So, tomorrow we leave... and all day I´ve been reflecting on some of my favorite things about Barcelona... and the United States... here´s what I got
What I´ll miss from Spain:
architecture, pretty sidewalks, artwork everywhere!, graffitti art, el Lokal, La Zona Roja, Maria, David, Magdelena, the girls from el Raval, good preservative free bread!, free cava, cheap good wine, our gas stove, la playa (the beach), the heat, the sun, the pineapple runway (you´ll see a pic on facebook.. or here later), the view of mountains out one window and the sea from the other, the metro, the people, the city life, our coffee shop, coca cola... it´s different here, the desperation of el Lokal for an encounter with God and the praise and worship they possess each and every Sunday for their Savior, the desperation they have for God to move in this country in mighty ways, the faithfulness of their prayer warriors, the culture, the language, the shower we have with multiple shower heads, street performers, night life, music, the chocolate shop, the market, our market, fresh produce! and cheap produce!, the clothes, the kisses with greetings, walking everyplace, GOOD coffee, wearing whatever, whenever and no one paying attention of caring, cute guys at the market calling me guapa (I sort of fell in love with a Spaniard who sells olive oil...and a frenchmen who sells wine... haha...)
What I won´t miss...
the smell in some places, being hit on by men because we´re americans, using garlic as the main ingredient of EVERY meal, catalan! (come on barcelona.. speak spanish!! just kidding... that´s the american in me), dodging taxies, dodging people, people who stop in the middle of the sidewalk just because, packed metros, people on beaches topless or in thongs, old men in speedos, old women topless in thongs on the beach (I´m talking 70´s...I´m not being liberal with the word old), paying for internet, paying for water at restaurants, the conversions rate! (it´s 1 Euro =1.33 USD or worse)
What I look forward to at home...
Guadalajaras! (Ash and I´s first lunch back! :) ), people!...especially my mom and dad..., my OWN bathroom (so spoiled, I know), my own couch to lounge on, sand not being all over the apartment, the mission coffeehouse, a piano!, my own room!, my brothers and sisters back home!, and leaving for Thailand
this is just the start of reflections... but I thought I would share... love you all.. and we´ll see you soon!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
La Zona Roja for the final time
Tonight was our last night going out to love up on the women enslaved in prostitution. Annie woke up extremely sick and so she didn´t go out. Magdelana was also not around so both Kelsey and myself went with Maria. I was so excited to hit the streets and talk to the girls.
My last experience was only right after the first one but was very different. We got to El Raval and started walking down the same streets as last time. The streets and alley´s were extremely different, no police cornering African American´s for papers. We soon met up with a couple Nigerians from the previous week. They were once again willing to let us pray for them so both Kelsey and I experienced the joy and excitement in that. As Maria was saying good by to Sylvia and Margaret my eyes shifted to this beautiful african women with bright blue eye shadow and hair braided and pulled up. We made eye contact and I just stared at her beauty with nothing to say.All of a sudden out of my mouth without even thinking comes, ¨You´re so beautiful!¨ I had no idea where that came from, it took me by surprise! She replied with a huge smile and saying, ¨Thank you! You´re so nice!¨ We exchanged names and Kelsey jumped into our conversation. Long story short we talked about Christianity and she told us about her african church that she goes to. She was pretty drunk, but it took me awhile to tell. She repeatedly told us to come to her church and how great it was. Maria took her number and is going to call her over the weekend. The three of us with Maria plan to go together on Sunday...4 hour service! Crazy Africans! We encouraged Gladys to get to know the prostitutes on the street. It took a lot of encouraging but we left her, went around the block and there she was talking to them in their own language. Bali I think??? The experience was so powerful!
Another experience that completely brought joy to my heart was when we met Aisha later on. She was this absolutely gorgeous and amazing African girl, probably about 21 with such long beautiful hair. We started talking to her and she really opened up to us. She´s been in prostitution for about a year now and wants nothing more than to get out of it. It´s crazy how most of the women truly do not want to be on the streets. But when they are shipped over here, they are in the hands of the mafia and they have to pay a certain fee to go back to their homeland. Very heartbreaking to see how badly these girls want to go home but can´t. I´ll be praying for them hardcore and encourage that you do as well.
My internet time is running low so I´m going to say all for now.
My last experience was only right after the first one but was very different. We got to El Raval and started walking down the same streets as last time. The streets and alley´s were extremely different, no police cornering African American´s for papers. We soon met up with a couple Nigerians from the previous week. They were once again willing to let us pray for them so both Kelsey and I experienced the joy and excitement in that. As Maria was saying good by to Sylvia and Margaret my eyes shifted to this beautiful african women with bright blue eye shadow and hair braided and pulled up. We made eye contact and I just stared at her beauty with nothing to say.All of a sudden out of my mouth without even thinking comes, ¨You´re so beautiful!¨ I had no idea where that came from, it took me by surprise! She replied with a huge smile and saying, ¨Thank you! You´re so nice!¨ We exchanged names and Kelsey jumped into our conversation. Long story short we talked about Christianity and she told us about her african church that she goes to. She was pretty drunk, but it took me awhile to tell. She repeatedly told us to come to her church and how great it was. Maria took her number and is going to call her over the weekend. The three of us with Maria plan to go together on Sunday...4 hour service! Crazy Africans! We encouraged Gladys to get to know the prostitutes on the street. It took a lot of encouraging but we left her, went around the block and there she was talking to them in their own language. Bali I think??? The experience was so powerful!
Another experience that completely brought joy to my heart was when we met Aisha later on. She was this absolutely gorgeous and amazing African girl, probably about 21 with such long beautiful hair. We started talking to her and she really opened up to us. She´s been in prostitution for about a year now and wants nothing more than to get out of it. It´s crazy how most of the women truly do not want to be on the streets. But when they are shipped over here, they are in the hands of the mafia and they have to pay a certain fee to go back to their homeland. Very heartbreaking to see how badly these girls want to go home but can´t. I´ll be praying for them hardcore and encourage that you do as well.
My internet time is running low so I´m going to say all for now.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Treasure Hunt in the Market!
Barcelona is host to Europes largest outdoor market... possibly the world´s...so yesterday we decided to do a treasure hunt there.
We started the day off at 10am in a cafe near the market (it´s one that Ash and I have come to love... we do a lot of quiet time there). We did a Bible study. Being that we were doing a treasure hunt, I found it appropriate to study Acts 8 about philip and the eunich, since the Spirit speaks, giving Philip pieces of information that lead him to the Eunich. (for those of you who don´tknow, treasure hunts are a form of evangelism in which you simply pray and ask God to give you clues/signs/information that will lead you to who he has for you that day...kind of like Philip with the Eunich...the Holy Spirit guided Philip to the Eunich...treasure hunts guide you to the person.. it´s quite marvelous). After the study, we prayed and asked God for clues/information/signs/pieces/etc. I immediately got blonde hair and a button coral/pink shirt. I then got a fish head and a woman working at a fruit/candy stand. I also got a dark haired woman withher hair pulled back. Ashley got pink lady, green dress, blonde hair, el raval and Kelsey got big cat/lion, and an "s".
After praying and recieving, we headed towards el raval, but Ash and I both got a checkin the Spirit and decided the market was the place to start.. As we head towards the market we spot a woman dressed ALL in pink...and she just happens to head in the same direction as the market... her and her husband went into a Tobacco shop so we did too.. I´m not sure what happened, I knew taht I wasn´t to talk to her and that we were there for Ash to get stamps, so I checked out cigar prices/knick knach prices etc. Ash got her stamps and we headed across the street to th emarket. It felt like we werein themarket FOREVER not getting anything or seeing anything, but I KNEW we couldn´t leave (very frustrating/trying). We walked around for a while, and then we came to a fish place wehre there was a woman wearing a button coral shirt...across from her was a fruit stand wehre a lady with dark hair pulled back was working...so I´m thinking one of these women is the treasure. But everytime I would go to talk or speak, i would either getno words, or a mass of people would come...so we wondered to the next fish stand.. to find nothing.. and then came back. And atjust that moment, a girl in a pink dress with blonde hair walked between the stands, and I knew.. but not being sure, I asked Ash and Kels what they thought.. Ash gave an affirmation and we went to this girl.
So we approach this girl, and I´mnot sure what we´ll say,and so I just say "excuse me, to you speak english?" and she said yes and I said, "well, we´re Christians and we were praying before coming here today for God to reveal to us someone he wanted us to talk to, and he gave us theclues of....and he lead us to you. We think you´re God´s treasure for us today." I kid you not, the look on this girl´s face was priceless...she did not know what to do with that.. and in a good way... she said thank you... and we asked if she needed prayer, but she didn´t quite understand, so we told her that God was thining about her and brought us to her to let her know that she´s beautiful and He´s thinking about her and then we parted ways and prayed for her as we left...it was beautiful!
The rest of the clues lead us to el Raval where I was our treasure... more healing stuf!! :)
Today we´re going to the beach to do some evangelism/treasure hunts and art evangelism...be praying!!
We love you!
AZ
We started the day off at 10am in a cafe near the market (it´s one that Ash and I have come to love... we do a lot of quiet time there). We did a Bible study. Being that we were doing a treasure hunt, I found it appropriate to study Acts 8 about philip and the eunich, since the Spirit speaks, giving Philip pieces of information that lead him to the Eunich. (for those of you who don´tknow, treasure hunts are a form of evangelism in which you simply pray and ask God to give you clues/signs/information that will lead you to who he has for you that day...kind of like Philip with the Eunich...the Holy Spirit guided Philip to the Eunich...treasure hunts guide you to the person.. it´s quite marvelous). After the study, we prayed and asked God for clues/information/signs/pieces/etc. I immediately got blonde hair and a button coral/pink shirt. I then got a fish head and a woman working at a fruit/candy stand. I also got a dark haired woman withher hair pulled back. Ashley got pink lady, green dress, blonde hair, el raval and Kelsey got big cat/lion, and an "s".
After praying and recieving, we headed towards el raval, but Ash and I both got a checkin the Spirit and decided the market was the place to start.. As we head towards the market we spot a woman dressed ALL in pink...and she just happens to head in the same direction as the market... her and her husband went into a Tobacco shop so we did too.. I´m not sure what happened, I knew taht I wasn´t to talk to her and that we were there for Ash to get stamps, so I checked out cigar prices/knick knach prices etc. Ash got her stamps and we headed across the street to th emarket. It felt like we werein themarket FOREVER not getting anything or seeing anything, but I KNEW we couldn´t leave (very frustrating/trying). We walked around for a while, and then we came to a fish place wehre there was a woman wearing a button coral shirt...across from her was a fruit stand wehre a lady with dark hair pulled back was working...so I´m thinking one of these women is the treasure. But everytime I would go to talk or speak, i would either getno words, or a mass of people would come...so we wondered to the next fish stand.. to find nothing.. and then came back. And atjust that moment, a girl in a pink dress with blonde hair walked between the stands, and I knew.. but not being sure, I asked Ash and Kels what they thought.. Ash gave an affirmation and we went to this girl.
