Summer!
Hi friends,
A FUN KINFIRE RECAP VIDEO
We hope you’ve enjoyed your summer! Our’s is quickly coming to a close with school starting up at the beginning of the month but we are enjoying the last bits of it before then. We were lucky enough to have 2 whole weeks of blissful sunshine and 70 degree temps! But the clouds and rain have returned just as quickly as they went…
I’ve been busy at work helping get things ready to go for the annual Kinfire Festival which happened this past week, August 12! So our absence has been my fault because there just aren’t enough hours in the day, between juggling work and being available for the kids during their summer break. And of course, now I’m asking where has the time gone!!
Last Tuesday, we left south to Kilkenny to meet up with all our wonderful volunteers and were excited to see some familiar faces! Both from our lovely stateside church of West Hills, as well as our ACTION family - it felt like a little piece of home during an already exciting week!
This year’s festival was wonderful to experience from a completely different perspective. If you remember last year, we went to Kinfire VERY last minute and so we didn’t quite have the time for the anticipation to sink in and when we were there, it was kind of a whirlwind. Amongst getting over jet lag and discovering a new city, seeing just a bit of the in’s and out’s of how the festival works while also experiencing it for the first time - the ability to absorb it all wasn’t really feasible at the time. So this year, getting to dive in to the deep end with organizing and planning it, and now having personal connections with people apart of and also attending made for a very different year. We were very much looking forward to it this time. Jeremy and the kids enjoyed it as attendees, and I saw it all through the lens of a background show runner. It’s been fun to come together after and compare our time.
650 people attended this year’s Kinfire and we had 150 volunteers come and serve from far and wide. The worship team, exhibitors from schools and missionary organizations and more, speakers from the states, Ireland and from across the pond all participated in the event. Kinfire is like no other gathering on the island and plays such a big role in the Christians who are living here. The desire for real and honest community rooted in Christ, and sound Bible-based teaching is deep. The need is great and for many, this is the only time of the year they will have these types of interactions.
So what else has been going on… We’re seven months in, which is mind boggling, and things are still feeling new in lots of ways and more familiar in others.
Jeremy has been planning to get the new youth group started at church. Youth has been a passion for Jeremy for some time so he’s excited to get a proper youth group up and running. It’s a great need for St. Donard’s and we don’t want to miss out on anymore time with the teens the Lord has herein our midst. For most, the middle school and high school years can be pivotal to kids relationship with God. Sadly a drop-off is far too common for teens choosing to miss out on church.
Alongside the need for the teens at St. Donard’s, the need for the kids demographic is just as prevalent. If you attend our stateside church, West Hills, and have kids that got to experience the fun of VBS this summer, you’ll know that their fundraising efforts HUGELY blessed us!! Earlier this year, we were notified that the theme for VBS was Ireland while they looked at Psalms 23 and so to make it more personal for the kids, they nominated us to be the beneficiary of their fundraiser. Working with our pastor, Colin, we asked what the church needed and one of the bigger needs was that the kids Sunday School space greatly needed to be expanded for our thriving kids ministry. Being in a 140 year old church building is beautiful and historical, but there are a lot of modern needs it cannot fulfill. Check out the video we made for the VBS kids to see what they were helping us work towards! This is still an ongoing support need for St. Donard’s until it is fully funded so if this is something you would like to give to directly, reach out to us and we can get you the necessary information to donate.
St. Donard’s put on their own Vacation Bible School. Here they call it Holiday Bible Club and we were very thrilled to welcome over 40 kids every night! Expected numbers were around 25 so seeing 40 children come through the rectory hall doors was such a great sight to see. Jeremy helped lead a group of 4-6 year olds while I helped with the group of 7-9 year olds, and teach the lesson on our opening night. RJ and Emery had the joy of partaking in HBC. Our church had the help of a great team from Ohio, who has come back faithfully year after year, to make Holiday Bible Club happen. It’s much needed as we don’t quite have the number of volunteers to make it a reality on our own. All in all, fun was had and it was a great way to start the summer.
Something that was very exciting and a first was that Jeremy had the wonderful opportunity to deliver Sunday’s sermon to the congregation back in July! Our church is going through a section of Psalms for the summer and Jeremy spoke on Psalms 39 - a sticky Psalm to say the least - but he handled it with grace, while I mentally blacked out and can’t remember a single thing he said... I was definitely more nervous about it than him 🤣 But God was kind and many said they were blessed by his teaching.
Following his sermon, we raced off to Dublin to welcome a very special visitor, our beloved Titi - our first official guest! The kids were beyond excited to welcome their aunt Trinity and Jeremy and I were thrilled to visit with his sister for two whole weeks. It gave us such a good chance to see some of the island we’ve been too busy to venture out to see.
And now, our summer comes to an end… We’ll be getting back into the swing of school, small group, and preparing for baby in November! The last month before baby arrives is already so exciting but it will be even more exciting as we will have visits from both of our parents.We are VERY looking forward to it and it can’t come fast enough. I’m sure the time will fly by with the busy-ness of life and we’ll be sharing the announcement of another baby boy or girl before we know it! Until then, we’ll keep you in the loop.
Praises:
RJ is trying out a football club (soccer 😉) - he’s really grown fond of the sport since we’ve moved here which is no surprise since everyone plays here. The World Cup really just pushed the new interest over the edge. RJ also continues to enjoy RIOT.
The kids are just beginning to make new friends in the neighborhood and we’re slowly meeting more people as well. Being in a small village, this is very important.
Baby is healthy and growing as expected. We’re officially in the third trimester!
The kids passports were needing to be renewed and we were able to do that with no issues!
Prayers:
Friendships - Loneliness is a constant navigating factor for us.
Grace and being well-received as we continue to step into serving spaces within the church. Wisdom and understanding as we continue to learn to love and serve the people here.
Youth group at St. Donard’s - lots of planning and organizing needing to happen before it can take off.
You’ll hear from us again soon.
The Kastles