An Tobar Nua was the coffee shop where we attended classes for our first weeks in Ireland, while we were in Galway.
It’s a pretty cool place. You should definitely look it up online, I know there is more information there, but I’ll tell you all I can for now.
It’s a Christian run business/ministry. The main outreach is one on one conversations, as the employees connect with and talk to the people who come in for coffee. They also offer Christian counseling. Besides that, they also go into schools and talk to the teens. They share their testimonies and things like that, and they ho
st youth retreats at the coffee shop. On the upstairs floors is the Emmaus Scripture School. It’s mostly adults who come to classes there, but students from Taylor (and I think other schools, as well), can come and complete a missions minor. They work at the coffee shop while taking classes. It sounds like an awesome opportunity, doesn’t it?
On some Saturday nights, the Catholic church which the owner attends puts on an event called Night Fever, which lasts from eight PM until midnight and is basica
lly a time when anyone can come into the church and pray. The An Tober Nua employees go out on the streets with lanterns to talk to people and bring them in. Some of our group went to pray on one of those nights, and Aaron even ended up helping the evangelism team!
It was really hard to leave this unbelievable place. On the Thursday night before we left we all had a big pizza party at An Tober Nua with most of the employees and our professor, John Shelton. We played games, and laughed,
and really, really didn’t want to leave. It was a blast. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time here with these awesome people, and we’ve learned so much. All of our friends here, like Aine, Calum, Amanda, and Emily are going to be unforgettable. Staying in Galway for the first three weeks isn’t a usual thing that the Freshman Irish Studies Program kids do, so we have been really blessed to
have this time. On to Greystones!
