The first few days of April, we participated in an English Camp that took place over a weekend for anyone who wanted to better their English. It was put on by some other TEAM missionaries as well as a short-term team that came from one of their supporting churches. This program was FANTASTIC! It went over so well, and I feel like I learned a whole lot about how much of a tool teaching English is here in Spain. We are seriously considering getting certified to teach English as a second language when we return to the States. I also was able to get to know a few Spaniards from the weekend and hope to get together with them soon.
Micah with one of the English camp attendee's who also goes to our church--Sergio
Then the next day we traveled down by bus to the Sevilla area to meet with different missionaries and national pastors to see what God is doing down South. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and somewhat of a vacation as well, as we were able to do some site-seeing as well. The meetings with all the missionaries went great, and we got to know some wonderful people! We also were able to talk and learn a lot from the national pastors we talked with. God is really working in so many places, and there are needs just about everywhere here in this country! There are still over 7,000 towns in Spain that have no gospel witness in their towns. Please pray that God may show us clearly what the next step is for us!
This is a panoramic shot of the town we stayed in for our time down South. It's called Utrera, and there is no church there.
The "High Altar" in the cathedral in Sevilla...so many images
The beautiful Moorish architecture in the Alcázar, the Citadel/Royal Palace
Gorgeous Spanish tile artistry!
We then were able to spend about a week back at home, which mostly consisted of doing laundry and getting caught up on other duties we had neglected during travel. But it was a good rest, because this past Wednesday, we traveled for 8 hours up to the Northwest community of Galicia, in a small inlet town called Aguiño. We traveled there for our church's Easter retreat. Our church is still small enough to take a retreat with the whole church, and I loved that everyone went! We had about 45 people who came, and it was wonderful. We really felt like this brought us in as part of the church family this weekend. Not only for us, but also for several new families who have recently started attending the church. I think that real unity happened this weekend, and I am so grateful. I also was able to celebrate my birthday this weekend, alongside the beach! It was wonderful. Micah and I have yet to have our own celebration so that we could celebrate on our own schedule, but the church ladies really spoiled me while we were there! I think it's hard for them to understand how we would be able to leave our families like we have, so they really take it on themselves to make sure that on important days like birthdays, Christmas, etc. that we feel like part of the family. And I sure did! I felt truly loved by my brothers and sisters there, and I'm really starting to love some of these people! What a wonderful opportunity we had to spend the weekend with them! I'll put pictures up of the weekend once I load them onto the computer.
We arrived home, and we're trying to get back into some sort of schedule. We have a whole new phase of our internship ahead of us, as we don't have language school and will now be home for a more extended period of time, so we're trying to figure out how to get more involved in the community while at the same time getting more involved at the church. Will you pray that God will guide us as we figure out the balance of learning language and culture, our involvement in church, and involvement in the community? We truly want to make decisions that will have an impact on our future ministry here in Spain, learning as much as we can, and also helping where we can. Thank you so much for all your support!!
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