An Tobar Nua Café: a safe place for teenagers to ask questions
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As you might have guessed, the last 23 months have created a bit of an obstacle in building relationships with the people, particularly students, who visit the Café. With restrictions lifting late last month, we have finally been able to relaunch our lunch-hour student activities and our afterschool programs!!
Here's What Happened After Restrictions Lifted
Our biggest encouragement was that as soon as restrictions were even slightly lifted, some of our most regular students (from almost 2 years ago!) came back for a visit - they didn’t waste a second! Far from having forgotten about us, they couldn’t wait to reconnect with the team. Some of them are now in the later years of secondary school or in university, and we are so pleased to see that the time they spent in the Café pre-pandemic was meaningful to them. Somehow, the way they feel when they come in, or something a team member said, has stuck with them. And they want more.
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Losing the Agenda - Focusing on the Person
One of our Café team members shares this story that gives some insight into how building relationships with students can make a huge difference:
 There is one student who had been coming into the Café quite often to hang out with friends. I had tried striking up conversations with this particular student, but they kept avoiding me. I found out from one of their friends that in fact, this teenager does not like coming into the Café, believing that our agenda is solely to shame and convert people. Once I found that out, I made it my goal to become this student’s friend and to show them that this is not what we are about. For weeks I worked on starting different conversations about common interests we have, and I could slowly see progress being made. About two days before the Café had to close due to Covid-19, I had an encounter with this student that changed everything. They completely opened up and even began talking about their personal life. This has opened up a whole new door. It would have never happened had I just given up in the beginning when they shut me down at first – but God had a different agenda of building up love in this person’s life.
This is just one example of a student being impacted at An Tobar Nua. As restrictions ease, we look forward to welcoming many more each day, and seeking out each one of them to show them that they are loved, and that they matter.
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Emmaus Scripture School: two MEVs launching a class!
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Meet Ruthie and Daniela, two of our current Mission Experience Volunteers from Summit Church in Estero, Florida!
Mainly part of the Café team, they are also in the process of launching our first An Tobar Nua young adults groups, both a great way to connect with our slightly older student customers, and a follow up for those who came while in secondary school.
 They are also working closely with Tomasz, our Scripture School leader, to launch a course on Forgiveness running every Tuesday for seven weeks, starting on the last Tuesday in February.
Here’s a little teaser video about the new course! (PS: while you’re visiting our Facebook page, don’t forget to Follow, Like, and SHARE! It really makes a difference 😊)
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