I had promised this picture a long time ago and decided to go ahead a post it now. Notice that my seat was layed all the way back, with it sitting upright, my face met the collapsed roof. The dashboard was in my lap, but just that, my legs didn't have an ounce of pressure on them. The car was a perfect mold for my body. Praise the Lord for his goodness and grace.

I know I'm a missionary, but the thrill of taking this illegal picture was worth the cause. This is one of the chambers in the old palace in Madrid. The embellishments were incredible!

This is the symbol for Madrid, and I don't know why. But this bear is everywhere, even in finely carved chocolate. mmmmmmmm

It was worth the long beautiful drive, good company and good food. Madrid has it all! The mountain was a little sparse for skiing, though.

We found a nice creek bend and I crossed a shakey bridge just to capture this picture for ya'll!

We went up on the mountain side and had a (very) nice lunch at a garden restaurant, and Gary was the chef.

I got to go to the private concert, because on of my roommates is friends with a network lady. If any of you recognize her, help me out. She's an award winning Mexican singer.

And the metro can get pretty crowded at night if you want to get around. So hold on to your purse!


These are some of the fun things I've had the opportunity to do since I've been here. It's been SO much fun... now if only I could fully understand what people are saying to me....

Ok.. so I know it's been 2 months since I've had a post, and I'm sorry. But the adventures have added up! Every where I go is an opportunity to witness, and there are some pretty great stories to tell! Last week I moved out of the apartment I was in, and into a temporary one so that I can be closer to my team, and the center of town! So instead of having an hour and 20 min commute, I now have a 10 min commute! I am only missing an internet connection. Luckily I don't have to travel far to get one. I've been doing a lot of apartment hunting, and I think we finally found one. I HAVE WONDERFUL NEWS!!! Taryn has gotten her medical release and will be here in the middle of this month! Praise the Lord! I just have to make one minor detour to the US at the same time she will be arriving :( My visa still isn't ready, and my 90 days are up on my passport. I'll be so glad to have the chance to see family for a little bit. I'm hoping that I won't be stateside for more than a week or 2, though. It seems like really bad timing with Taryn's arrival, my language studies, and trying to close on an apartment... but I've decided to not worry about it all and pray for the Lord to work out the details. After all, I don't have any control over them anyways. :)

I have finished my language class, and begun with a tutor (who was my profesora as well). It has been so great and such a blessing! My time with her is all conversational and so I talk a lot about my day, my past and my future.... and you better believe not a day goes by that we don't talk about the Lord. I want so badly for her to see the goodness and peace that comes with having a relationship with God. She's a great girl, and it is my prayer that she give her life to Christ. Here in Spain, people celebrated Holy Week with absolutely no understanding of why. Mary has been made into such an idol, that all they know is that she performed the miracled of the virgin birth. But we all know that this isn't true, right? God performed that miracle and so many others that we are told about in Scripture. It wasn't until in recent years that the catholic church permitted people to read the Word! So even then, most people have never read the Good Book and have never read truth for themselves. On the other hand here, people have no religion or belief system at all. Only to find what makes that person happy.... The very idea of individual truth contradicts itself. So here I am with the opportunity to tell people about Christ and what love and forgiveness is for the first time in their lives. You can imagine what a struggle it is to say all this in Spanish for a beginner life me! So please continue to pray for my language developement and the quick arrival of my visa!

I'll make another post soon full of pictures for you to see! Please keep in touch with me and let me know how I can be praying for you! Love you all so much

In Him

This is Spain

Ironic, or just confused? America is everywhere here! In stores, all I here is the US top 40 (including those from the 90s). This was taken at the flee market where you can find anything from clothes and accessories to instruments and home decor and tools.

I had a little bit of some cultural frustration today. As I went to the supermarket, which is about 2 mile's walk, and grocery shopped for nearly an hour. I went to pay. I had been to this store many times before, but his particular lady checking me out gave me a hard time. I gave her my credit card, and she asked for identification (which they check anytime you use one). When she noticed that my liscence wasn't from around here she asked for my passport, which I gave her a copy of. After checking it out for a while she asked where I was from. I told her the States, and she says, "oh sorry, we can't take your card".
This was the most absurd things since I have paid with this card at this store many times before. After explaining all this to her, she says, "oh sorry, they must have been new employees". ugh...... luckily I BARELY had enough cash to cover what I had shopped for, and walked that nearly 2 miles back home, carrying all of my groceries. It was aparent this lady wasn't particularly impressed with the fact that I'm an American.

