Media Outreach to Closed Countries
First-Year Spainiversary Thoughts
One year ago today, I watched the Manhattan skyline disappear through a plane window and asked myself, “is it too late to get out of this?” Hours later, I looked out of a different plane window at the mountains and shoreline framing my new home and wondered what the coming year could possibly have in store for me. It’s tempting to shape my entire year around how it was impacted by covid. The rise of a global pandemic definitely altered my transition to a new culture and took away a lot of opportunities I thought I’d have. It slowed my progress in building relationships and doing ministry,... Read more
Does my art matter?
I’ve been thinking lately about the role of art in my life. One of my ongoing struggles in college was feeling like I had to decide between art and missions. With the overwhelming need for the Gospel and the worldwide effects of poverty and injustice, making art seemed like a weak and frivolous thing to invest in. But would God really ask me to deny this part of who he created me to be? I felt incredibly blessed to find this opportunity to do graphic design for a missions organization. It’s been amazing to think that things I create can be used to reach people with the Gospel. However, this... Read more
No Easy Answers
I hit my 8-month mark in Spain this week, but it really doesn’t feel like it. It feels like I lived here for 4 months and winter somehow became summer. Two months ago, Spain was the center of the pandemic and you could feel the fear and heaviness in the air. But now, as things start to open up and the anxiety seems to be lifting, the storm has transferred to my home country with full force. There’s the pandemic and all its side effects, the confusion, the horrifying racial injustice, the political turmoil. It’s hard to filter out what’s actually going on from afar through all of the biased... Read more
Practicing Presence
One thing that I appreciate about Spanish culture is the value it places on relationship. For Spaniards, seeing an event through to its natural completion is generally considered more important than constraining the event within set time limits. In America, for example, it would be rude to show up late to a meeting because it would imply that you don’t respect the other person’s time. In Spain showing up late is completely acceptable, but it would be offensive to leave early because it would suggest that you don’t value the time you’re spending with that person. In other words, relationship... Read more