Spain Day 7

I wish I could post some pictures of these kiddies I am working with.  They are 21 months to 14 years old and some of the best kids I have ever worked with....and cute!  It is the teams habit to have dinner, devotions and discuss our "high point" for the day just before bed.  Tonight everyone had more than one high point and they were all about the kids or the devotion we had this morning (We have devotion time with one of the people that are attending the conference each morning.  They give us their testimony and basically tell us about the area they are working in.)

Our youngest child *Jay (that is what I am calling him on the blog) had a really rough day yesterday, but today seemed all smiles and giggles (except one melt down just before a nap).  Another one was, as we were talking about Jesus walking on the water and the disciples reaction, Dee (one of the teachers) asked, "how do you think you will feel when you finally see Jesus."  Our newest kid (started today) said, with his arms stretched out in front of him, "I would just look at him and say 'FINALLY!"  He is 7 1/2 years old....  It makes it so worth it when they run back to you to hug you goodbye, smile at you when the culture they live in doesn't really promote a lot of smiling, the parent tell you that they can relax because they don't have to worry about their kids being well taken care of, listening to the lessons, helping the little ones without prodding, and know some Bible stories better than you do.  All but one ,*Jay, know at least 2 languages....most of them 3 or 4.  This morning 3/4 of the group were "teaching" us how to count in Arabic.  I have come to the conclusion that some of the 5-6 year olds are smarter than I am.....maybe you and I combined. :~)

Food in Spain: I have talked about the fabulous ice cream we had in Marbella, but many of my meals since coming to Spain have been more of an adventure.  I don't know Spanish very well, so sometimes I have to guess.  Lunch at the camp is just whatever they serve you.  Yesterday for lunch....well....it was a car wreck.  It was the first official day of the conference, the big group was here and "someone" in the kitchen didn't plan very well.  You have two plates, drink, bread, and desert.  It was like they would walk over, get your drink order, come back a while later with your drinks, then come with the first plate and serve part of the table (out of 4 people), then leave, then serve part or all of another table, then collect your first plate (if you ate it), without serving the other people at the table, then one person at the table got the second plate, and was completely done before a couple more of us at the table got our second plate.  One person never got her first plate and finally left.  Then there was desert.....I was afraid at this point.  Plate 1 was Gazpacho (I am not a fan of thick cold soup that is a combination of vegetables blended to puree).  Plate 2 was sardines.....3 big ones.  I heard they were cooked on the sand, salted, peppered and served with shredded lettuce and tomato on the side.  It took us two hours to have lunch....  I did eat the Gazpacho (bread dumbed down the taste a little) and some shredded lettuce, and some desert that I can't pronounce, and was average at best.  It was like flan....but it wasn't flan.  I did take a teenie weenie bite of the sardines (because I think I should at least experience the yucky-ness).  Below is a picture.  If you like Gazpacho and Sardines...this meal would have been right up your ally.

To make up the the yucky lunch I had a MAGNUM bar for a snack later.  Magnum bars make up for all bad food in Europe!

Better get to bed....more kiddies tomorrow!  G'night!

Spain Days 3-6

Sorry for the delay.  The last few days have been filled planes, trains, and automobiles.  Ok, really buses, trains and automobiles…

Day 3 we were in Marbella.  In the evening we went swimming in the Mediterranean and ate some of the best ice cream I have ever had!  If you ever decide to hit the beaches in Spain you should know that on many of the beaches you will find a lot of speedos (on men), and tops are optional (for women).  For obvious reasons, there is no picture posted of our time on the beach.

Day 4 we got up EARLY and went to “La Roca” in Gibraltar.  It is beautiful.  The day was very clear and we could see Morocco, Africa across the Atlantic Ocean/Med Sea.  The picture here really doesn’t do it justice though.  We did a lot of traveling that day as well.  We rode in a car for an hour to Gibraltar, took the bus to the tram to go up on top, took another bus back to the boarder (it circled the entire city first – it was not our intention to have the city tour J), took the car and hour back to Marbella, took a bus an hour to Malaga, hopped a train to Cordoba, and a car to the “camp” we are staying at outside the city.  Got settled in and went to bed.  It was a long day.