On a good note, I've been doing well in my language class. It's coming along, but I'm still practically a baby trying to figure out how to communicate all that I want to. I've only had one language blunder so far, and it was pretty epic.... I'll leave it at that. :) I have a small class, so it has been easy to make friends and talk to folks. 2 people in particular I've been getting to know, and as they get to know me more, they ask a lot of questions because they see how differently I live. It has been a blessing to be able to share with these 2 why I am different. Henrik, has asked me to explain to him why Christ was murdered. (if that's not direct, I don't know what is!)And Elise has really been searching for truth and substance in her life, in all the wrong places. It's been my prayer that she'll the joy and happiness as a result of the decision I made to trust Christ.



This is what my daily life is centered around. Cafe, and the Bread. I don't know if I could live without either. The coffee here is so good!

This is the ceiling of a dome of one of the many cathedrals in Spain. This one happened to be Mosaic, and absolutely beautiful. This church was mild compared to some others than I've been to; ornate in gold and idols of pseudo-Marys and countless saints. They pay for every prayer here as they light a candle under their saint-of-choice. How sad, that they would rather pray to one of the Lord's workers than God himself. Christ said, "NO ONE comes to the Father, but through ME." Often I feel so sad it hurts, to think about how people are living their lives based on a lie, that feeds them nothing but grief. The Truth is so much more simple, and it puts peace in the midst of all the chaos!

And just incase you left your ornamented priest's robe at home, you can get it here. For no more, no less than an arm and leg. Also all of your crusifixes of every kind, and holy cups and candles can be found here. haha!

One more thing... the greatest thing happened right before my eyes as I was walking to class. In front of me I see an old man with his 2 sons at the bottom of some scaffolding that is against one of the sky-rises yelling up, "Come down! Come down here, now!" As I look up I see a man climbing the scaffolding with the policia following closely behind. Hah! Such a great moment.

It's always good to hear from ya'll! I miss everyone so much! If you know someone who would like to be on my email list, let me know and I would be happy to add them. Please continue to pray for me as I'm in language school and building relationships :)

You know Benni Hen??

The whole way home today, I couldn't stop rejoicing! Today was the last day of the first week of my Spanish class. And no, I wasn't so happy JUST for the weekend :) I'll start this one from the beginning...

On the first day of class, during our cafe break, one girl was making conversation with me. I found out she (Ezechielle) is from the Congo, but no lives in Brussels. She found out I am from the States, and her first reaction was to ask me if I am a Christian. This was very strange because in Europe people rarely open up about, or want to discuss spirituality. Of course I told her yes, and waited for her reaction. Her response surprised me. "Oh, you know who Benni Hen is?!" I actually let a little chuckle out loud.

-yes, I know who he is.
-Do you like him?
-Um, not really.
-Why not, he is a Christian, no?

To keep it light hearted but truthful, I said "Yes, I've seen him on TV. He is showbiz".

Later that week as we were learning descriptive adverbs and phrases, we played a game where we wrote about ourselves, and as our profesora read them we had to guess who they were describing. Ezechielle wrote about herself saying that in her spare time she likes to read the Word of God. It was apparent that she herself, is a Believer. Next we played a game in which each person had the name of someone famous on their forheads and we all had to describe, or ask questions so that we could guess who it was. On Ezechielle's forhead was written "JesuCristo". As she asked questions she came to one that sparked some disagreement among the group. "Is he real?" she asked. There was some "No" and "uh..." and a single "yes came from me. Our profesora then clarified, "No, he is not real". I looked at Ezechielle and said, "he is real, and he is real to you". "Jesus Christ" she said, and a very sad look came on her face. After class I caught up with her and explained that I am a Believer and I am here as a missionary to share Him with others. The joy that came from her is something I wish I could see more of among other Followers, and myself. "That is wonderful! Jesus, my Love! Praise God!". Ezechielle is 20 now, and was told about Christ from her cousin when she was 16. With no one to ever disciple her or show her what is expected of a Christian she told me "You know that reading the Bible and praying to God everyday is so important. Everyday you must read and pray. You are doing a good work for the Lord. You know, in class today I cried when they said that He is not real. After what he has done for them!" As our hearts broke for them, she and I mourned over the lost, but then rejoiced for the fellowship we had found in another sister.

Today Ezechielle took me aside during or break and told me she needed to talk to me. "I just want to talk to you about my love, Jesus". She was so hungry to have fellowship and someone else to rejoice with! She leaves tomorrow to go back home for school, with no other Believers around to ever be an encourager, or to just talk to and have someone understand her.

What an encouragement and example to me! The kind of strength it takes to walk so closely with the Lord is something I have taken for granted because it has always come so easly to me with a family that believes and supports, and having always grown up knowing who he is, and what he has done.

Please praise the Lord with me today for Ezechielle and her faith. Pray for her unbelieving family, and for a fellowship of believers that can be near her.