So we approach this girl, and I´mnot sure what we´ll say,and so I just say "excuse me, to you speak english?" and she said yes and I said, "well, we´re Christians and we were praying before coming here today for God to reveal to us someone he wanted us to talk to, and he gave us theclues of....and he lead us to you. We think you´re God´s treasure for us today." I kid you not, the look on this girl´s face was priceless...she did not know what to do with that.. and in a good way... she said thank you... and we asked if she needed prayer, but she didn´t quite understand, so we told her that God was thining about her and brought us to her to let her know that she´s beautiful and He´s thinking about her and then we parted ways and prayed for her as we left...it was beautiful!
The rest of the clues lead us to el Raval where I was our treasure... more healing stuf!! :)
Today we´re going to the beach to do some evangelism/treasure hunts and art evangelism...be praying!!
We love you!
AZ
Saturday, July 4, 2009
La Zona Roja con Maria, Annie, y, Magdelena
As most of you read Annie´s blog about La Zona Roja, my experience was slightly different. As we were praying before going out on the streets I was still unsure of actually going out and building relationships with the prostitutes. However, I put my fears behind me and went out with Maria. The two of us separated from Annie and Magdelana in search of Nigerian women (who speak english).
We started off our journey and arrived in the streets where Maria normally talks with the girls but the police were swarming the place. They had African men cornered demanding papers to prove they were legally able to be in Spain. Maria and I turned the corner and the same with the other streets. Maria was very confused and reassured me that this was not normal. I asked her if it was a drug bust or something and she said they happen all the time and it was probably the reasoning behind it.
After walking a few more blocks one of the Nigerian prostitutes came up to Maria and started talking with us. I love how Maria knows most of the women on the street, it was an amazing sight to see her open up to Maria. The women took us to the rest of her friends (who also knew maria), and Maria asked them if they were willing to pray today. I asked to pray for them and so we stood in a circle and the girls asked me to pray for their families who are still back in Nigeria. I had such joy while talking to them. They looked like everyday beautiful women on the street. They weren´t skanky, but average women, women that desire the lifestyle that most of us have.
Maria and I continued onward. We saw Annie and Magdelena so we met up with them to see how things were going. They were talking to one of the girls on the streets so we joined the conversation. I didn´t say anything to the girl but she said good bye to us and as she was walking by me she said, "you´re different," and winked at me with a huge smile on her face. I was unsure of how to take this comment, but I chose to take it as a compliment and Annie confirmed in me that it was. That out here my innocence shows and that it´s not something that most people have anymore.
So Maria and I continued on meeting with a few other girls and gave a couple cd´s out that Maria made and met up with the other group at the big cat. (we´ll post a picture it´s awesome)
We went back to El Lokal to debrief, where Kelsey stayed praying for us. We talked a little about our experience and I emphasized on how beautiful the women were and how much joy they brought to my heart. I was surprised that most of them looked like average women walking down the street. I found it hard to pick out who was a prostitute and who wasn´t. This experience was very life changing and I can´t wait to go out next week. Keep praying for us, and for the girls we meet, for this ministry is powerful!
Love you all!
ash
We started off our journey and arrived in the streets where Maria normally talks with the girls but the police were swarming the place. They had African men cornered demanding papers to prove they were legally able to be in Spain. Maria and I turned the corner and the same with the other streets. Maria was very confused and reassured me that this was not normal. I asked her if it was a drug bust or something and she said they happen all the time and it was probably the reasoning behind it.
After walking a few more blocks one of the Nigerian prostitutes came up to Maria and started talking with us. I love how Maria knows most of the women on the street, it was an amazing sight to see her open up to Maria. The women took us to the rest of her friends (who also knew maria), and Maria asked them if they were willing to pray today. I asked to pray for them and so we stood in a circle and the girls asked me to pray for their families who are still back in Nigeria. I had such joy while talking to them. They looked like everyday beautiful women on the street. They weren´t skanky, but average women, women that desire the lifestyle that most of us have.
Maria and I continued onward. We saw Annie and Magdelena so we met up with them to see how things were going. They were talking to one of the girls on the streets so we joined the conversation. I didn´t say anything to the girl but she said good bye to us and as she was walking by me she said, "you´re different," and winked at me with a huge smile on her face. I was unsure of how to take this comment, but I chose to take it as a compliment and Annie confirmed in me that it was. That out here my innocence shows and that it´s not something that most people have anymore.
So Maria and I continued on meeting with a few other girls and gave a couple cd´s out that Maria made and met up with the other group at the big cat. (we´ll post a picture it´s awesome)
We went back to El Lokal to debrief, where Kelsey stayed praying for us. We talked a little about our experience and I emphasized on how beautiful the women were and how much joy they brought to my heart. I was surprised that most of them looked like average women walking down the street. I found it hard to pick out who was a prostitute and who wasn´t. This experience was very life changing and I can´t wait to go out next week. Keep praying for us, and for the girls we meet, for this ministry is powerful!
Love you all!
ash
Friday, July 3, 2009
On the streets with La Zona Roja
Yesterday was Thursday which means Zona Roja day. We´ve met with them for the last 2 weeks, and each week were unable to go out because of some circumstance, however this week we were finally able to hit the streets! God had laid on Kelsey´s heart to stay back and pray, which was perfect because a rule they have is that in order for anyone to go out someone needs to be at the church praying (good idea huh) and David was running late. So we met, prayed together, and then ash and I went out with Maria and Magdelna and Kels stayed back and prayed for us. The four of us going out headed to the metro in order to procede to la raval (an area of heavy prostitution).
When we got of the metro, Ash headed out with Maria and I with Magdelena (who doesn´t speak ANY English). Ash and Maria went to the nigerian prositutes because they speak predominately English, and Magdelena and I went to the Romanian woman who are Spanish speaking. I won´t share any of Ash´s story because I know she want´s to post it herself tomorrow or Sunday.
I had a WONDERFUL time!!!...which is ironic because after I was completley broken...
Magdelena and I went around to different women, chatting and handing out c.d´s. The first woman I actually talked to, Madonna, was a prostitute from romania, and had an amazing singing voice. When we offered her a cd she sang a church song she knew (as she put it). she sang part of Lord I give you my heart (it was beautiful!) We also were able to give her directions to the church because she asked for them! Please pray that she comes and that God continues to work in this woman´s life!
We talked to a couple other girls, and then they left so we stopped and talked to a woman who was so beautiful, yet so sad. Her face showed so much toughness, hurt, pain, bitterness, etc. and it was obvious that she did not want to be there. Magdelena began to speak to her, and she was very resistant to us and to talking with us but Magdelena pressed in and spoke about needing to have faith and hope and the woman said what faith or hope is there for me here? And then Magdelena began to speak words of pure joy and beauty (I´m not sure everything she said... I know she told her that she should have faith in God and that He has another path for her and that she is beautiful...it was quick spanish and hard to follow!) However, what was not hard to follow was the transformation that took place in this woman and on her face.. .she went from rock hard to smiling and laughing at the end... she laughed!!! oh and her smile was beautiful... it was like Magdelena had poured straight milk and honey into this woman´s soul... it was absolutely beautiful! I shared this with Magdelena afterwards, and her response was I can only speak that which God give me (this woman is incredible mind you... amazing faith!).
We continued on walking and talkin ( I was solicited once... I know right? it was "funny" ( say funny lightly because my heart really does break over this and this stuff) because I didn´t know what was goin on at first... this guy asked me my name and I was like Annie.. and then he started talking and Magdelena was like we´re leaving... and in that moment it clicked and I was like.. oh my!...but God is good and faithful! :) ).
Anyways, we met back up with Maria and Ashley shortly after, shared stories and went back to the church to pray. It was cool because Ashley had SUCH joy leaving that place and I was completely broken. (Probably very close picture of the heart of Jesus... joy and sorrow intertwined). I wasn´t able to shake what one of the prostitutes said. "What hope is there here?" Be praying for these women...for God to meet them, release them, free them, heal them, and above all, for them to accept His love!!! there is power in the faith of the women who go out each week to meet with these prostitutes... keep praying for fruit in their work! They are all so amazing...
For now, I must go... Shalom my loved ones... see you soon!
When we got of the metro, Ash headed out with Maria and I with Magdelena (who doesn´t speak ANY English). Ash and Maria went to the nigerian prositutes because they speak predominately English, and Magdelena and I went to the Romanian woman who are Spanish speaking. I won´t share any of Ash´s story because I know she want´s to post it herself tomorrow or Sunday.
I had a WONDERFUL time!!!...which is ironic because after I was completley broken...
Magdelena and I went around to different women, chatting and handing out c.d´s. The first woman I actually talked to, Madonna, was a prostitute from romania, and had an amazing singing voice. When we offered her a cd she sang a church song she knew (as she put it). she sang part of Lord I give you my heart (it was beautiful!) We also were able to give her directions to the church because she asked for them! Please pray that she comes and that God continues to work in this woman´s life!
We talked to a couple other girls, and then they left so we stopped and talked to a woman who was so beautiful, yet so sad. Her face showed so much toughness, hurt, pain, bitterness, etc. and it was obvious that she did not want to be there. Magdelena began to speak to her, and she was very resistant to us and to talking with us but Magdelena pressed in and spoke about needing to have faith and hope and the woman said what faith or hope is there for me here? And then Magdelena began to speak words of pure joy and beauty (I´m not sure everything she said... I know she told her that she should have faith in God and that He has another path for her and that she is beautiful...it was quick spanish and hard to follow!) However, what was not hard to follow was the transformation that took place in this woman and on her face.. .she went from rock hard to smiling and laughing at the end... she laughed!!! oh and her smile was beautiful... it was like Magdelena had poured straight milk and honey into this woman´s soul... it was absolutely beautiful! I shared this with Magdelena afterwards, and her response was I can only speak that which God give me (this woman is incredible mind you... amazing faith!).
We continued on walking and talkin ( I was solicited once... I know right? it was "funny" ( say funny lightly because my heart really does break over this and this stuff) because I didn´t know what was goin on at first... this guy asked me my name and I was like Annie.. and then he started talking and Magdelena was like we´re leaving... and in that moment it clicked and I was like.. oh my!...but God is good and faithful! :) ).
Anyways, we met back up with Maria and Ashley shortly after, shared stories and went back to the church to pray. It was cool because Ashley had SUCH joy leaving that place and I was completely broken. (Probably very close picture of the heart of Jesus... joy and sorrow intertwined). I wasn´t able to shake what one of the prostitutes said. "What hope is there here?" Be praying for these women...for God to meet them, release them, free them, heal them, and above all, for them to accept His love!!! there is power in the faith of the women who go out each week to meet with these prostitutes... keep praying for fruit in their work! They are all so amazing...
For now, I must go... Shalom my loved ones... see you soon!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
our week.. with evangelism!!!
So this week has been intense spiritually to say the least. All three of us are being broken by God in different ways over different things...a lot of it being brokeness in our owns lives... which is good because God is bringing healing.. but tough when he´s breaking you over your own brokeness, the brokeness around you, and the brokeness of a country in desperate need of the savior.
This week we found the largest draw for sexual tourism to barcelona...it´s an interactive virtual reality porn show which makes three shows a night and is a HUGE draw into Barcelona... we´re pretty positive there´s a brothel above it.. that or some sort of prostitution... needless to say my heart was pretty wrenched when we found this.
