Teen Camp

I know it has been forever since I have updated my blog! There are many reasons why I have not blogged lately, and some of them have involved some trying, difficult months. That story I will leave for another day and another post. Some of it has been because of just being too busy! But I will say...God is good..all the time. Good or bad times, He is a God that can be trusted. This much I know and continue to learn each and every day!

I wanted to start this update with the great week the Jeff and I had at Teen camp last week! We were asked to be counselors this year at the same camp that a looong time ago, I was a camper in. How long? That is really noone's business! haha!!

116 teens, from churches all over Spain, came together for one week at MCCB (Mount Calvary Baptist Camp), on the outskirts of Madrid. 3 teenagers trusted Christ as their Saviour and many others made decisions of further surrender to Christ during the week.

I was the counselor to seven 14 and 15 year old girls. The first day the girls were quiet and as we sat around our table at lunchtime, I thought...."I just don't know how I am going to get these girls to open up!" I was a bit overwhelmed. By that night though, as we sat around the supper table, the girls were giggling and laughing and giggling some more (they did a lot of that during the week!) and believe it or not, they included their old, foggie counselor in every bit of it! haha

I found out some very interesting things about each one of them. They all had very different backgrounds. Some had grown up in church. Some had parents that were in the ministry and others had parents who did not go to church. One girl had only been going to church for a little over a month and she told me that her Dad was constantly cursing at God, at every chance he got. Praise the Lord...she trusted Christ as her Saviour on the first day of camp!

I found out that many of these girls had some very difficult situations at home. At times, as they opened up to me during the week, I would think, "Dear God, I don't know what to say! I have never experienced what she is going through. Pleease help me know what to say that can actually help her!". My heart was heavy during the week, as I realized that at the end of the week, as these girls headed home, they would be faced with the attacks of the devil and would need God's strength to get them through.

Not everyone had dramatic stories. But everyone, including me, had daily, spiritual battles that they were facing and it was so encouraging to spend a week, away from the busyness of everyday life, being filled with great messages, Bible classes and being able to talk with other Christians. How uplifting it was for both Jeff and I! Camp was such a blessing in my life when I was a teen and it was so great to be back at camp and see God still at work in the lives of the teenagers here in Spain!

Here is a picture of the girls in my cabin:

Food and Fun

Since this weekend is Semana Santa and everyone is off work, we had made plans today to head out to camp (a camp started by missionaries here in Spain over 30 years ago) with several other families from church. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day, but wouldn't you know it, today we woke up to a cold, windy, rainy day! So, needless to say, our trip to camp was cancelled. But instead of canceling the whole day, a few of us met at church and spent the morning and afternoon playing games and eating. We had a blast, even it we didn't get to spend the day out at camp. Maybe some other time, though!

Here is a picture of the group of us that were at church today. Please pray for Jesus...he is the man with the glasses, holding the his little boy, Nicholas. Jesus is married to the lady in front of Jeff in the red jacket and they have two kids...Nicholas and Vera. She is the little girl with the pink sweater. Jesus has lived many years under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He has not been the husband or father for this family that he should be, but over the last few months, he has been coming to every Couples Meeting that we hold once a month at church and today he showed up as well. We are praying that the Lord would get a hold of his heart and that he would put his faith and trust in Him as his Savior.

My Little Missionary

I just want to brag a little on my son and praise the Lord for what He is doing in his heart.

Last week after school, he said, "Mommy, today I was talking with some of my friends in school about God and my friend Pau told me that he didn't believe in God. He said that he believes in reincarnation (these kids are 6!). Then my other friend, Alejandro said that he believed in God but when I was explaining to him about trusting in Jesus as your Saviour to go to Heaven, he said he didn't understand. And my other friend Juanjo said that his Daddy believed in God."

At this point I gave him a big hug and told him I was so proud of him for telling his friends about Jesus. I told him we would have to pray that the Lord would work in their hearts. A few moments later he said, "I thought I had to wait until I was bigger to tell others about Jesus, because I was too scared, but I did it!!"


The picture above is of Aaron with his friend Pau. Please pray for his mother, Maribel, as the Lord is allowing me to build a friendship with her. The other day she invited me over for a cup of coffee and when she asked about why we had come to Spain, I had a chance to explain a little of why we are here. Please pray that this door of friendship would stay open, so that I would continue to have more opportunities to share Christ with her.


