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
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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!
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