God also began to break me of some bitterness and pain I´ve been holding onto... which is really good.. but really tough nonetheless...especially when you realize how deep it stems...
we did some art evangelism on the beach which was really powerful. During it, God brought to my mind that if nothing else was accomplished that day we worshipped him and in a place where that does not often happen. That was really powerful and encouraging for me... because thats what God desires for us.. to be with him and worship him. We then spent an hour and a half in intercessory prayer for some very dear people in the states! :) you know who you are and we love you!
Yesterday we went to a culture and history museum... we saw ancient roman ruins (dating pre-jesus!). It was pretty cool.. what was really cool for me was to watch how much joy it brought ash and kels and that God allowed me some time just to reflect and think while there.
The best part of yesteday however, was on the way home from the cafe. Ash and I left Kelsey to finish some school papers she needed to do and headed to a cafe. I spent some tiem with Jesus writing lyrics and Bible studies... anyways, when we left to go home, a woman walked past us as we were waiting for the metro. Her skin was covered in some sort of sores/bumps and all I could think when she walked by was how beautiful she was and how much I wanted to tell her that... when I shared that with Ash she said " so tell her." This was huge for me.. I´ve been having a lot of compassion on people and wanting to reach out and talk to them, but God had been restraining me.. like it wasn´t time yet... Anyways, so Ash and I board the metro and semi-stalk this woman (we weren´t sure we should talk.. adn the you get nervous you know) so we sat down... and Ash turned to me and said we should go at the next stop to talk to her. I kid you not, the last word of that sentence leaves her mouth and the two people sitting next to this woman get up and leave...so we take that as our cue and move seats. We sit there awkwardly for a few moments, and then God gave me His words. I shared with this woman (in Spanish mind you) that I was a Christian and when she had walked by me earlier, I thought she was beautiful and God had laid on my heart that she has a beauty in her heart that no other person possess and that He sees her and loves her so deeply and has a plan for her. Her face lit with joy! It was beautiful... her name was Pilar and she has lived her her whole life.. we small talked with her and then Ashley asked me to tell her that she liked her skirt.. and you should have seen the delight in Pilar´s face when I told her what Ashley had said.. it was beautiful!! Then we kissed on the cheeks as is custom here in Spain, and she got off at her spot.
The joy that was ours in sharing Christ love with this woman was incredible.. and just what my heart needed. I THRIVE off of sharing God´s love and mercy and compassion with others... and that´s what we FINALLY were able to do.. at least in a way that´s tangeble to me!
Tonight we hit the streets with La Zona Roja.. be praying! We´ll keep you posted!!! Much love!!!AZ for the gang
This week we found the largest draw for sexual tourism to barcelona...it´s an interactive virtual reality porn show which makes three shows a night and is a HUGE draw into Barcelona... we´re pretty positive there´s a brothel above it.. that or some sort of prostitution... needless to say my heart was pretty wrenched when we found this.
God also began to break me of some bitterness and pain I´ve been holding onto... which is really good.. but really tough nonetheless...especially when you realize how deep it stems...
we did some art evangelism on the beach which was really powerful. During it, God brought to my mind that if nothing else was accomplished that day we worshipped him and in a place where that does not often happen. That was really powerful and encouraging for me... because thats what God desires for us.. to be with him and worship him. We then spent an hour and a half in intercessory prayer for some very dear people in the states! :) you know who you are and we love you!
Yesterday we went to a culture and history museum... we saw ancient roman ruins (dating pre-jesus!). It was pretty cool.. what was really cool for me was to watch how much joy it brought ash and kels and that God allowed me some time just to reflect and think while there.
The best part of yesteday however, was on the way home from the cafe. Ash and I left Kelsey to finish some school papers she needed to do and headed to a cafe. I spent some tiem with Jesus writing lyrics and Bible studies... anyways, when we left to go home, a woman walked past us as we were waiting for the metro. Her skin was covered in some sort of sores/bumps and all I could think when she walked by was how beautiful she was and how much I wanted to tell her that... when I shared that with Ash she said " so tell her." This was huge for me.. I´ve been having a lot of compassion on people and wanting to reach out and talk to them, but God had been restraining me.. like it wasn´t time yet... Anyways, so Ash and I board the metro and semi-stalk this woman (we weren´t sure we should talk.. adn the you get nervous you know) so we sat down... and Ash turned to me and said we should go at the next stop to talk to her. I kid you not, the last word of that sentence leaves her mouth and the two people sitting next to this woman get up and leave...so we take that as our cue and move seats. We sit there awkwardly for a few moments, and then God gave me His words. I shared with this woman (in Spanish mind you) that I was a Christian and when she had walked by me earlier, I thought she was beautiful and God had laid on my heart that she has a beauty in her heart that no other person possess and that He sees her and loves her so deeply and has a plan for her. Her face lit with joy! It was beautiful... her name was Pilar and she has lived her her whole life.. we small talked with her and then Ashley asked me to tell her that she liked her skirt.. and you should have seen the delight in Pilar´s face when I told her what Ashley had said.. it was beautiful!! Then we kissed on the cheeks as is custom here in Spain, and she got off at her spot.
The joy that was ours in sharing Christ love with this woman was incredible.. and just what my heart needed. I THRIVE off of sharing God´s love and mercy and compassion with others... and that´s what we FINALLY were able to do.. at least in a way that´s tangeble to me!
Tonight we hit the streets with La Zona Roja.. be praying! We´ll keep you posted!!! Much love!!!AZ for the gang
Some more pictures yo!
Ash, Kels and me at the Flamenco show.. qué guapa ¿no?
Flamenco dancers
Flamenco singer... we kinda liked him.. jaja!
¡ flamenco!
Ash and Kels with some street art.. VERY common here in Barcelona to see art on the walls
Ash Kels and I in the back of Kelseys parents car on the way to flamenco.. there´s like 50 of these type of pictures... yeah.. we´re great.. we know! :)
this is our kitchen.. I was going ot post more house pics.. but this takes FOREVER.. i´ve been here for 2 hours now.. and started uploading pictures at the beginning of my time.. yeah.. so please enjoy the ones you see :)
this is our church el Lokal
part of el Lokal.. they have a mural on the wall of the city of Barcelona.. or rather the big sites of Barcelona. it´s pretty sweet and they´re relaly artsy.. we enjoy it!!!!
another shot of El Lokal
Ash doing some beach art evangelism!!!
art evangelism continued
beach art!
this is a sand sculpture we found the night of the summer solstice
drum circle we found at the solstice party
ash and kels dancing at solstice
view of the city from parc güell
me with a giant gaudí lizard... I thought of you Drew and Sam!!
Kels and I hiking up to Parc Güell... and believe it or not.. this isn´t even half way up that hill.. it was ridiculous!!
what´s that?...jaja.. ash and I at parc Güell
Ash with her coffee mustache "we call it the belgium dip" for you austin powers fans.. haha
ash and her coffee...tasty goodness...
Ash prepared to face the ocean!
Ash and I at the Mediterranean sea.. some German lady took it for us.. it was funny
Beach babes! haha
Like I said before, these are just some of the tons of pcitures we have. I was planning on uploading a lot more.. but it takes FOREVER!!!!! So we´ll keep doing some slowly but surely... and the rest will have to wait for until we get back to the states!!!! haha
Keep praying... little under 2 weeks left!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
So I know it´s been awhile since anyone has posted but I want you all to know that we are still alive.
The three of us are truly starting to jump into the mission of our trip and we are seeing God at work! Last Thursday we were ready to jump into working with La Zona Roja(the ministry team) on the streets, but things fell through and they decided not to go out. Instead, Maria explained how El Lokal started this ministry and it´s purpose behind it. We were so energized to hear Maria tell us how much of an answer to her prayers we were. I personally loved hearing how they´ve formed relationships and friendships with the prostitutes on the street. I was also quite relieved to find that they go early on in the night when it´s safe.
What I also love about the church are the facts that they are very artistic and they know how to rock. Their worship team is amazing, and loud, and just what our hearts needed. Church services can last over 2hours and it feels like 30 min....it´s so awesome! AND they have English translation! I love everything about La Lokal and working with them has truly been and is a blessing to Kelsey, Annie, and myself.
We decided that this week was the week where we really wanted to go deep with fulfilling our purpose here. Annie formed a flexible schedule for us with all kinds of prayer walks and evangelism. Yesterday we did a prayer walk in the morning down La Ramblas (the touristy area that we´ve become familiar with) and while Annie and Kelsey were discerning all the evil in the area, my eyes were open to all the beauty, joy, and glory in that place. Seeing oppression always is easier than finding the good, so it was nice to see with a different pair of eyes.
Another place we went to was La Example. I loved this area because it was very Roman like and all the buildings had crazy artistic accents to the brick and stonework. This area is known for Zen, Muslim, and the religion of the dali llama....i still have no idea what it´s called.
Today....we did beach evangelism, but we did art evangelism! This is where I thrive... The three of us packed up our supplies and found random places to draw. I was a little concerned about today because normally I have an image in my head of what I want to draw but nothing was coming to mind. However, as soon as I took my place on the sandy beach an image came rushing to me. I spent the entire time drawing a space like scene where you can see the earth and another planet. I drew a candle that´s kind of popping up from Earth and is shining it´s light forth. The candle is accented with my kind of personality/taste. People were walking by and looking at what we were drawing, it was very humbling. I was so excited about our beach time, I begged Annie to plan in another day for this kind of thing.
On our way back to the metro to go home, thinking my art time had ended, we came across a very talented street band. I plopped my butt on the ground and drew again. The type of music led me in how I drew my picture. I was so lost in what I was doing that I didn´t even notice the people walking by me to see what I was drawing until Annie, pointed them out afterwards.
Well, it´s time to make some supper and Annie and I still need to head to the market for more bread. We hopefully try and do some more blogging soon.. so keep checking in! You should anxiously await more pictures! We have lots of great ones!
ash
The three of us are truly starting to jump into the mission of our trip and we are seeing God at work! Last Thursday we were ready to jump into working with La Zona Roja(the ministry team) on the streets, but things fell through and they decided not to go out. Instead, Maria explained how El Lokal started this ministry and it´s purpose behind it. We were so energized to hear Maria tell us how much of an answer to her prayers we were. I personally loved hearing how they´ve formed relationships and friendships with the prostitutes on the street. I was also quite relieved to find that they go early on in the night when it´s safe.
What I also love about the church are the facts that they are very artistic and they know how to rock. Their worship team is amazing, and loud, and just what our hearts needed. Church services can last over 2hours and it feels like 30 min....it´s so awesome! AND they have English translation! I love everything about La Lokal and working with them has truly been and is a blessing to Kelsey, Annie, and myself.
We decided that this week was the week where we really wanted to go deep with fulfilling our purpose here. Annie formed a flexible schedule for us with all kinds of prayer walks and evangelism. Yesterday we did a prayer walk in the morning down La Ramblas (the touristy area that we´ve become familiar with) and while Annie and Kelsey were discerning all the evil in the area, my eyes were open to all the beauty, joy, and glory in that place. Seeing oppression always is easier than finding the good, so it was nice to see with a different pair of eyes.
