February News

“He’s reaching the kids that I can’t seem to get to.”
(L. Rowan, Hillside Community Church Youth Pastor)

Kevin’s time spent with our church’s inner city youth group is honing his skills as a youth worker, yes, but more importantly God is using him to love on kids who may never otherwise experience His love and Grace. Even though he’s not ‘Emo’ or ‘Punk’, the youth on the fringe are drawn towards the fact that he’s not afraid to strike up a conversation and meet them where they are at. Isn’t that what Jesus did? He wasn’t a tax collector, but he loved on them. He wasn’t a prostitute, but they were not beyond His grip of grace. The young adults that Kevin and the other youth leaders reach out to today could be the ones spreading the Gospel of Jesus to Duluth and foreign shores in the future.

One the other side of the world, our friend Charis from Dundrum, Ireland recently traveled to India with a group of 12 countrymen/women to build a school building and work alongside the leper colony in Vada. This is an annual trip that Youth For Christ Ireland orchestrates, and one that we hope to participate in while serving in Ireland. The following are excerpts from her letter:

"Staying in the Leprosy Mission grounds was a fantastic experience. A College training the children of people affected by leprosy teaches mechanics, electronics, sewing, typing, helping those who would be stigmatized and cast out from their communities to be reintegrated and to become self sufficient. Herds of goats are given to patients who can no longer labour the traditional way due to their deformities. They can care for, breed and sell their goats to repay the cost of their housing and to support their families. I was overtaken with the reminder that being here was a privilege. The people we were with had nothing. Yet, they wanted to give us whatever they had. Little girls would give us their necklaces, local people offered us coconuts and tree roots. It was a reminder again to me of how we are willing to give so little out of our plenty when those with so little give generously and consider it an honour.”

Charis is a schoolteacher in the Dundrum area near Dublin. Her passion to reach beyond her world impacts those she comes into contact with everyday—2 of the teens on the India trip were her students. It’s an encouragement to see that the work we desire to participate in is already in motion. Young adults are seeing the beauty of Christ in others, beyond their own boarders, and desire to see them experience the life of Jesus. Like Charis, the lives that we will touch in Ireland with the love of Christ have the potential to go out and impact the world.

While we are impacting lives where we are at in Duluth, our heart is still to minister full time in Ireland with Youth For Christ. Thank you so much for contributing to this dream both financially and prayerfully. We are currently in need of just

Prayer and Praise points:
*Praise God for needs being met in ways beyond our understanding
*Pray our financial and spiritual levels will be met to the right amounts at the right time
*Pray for Naiomi in Galway and Suzie in Dublin—for rest, organization, and continued love for the youth*pray for the Youth of Ireland, especially Ireland, that God would ready their hearts for His Love

Blessings!