Hmm...

This is a thought-full post. It is full of my thoughts. 

Last Wednesday evening, I opened my front door thinking it was my neighbors coming over to say hello. Instead, I was surprised to see my mom and dad standing on the front porch. I knew before I said anything why they were standing there. They came to tell me that my grandmother had passed away. Her name was Ina Elliott, but I called her "Granny". She was 94 years old and on the day she died, she laughed with her granddaughter, enjoyed her lunch, talked with two friends, laid down, and slipped peacefully from this life into heaven. 

I think over the last few days, I have more reasons to praise the Lord rather than to question His purposes. She trusted Jesus Christ when she was 14 years old and was a member of her church in Yellowpine, Texas, for over 80 years. 

This is what has given me comfort in the past few days...

This verse:  "...to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

I am sad that I will not have the opportunity to spend time with my grandmother anymore. But, when I consider what she has gained--heaven, which is eternal worship of the one true God, I consider that she is better off than I. I would not want her back on this earth (it's painful and hard),  when she has what I, and other believers, long for. Heaven! 

Questions & Answers

I have been back for almost two weeks and I think I have adequately adjusted to American time; mainly with eating times and sleep schedules. 

I wanted to share more details on what I am left with after spending 2 weeks in úbeda & baeza. 

Maybe you have some questions...If I were you, I would like to know:

 1. Was it successful? Meaning, did you accomplish what you wanted to? 

Answer: Yes. I accomplished everything I wanted and more. However, some of our to-do list did not get fully completed (language school and housing). 

We visited my language school, Adabat (pronounced addah-bat), but since they decided to take an extended Spanish holiday they were not open for us to get more information. John and Jan will be working on getting more info about this since I am not there. 

Regarding housing, John, Jan, Paco Hidalgo, and Paco Salido (<--church elders and cousins) will be working more on this since it did not get finalized in my time there. It looks like I will probably live with an older woman or a family from the church. Since it might be difficult for someone to host me a whole year, it seems like it would be best to live 6 months with someone, and then stay 6 months with someone else from the church. 

2. Did you have fun? Meaning, do you still want to go back? 

YES and YES! I had a lot of fun, and really enjoyed the church, the people, the food, the geography, the city life, and most of all, I loved spending time with John and Jan! 

* Keep in mind, the newness of these things, which is probably half the excitement, will wear off eventually. Lately, I have been challenged by the question, "What will keep you here?" Meaning, when you want to go home, when you are frustrated with the culture, when you feel lonely, when you miss American food, when you don't feel like loving people, what will keep you where God has called you (Spain, in this case)? The answer is, the Gospel. Contending for and proclaiming the Gospel is what will keep me there when it becomes (a little) difficult. 

I really can't imagine going in May for a year, without taking this short trip. I consider it a great blessing for the Lord to give me an idea and small insight as to what life there looks like, before I am there for a year. 

Pictures from my 2 week trip

This is me after a day of travel, I was on my third and last plane on the way to Spain. I enjoyed flying Iberia. Iberia Airlines could be equivalent to Southwest Airlines. I was tired in this picture, but obviously having fun! 

The picture below is of the airport in Málaga. 

This is a view from a hilltop in Baeza. We could usually see snow on the mountains in the distance. 

I am working on uploading more pictures, it is a learning process. My father would probably say that my speed of learning is faster than a tree, but slower than a slug ; )

I'm back!

I arrived back in the States around 7PM last Friday night. Friday was a long day. I woke up around 5:15AM to head to the airport in Malaga, and then arrived in Madrid around 8:30AM.

I had some time before my flight left for Chicago, so I explored the airport a little bit. It is quite new and has stores in it like Gucci. Interesting for an airport to have stores like that. I think that communicates something about the culture and how highly they view fashion.

Anyway, I got on the plane to Chicago at noon, Spanish time. I had thought that the flight was supposed to be around 9 hours but instead it was 10. I picked up my bag, ran through customs, re-checked my bag, changed terminals. and ran to the gate just in time to board! It was close, I made it but my luggage didn't : ) They found it and delivered it Saturday morning, no worries!

By the time I landed at D/FW, the clock said it was 7PM, but my body felt like it was 2AM (Spain is 7 hours ahead). It was a great feeling to see my parents and my friend Rachel at the gate!

All in all, I had an absolutely amazing 2 weeks abroad. I really can't imagine going back in May without taking this mini trip first.

P.S. I have so many pictures, I am so excited to post them!

Things you might not know about España

New insights:

--> Spanish people do not look a certain way. A Spanish person can look like anything! I have seen all kinds of people from different ethnicities speaking fluent Spanish.

--> GAS IS OVER SIX DOLLARS A GALLON!

--> People answer their cell phones by saying, "Dime" (pronounced deem-ay). When you walk into a store, the clerk or salesperson will say "Dime". It translates as "Tell me".

-->The roads are pretty great in Spain, but the drivers are tricky. The weekend before I left, 14 people (in 2 days) were killed in car accidents. That is a very high number considering that the country is about the size of Texas.

-->Marriage between people of the same sex has been legal since 2005.

-->The country is currently experiencing it's longest period (ever) of democracy, peace, and freedom (about 30 years).

-->There is a high population of gypsies in this country and they are frequently victims of racism.

-->Flamenco music and dance originated in Andalucia.

Another update!

A run down of the last few days...

There is a lot I have learned and observed in the last week.

