some Irish Sea fun! Below you can see AJ contemplating whether or not he should jump in. After AJ tested the waters, the boys (Stephen, Bradley, Josh, and AJ) all decided to jump in together.

After an amazing dinner and setting up for the night session of the drop in Heidi finally caught a chicken!! 

We had quite the eventful evening at The Cove last night. Along with our usual set up we played  ultimate frisbee while enjoying the beautiful weather outside! Kaytlynn and Anne did Henna and Sharpie tattoos while Karly and Heidi did some hair chalking!  

  

Our kids handed out many copies of the Life Books that we brought with us. They are taking their friendships further and having deeper and more intentional conversations with the teens at The Cove. 

We are definitely making the most of our last few days here in Greystones! Please keep praying that our team will stay motivated as they are tired and our trip is winding down. We still have some work to do here and we cannot do it without God.

Love 

The Greystones Crew :) 

Greystones ON FIRE

Hey friends and family,

This evening was a blast here in Greystones. We ran The Cove out of the Presbyterian Church, and we packed the place out for an open mic night and an unbelievable fire show by Steve (the Irish youth pastor we have been working with). 

The mic bounced back and forth between the American and the Irish teens. One of the Irish youth workers shared that she was impressed by the teens that signed up, seeing some names she wouldn't have expected to perform. Clearly God is at work making these teens feel comfortable and safe here at The Cove.

After soaking in all of the talent in the building, we headed outside to see Steve put on a fire show. Here he is BREATHING FIRE. Don't worry, we told your teens that they're not allowed to try this at home.

Throughout the night, your teens stepped up and dove into deeper conversations with their newfound Irish friends, asking them about their faith and encouraging them in their journey with Christ. A few of these conversations have been ongoing since last week, and it's great to see relationships deepening.

Thank you for your prayers back home. Please continue to pray that we encounter more opportunities to share the gospel as we approach the final few days of the trip. 

In Christ,

The Cove Crew

Gorey Update !!!!!!!!

Hey y'all,

We've had an eventful few days here in Gorey spending time together as a team and with the Empire student leaders.  Monday was our free day, where we slept in while Riley and Mike made us a gourmet brunch.  After that,  we all went into town for a bit of souvenir shopping.  It was a day of french toast, fun, and friendship!

Monday night the leaders planned a time of worship for the team as well as the Irish student leaders and our good friend Stevo.  We had a candlelit service where Amy and Jack played some worship songs and Mike gave a talk about the life of Jonah and his ministry, and how we all need to trust God and trust what he is telling us to do here, even when it gets hard.  To end the night, all four leaders washed each student's feet just as Jesus washed his disciples feet on the night of the last supper.  We also washed the Irish leaders' feet and Steve's, which he expressed to us was a huge blessing.  To the leaders' surprise, our kids sat us leaders down and began washing our feet as well, wanting to serve us as we were serving them.  It was an emotional night for everyone and brought us all closer together as a family.  We invited the Irish back to our house for snacks and some silly games of charades.  It was a really fun opportunity to all worship and have fun together, Irish and American!

Here is what Bryan Zeug, a senior student on our trip, had to say about the night:

"Getting a chance to worship with the rest of my team and the Empire student leaders was a unique and special experience because it pulled the entire team closer together and gave us a chance to show the Empire leaders what we believe. While we've been telling them our beliefs throughout this trip, but worshiping with them let us live out our faith in front of them.  It was a powerful experience to see some of the student leaders singing along, praising God with songs that they had never heard before but connected with because of the message of the songs. I also loved the foot-washing experience, as our team was able to show how much we loved each other and were willing to support and serve each other. Everyone was crying and hugging by the end of the night and it proved that we are more than a team; we are a family."

Tonight we are having our annual Tie Dye night and tomorrow will be our second Open Mic/ Coffee and Convo Night, so please be in prayer for that and for the coming nights and activities until our last Empire session on Saturday night.  Talk to you all soon!

Amy & Riley (and Bryan)

Flashback to Greystones Free Day

Just a quick video of Jesse, Stephen and Maddi taking a plunge into the Irish sea.