Another place we went to was La Example. I loved this area because it was very Roman like and all the buildings had crazy artistic accents to the brick and stonework. This area is known for Zen, Muslim, and the religion of the dali llama....i still have no idea what it´s called.
Today....we did beach evangelism, but we did art evangelism! This is where I thrive... The three of us packed up our supplies and found random places to draw. I was a little concerned about today because normally I have an image in my head of what I want to draw but nothing was coming to mind. However, as soon as I took my place on the sandy beach an image came rushing to me. I spent the entire time drawing a space like scene where you can see the earth and another planet. I drew a candle that´s kind of popping up from Earth and is shining it´s light forth. The candle is accented with my kind of personality/taste. People were walking by and looking at what we were drawing, it was very humbling. I was so excited about our beach time, I begged Annie to plan in another day for this kind of thing.
On our way back to the metro to go home, thinking my art time had ended, we came across a very talented street band. I plopped my butt on the ground and drew again. The type of music led me in how I drew my picture. I was so lost in what I was doing that I didn´t even notice the people walking by me to see what I was drawing until Annie, pointed them out afterwards.
Well, it´s time to make some supper and Annie and I still need to head to the market for more bread. We hopefully try and do some more blogging soon.. so keep checking in! You should anxiously await more pictures! We have lots of great ones!
ash
Friday, June 26, 2009
At long last... PICTURES!!!
This is a pick of the guapas...aka Ash and Kels on a night out to Chinese.. I know right.. way to go us.. chinese food in Spain
this is part of la catedral... it was gorgeous.. the pic does not do justice
this is my hand cutting a pizza we had one night with an interesting little cutter thing.... and the wings we ate (ash was craving wings and we found a placet hat had them... tastey!)
this is the joy of me conquering the escalator! I managed to go down three flights of up escalators...i know... very proud day in my life
this is me going down the up... mind you... we didn´t find the escalators until AFTER we had hiked up the stairs...we found them on the way back down... yeah... 7-10 stories of stairs/incline... not fun... but good afterward!!!
this is the metro.... it was packed the night of the summer solstice....believe it or not, both sides around us looked like this...and got fuller!
this is kels and ash at the gate of parc guell, where we went, did a bible study, had some healing... and some good God time.. as well as tourist time while looking at Gaudi´s creations
me with a pillar at parc güell....qué guapa ¿no?
me with my tiny cup of espresso...tasty goodness!
ash ponder life, love and gaudi at what me and her have dubbed the guadí "cave"
kels teaching ash worship camp songs in our apartment
a snuck a pic of kels as we climbed up tons of stairs to get to parc güell.... qué guapa ¿no?
ash at a cooking class her and I tooke the first friday we were here
our dessert
a man from cali and a man from norway at our cooking class making paella for 14
paella...with seafood...TASTY!:)
ash and I at the cooking class
kels ash and I in the barrio gotica
ash and I... this was day 2 in Spain
the bed we broke....yeah i know... we´re good
the group in front of the capital buildingThese are just some of the HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of pics we have.... but for those ofyou beggin (cough cough Lamecker...:) ) these should suffice for now. We´ll keep you posted when more happens... tonight flamenco for a taste of spanish cuisine and culture with Kelsey´s parents...
Love you all!
AZ for the group
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A Call to the Nations...
This week has been a pretty intense, heartbreaking week for me.
Last night/today is one of the biggest holidays/celebrations in Spain.. the summer solstice. Rooted deeply in paganism and brought forth more modernly as a celebration, it´s a night filled with drunkeness, drugs, partying, and fireworks. Numerous people flock to the beach of all ages (literally 2-70 years in age) and stay through the night, dancing, drinking and having bonfires.
Ash and I heard about this from a girl in a cooking class, and decided to go check it out with Kels. As the three of us headed toward the beach, all of our discernment started to rise, but we pressed on, wanting to see and praying that God would use us as light, declaring that we came in the name of Jesus to glorify God.
When we first arrived at the beach there was a reggae band playing. We stayed and listened some, and then continued walking down the beach. We stumbled upon a drum circle and stopped to listen/dance. There were people all around us heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol... it blew my mind that on one side of me was a 40+ year old man dancing drunkenly and hitting on women and to the left a mother with a child no older than 4 covering his ears so it wouldn´t be too loud.
As we turned to leave, my heart was breaking because as I gazed upon the masses, all I wanted was a microphone and a stage and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to have a response from the masses. As I was sharing this with Kels and Ash, I began to preach in Spanish (saying Jesus Christ IS Lord...listen to me people... Christ is Lord!!!)
The second I stopped preaching, a man came over and started talking to us... asked us for money for beer. When i said no, he said, ahh you americans are so greedy that´s why you don´t give any money. My response was, no it´s because we are Christians and we are here to give glory to God, not to party. His response to this was to ask me if I would sleep with him (more explicitly) and then walk away.
After this we walked home... and as we walked and the people flooded the streets, my heart continued to break... I wanted to hold each of them and share with the them the glory of Christ Jesus...I wanted to preach to each of them... but knew that in that moment, there was nothing I could do. I felt SO helpless because, like Matthew 9:36 says THEY were helpless and harassed like sheep without a shepherd...My heart wept for these people and my compassion was great (and still is). I just want to grab each of them and share the gospel and have them respond!!! I want them to come to know Christ and the glorious riches that are in Him.
It´s at this point Kels turned to me and said that this is the burden of the missionary... I guess the positive of the night is God is solidifying my calling...
Please be praying for these people, for this nation. Pray that God would send revival here.. that he would send workers into the field for the harvest.. and that the people would respond.... Pray that God would move this nation in mighty mighty ways. And pray that God would give us words, and discernment into when we should share, and when to remain silent.
I love you all and pray God´s love would cover you like a blanket today.
Shalom
AZ
Last night/today is one of the biggest holidays/celebrations in Spain.. the summer solstice. Rooted deeply in paganism and brought forth more modernly as a celebration, it´s a night filled with drunkeness, drugs, partying, and fireworks. Numerous people flock to the beach of all ages (literally 2-70 years in age) and stay through the night, dancing, drinking and having bonfires.
Ash and I heard about this from a girl in a cooking class, and decided to go check it out with Kels. As the three of us headed toward the beach, all of our discernment started to rise, but we pressed on, wanting to see and praying that God would use us as light, declaring that we came in the name of Jesus to glorify God.
When we first arrived at the beach there was a reggae band playing. We stayed and listened some, and then continued walking down the beach. We stumbled upon a drum circle and stopped to listen/dance. There were people all around us heavily influenced by drugs and alcohol... it blew my mind that on one side of me was a 40+ year old man dancing drunkenly and hitting on women and to the left a mother with a child no older than 4 covering his ears so it wouldn´t be too loud.
As we turned to leave, my heart was breaking because as I gazed upon the masses, all I wanted was a microphone and a stage and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to have a response from the masses. As I was sharing this with Kels and Ash, I began to preach in Spanish (saying Jesus Christ IS Lord...listen to me people... Christ is Lord!!!)
The second I stopped preaching, a man came over and started talking to us... asked us for money for beer. When i said no, he said, ahh you americans are so greedy that´s why you don´t give any money. My response was, no it´s because we are Christians and we are here to give glory to God, not to party. His response to this was to ask me if I would sleep with him (more explicitly) and then walk away.
After this we walked home... and as we walked and the people flooded the streets, my heart continued to break... I wanted to hold each of them and share with the them the glory of Christ Jesus...I wanted to preach to each of them... but knew that in that moment, there was nothing I could do. I felt SO helpless because, like Matthew 9:36 says THEY were helpless and harassed like sheep without a shepherd...My heart wept for these people and my compassion was great (and still is). I just want to grab each of them and share the gospel and have them respond!!! I want them to come to know Christ and the glorious riches that are in Him.
It´s at this point Kels turned to me and said that this is the burden of the missionary... I guess the positive of the night is God is solidifying my calling...
Please be praying for these people, for this nation. Pray that God would send revival here.. that he would send workers into the field for the harvest.. and that the people would respond.... Pray that God would move this nation in mighty mighty ways. And pray that God would give us words, and discernment into when we should share, and when to remain silent.
I love you all and pray God´s love would cover you like a blanket today.
Shalom
AZ
Monday, June 22, 2009
Let the streets resound with singing!
This is a line from a song that for much of the prep and travel of this trip has been a constant in my head. The song is ¨Did you Feel the Mountains Tremble.¨ And tonight, this song became life.
As mentioned in an earlier blog, tonight we went to the South side of Las Ramblas, the part where a lot of prostitution-/drugs/etc takes place. However, the common theme of today and tonight has been paganism/witchcraft. Today on the way back from the beach we stumbled across some curse tape that was planted in a park. Tonight, Kelsey saw a chessboard that she really liked, and even though we were on a discernment walk, my first instinct was, let´s go in... so we did. And what we found inside was a store that sold some games, but predominantly tarot cards and other pagan tokens/gems used to cast spells and predict futures. The next shop was the same...at least very similiar. We then found a book store which had a curtain dividing the back... not sure what´s back there for sure, but all three of us are sure it was not good.
We continued walking through Las Ramblas and stumbled upon an ally...Ash and I were looking at street art and Kels called us over to see what we thought. The second I looked at it I began to tear up and internally weap and Ash agreed she wanted to go check it out. We found many doors/signs with graffitti for prostitution, magic, satan worship/etc. The atmosphere was thick and heavy, oppression surrounding us, and false worship/idoltry galore!....yet as we were in there, I kept sensing a light, but I wasn´t sure where it was coming from/where it was... and then we found it!
As we were walking further down the street (after almost turning back... that´s how thick and heavy the atmosphere was..) we heard a guitar playing... and then we saw a man on his balcony with his guitar. We stopped, listened... and realized he was playing worship music out his window! (I don´t know the song.. but Ash and Kels did). It blew me away. There we stood on the street, across from us an Islam store with false worship taking place, next to that store a Hindu magic shop and all around signs for prostitution (Kelsey saw a mark that said Patty 18 euros). Yet in the midst of this darkness, I beautiful man was worshipping on his balcony... and in english!!! (Tell me that was not a divine appointment from God!!!!!!) He then started playing ¨You are God Alone¨. It was funny to me because as he played, windows would shut below us (in the Islam house). We sat and sang with him...and it was a blessing from God. In serio, this man was an angel from God for us... singing praise, fighting through worship and encouraging our breaking hearts! It was powerful, strong, and God was glorified as we worshipped there with him. Towards the end of the song, it hit me that it was time to go... and almost immediatly as I had that thought, he shouted ¨Salud!¨and went inside the apartment, not to be seen.
It amazes me how good God is to us, that even in the darkness, there are those fighting... I´m going to type the words to then song ¨did you feel the mountains tremble¨ Read through them and know how powerful worshipping our God us... and how powerful our God is. If there is anything you need, want, desire... turn to him, seek him! He promises to give you your needs and the desires of your hearts. ¨Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then all these things will be added unto you...¨ Seek him! I promise you won´t be disappointed with what you find!
Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar?