Getting aquainted with "home"

I'm finally in Madrid! It has been a few days of traveling.... which really sets off my body clock. But I'm so excited to be here! Yesterday afternoon I arrived in Portugal where my supervisors (Nolen and Sheilah) picked me up, and we started on our way home. Last night we stayed in a hotel that was once a convent (there are many of those around here).



It's a quaint place.



But the best part was the badet. Note the soap next to it. It's labeled "toilet soap". Needless to say, I didn't use this. Mostly because I don't know how and it scares me a little bit.

Five hours later, after driving throught the thick smog we arrived at my new home! I was greeted by my sweet roommates. One, Meredith, I already knew from training and we were so excited to see each other once again! Janette is my other roomie, and she has been here for a year now teaching ESL to children.



This is where the 3 of us sit and gab as we play on our computer. I suppose I'll also be doing quite a bit of studying in here.



This is our kitchenet and breakfast area. So I hear Meredith is great cook and Janette is a great baker :) I came to the right place!



This is my room. I've been spending quite a bit of time in here today cleaning and sleeping! Luckily I have a nice closet.



I saved the best for last. We have our own badet!

It Always Rises

I’m sitting in the DFW airport right now, waiting on my connecting flight to Houston. Soon I’ll turn in my documents there for a visa application. (Yes, they finally arrived!) As we were departing the Little Rock airport and ascending, the clouds were thick and the sky was dark. Above the clouds you could see the light of the sun on the horizon while the sky was still dimly lit in the early morning. I never knew the sun rose so quickly, but it did. It was a sudden light. It made me smile. In light of all that has gone on in the past few months, everything seems to remind me of how faithful and unchanging God is.

Is he not like the sun? He’s always there, and never changes his character and qualities. We may not always recognize the sun because of the cloud cover, but above all that, if we rise above it, we’ll see that it rises every morning and sets every night.

The landing was a little scary. The wind was blowing hard and causing the plane to sway side to side, but seconds before we landed we straightened out, and made a smooth touch down. I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t send out a little prayer to the Lord haha. Our circumstances may change in life. You could be in a life threatening crash, or have someone close to you pass, or just have your plans inconveniently interrupted. But our God is constant. I find a great deal of comfort in that.

I met a man on my connecting flight, and he also was on my return flight later that day! this is ironic because we were on a flight that was cancelled, so we deplaned, and then got on another flight, which we were both on. I then changed my return flights to a later time than scheduled and he was on that! What was interesing about this man and our conversation is how open he was with me. He had been dealing with a great deal of pain since 5 years earlier when his 23 year old son was in a car crash that caused his death. Mr. Billy was a believing man who was struggling with the question "why?". I could smell the whiskey on his breath as he asked me questions like, "What do you think my son will look like in heaven? Will I recognize him when I see him? What about infants that die (are they grown up in heaven?)". I of course didn't have answers to these questions, but I could tell him with certainty that it will be better than we could ever imagine.

"Man's knowledge is the foolishness of God". He wouldn't be God, if he were someone who's ways and character we could comprehend. Praise God for that. It would be something awful to have a God who thought and reasoned the way we do. We have a chance to have a relationship with God who offers love, and wisdom. He was also kind enough to give us each other, so that as a church body we could support each other in the best and worst times!

I hope this has encouraged you to see the goodness in our Father, as it applies to your own life. Thank you for praying, and for your encouraging notes. I love getting them!
Blessings and Peace

Scars

I have good news! I have medical clearance from my doctor! Now all that stands between me and Spain is a visa and miles of ocean :) My arm is healing well, I have more of a hairline fracture now. My wounds have healed together and are scarring. The scars are deep and purple. At first I wasn't bothered by them, being so thankful just to be alive. But now, I can see some people look at me differently, like I have a defect. I do my best to cover them up for the most part, just so that others don't have to see about them and wonder, or some just think they're gross. I have a couple options to take care of them, one is microdermabrasion, the second is plastic surgery, and the third is a second and very expensive ointment. I'm going to start using the ointment tomorrow, and see how well it takes care of them. However, part of me wants to keep the scars, so that I can make some people uncomfortable. Here in the States especially, we don't like to feel uncomfortable, especially when it comes to dealing with or encountering other people's sufferings. We like to remain naive in a world that is perfect enough for us. But my scars are one of sadness. They are one of some suffering. Most importantly they're a reminder. They remind me to be thankful, and to never be short of putting full trust in the Lord. They remind me that he saved my life, and I am spared to carry out a command to share his Love with the World. They don't make me sad, at all. I hate that it makes other people sad, or uncomfortable. Hopefully these scars will open doors to a conversation about a loving Savior.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through our faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in that which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Your prayers are so important to me! Please let me know if you are one of those that are praying, or have read his blog. I love ya'll! If you have any prayer requests please tell me so I can be praying for you too!