Back in Spain / Journal from Day 1

Hello everyone! I am back in Spain and back on my blog!!!! =]
Outreach was AMAZING!!!!
I am going to begin posting highlights from my trip over the course of the next few days. God set up some awesome encounters on our trip. =]
 So without further ado, here is the account of the first day in North Africa.

Day 1 – Tunis, Tunisia - April 8^th, 2012

     This morning we attended Easter service at a local Evangelical church. It was interesting to see the difference in culture. I learned a couple of new songs, one in an African language that had a dance along with it that I really liked.

     During different parts of the service, which was outside, people kept coming out on the balcony of the apartment across the way. First it was a man listening to the reading of the Bible in Arabic. Next it was 2 women out listening to a worship song. Then a little grl came out during the African worship song and was dancing right along with us on the balcony! It blessed my heart to see their interest in what we were doing. =]

After church there was a potluck, and of all things, I met another lady from Oregon!!! It was such a blessing. It was like God was telling me “you aren’t so far from home after all”. It was especially nice because I had just been lamenting the fact that this has been my first Easter ever away from my family.

     Later we explored the city a little bit. We roamed the streets and looked in a few shops, though for some reason most shops were closed this afternoon. I was finally able to get some sunglasses though, and had my first experience with real haggling. The guy wanted 12 dinar for the sunglasses, but I talked him down to 9. (2 dinar = 1 euro)It was so much fun for me, coming from a country where the price is the price and there is no negotiations.

     It was heartbreaking to see so many people on the streets of this city who are broken and begging just to get by. My heart cried out to God today, asking him what I can do. I know I can’t help them all, but I don’t even know what to do so I can even help a few. Giving money to a beggar might feed them for a day, but it doesn’t give them a living, and it doesn’t give them life in Christ. I also feel so helpless with the language barrier. I cannot even communicate the simplest things with many of these people, though I long to share with them the love and life that comes through Christ.

     These things I ponder as I am asking the Lord to give me direction and to break my heart for the people of Tunisia, and the people of all North Africa. I ask the Lord to give me a burden for the specific people he wants me to reach out to, and to give me divine appointments as he would will it.

Possibly My Last Post Until We Get Back....

Today is Thursday. The mad scramble to get ready for our outreach has begun, because in even less than a mere 48 hours we will begin our journey to North Africa for our outreach.
Am I excited? YES. Am I freaking out? ALSO YES.
I will not be able to post at all during outreach because of governmental filters in North Africa, but I am planning on keeping an account of everything that happens in a word document on my computer so I can post after we are back and let everyone know what happened.
I cannot wait to see what God has in store for this adventure!! =D
Any prayers for our team would be much appreciated s we seek God's guidance on this trip. God bless to all of you who read this. <3

Until June (probably),
Kimberly

Busy, Busy, Busy..

Sorry for not posting for so long. The closer we get to outreach, the busier life has become.
So here are a few updates:
Last week we talked about missions and leadership. Here is a quote about leadership I found particularly interesting:

“The first follower is what turns a lone nut into a leader. For us to all want to be leaders would be ineffective. If you want to start a movement, find a lone nut who is doing something great and have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join them.”

This week is our last week of teaching. We will spend next week preparing for our outreach, and we leave the Saturday before Easter.

During the time I am in the missions field I will not be able to post on this blog about our work there because of governmental filters. (We don't want to get kicked out of the country for proselytizing)

I will, however, be documenting my experiences on my computer so I can post all about it after we get back into Europe. 

That is all I have time to write for now. Ciao!

A Brief Update.

Last Tuesday –

Tuesday night was our local outreach. Instead of all going to run the kids program like usual, some of went, and others went to do street ministry in the local red light district. I was among those who went to do street ministry.

That night really touched my heart. Many of the women we talked to were Nigerians, who were in debt to those who helped them immigrate. So many of the women were not in that line of work by choice. Every time we talked to them we asked if they had an prayer requests, and the number one request was that they would find other work so they could get out of the work they were in.

It just broke my heart.

Because it was our first time there, the women were very guarded. I am hoping the next time we go and see them I will have the opportunity to hear their stories, hear their hearts.

Wednesday through today – We have been in classes again. It has been a weird schedule because of the long weekend, so we are in classes over the weekend, but we have this coming Tuesday off. This week we have been talking much about the importance of baptism, among other subjects. More to come later…

My Weekend in Madrid.

Friday:
On Friday we took a long bus ride. In fact, a very long, 6 hour bus ride.
Yet, somehow it was worth it. =]
We arrived in Madrid late Friday night and somehow muddled our way through figuring out which train to get on to get to the station we needed to be at, and then got picked up from said station by our hosts for the weekend. Once at the house, we relaxed for a bit before falling into an exhausted sleep.

Saturday:
Bright and early Saturday morning (Well... Early for me anyways...) Terah and I set off back into the city. After navigating the trains again, we made it to the right stop and headed out for our adventure. The day started off with many photos of the "Palace Real" (pronounced "ray-al") after seeing the lines to get into the palace, we opted to tour the neighboring cathedral instead.