When the people rose to sing ofJesus Christ the risen one
Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing ofJesus Christ the risen one
And we can see that God you're moving
A mighty river through the nations
And young and old will turn to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord
Open up the doors and let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring your hope
Songs that bring your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice
Did you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song
And all the streams flow as one river
To wash away our brokeness
And here we see that God you're moving
A time of Jubilee is coming
When young and old return to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord
As mentioned in an earlier blog, tonight we went to the South side of Las Ramblas, the part where a lot of prostitution-/drugs/etc takes place. However, the common theme of today and tonight has been paganism/witchcraft. Today on the way back from the beach we stumbled across some curse tape that was planted in a park. Tonight, Kelsey saw a chessboard that she really liked, and even though we were on a discernment walk, my first instinct was, let´s go in... so we did. And what we found inside was a store that sold some games, but predominantly tarot cards and other pagan tokens/gems used to cast spells and predict futures. The next shop was the same...at least very similiar. We then found a book store which had a curtain dividing the back... not sure what´s back there for sure, but all three of us are sure it was not good.
We continued walking through Las Ramblas and stumbled upon an ally...Ash and I were looking at street art and Kels called us over to see what we thought. The second I looked at it I began to tear up and internally weap and Ash agreed she wanted to go check it out. We found many doors/signs with graffitti for prostitution, magic, satan worship/etc. The atmosphere was thick and heavy, oppression surrounding us, and false worship/idoltry galore!....yet as we were in there, I kept sensing a light, but I wasn´t sure where it was coming from/where it was... and then we found it!
As we were walking further down the street (after almost turning back... that´s how thick and heavy the atmosphere was..) we heard a guitar playing... and then we saw a man on his balcony with his guitar. We stopped, listened... and realized he was playing worship music out his window! (I don´t know the song.. but Ash and Kels did). It blew me away. There we stood on the street, across from us an Islam store with false worship taking place, next to that store a Hindu magic shop and all around signs for prostitution (Kelsey saw a mark that said Patty 18 euros). Yet in the midst of this darkness, I beautiful man was worshipping on his balcony... and in english!!! (Tell me that was not a divine appointment from God!!!!!!) He then started playing ¨You are God Alone¨. It was funny to me because as he played, windows would shut below us (in the Islam house). We sat and sang with him...and it was a blessing from God. In serio, this man was an angel from God for us... singing praise, fighting through worship and encouraging our breaking hearts! It was powerful, strong, and God was glorified as we worshipped there with him. Towards the end of the song, it hit me that it was time to go... and almost immediatly as I had that thought, he shouted ¨Salud!¨and went inside the apartment, not to be seen.
It amazes me how good God is to us, that even in the darkness, there are those fighting... I´m going to type the words to then song ¨did you feel the mountains tremble¨ Read through them and know how powerful worshipping our God us... and how powerful our God is. If there is anything you need, want, desire... turn to him, seek him! He promises to give you your needs and the desires of your hearts. ¨Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then all these things will be added unto you...¨ Seek him! I promise you won´t be disappointed with what you find!
Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar?
When the people rose to sing ofJesus Christ the risen one
Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing ofJesus Christ the risen one
And we can see that God you're moving
A mighty river through the nations
And young and old will turn to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord
Open up the doors and let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring your hope
Songs that bring your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice
Did you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song
And all the streams flow as one river
To wash away our brokeness
And here we see that God you're moving
A time of Jubilee is coming
When young and old return to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord
Salt Water and Rocks....
This morning we went to the beach for Bible study and chillaxin time....the day was perfect. Not to hot, not too cold, not too windy...etc. Annie and I swam around in the big bad Mediterranian Sea. We rode the waves and swam around, it was good times. I bought some snorkeling gear because I wanted to see the bottom of the sea...well, I couldn´t see anything AND I couldn´t hangle being underwater for more than a nano second because the water is so salty.
Word of advice: don´t drink the water, it´s disgusting.
After we had enough of swimming we paddled in to shore, where the rocks were....luckily they get smaller as we got closer to the beach. However, it was that time of day where the waves were bigger and stronger and as we stood up to walk the rest of the way the sea pushed us back down and then tried forcing us up the beach. This doesn´t work well you have semi large pebbles underneath your butt. This happened a few more times until we could quickly get back up before the waves took control of us....I felt like a beached whale. We were laughing so hard that we were stumbling up to our beach spot. We spent the next couple of hours laying in the sun, and then grabbed some gellato (muy delicioso) and went back to our apt.
Now, we are just about to do a Joshua walk in Las Ramblas. Will blog about that later. All for now!
ash
Word of advice: don´t drink the water, it´s disgusting.
After we had enough of swimming we paddled in to shore, where the rocks were....luckily they get smaller as we got closer to the beach. However, it was that time of day where the waves were bigger and stronger and as we stood up to walk the rest of the way the sea pushed us back down and then tried forcing us up the beach. This doesn´t work well you have semi large pebbles underneath your butt. This happened a few more times until we could quickly get back up before the waves took control of us....I felt like a beached whale. We were laughing so hard that we were stumbling up to our beach spot. We spent the next couple of hours laying in the sun, and then grabbed some gellato (muy delicioso) and went back to our apt.
Now, we are just about to do a Joshua walk in Las Ramblas. Will blog about that later. All for now!
ash
A wrong turn turned right...
Last night we went on our first discernment/prayer walk through Las Ramblas. We prayed through the Lord´s prayer by splitting it into three parts, walking around and asking God to show us where our part of the prayer was taking place. Kels took ´Our Father in heaven holy is your name...for thine is the kingdom, power and glory forever.´Ash took ´your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven´and I took ´forgive us our sins... lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil´. So Kelsey was looking for God´s name to be glorified-exhaulted, Ash for where God´s kingdom could be seen and where His will was being done, and I was looking for sin, temptation, and evil.
God showed us all three, the good coming through a lot of the nature, people interacting, etc. Kelsey said she good see God´s glory through us as we walked and people responded to us. she said that she noticed people were either intrigued by us/drawn to us or enraged by us/cowared away from us... perhaps she´ll share more about this later...
Towards the end of the walk, we decided to hang a right and found ourselves walking down three city blocks of prostitution and my heart broke. I know this is why we´re here... or at least part of why we´re here and God´s been preparing me for this, but to see it breaks me still. the women selling theirselves for price, as if they are property to be boughten, used, abused, and thrown away, and the men giving into sexual addiction and temptation in order to satisfy I fleeting desire..only to come back for more. I don´t know what to do with it...to break, to mourn, to be angry and upset, to react and respond... I assume the true response is a mix of all of the above.
Tonight we´re going to the South side of Las Ramblas where prostitution is HUGE (don´t worry moms, it´s 6:30...still light out.. and we´ll be home or away from there before dark and danger come to play). Pray for us as we do these things, that God would show us, that we would respond and taht chains would be broken. God has made it so clear to me their are huge chains of opression, false gods and false worship here (´we even found curse tape today... something used in pagan practices)... we know it´s all here... but we know that He who is in us is stronger than he who is in the world... and that is the hope and promise we cling to. That Christ Jesus is Lord and Savior and will deliver us through all things and work in us to bring us to completion until he calls us home! We know that HE is our strength, refuge, and salvation, an ever present help in times of trouble and will keep us safe in the shadow of his wings!!! May this promise find you in your walk today.. wherever that may be, whatever you may be doing... know we love you!
AZ
Pictures to come soon....hopefully....
God showed us all three, the good coming through a lot of the nature, people interacting, etc. Kelsey said she good see God´s glory through us as we walked and people responded to us. she said that she noticed people were either intrigued by us/drawn to us or enraged by us/cowared away from us... perhaps she´ll share more about this later...
Towards the end of the walk, we decided to hang a right and found ourselves walking down three city blocks of prostitution and my heart broke. I know this is why we´re here... or at least part of why we´re here and God´s been preparing me for this, but to see it breaks me still. the women selling theirselves for price, as if they are property to be boughten, used, abused, and thrown away, and the men giving into sexual addiction and temptation in order to satisfy I fleeting desire..only to come back for more. I don´t know what to do with it...to break, to mourn, to be angry and upset, to react and respond... I assume the true response is a mix of all of the above.
Tonight we´re going to the South side of Las Ramblas where prostitution is HUGE (don´t worry moms, it´s 6:30...still light out.. and we´ll be home or away from there before dark and danger come to play). Pray for us as we do these things, that God would show us, that we would respond and taht chains would be broken. God has made it so clear to me their are huge chains of opression, false gods and false worship here (´we even found curse tape today... something used in pagan practices)... we know it´s all here... but we know that He who is in us is stronger than he who is in the world... and that is the hope and promise we cling to. That Christ Jesus is Lord and Savior and will deliver us through all things and work in us to bring us to completion until he calls us home! We know that HE is our strength, refuge, and salvation, an ever present help in times of trouble and will keep us safe in the shadow of his wings!!! May this promise find you in your walk today.. wherever that may be, whatever you may be doing... know we love you!
AZ
Pictures to come soon....hopefully....
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Encouragement!
I know I just posted a book, but I forgot this part. Today, while we were praying with Patty, she affirmed in us that we are such a blessing to them. She prayed and spoke, saying that Barcelona and Spain have not seen a revival and that they are praying for revival, asking God to bring intercessors and to give people a heart for Spain. Earlier, during the prepping phase, Maria, who is the head of Zona Roja, said the same thing to me, that we were a huge blessing and answer to their prayers, because they need english speakers to go out to the prostitutes (most speak english).
so to each of you who support us, financially, through prayer, with love and encouragement, with friendship and fellowship, know the blessing and answers to prayer that you are to these people. That you have helped God answer their prayers through us three crazy college girls... and that this i sHUGE in the kingdom. I ask you and invite you to share in the joy that is mine through this, and pray that this joy would find you. You have encouraged a group of believers thousands of miles from you through your response and obedience in sending us... and we are all grateful! please continue in the battle with us... it is real, it is big, but our God is VICTORIOUS!!!! As a dear friend of mine has engrained in my brain... we fight FROM victory!
Shalom my loved ones!
AZ
so to each of you who support us, financially, through prayer, with love and encouragement, with friendship and fellowship, know the blessing and answers to prayer that you are to these people. That you have helped God answer their prayers through us three crazy college girls... and that this i sHUGE in the kingdom. I ask you and invite you to share in the joy that is mine through this, and pray that this joy would find you. You have encouraged a group of believers thousands of miles from you through your response and obedience in sending us... and we are all grateful! please continue in the battle with us... it is real, it is big, but our God is VICTORIOUS!!!! As a dear friend of mine has engrained in my brain... we fight FROM victory!
Shalom my loved ones!
AZ
Cook and Taste
HOLA de ESPAÑÁ!!! (hi from spain)
Friday was a spectacular day in my book! We met up with Mary Carmen (?) sp and talked a little about working with her. Different things the church is involved with, how we can get involved...ect. She spoke english, which was a huge blessing to me! We did a bible study after meeting her...although it was in spanish so it was hard for me to follow along. The language barrier has been the hardest for me. Many people can switch back and forth between Catalon, Spanish, and English like it´s no big deal. I wish I had that talent, kind of inspiring to learn spanish...maybe i should pick up another major! JK
During the afternoon we took the metro to Las Ramblas where our cooking class was. The three of us walked around and did some sight seeing before going up to the class. Kelsey decided to stay behind to work on a few papers...boo homework!