Here is a picture of Aaron with his teacher, Marta (in the pink sweater holding Aaron's hand) and his friend Juanjo

Then a couple of days ago he came home from school and told me about a conversation he had with his teacher at school...

Aaron: Do you know who created the trees and the animals?

Marta (his teacher): Well, they are just reproduced themselves. No one created them.

Aaron: I know who created everything.

Marta: oh yeah? Who?

Aaron: God did!! A long time ago He created everything! It says so in the Bible!

At this point, Aaron told me, "Mommy, she acted like she really didn't believe me! I think she believes in evolution! I told him that she probably does and then Aaron said, "Yeah well, you can't make a monkey out of me!!" jeje Then he told me that he was sad that his teacher didn't believe in God.

I am so grateful that he has a tender heart for the Lord and a desire to tell others about Him. I pray that he never loses that desire, but that it will only grow.

Yearly Ladies' Meeting in Madrid

Last weekend I had the privilege, along with 100 plus women from churches mainly from the Madrid area, to get together for a day of fellowship and classes. What a blessing the sessions were, as well as the fellowship! This is the 11th year that this meeting has been held here in Madrid and every year, the amount of ladies who attend has been larger. The theme this year was about running the race of the Christian life. To me the most encouraging part of the meeting was seeing so many sisters in Christ gathered together and to see how many of the churches have grown! Spain is know for being a slow field, but God is still at work and this was evident at this meeting. I am so excited about what God is going to continue to do here in Spain and just glad to be a part of it!


Here is the group of ladies that went from our church.

Team Website Is Up!

We wanted to let everyone know that our new Team Website is officially up and running. What is a team website you might ask? The Lord has allowed us the unique opportunity to team up with my parents and my brother and his family to begin a work here in Spain. My parents arrive in a couple months and my brother plans to be here in a little over a year. We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to working together in the ministry here. The Team Website is simply a way of keeping up with each individual family all on one site. We plan to keep a blog with family and field news, so check back with us as often as you would like and most importantly, please keep us in your prayers!!

To access the website, click here

Christmas Program

These last two nights, our church had it's anual Christmas program. They had such a packed house last year, that this year they had decided to have the program on two separate nights and have different people come on each night in order to make sure there was enough room for everyone that came.

This year the Lord blessed with 78 people the first night and 77 tonight. Many of those people were first time visitors and lost. Last night we had a total of 18 first time visitors, with 16 of those having never put their faith in Christ as their Savior. They heard a very clear plan of salvation and we are praying that the Holy Spirit would continue to do a work in their hearts. I don't have tonight's final count of first timers, but it was equally high.

It was such a blessing to be a part of this year's program and to see the Lord at work each night. Aaron sang in the children's choir, I played the piano and Jeff worked on all the technical end of things and sang in the choir. He even sang a duet with another guy in the choir! Can you believe it, Mom? jeje We had a blast! Here are some pictures from the last two nights.


Miriam , on the far right, brought three of her friends from school with her.


This lady and her son (pictured below) came for the first time, along with her husband and daughter. The four of them are deaf and almost didn't come, but they were very moved by everything and impressed by how many people in church were able to communicate with them through sign language. We had 6 deaf people that came on the first night and they all are lost. Please pray for their salvation!




This man has been coming for years, but only for special occasions, and his son is a faithful member of the church. Please pray that his hard heart will be broken!


This lady was invited by a family in the church who lives in her same apartment complex.


Hna. Maria is in her 80's and is a wonderful testimony of faithfulness to the Lord.


The kids did such a great job with their parts. I think they stole the show! The little girl next to Aaron, Vera, has a daddy who is a drunk and on drugs. He needs the Lord and has been fighting salvation for some time now. He was there tonight!


Here are some scenes from the play ...






Our very talented cast... = )


Happiness after a great two nights!

What a blessing it is to be in the service of the King!

I thought I would share a resource for those of you who live and work in spanish-speaking countries. Jeff just finished the new website for the church that we are helping in right now in Madrid and he has uploaded the lessons from the lady's meetings that we have been having over the last few months.