We spend a good amount of our time outside the piso (apartment), therefore, I get to see life, Spanish style, quite often. I am learning more and more about church and ministry here. It is really different in some ways and really similar in some ways. Being here changes my prayers for this community, country, and church. You could say it is more specific and multi-directional now. I will add more on this later.

summary:

Tuesday: We were invited over for New Year's dinner by a family from the church. We spent the afternoon and much of the evening with Jose, his wife Encarné, and their daughters Maria (17) and Eunice (14). This was a ton of fun. Encarné is a wonderful cook and we played games all afternoon. I think we stayed over 6 hours.

Wednesday: John and Jan took me over to úbeda and we walked around and explored the historical section of úbeda.
Later in the evening, Luisa (17), a girl from the church invited me to go eat dinner with her and some friends in úbeda and see a movie. I was thrilled at this invitation! It was a lot of fun. I met one of her friends, Esther, who is someone I will try to meet up with again when I return (Lord willing) in May. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks (I understood some, but not all, there were not English subtitles) and then got pizza for cena (dinner).

Thursday: John and Jan took me to Toledo (northwest from here, about a 3 hour drive) to meet the field directors for Spain, Rob and Karen Jaworski. They have been here 22 years and have 2 sons that are 11 and 13. Their sons were both born here in Spain. This was a very insightful meeting, they are great people, really nice and friendly. We also got to visit the historical section of the city and see the cathedral. I had no idea that Toledo is over 2,000 years old. Some of the original wall to the city is still standing.
It was a beautiful drive, we went north out of Andalucía into the southern part of Castillo de La Mancha. The best part of this day was the conversations I had in the car with John and Jan. WISDOM, really is priceless.

Friday: Earlier in the day we dropped off the rent to John and Jan's landlord (Felix) and he invited us in. We had snacks and visited with Him for a while. I noticed that their family owned many of the same DVD's that are next to our TV at the Mohican House. Interesting.
This was the first day I went out on my own in Baeza. I went to go mail some postcards, stopped for coffee, and shopped a little bit. Very exciting for me!
All of the jovenes (youth) came over for dinner last night and it turned into craziness. They wanted to know how Americans dance and what kind of music Americans listen to. We played card games for a long time, ate dinner, and then watched a movie. They showed me some flamenco moves--amazing and so beautiful. Andalucía is famous for it's flamenco music and dancing. It originated here ; ) I want to take classes!

Saturday: I went out of my own for a little longer today. I stopped near the city plaza for leche manchada (espresso and sweet milk) and journaled for a while. It was good to process and write down all the things I am taking in. Tonight, we went to the parade of the Kings in Baeza. Luisa (17) and Marie Carmen (16?) called and invited us to meet up with them, so we went over to úbeda around 6pm. Every town/city has a parade since tomorrow is their big holiday (like Christmas day for Americans), "Dia de Los Reyes" (Day of the Kings) where they exchange gifts and get together with family.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we are going to Tomelloso. I think it is about a 3 hour drive too, same direction as Toledo. John has been invited to preach at a church there.

So far...

Where to begin?

Let's start with the thankfulness that I felt when I saw John and Jan at the airport in Málaga when I walked out of the secured baggage claim area (w/ both my bags). A day of travel, 3 airports, and 3 planes later--I arrived without a problem. You know when you can just tell when people are praying for you? I had that feeling a lot.

If you want a specific story...I had that feeling when my plane landed in Miami later than expected and I had to find my way to a different terminal (which was not in the same building) within a matter or minutes to make sure I boarded the plane to Madrid in time. I speed walked to the gate and got there with the last few passengers.

I was pretty tired when I got here so I took a little nap in the car on the way to Baeza. It is a little over 200km to Baeza from Málaga. Baeza is northwest of Málaga. So we drove west and went through Granada and then turned north to Baeza. My ears popped for the first hour or two in the car because we were driving up, down, around, and through, mountains. The Sierra Nevadas to be exact. It was beautiful.

We walked around town a little bit and I went to bed around 8pm my first night here. However, because of the funny time change (we are 7 hours ahead) I woke up around 1-2ish and couldn't go back to sleep. My mind started going crazy. I had all these thoughts in my head: I am in another country. I am a foreigner. My friends are not here. My parents are not here. After feeling a little overwhelmed, I started remembering the Lord Jesus Christ. And what He did in order to accomplish His mission. He stayed the course by having His objective be to glorify the Father. Remembering that Christ is my Savior, and that the Holy Spirit still indwells me (and does not just exist within me in America) quieted my thoughts.

The next day...I actually went out, and harvested olives. More info to come, without the pictures and videos, I can't do justice to what this experience was like.

I am learning a lot about this country, the people here, churches in Spain, missionaries in Spain, language, culture, cultural norms, food, etc. I am not quite sure how to communicate all the things I am taking in because I am still processing it.

If you would like a few quick observations:

*The news is not censored. This can be very bad.
*As a greeting, you always kiss on both cheeks.
*Baeza is located on a hilltop (so is Ubeda), so I have some amazing views.
*It is expensive here! Inflation is a factor.
*There is no drinking/smoking age. However, you must be 18 to buy alcohol.
*Both of these cities have some buildings that were built before there were any pilgrims in America.
*ETA (pronounced "etuh") is a terrorist group in Spain, mainly the Northern region.
*There are about 56 chairs in the church. It is a little smaller than DBC.