The cooking class was so much fun! Our teacher was very outgoing and friendly. She took us to the biggest outdoor market in Barcelona! It was absolutely huge! Meet legs were hanging from cords, dried chili peppers decorated windows, lobsters and crabs started staring contests with us, it was absolutely unforgetable! Seriously, the lobsters stared back at you! And they moved and made bubbles, it was so crazy seeing live lobsters on the market. There was fruit upon fruit upon fruit and dried candy, and nuts....just everything you could imagine. We picked up some olives, clams, squid (the kind that inks), and cuttlefish and went back to our kitchen.
We started preparing a 4 course meal. What I loved most about this experience was meeting 12 new people from all over the world. A cute asian couple from Australia, a family from Canada, a couple from California, and the UK. So much fun AND we all helped prepare the meal in some way. Annie and I were both on tomato soup patrol. She started preparing the soup and I finished and did the presentation. I know you are all dying to know what we made so I will spare you the time and lay it out for you.
Course 1: Chupito de sopa de tomate al aroma de idiazabal de peio carcia amiano (tomato soup flavoured with idiazabal smoked cheese) This was a very interesting dish...cold tomato soup! Very delicious, we had it with a homemade pesto made of parsley, walnuts, and hazelnuts, and finely shredded sheep cheese. The flavors were absolutely amazing!
Course 2: Tortilla de patatas y pan con tomate (potato omelette with tomato bread) this was sooo interesting to eat. We made this out of potatoes and cooked it similar to an omelette. We mixed the potatoes and egg mixture together and cooked it in a pan and then rubbed garlic and tomato on top of broiled bread and placed a slice of the "tortilla" on top...it was so good! And I don´t even like eggs!
Course 3: Paella de marisco (seafood paella) Paella is like a rice dish with random vegetables and meat....this was where my nerves came in....we put cuttlefish (the kind that inked again), prawns, and clams in it....it smelled good! I was daring, for all of you out there who know me, I absolutely despise any sort of fish and seafood. But I was open about it, I tried it! Did I like??? Parts, the rice was good, the cuttlefish was ok, the prawns and clams???? NO WAY! They were not good! Esta bien, because when I come back to the US I will make it with real meat....Note to you mom and dad....have meat ready when I come home...I´m like dying here, there´s no meat around!
Course 4: Crema Catalana (Catalan cream) This dish is quite tasty! It´s a cross between a creme brule and flan....pretty decent! Kind of reminded me of pudding a little bit. Our instructor put sugar on it and torched it so it bubbled and browned...tasted like burnt marshmallows!
So far, this is my most memorable experience! Great food, lots of fun people that we got to know, and I expanded my knowledge of cooking! Don´t worry for $5 a pop you can buy the recipes from me! Just kidding! This will be one meal that I am going to experience with when I am in my own kitchen again, you just might be lucky enough to come over and try it! :)
Pictures will be posted soon. You all know that I can´t go anywhere without taking pictures of the 10 square feet around me. I bet you are all interested to see what a REAL sheep´s head looks like without the skin when it stares back at you...oh you will all find out shortly...hope I made you hungry! Love you all and miss you!
ash
Friday was a spectacular day in my book! We met up with Mary Carmen (?) sp and talked a little about working with her. Different things the church is involved with, how we can get involved...ect. She spoke english, which was a huge blessing to me! We did a bible study after meeting her...although it was in spanish so it was hard for me to follow along. The language barrier has been the hardest for me. Many people can switch back and forth between Catalon, Spanish, and English like it´s no big deal. I wish I had that talent, kind of inspiring to learn spanish...maybe i should pick up another major! JK
During the afternoon we took the metro to Las Ramblas where our cooking class was. The three of us walked around and did some sight seeing before going up to the class. Kelsey decided to stay behind to work on a few papers...boo homework!
The cooking class was so much fun! Our teacher was very outgoing and friendly. She took us to the biggest outdoor market in Barcelona! It was absolutely huge! Meet legs were hanging from cords, dried chili peppers decorated windows, lobsters and crabs started staring contests with us, it was absolutely unforgetable! Seriously, the lobsters stared back at you! And they moved and made bubbles, it was so crazy seeing live lobsters on the market. There was fruit upon fruit upon fruit and dried candy, and nuts....just everything you could imagine. We picked up some olives, clams, squid (the kind that inks), and cuttlefish and went back to our kitchen.
We started preparing a 4 course meal. What I loved most about this experience was meeting 12 new people from all over the world. A cute asian couple from Australia, a family from Canada, a couple from California, and the UK. So much fun AND we all helped prepare the meal in some way. Annie and I were both on tomato soup patrol. She started preparing the soup and I finished and did the presentation. I know you are all dying to know what we made so I will spare you the time and lay it out for you.
Course 1: Chupito de sopa de tomate al aroma de idiazabal de peio carcia amiano (tomato soup flavoured with idiazabal smoked cheese) This was a very interesting dish...cold tomato soup! Very delicious, we had it with a homemade pesto made of parsley, walnuts, and hazelnuts, and finely shredded sheep cheese. The flavors were absolutely amazing!
Course 2: Tortilla de patatas y pan con tomate (potato omelette with tomato bread) this was sooo interesting to eat. We made this out of potatoes and cooked it similar to an omelette. We mixed the potatoes and egg mixture together and cooked it in a pan and then rubbed garlic and tomato on top of broiled bread and placed a slice of the "tortilla" on top...it was so good! And I don´t even like eggs!
Course 3: Paella de marisco (seafood paella) Paella is like a rice dish with random vegetables and meat....this was where my nerves came in....we put cuttlefish (the kind that inked again), prawns, and clams in it....it smelled good! I was daring, for all of you out there who know me, I absolutely despise any sort of fish and seafood. But I was open about it, I tried it! Did I like??? Parts, the rice was good, the cuttlefish was ok, the prawns and clams???? NO WAY! They were not good! Esta bien, because when I come back to the US I will make it with real meat....Note to you mom and dad....have meat ready when I come home...I´m like dying here, there´s no meat around!
Course 4: Crema Catalana (Catalan cream) This dish is quite tasty! It´s a cross between a creme brule and flan....pretty decent! Kind of reminded me of pudding a little bit. Our instructor put sugar on it and torched it so it bubbled and browned...tasted like burnt marshmallows!
So far, this is my most memorable experience! Great food, lots of fun people that we got to know, and I expanded my knowledge of cooking! Don´t worry for $5 a pop you can buy the recipes from me! Just kidding! This will be one meal that I am going to experience with when I am in my own kitchen again, you just might be lucky enough to come over and try it! :)
Pictures will be posted soon. You all know that I can´t go anywhere without taking pictures of the 10 square feet around me. I bet you are all interested to see what a REAL sheep´s head looks like without the skin when it stares back at you...oh you will all find out shortly...hope I made you hungry! Love you all and miss you!
ash
Seek ye first the kingdom of God...then ALL these things will be added unto you!
¡Hola todos! Spain is absolutely marvelous! As Kelsey said, this first week has been a lot of God meeting our needs and desires in Spain, and today proved no different for any of us!
Last night, we went to a nice Chinese dinner on the beach ( Iknow right? Day 4 in Spain and we eat Chinese... somos americanos! :) ). It was delicious and the view of the bay was fantabulous! I could get used to living life on a beach...
This morning we went to church at lokal. I LOVE this church. It started off with worship and you could feel the Spirit so heavily upon us, working, moving and glorifying God! During musical worship we branched into some tungsungkito (sp?) prayer.. which is where everyone prays at once. some were singing, some speaking, other silent. It was beautiful and so reviving to the soul! During this time, God really spoke to me about how I´ve let some hurts of the year hold me back from Him and become a divider between us, and I believe He began to heal me in that time. We then continued with musical worship by singing one of my favorite songs Oh Praise Him... only in Spanish!!! It was awesome!!! (Lizzy would have loved it Jaci:) ).
Next the pastor gave his sermon on convictions and living a life of integrity. The coolest part? The pastor and his wife are originally from the United States and have lived in Barcelona as missionaries for 20 years! Isn´t God so good?
After the sermon we broke into small groups for prayer and his wife, Patty, came to join us and pray for us...such a blessing.
Already we´ve met so many people in this church. God has been so faithful and good to us on this trip. To think that we, three girls from the midwest were put in contact with this church which is exactly the kind of worship we love, who has a large part of the congregation who speak english (ash doesn´t speak spanish), and who´s heart and mission is prayer, intercession, and evangelism... it´s almost too good to be true! or rather, so good it HAS to be God. He is faithful, holy and just and so good to those who love him and are called by him to faith in Christ Jesus.
WE´re so blessed to be here. So thank you for those who are and have supported us through prayer, money and encouragement. We are grateful!!!!!!!
Tonight we begin our prayer/discernment walks. We´re going to Las Ramblas to pray through the lord´s prayer and ask God to show us where He´s at work... be praying for us... safety, security etc. Also, we live about a block from a Muslim worship mosque, so please be praying as well! Very Muslim area!
For now we send our love from sunny Barcelona, but most importantly we send the love of the Father to you! May His love, goodness, mercy and blessings be with you today and may you grow more in the knowledge and insight of His love! We love you!!
AZ
Ps... I´m posting a more personal post on my blog as well...whenpassionmetglory.blogspot.com check it out!
Last night, we went to a nice Chinese dinner on the beach ( Iknow right? Day 4 in Spain and we eat Chinese... somos americanos! :) ). It was delicious and the view of the bay was fantabulous! I could get used to living life on a beach...
This morning we went to church at lokal. I LOVE this church. It started off with worship and you could feel the Spirit so heavily upon us, working, moving and glorifying God! During musical worship we branched into some tungsungkito (sp?) prayer.. which is where everyone prays at once. some were singing, some speaking, other silent. It was beautiful and so reviving to the soul! During this time, God really spoke to me about how I´ve let some hurts of the year hold me back from Him and become a divider between us, and I believe He began to heal me in that time. We then continued with musical worship by singing one of my favorite songs Oh Praise Him... only in Spanish!!! It was awesome!!! (Lizzy would have loved it Jaci:) ).
Next the pastor gave his sermon on convictions and living a life of integrity. The coolest part? The pastor and his wife are originally from the United States and have lived in Barcelona as missionaries for 20 years! Isn´t God so good?
After the sermon we broke into small groups for prayer and his wife, Patty, came to join us and pray for us...such a blessing.
Already we´ve met so many people in this church. God has been so faithful and good to us on this trip. To think that we, three girls from the midwest were put in contact with this church which is exactly the kind of worship we love, who has a large part of the congregation who speak english (ash doesn´t speak spanish), and who´s heart and mission is prayer, intercession, and evangelism... it´s almost too good to be true! or rather, so good it HAS to be God. He is faithful, holy and just and so good to those who love him and are called by him to faith in Christ Jesus.
WE´re so blessed to be here. So thank you for those who are and have supported us through prayer, money and encouragement. We are grateful!!!!!!!