It was breathtaking! Photos were not allowed in many portions of the cathedral, much to my dismay, but the intense detail put into every aspect of the building left me in awe.
After the cathedral, we explored the city. To my delight, there were a good number of street performers out doing their stuff. There were musicians, human statues, a man with a marionette,  and several "headless men" and "invisible men". It was certainly a sight to see.

We spent the entire day just wandering the city and exploring to our hearts content.
For dinner, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. For those of you who don't know, the Hard Rock Cafe is an international musically-themed restaurant, with locations in major cities around the globe.
It was so cool! I really enjoyed it. Our waiter also spoke english, which was a nice plus.

Sunday:
After a late, relaxed start, Terah and I made our way into the city, and made a beeline for the Prado Museum. There we marveled at the works of Rembradt and Goya, among many others. Again, photos were prohibited, but it was worth the money simply for the experience.
Something I found rather interesting was that at least two-thirds of the art in that museum could be directly traced back to a Christian origin - painting of martyrs, the crucifixion, the holy family, miracles that Jesus worked. Those that were not of Christian origin were either portraits, still life, or from greek mythology.
We sent sunday evening simply exploring more of the city and taking in the local nightlife. The streets were again filled with all sorts of performers - there was a classical group performing opera, a guitarist who was simultaneously playing the pan flutes, and a big brass band playing swing music, all within a couple blocks of each other. It was so amazing to see such diversity coming together in harmony in one city. It was truly inspiring.

Monday:
We got an early start Monday morning, and went into town for breakfast. We ate at a local chain called "Cafe a Te", and it was delicious.
After breakfast, we again wandered the streets, this time going into an older section of town, walking along quaint cobblestone walkways and later stopping in at a local cafe for some coffee and a croissant. I had my coffee with a shot of Bailey's irish cream, and it was delicious. Back home I would always get a "Kicker" from Dutch Bros., a local coffee chain, and it was coffee with a shot of non-alcoholic irish cream. In Europe, however, the drinking age is 16 (I think?) so they use the real stuff. Honestly, I have to say I prefer the version they make back home, but still, I must say it was good.
That afternoon we said our goodbyes to Madrid, and took the long bus ride home. I truly enjoyed the trip, but I will admit that when the time came to go, I was ready to come back to my home away from home, here in Torremolinos.

Long Weekend! =D

In a few mere hours, I will be with Terah, on a bus headed to Madrid for the weekend. How cool is that?!

We have a  long weekend, so many of us have made plans to go elsewhere to enjoy our little break. For Terah and myself, that means going to visit Spain’s capitol city, where Terah’s family has some friends living there that we are staying with.

So for once, the hiatus of my blog is in advance notice, as I am sure I will be far to busy to blog in the evening. So until next week, hasta la vista!

Ivy

So...... Sorry my blog has kind of been on hiatus lately. I really need to be better about posting. No promises though.
For once, however, I have a partial excuse. I was sick for a good portion of last week, and therefore I was miserable and not much blog-worthy stuff happened.
However, on blog-worthy tidbit did happen last week. I had a revelation about ivy.
Yes, you read it right- ivy - the green, leafy vine that adorns old buildings, especially old colleges such as Harvard, or other "Ivy League" schools.... Okay, bad joke, I know. Deal with it. =]

So, moving on.
I was sweeping the front patio one afternoon, and I stopped to cleat away some ivy that was growing onto the patio, and something made me stop and examine it. It was then that I wondered how ivy grew along the walls. When I examined it closer, I realized that at regular increments along each vine, there were tiny little tendrils that would find cracks and crevices, or even rough patches along the wall, to cling to. These tendrils, once they found purchase, would not only cling, however. They would slowly, over years even, work their way deeper into the fabric of the wall. If not kept in check, ivy has even been known to crumble entire building beyond repair. Though it is simply a plant, and not obviously aggressive to the human eye, it has the power to crumble entire buildings with its tendrils if it is ignored.
This idea brought a very strong spiritual correlation to my mind.
The ivy plant is much like the Enemy. He is always searching for a new foothold in our lives. It doesn't even have to be a large or obvious one either - he can use the smallest, most insignificant shortcomings in our lives to get a tendril in. And just like the ivy plant, if those tendrils are left unattended, they will widen the cracks, and begin to crumble our spiritual walls. Oh, and the whole time it looks good. Personally, I think a brick wall laced with ivy is a beautiful sight, but the ivy damages the structural integrity of the wall, and over time it becomes unstable. The same can happen with our lives. The crack can begin as a spoken word that was taken unkindly - if the person who was offended dwells upon the unkind word, it becomes a tiny crack in which the Enemy can get a foothold. The dwelling can turn into an attitude of self pity or insecurity. The attitude can turn into a mentality, and ultimately the mentality becomes a part of the persons identity, therefore giving them an identity of worthlessness and self pity.
Much of what we have been doing over this DTS has to do with "trimming back the ivy" in our lives, and having God help us to repair the cracks in our walls, and the damage done through them. I am excited to realize how much progress I have made already, and I am wondering what God will do next in my life. =]
Well, it's late now, and I am going to attempt to get up early tomorrow to join the girls for an early morning workout, so goodnight!