We have been taking the lessons from the book Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free (Mentiras Que Las Mujeres Creen y La Verdad Que Les Hace Libres) by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. They have been a blessing to me and I wanted to share them with you guys, too. You can go to www.iglesiabautistavr.com and you will find the audio lessons and accompanying lesson sheets under "Recursos" and then "Reunion de Mujeres".

p.s. Pilar, the lessons are up now! = )

It is really late and I am tired..but I haven't posted in a few days and wanted to post a quicky!! We had our 3rd ladies' meeting this past Thursday and it was such a blessing...again. I am so thankful for this opportunity to share in a Bible study right now. I know that once we get our church started, it may be a little while before we have a group of ladies like this, so I am trying to not take any of this for granted!



I thought I would share a quick review of the lesson and maybe it will be a blessing to you, too....

The Lies We Believe...
1. I am of no value
2. I have to learn to love myself
3. I cannot change the way I am

The Truth...
1. My worth is not dependent on what others think of me or what I think of myself. What determines my worth is the way God sees me. Ps. 139; Eph. 1:3-8; I Peter 2:4

2. Loving myself is already a reality! Jn. 15:12; Mt. 16:24-26; Eph. 5:29. What I need is to learn to deny myself and allow God teach me how to love others through me.

3. I am responsible for my own decisions and actions and I can change, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit living in me. Deut. 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Gal. 5:16; Phil. 2:13

Jeff is working on a website for the Loveday's church and so last Sunday we took lots of pictures in hopes of getting a few good ones for the site. The kids loved getting their pictures taken the most and I love taking pictures of kids! Here are a few of my favorites! Aren't they cute!?


Lucia from Peru


Romina and Lucia from Peru

Romina from Peru

Nora from Colombia


Sara from Venezuela


Jostin (Ecuador) Sara (Venezuela) Romina (Peru)
Quite the international church, wouldn't you say?!

Yesterday afternoon, while waiting for Aaron's sport's class to end at school, I watched as one of the many classes that was going on at that same time was letting out. I noticed how several people were gathered around one man and talking for a while with him, while their kids ran all around them. After a few minutes the man knealt down and spoke with one of the kids. He then told him he was doing a great job and turned to leave. That's when I noticed the collar around the man's neck and realized that he was the priest that teaches Catholic Religion at Aaron's school. It's an optional class thankfully, and not everyone chooses to have their kids take this class. But sadly, many do. As I watched the priest walk away from the school, family after family would stop to talk with him and greet him with, "Hola Padre...(hello, Father)". My heart broke, both for this priest and for the people who seemed so desperate to have a word with him and for their children who are being taught a lie at such a young age! It's moments like this that you seem to feel the spiritual oppression the strongest. It's so easy to become overwhelmed at times by the huge task before us. But I am reminded that it's our job to tell them and their choice to make. I do at least want to be sure that those around me have the chance to hear and make that choice!! Meanwhile, I am so thankful for those that do listen and whose lives are changed. One at a time.

Couple's Meeting

We had our first couple's meeting for the fall at church tonight. There were 6 couples there tonight and we had a great time of fellowship. Since we were the nubies, Jeff and I were 'initiated' into the meeting by getting quizzed on how well we know each other. Jeff did really great answering the "How many shoes does your wife have?" and "How many things are in your wife's purse?" questions! It was funny = )



I made 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies and only came home with 5 cookies!


I love it that a few of the couples are Peruvian, because they brought some great Peruvian food. Someone even had choclo!!!


For those of you who may never have tried this corn, sorry!!! Choclo with some fresh cheese is so good!

Just thought that some of you may be interested in knowing about some books that I just found out are now in Spanish!

These are some of my favorite books:

For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn (Solo Para Mujeres)
For Men Only by Shaunti Feldhahn (Solo Para Hombres)
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp (Como Pastorear El Corazon De Su Hijo)

This one I haven't read, but have only heard that it is good. It's about purity:
And The Bride Wore White by Dana Gresh (Y La Novia Se Vistio de Blanco)

This is the one we are studying during our ladies' meetings: (I believe this one has been translated for a while)
Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free (Mentiras Que Las Mujeres Creen y La Verdad Que Les Hace Libres)

For those of you in Spain, I just found out that there is a new Christian bookstore here in Madrid!! I can't wait to go check it out!!