Tonight we begin our prayer/discernment walks. We´re going to Las Ramblas to pray through the lord´s prayer and ask God to show us where He´s at work... be praying for us... safety, security etc. Also, we live about a block from a Muslim worship mosque, so please be praying as well! Very Muslim area!
For now we send our love from sunny Barcelona, but most importantly we send the love of the Father to you! May His love, goodness, mercy and blessings be with you today and may you grow more in the knowledge and insight of His love! We love you!!
AZ
Ps... I´m posting a more personal post on my blog as well...whenpassionmetglory.blogspot.com check it out!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Lokal
Hola todos!
Estamos aquí en España y se amo cada minuto. Esta mañana, Ashley, Annie y Yo fuimos a la Iglesia Lokal, donde Maria (y la Zona Roja) empezó. Hemos reuñido con Mary (alguien de la iglesia) y participamos en una estudia de biblia. Esta era mi parte favorito!
Hey everyone!
We´re here in Spain and I am loving every minute. This morning, Ashley, Annie and I went to the church, Lokal, where Maria (and La Zona Roja) started. We met with Mary (someone from the church) and got to sit in on a bible study. This was my favorite part!
In general, We´re really seeing how God is gifting us the desires of our hearts while we are here so far. I especially am excited to be a part of some of the celulas (small groups) that Lokal has. It should be an awesome experience, and I´m praying into the knowledge and insight that the Lord has to give me. Annie is excited to be getting into prep for Thailand, and Ashley is psyched because we might have the opportunity to work with kids. We´ll see what comes of this. With out a doubt, the Lord has plans here.
Estamos aquí en España y se amo cada minuto. Esta mañana, Ashley, Annie y Yo fuimos a la Iglesia Lokal, donde Maria (y la Zona Roja) empezó. Hemos reuñido con Mary (alguien de la iglesia) y participamos en una estudia de biblia. Esta era mi parte favorito!
Hey everyone!
We´re here in Spain and I am loving every minute. This morning, Ashley, Annie and I went to the church, Lokal, where Maria (and La Zona Roja) started. We met with Mary (someone from the church) and got to sit in on a bible study. This was my favorite part!
In general, We´re really seeing how God is gifting us the desires of our hearts while we are here so far. I especially am excited to be a part of some of the celulas (small groups) that Lokal has. It should be an awesome experience, and I´m praying into the knowledge and insight that the Lord has to give me. Annie is excited to be getting into prep for Thailand, and Ashley is psyched because we might have the opportunity to work with kids. We´ll see what comes of this. With out a doubt, the Lord has plans here.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
From sinks to beds...these are the days of our lives
For those of you who followed my trip to Argentina or heard me talk about it.. you heard about the famous sink incident. for those of you who haven´t heard, here´s a quick recap. In Argentina they have free standing sinks. One day I bumped it with my bookbag and crash it went...and thus I broke the sink in my host mom´s home. Well, there´s an old saying ¨history always repeats itself...¨
So last night, after a long day of fighting jetlag, we were ready to sleep. So I jump in my bed... and soon follow Ashley and Kesley into what begins a cuddling-talking-tickling fest... it was good times. However, when Kelsey got up to leave the bed we heard a noise (we´re still not sure how to describe it) and thus the bed was sunk in the middle and elevated on the ends. Being handy women (well.. at least kels and ash are).. we decided to investigate and see what happened, so we removed the mattress to find the bed was more like a poorly constructed futon. We then raised up to see if we could fix it, to find our bed stuck at an elevated 45 degree level. Yeah... needless to say none of us were happy. We tried to take it apart and lower, but nothing worked, the bed would not budge at all!
Thank goodness today 2 of Kelseys friends that were on teh study abroad trip came. WE purchased a screwdriver, and Ross figured out how to lower it back into place.
Life lesson 1) when going to toher countries, plan on something breaking.
Life lesson 2) Praise Jesus for males. Seriously, Kels and I both shared that our thoughts last night were I wish a man was here.. he´d know what to do...and were confirmed by Ross being our hero today. God really did make man and woman to complement each other and help each other!
Even with the bed adventure...It´s been a great day thus far in Barcelona. We went down to the city center and the big Sangrada museum where we got to see some of the BEAUTIFUL architecture as well as eat some tastey pizza and helado (ice cream).
We´re now off to pray! Be praying for us as we continue on our adventures! We love you!
AZ
So last night, after a long day of fighting jetlag, we were ready to sleep. So I jump in my bed... and soon follow Ashley and Kesley into what begins a cuddling-talking-tickling fest... it was good times. However, when Kelsey got up to leave the bed we heard a noise (we´re still not sure how to describe it) and thus the bed was sunk in the middle and elevated on the ends. Being handy women (well.. at least kels and ash are).. we decided to investigate and see what happened, so we removed the mattress to find the bed was more like a poorly constructed futon. We then raised up to see if we could fix it, to find our bed stuck at an elevated 45 degree level. Yeah... needless to say none of us were happy. We tried to take it apart and lower, but nothing worked, the bed would not budge at all!
Thank goodness today 2 of Kelseys friends that were on teh study abroad trip came. WE purchased a screwdriver, and Ross figured out how to lower it back into place.
Life lesson 1) when going to toher countries, plan on something breaking.
Life lesson 2) Praise Jesus for males. Seriously, Kels and I both shared that our thoughts last night were I wish a man was here.. he´d know what to do...and were confirmed by Ross being our hero today. God really did make man and woman to complement each other and help each other!
Even with the bed adventure...It´s been a great day thus far in Barcelona. We went down to the city center and the big Sangrada museum where we got to see some of the BEAUTIFUL architecture as well as eat some tastey pizza and helado (ice cream).
We´re now off to pray! Be praying for us as we continue on our adventures! We love you!
AZ
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
We made it!
So it´s official...we made it to Barcelona! I never thought this day would acctually arrive! Every plane was pretty much right on schedule which was nice. However, jetleg and I are not the best of friends. Today is wednesday and I haven`t slept since Monday morning really....so I´m not in the happiest of moods. I am extremely tired and emotional and am finally looking for a wonderful night´s sleep.
Our apartment is absolutely amazing! On the 7th floor though, and sometimes the elevator doesn´t work...needless to say, my quads should be toned by the time we get back!
The food is pretty different. People eat a lot of french bread and it´s freshly made everyday, but is naturally hard and crispy. We bought some groceries for the next few days...fruit is sooo cheap! I love it! My internet time is about up...but please be praying for adequate rest for Annie and I are quite exhausted!
Our apartment is absolutely amazing! On the 7th floor though, and sometimes the elevator doesn´t work...needless to say, my quads should be toned by the time we get back!
The food is pretty different. People eat a lot of french bread and it´s freshly made everyday, but is naturally hard and crispy. We bought some groceries for the next few days...fruit is sooo cheap! I love it! My internet time is about up...but please be praying for adequate rest for Annie and I are quite exhausted!
Ah Spain
As I said in my previous post, we arrived in Spain safe and sound! The airplane rides went smoothly as did checking into the apartment. However, since arriving, our elevator in our apartment no longer works...not normally a dilemma until you live on the 7th floor! I laugh because I´ve been praying that God would help me loose weight.. but this is not quite what I had in mind...7 flights is a lot!!!
It´s been quite the adventure so far. Ash and I encountered some interesting spiritual stuff at the airport (we found a prayer room-chapel and while in it had 3 muslims come in and pray... but through this God showed me the power of worship). We now have swam in the Mediteranean Sea and are fighting desperately against this jetlag! We´re 7 hours ahead here and Ash and I didn´t really sleep the night before. We´ve been up for more than 24 hours... but I figure if we can stay up until 10 or 11 ( it´s 5 or so now) then we can beat this jetlag.
I hope this makes sense´...as I said... we´re tired and in need of rest with a broken elevator! But God is good in this all! Will write more soon.
Please pray for us. tomorrow we´ll meet with Maria and La Zona Roja for prayer at 5ish.
It´s been quite the adventure so far. Ash and I encountered some interesting spiritual stuff at the airport (we found a prayer room-chapel and while in it had 3 muslims come in and pray... but through this God showed me the power of worship). We now have swam in the Mediteranean Sea and are fighting desperately against this jetlag! We´re 7 hours ahead here and Ash and I didn´t really sleep the night before. We´ve been up for more than 24 hours... but I figure if we can stay up until 10 or 11 ( it´s 5 or so now) then we can beat this jetlag.
I hope this makes sense´...as I said... we´re tired and in need of rest with a broken elevator! But God is good in this all! Will write more soon.
Please pray for us. tomorrow we´ll meet with Maria and La Zona Roja for prayer at 5ish.
We´re Here!!!
Just a quick post to let you know that we have all arrived safe and sound. It´s about 10:00 am Barcelona time. We´re just waiting for our apartment leaser to check us in, and we´ll be settled. More to come soon!! Btw... we all love it!! (even though, yes, it´s only been an hour here:) ). Love you all much!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Fighting to Show the World Something
Good Morning All!!
God is Good. The past three weeks have nearly flown by and with out a doubt, God is teaching me many things. I feel like these four weeks have been an adjusment and an acclamation to the culture, timezone, and lifestyle of the Spanish. Without a doubt, it is different here, especially the mindset. I feel like we´re not so much battling spiritually and physically a stronghold, but fighting to show the world something that has existed under their noses forever. God has huge plans for this battle, and for us here in the midst of it all. Only another week and a half until we´re all together and able to experience this amazing journey.
Please be in prayer for heatlh, as after nearly a month, the wear of a different lifestyle is catching up with me! Also, that the hearts of those who need to hear it most are being prepared, as are our hearts as we prepare to share those words.
God Bless you all! Enjoy the sunshine and your sunday!
K
God is Good. The past three weeks have nearly flown by and with out a doubt, God is teaching me many things. I feel like these four weeks have been an adjusment and an acclamation to the culture, timezone, and lifestyle of the Spanish. Without a doubt, it is different here, especially the mindset. I feel like we´re not so much battling spiritually and physically a stronghold, but fighting to show the world something that has existed under their noses forever. God has huge plans for this battle, and for us here in the midst of it all. Only another week and a half until we´re all together and able to experience this amazing journey.
Please be in prayer for heatlh, as after nearly a month, the wear of a different lifestyle is catching up with me! Also, that the hearts of those who need to hear it most are being prepared, as are our hearts as we prepare to share those words.
God Bless you all! Enjoy the sunshine and your sunday!
K
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Barcelona in t-minus 2 weeks!
Two weeks from now I'll be descending in my flight to Barcelona (or closely to that point) at this time. Crazy! Here's an update of what to expect
We arrive Wednesday morning. We'll check into our apartment, freshen up, explore our area, possibly nap (although Kels will be used to the time) and perhaps enjoy a nice dinner out. Thursday we'll meet Maria and people from La Zona Roja (the organization we'll be spending some of our time with that works with prostitution is Spain). Friday will probably be another day to explore and get situate with the culture and our surroundings. Possibly a morning on the beach in prayer and bible study (although that's tbd with weekend beach crowds and weather). Friday night we're enrolled in a cooking class for some team building, culture, and a way for us to bring back a taste of Spain to you find folks we know! :)
The rest of the schedule is still being mapped out, and is going to be pretty loose, but I'm currently mapping out different districts or barrios of Barcelona for prayer walks. Each Thursday for sure we'll be with la Zona Roja serving them and with them in ministry. We'll also be attending a flamenco show and going to a vineyard for some culture.. and of course we'll hit the beach.
