Actually, I got back late last Wednesday but have been swamped at work and then I got sick (only mildly so but my body was beat). Here is a light recap of what happened:
Overall I had a GREAT time simply sharing the love of God with the people of Spain, with the Bible college students and with other groups of people we spent time with.
The People of Spain Culturally rich and proud, I found the older generation to be a bit challenging to engage when on the island of Mallorca but much more approachable in Barcelona. In both places I found the youth to be similar to ours, idealistic and rebelling from the culture of their parents (this is always the case). However, it was alarming to find many of the youth to be atheistic and even anti God (we encountered youth who blatantly said they were Satanists). Quite sad indeed.
The Bible College We went to support a bible college in several outreaches to the youth (skate park), at hospitals and in the community. The college is a very, very small extension campus but had some amazing students attending who love God with all their hearts, minds and souls. Many were from California but there were also students from Minnesota, Nebraska, Scotland, Ireland and other parts of Europe.
We supported them in the outreaches but also brought much desired fellowship to the Americans as many of them missed their families and the comforts we get accustomed to in the U.S. (By the way the college was set in a resort village overlooking a bay, quite beautiful).
Thanksgiving in Spain In the city of Palma (pop. 500,000), there is a Salvation Army that hosted a dinner for our group of 19. A group of about 10 (plus kids) made the most amazing Thanksgiving feast we could have imagined. Together, we felt very much like one huge family on this day of giving thanks half way around the world.
Outreaches Our team went to a skate park and two hospitals bringing gifts and a message of LOVE from God to those who would listen. At the skate park, most of the youth were smoking marijuana laced with hash. We brought skate boards and skater tennis shoes from the U.S. and engaged in discussions about drugs, life after death and such things. Several were impacted enough to understand the eternal nature of the things we spoke of and made decisions to pursue a different path. We worked with local people to make sure that the youth had follow up resources after we left.
We visited kids in the hospitals and dressed as clowns (including your truly), conducted puppet shows, made balloon animals and brought toys. A child's smile needs no translation of language.
Site seeing In Barcelona, we got to do some sight seeing including visiting the amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral which is perpetually under construction.
We also visited a street fair known as "Las Ramblas" which also had many street artists that were quite the spectical.
On our final day in Barcelona, we went to the Park Guel a.k.a. "Guadi's bench"
Of course, everywhere we went, we did not hesitate to tell people we were from America and that we came tell people that God loves them.
Our youth We took five 17-20 year old youths with us to reach out to the youth of Spain through their skating. Parents raised the money and away we went with a chaperone to watch them (a 31 year old who is a youth at heart). Of all the prayers that went out, we thank God none of them got injured with all the skating, flipping, jumping and falling they were doing. (Just to kill time, at one point they found a ledge that was about 5 feet high and level and were skating, jumping off it, getting the skate board to twirl and then trying to land on the board on the ground below- can you say "broken ankle?")
Personal Growth When you travel with 14 adults and 5 young men, it stretches and tries you in ways that would surprise you. This was my fourth short term missions trip and my pastor looked to me to come along side and help him which I anticipated and enjoyed doing. I had to approach fellow travellers and lovingly share things they may not have wanted to hear. I was able to help encourage the youth and was able to enjoy the trip that much more because of their exuberance.
A wayward youth As an example, part of our group was walking along a busy central area of Barcelona and sitting on a bench was an out of place looking young woman visibly sad. As we walked past on our way to see some fabulous site I had to go back to simply tell her "Dios te ama" to which she said "I don't speak Spanish." I told her God loves you and she told me she doesn't believe in God. We dialogued a little and I told her He does exist and that He loves her nonetheless. Ultimately she allowed me to pray for to which I prayed that God would make Himself so evidently known to her that she would know that she knows that she knows, He is real and that He loves her. (I asked what I could pray for and she said, "that I would get my head out of my arse" so I prayed for her accordingly only using slightly different words).
This is just one account of the many, many encounters I had while on the trip. This is why I went to Spain.
Committed2Him- "C2H" All Things (Back from Spain!)...18