(La Roca - in Gibraltar)

Day 5 was set up day.  We got all of the kids rooms set up for the conference, got all of the logistics figured out (as well as we could).  It was a bit of a frustrating day just trying to get everything ready and working with contingency plans b, c, d, e……z.  Since we don’t always know what to expect in another country, sometimes trying to plan can be “interesting.”J

Day 6 (today) flew by!  The conference started and we meet lots-o-kids and parents.  We had a great time working with them.  Our curriculum has a new lesson every day, and today was accepted by Jesus.  It is so appropriate for the first day working with the kids.  We discussed that everyone has different gifts and talents and God made them that way, and he accepts us that way.  We had puppets, skits, songs, crafts, and the pool.  Thank God for the pool!  I didn’t hear the exact temp today, but yesterday and the day before it was 107.  The kids are great and we are looking forward to tomorrow, getting to know the kids better and getting to know the parents and hearing about their work on the field.  

Spain Day Two (first full day - 8/8/10)

This, my friends, is called "Chocolate y Churros," and it is a fabulous dessert that is popular in Spain. Especially when you eat it with "cafe con leche." I recommend it to all!

Today has been a better day for all of us. We got some sleep and feel human again. :~) Today was our first full day in Spain. We took 3 buses to Marbella, where we are staying for a couple of days, and are settled in our hotel. We had lunch (at 4pm) on the beach, went swimming in the Meditarrenean Sea, and went to Los Naranjas Centre where we had dinner and the afore mentioned Chocolate y Churros. Dinner at 10pm and dessert at 11:30pm. That schedule is totally normal in Spain. You can barley find a restaurant open for dinner before 9pm.

Our last team member arrived from Budapest today, so we are a complete team now. Yay! Our team is the best! It is a great combination of personalities and gifts.

Please pray for our team for the next few weeks as we work together to serve and minister to Bible Translators and missionaries from countries I can't even mention. They work and live in areas most of us wouldn't want to, and in conditions I am sure most of us would never consider.

That's all for now....must sleep....it is after 1am here.  G'night!

Spain Day One (Sat - 8/7/10)

I thought I would start with something pretty....like the view from the balcony of our hotel out to the Mediterranean Sea. The picture doesn't do it justice.
Later we went and swam in it for an hour or so. It was a nice break after traveling for the last 24 hours. It has been a little bit of a rough start for all of us. We had all of the little annoying things like turbulent flights, maxed out flights, flights running late so you are running to your next gate hoping to make the flight to find out that flight is delayed 30 mintes that turns into 3 hours and, the worst flight crew any of us have ever had. Then some of the bigger issues were lost luggage (now safely back in our hands), lost/stolen purse, and death of a friend (not on the trip, back in the States). All of that with literally no sleep from 6am Friday to 1am Sunday, made it a trying day for all of us.

SO! We are glad the bad stuff is behind us, so we could move to our new hotel and start preparing for our work for the conference in Cordoba in a couple of days.  We have one more team member, Peg, joining us in Marbella today and then we will be complete.

Time To Take Off - SPAIN

THE TEAM: Paula, Margie, Dee, Becky, Bonnie, Peg (not shown)

I lo-lo-love Palm Trees!!

Orlando Training before we take off for Spain tomorrow.

De Nyew Testament

De Nyew Testament

“Cause God lob all de people een de wol sommuch dat e gii we e onliest Son.  God sen we um so dat ebrybody wa bleebe pon um ain gwine dead.  

Dey gwine lib faebamo.”

Can you read this Bible verse?

Where is the verse found in the Bible?

What does it say?

What does it mean???

It is John 3:16 in Sea Island Creole English,

and it is spoken primarily in the United States.

Now you can go back and read it again, and it makes a lot more sense.  But what if this was all you had?  What if English was your heart language and Sea Island Creole was the trade language?  Both languages are similar, so you should be able to get “enough” out of Sea Island Creole to understand Jesus died for you to give you eternal life, right??  Some of us don’t like it when someone reads   scripture out of a version that isn’t our favorite, Can you imagine     trying to read and know God by reading this translation?

There are still 2,250 language groups that don’t have one word of scripture in their heart language (the language they learned and spoke as a child).  That represents roughly 350 million people.

That is why Wycliffe’s vision is to have a Bible translation started in EVERY LANGUAGE by the year 2025.  Every day people are dying that have never heard God’s Word.  We don’t want one more generation of people to pass away without hearing the life changing Word of God!

There are several ways you can help.  You can pray, go, or give.

Pray for the translators and those on the field supporting their efforts.  Go on a short-term or long-term mission trip, in the US or abroad, and support the laborers in the field. Give financially to assist with the physical needs of translators and those supporting them on the field.  If you have questions, please feel free to contact me. :-)