I am SO excited for this trip. EVERYTHING has fallen into place so perfectly. Better than I ever could have asked or imagined, and I know that God is not done being that good faithful Father He is, providing and caring for us and preparing our way as we go.
Please be praying as we prepare... please! Prayer is so vital to all we do. The Lord says ask anything and it will be given to you, and calls us to call on Him. He will not turn us away when we call on His name! Please seek Him and ask Him for protection, and to prepare us for what we are to experience in Spain. Ask that He would grow us closer to himself, but more importantly, that He would grow us deeper in the knowledge of His love and character. I know each of our desires is to know God so deeply and personally. Pray that God would use this trip in our walk to do just that, and even in that, that we would help others experience the love of our Lord on this earth that may not know Him and His good love.
I love you and will continue to post as we near the trip.. as well as there!
AZ
PS... WE miss you Kels and look forward to seeing you in Spain! ahh!!:)
We arrive Wednesday morning. We'll check into our apartment, freshen up, explore our area, possibly nap (although Kels will be used to the time) and perhaps enjoy a nice dinner out. Thursday we'll meet Maria and people from La Zona Roja (the organization we'll be spending some of our time with that works with prostitution is Spain). Friday will probably be another day to explore and get situate with the culture and our surroundings. Possibly a morning on the beach in prayer and bible study (although that's tbd with weekend beach crowds and weather). Friday night we're enrolled in a cooking class for some team building, culture, and a way for us to bring back a taste of Spain to you find folks we know! :)
The rest of the schedule is still being mapped out, and is going to be pretty loose, but I'm currently mapping out different districts or barrios of Barcelona for prayer walks. Each Thursday for sure we'll be with la Zona Roja serving them and with them in ministry. We'll also be attending a flamenco show and going to a vineyard for some culture.. and of course we'll hit the beach.
I am SO excited for this trip. EVERYTHING has fallen into place so perfectly. Better than I ever could have asked or imagined, and I know that God is not done being that good faithful Father He is, providing and caring for us and preparing our way as we go.
Please be praying as we prepare... please! Prayer is so vital to all we do. The Lord says ask anything and it will be given to you, and calls us to call on Him. He will not turn us away when we call on His name! Please seek Him and ask Him for protection, and to prepare us for what we are to experience in Spain. Ask that He would grow us closer to himself, but more importantly, that He would grow us deeper in the knowledge of His love and character. I know each of our desires is to know God so deeply and personally. Pray that God would use this trip in our walk to do just that, and even in that, that we would help others experience the love of our Lord on this earth that may not know Him and His good love.
I love you and will continue to post as we near the trip.. as well as there!
AZ
PS... WE miss you Kels and look forward to seeing you in Spain! ahh!!:)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Exploration
God Bless All!
Greetings from Sunny Beautiful Spain!
I arrived last almost a week and a half ago, and I have been enjoying all that there is to experience here. God is preparing me in ways that I couldn't believe, and I'm more and more excited everyday to be learning how to survive in this country. Barcelona will be different, yes, but by then I'll have some grasp of the country, definitely the language, and I'll be excited to be with people I love.
In the meantime, God has been showing me some amazing things through the tourist-y type things here. We were in Madrid this past weekend (my study abroad group) for some tours and such, and while in el Museo del Prado, He opened my eyes to some things.
God has given us everything we have in our lives, yet we spend our time honoring good people, good places, and good things, rather than seeing the Creator of it all. I was looking at thousands of paintings and statues of saints, the virgin, Christ, and it dawned on me, where is He in all of this? We´ve been commemorating his followers since their beginning, but no one could know what John the baptist looked like, or Christ, or Mary. Yet everyone tries?
Why do we try so hard to confine God to this perfect box of a human image? Especially when He is so much more than that. We have a perfect, unfailing, loving God, and when we try so hard to put him into this box, we leave out the qualities of him that we don´t like, or don´t understand, or don´t go along with what we´re doing in our lives. I don´t want to do that any more.
I have a God that possesses more qualities than I´ll ever know, and I don´t want to limit those. I want to explore them, to know more about His essence and why He has created me in His image, and what qualities of His I have.
I´ve been given an opportunity to take a break from America, and I´m taking every moment I can to sop it up and focus on what´s important to me. I want to invest in people, and I want to be open to allow God to invest in me.
I'm praying that this is something that isn´t just changing in me while I´m here, but will return with me.
God Bless, Take care, More soon,
K
Greetings from Sunny Beautiful Spain!
I arrived last almost a week and a half ago, and I have been enjoying all that there is to experience here. God is preparing me in ways that I couldn't believe, and I'm more and more excited everyday to be learning how to survive in this country. Barcelona will be different, yes, but by then I'll have some grasp of the country, definitely the language, and I'll be excited to be with people I love.
In the meantime, God has been showing me some amazing things through the tourist-y type things here. We were in Madrid this past weekend (my study abroad group) for some tours and such, and while in el Museo del Prado, He opened my eyes to some things.
God has given us everything we have in our lives, yet we spend our time honoring good people, good places, and good things, rather than seeing the Creator of it all. I was looking at thousands of paintings and statues of saints, the virgin, Christ, and it dawned on me, where is He in all of this? We´ve been commemorating his followers since their beginning, but no one could know what John the baptist looked like, or Christ, or Mary. Yet everyone tries?
Why do we try so hard to confine God to this perfect box of a human image? Especially when He is so much more than that. We have a perfect, unfailing, loving God, and when we try so hard to put him into this box, we leave out the qualities of him that we don´t like, or don´t understand, or don´t go along with what we´re doing in our lives. I don´t want to do that any more.
I have a God that possesses more qualities than I´ll ever know, and I don´t want to limit those. I want to explore them, to know more about His essence and why He has created me in His image, and what qualities of His I have.
I´ve been given an opportunity to take a break from America, and I´m taking every moment I can to sop it up and focus on what´s important to me. I want to invest in people, and I want to be open to allow God to invest in me.
I'm praying that this is something that isn´t just changing in me while I´m here, but will return with me.
God Bless, Take care, More soon,
K
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
AEROPLANE
So...tickets are booked for Ashley and myself. Kelsey needs to do them seperate due to the whole studying abroad first thing... But the trip is booked. We'll leave June 16th at 7:10 am from Sioux Falls and Return July 14th at 8:30 PM (we leave at 10amish Barcelona time... and have like a 19 hour flight... so essentially July 14th is going to be a 30 hour day for us:) ). Keep praying for funding to come in... we still have to pay for our hostel, food and what not, but God has provided for the tickets!!!:) Praise Him!!
Much love!
Annie
Much love!
Annie
Sunday, March 1, 2009
How it all began...the "AZ"story
Last year (almost exactly a year ago) I went on a Spring Break trip to Las Angeles with a team of 6..three students from DSU and three students from SDSU...lead by DSU's staff Kim. I wrestled for a long time with whether I was going or not, until the Lord so clearly spoke to my spirit saying "go." LA was a blast! It's probably the most intense spiritual thing I have ever done, and my life has been radically transformed through my experiences there. It was there that God took biblical teachings and stories and transformed them into daily experiences and realities (read the LA blog for more onthis).
One day while we were there, a woman came and spoke to us of her time spent in Africa with children in orphanges. They taught the children to really pray and seek God, to listen to his voice, in whatever way He would speak to them. She shared with us some amazing stories of these children praying and listening to words they recieved from Jesus, including a story about a hospital ward full of dying AIDS patients being miraculously healed through prayer and song (one woman who had been told she had no hope is now enrolled, or probably compeleted college!). Then this woman lead us through some of the same listening excersizes she did with the children (after all, scripture/Jesus teaches that we are to come to Him as children). She challenged us to do this, and I did. The first question we asked God was what game He would want to play with us. We then asked why and continued from there. My answer recieved was softball because the Lord wanted me to know that I have the confidence and authority in His kingdom just the same as I did on the softball diamond (I was an all state softball player 3 times...and had coaches we didn't enjoy pitching to me...). Pretty sweet right? We then asked God if he could go anyplace with us where would he go and why? I had two simultaneous responses. An image of water and the word Barcelona. I inquired first on the water, and the Lord gave me an image of me dancing on water with him as the center I danced around ( kind-of like a ballerina and him holding my hand as I danced around Him). He wanted to grow my faith to where I wouldn't just walk on water, but would be so comfortable with Him and my trust in Him that I would dance on water (which He is definately doing...through some interesting ways:)). I then inquire about Barcelona and He told me He wanted me to go there and when asked when I heard "summer 2009."
And thus, Barcelona began. Since then, Ashley and Kelsey joining me has just fallen into place. We're still planning and waiting and watching as the rest of the trip falls into place, having faith it is the Lord's will and He will continue to reveal what He has for us there. As for Ashley and Kelsey coming to Barcelona....well there stories are probably different... I'll let them share them with you themselves! :)
For now, that's it!
God bless and may you grow more in the knowledge of His love daily!
Love you much!
AZ for the Barcelona trio
One day while we were there, a woman came and spoke to us of her time spent in Africa with children in orphanges. They taught the children to really pray and seek God, to listen to his voice, in whatever way He would speak to them. She shared with us some amazing stories of these children praying and listening to words they recieved from Jesus, including a story about a hospital ward full of dying AIDS patients being miraculously healed through prayer and song (one woman who had been told she had no hope is now enrolled, or probably compeleted college!). Then this woman lead us through some of the same listening excersizes she did with the children (after all, scripture/Jesus teaches that we are to come to Him as children). She challenged us to do this, and I did. The first question we asked God was what game He would want to play with us. We then asked why and continued from there. My answer recieved was softball because the Lord wanted me to know that I have the confidence and authority in His kingdom just the same as I did on the softball diamond (I was an all state softball player 3 times...and had coaches we didn't enjoy pitching to me...). Pretty sweet right? We then asked God if he could go anyplace with us where would he go and why? I had two simultaneous responses. An image of water and the word Barcelona. I inquired first on the water, and the Lord gave me an image of me dancing on water with him as the center I danced around ( kind-of like a ballerina and him holding my hand as I danced around Him). He wanted to grow my faith to where I wouldn't just walk on water, but would be so comfortable with Him and my trust in Him that I would dance on water (which He is definately doing...through some interesting ways:)). I then inquire about Barcelona and He told me He wanted me to go there and when asked when I heard "summer 2009."
And thus, Barcelona began. Since then, Ashley and Kelsey joining me has just fallen into place. We're still planning and waiting and watching as the rest of the trip falls into place, having faith it is the Lord's will and He will continue to reveal what He has for us there. As for Ashley and Kelsey coming to Barcelona....well there stories are probably different... I'll let them share them with you themselves! :)
For now, that's it!
God bless and may you grow more in the knowledge of His love daily!
Love you much!
AZ for the Barcelona trio
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