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Bonding and Reflecting

Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2018

What an incredible, jam-packed, and inspiring last few weeks. Since I posted last, a lot has happened in terms of my integration with the ministry out of my church and in terms of finally serving in a capacity with some responsibility. Here is an update on what I have been up to over the past several weeks.

Hosting a friend from Holland

     My host family and I hosted a friend from Holland for two weeks while he and I served as monitors at an English summer day-camp. I was surprised to find that not only does Hans love the Lord, but he is in the midst of strongly considering leaving his job in the Netherlands and coming to live and work in Spain based on the Lord’s leading. Wow! Of course, I was ecstatic to hear this from him and we spent the entire two weeks sharing our faith and talking about important aspects of faith and ministry, jumping into the Word together frequently. This was nourishment for our souls. I also had the privilege of sharing with Hans everything I have been learning about the cross-cultural missionary life, with all its struggles and blessings, trials and rewards. He was very receptive and a great partner to have for such an intense two weeks- and very timely too, in fact.

English Camp

     We worked for over two weeks with a group of over a dozen people from various churches and universities as well as a handful of local missionaries from the United States, Venezuela, and Holland. What an eclectic bunch of funny, thoughtful, and hard-working individuals from all different backgrounds. We had everyone from Dionna who grew up as a missionary kid in Venezuela to the ex-NFL cornerback, Wayne who was here with his Army veteran wife and their teenage daughter. Each served in his or her own capacity and area of strength. The Army veteran surgical assistant was the camp nurse and the expatriate English teachers who came from Madrid were teaching English classes to the younger kids. Can you picture me doing an Elvis impersonation? Well, that’s one of the things I got to do when I wasn’t taking care of our group of eleven adolescents. We had a little band and I got to sing Jailhouse Rock for all the parents and kids at a party we threw the last night of the camp. It was a hoot!

     Beyond the fun interactions with the team, the most incredible part for me was spending time with the kids, seeing their attitudes change throughout the two-week time span (mostly for the better), and also meeting some of the parents at the end. During the workshops each day, the kids read bible verses in English and build carnival games that they later got to see in action during our party the final night. This was a great lesson for the kids in hard work, discipline, and its payoff, especially for my group who had to sit out of water games one day to finish making part of the games. We also practiced a dance everyday and had a flash mob to That’s How You Change the World by the Newsboys for all the parents at the party. I hadn’t had that much fun dancing in a long time! We worked really hard together and at the end I got to brag on my kids to their parents and see their faces light up when they heard that their kid wasn’t a total nightmare. This was a really special interaction as well.

Camping with the Jovenes

     I just got back from Caleta de Vélez, about an hour and some change south of Granada on the beach of the Mediterranean. There our youth group, Follow Agape, spent three days camping and discussing important topics like sexuality, social media, identity, and faith. We also spent lots of time playing in the pool and on the beach, which was not only really fun and restful for myself personally, but it provided excellent bonding experiences for the Jovenes and me. We had contests between different groups building human towers on the beach and swimming laps across the pool. At the end of it all now, my body is screaming for me to stop and rest. Needless to say, I plan on doing so now that everything has slowed down for the next couple of weeks.

     One of the highlights (at least for me) was a group discussion I led with the boys before dinner the last night. We simply started with a question: “what do you believe” and let them talk through it, thinking out loud and bouncing ideas off of one another. There wasn’t any preaching involved, just a space for honest reflection, which turned out to be a really good, much needed thing for them. I heard everything from “I believe in what I can see” to “I believe in the God of the Bible because my parents have always believed.”

     One of the topics that was most striking was the pressure some of them felt to be perfect because their parents are Christians. More than a few of them identified with this, and possibly for the first time, were openly talking about it with one another. It was a time of bonding and processing. I concluded our little group counseling session by asking the boys to name someone in their life who the look up to, someone who has balance in their life, who they believe knows God and who they could learn from. The point of the last part was to help them start pursuing a mentorship and wanting to know God more.

     I also told the boys that they could talk to me anytime and that I am more than willing to listen and help however I can. Getting to finally express this was very important for my future ministry here and also getting to show it was really important to them as well. Overall it was a very productive week and I noticed a definite change in the attitudes of the boys towards me. I am currently talking with one of the boys about doing and intercambio in which we would spend time talking together switching between English and Spanish. This will be an excellent chance to get to know him and will provide an excellent platform to support him in His walk and exploration of faith in Jesus.

Pray with Me:

  • For every seed that the Lord has sown among the jovenes in Granada to grow and turn into a healthy relationship with God and faith in Jesus.
  • For this missionary to seek and find opportunities to love and serve in the name of Jesus
  • In thanksgiving to God for His faithfulness in sharing His love with all people through His Church

 

*To support this ministry through financial contribution please see the green link on this page: "Support This Ministry"

 

** For More information on my specific assignment, see the following link to Avance España: https://gocorps.org/tracks/placements/n/9087556?platform=hootsuite

 

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