We just started a new study for the ladies' meeting on the book Lies That Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy DeMoss. I had started reading the book a little while ago when my friend Beth recommended it to me and was really enjoying it. I am really excited about the opportunity of being able to dig a little deeper into this study.

Here are a couple of phrases that stood out to me during our study:
"A la raiz de todas nuestra luchas hay una mentira que nos hemos creido"
"At the root of each of our struggles is a lie that we have believed"

"Si Satanas puede engañarte a ti como mujer, sabe que vamos a influir sobre los demas que nos rodean para hacerlos pecar, y nuestras decisiones marcaran la pauta en la generaciones futuras."
"If Satan can fool you as a women, he knows that we are going to influence those around us to make them sin and that our decisions will mark the way for future generations."

"...Si vosotros permaneciereis en mi palabra, sereis verdaderamente mis discipulos; y conocereis la verdad, y la verdad os hara libres." Juan 8:31-32

I have a few minutes to post before getting ready for church, but I have time to share a few blessings from this past week at family camp here in Madrid.

This is a camp that my family attended from the time we first arrived in Spain, when I was a little girl. I have so many good memories of times spent at children, preteen, teen and family camps. I can look back on many important decisions for the Lord that I made while at camp!

It has been 13 years since my last camp and I was so excited to be going back again, this time with a family of my own. The Lord continues to bless the ministry of MCCB (Monte Calvario Campamento Bautista) as it celebrated it's 30th year of existence this summer. Each year churches from all over Spain come to the various weeks of camp.

I was able to work in the kitchen and believe me when I say, that it is a lot of work! But it is also a time of great fellowship with the other ladies in the kitchen. Since I was in the kitchen, I didn't get to spend very much time with Jeff or Aaron, but it was so great for both of them, since they had to spend the entire day speaking in Spanish! After just one week, I have noticed a big improvement in both of their spanish. = )

My biggest blessing was being able to see some old friends and to see that they are still faithfully serving the Lord. Here are a few pictures from the week. I did not take very many, since kitchen duty called. Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This family is so special to me. Three of them were saved in the church that my parents started years ago here in Madrid. We had fun reminiscing a little and catching up after so many years.



This couple were both friends of mine who were always at camps when we were all teenagers. They ended up marrying and now have two kids and continue to faithfully serve in their church in Torrejon.


These are friends that Aaron made this week. I think he spent more time with them then with the little kids! They loved hanging out with him. I told Aaron that they liked him because he was such a cute kid and he said, "NO MOMMY....they don't think I'm cute...the're just my friends!" I believe he thinks he is "one of the guys"!




Every night after supper, everyone would get together for some fun, games and fellowship. One of the nights a missionary from Irun did a little juggling show for everyone. I missed taping the part where Bro. Loveday (missionary in Madrid) ended up with eggs on his head. = ) It was really funny. But here is a little of what I did manage to film...



The last day of camp all the leftover food from this summer of camps was laid out for all to come and "shop". Some things were free, all the unopened stuff was almost free. Those of us who worked in the kitchen got first dibs at the leftovers and when we were done, we had fun watching everyone else do their "shopping".

Instructions:


The bell is rung:


Shopping time! Como las ofertas del Corte Ingles!!


Every night the kids sang a special for the night service. Aaron is the one with the red, white and blue stripped shirt on. Sorry it isn't clearer!

I just wanted to share what a blessing it has been for us these last few weeks since arriving back in Spain, being able to visit a few of the churches closest to us, here in the Madrid area. The need is SO great, but what an encouragement to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ who are on fire for the Lord and many others who have stuck by the stuff and have seen and are seeing God do amazing things here in Spain. We have had the privilege of having many veteran missionaries, share their wisdom and struggles in the ministry with us and we have been so encouraged by their positive attitudes. We are so excited about starting our own work and looking forward to seeing God do great things in our little area of the world. To God be the glory!!




Driving down narrow roads and squeezing into tight parking spaces is just a way of life here. I thought I would share this picture that I took last week, while downtown Madrid. You can see exactly how tight it can get at times! I guess this guy preferred to squeeze into a spot, then to drive around forever looking for one!