games night

I learned this new game called Tantrix from my friend Silvia... she is an architecture major, & it has to do with finding how each octagon can fit with others using the same colors & lines/ curves that match-- so I guess it's no wonder that she WON!

Daniel is from Peru and we met through English Club. Sergio is from the Canary Islands, and he has gotten the chance to teach substituting for a prof, while he is getting his Masters in something related to geography & economics. I'm impressed & promised I'd attend one of his lectures!

This Friday we had a games night-- a little bit of this... a little bit of that... students are still in end- of the -semester exams so it was a chance for them to "chill" and take the stress off. Most students stayed until 1 or 2 a.m. -- it was a come & go thing.

Silvia had fun juggling!

Kick Off Sunday

Take an empty former bar/ cafe building... fill it with love, paint and chairs-- and....

This was part of our final "work crew" on Saturday to clean the new cafe, and get it ready for a kick-off Sunday (no- not the Super Bowl kick off, but something much more important!). The kick off of a worship center in the town of Bormujos (and much more, to be used for classes & workshops, & small groups & kids' programs). On the right are our 2 new interns, Johelen and Andrea.

Today our new church start in this suburb pueblo just had it's first event in the new building we are renting (a former bar, cafe)

Actually, it was the first un-official start of our Sunday worship. Previously we met each Thursday in a restaurant. But because we have no water or electricity, yet, we are not quite official in this location for meetings. We also need to buy a small kitchen, lamps & lights as well as 2 staircases that are missing or not useable, etc. And more CHAIRS-- we ran out!

I thought you'd enjoy seeing the difference in the LOOK of our new "home" after 1 more week of painting and cleaning, putting together furniture, etcetera. (see blog from a few days ago)

It was a blessed day-- with over 50 attending. You go down the stairs from the cafe area to the worship center.

Since we don't have our "own" band/music team yet, we'll be enjoying visitors each week from other churches.

Another "HOME"

See the right side of this building, with the green front on it? Sierra, Jake and I went to help paint a new "home" for a church this Saturday! My Sevilla colleagues are pastoring and starting a new church in the suburbs, across the river in a town/ bedroom community called Bormujos.

We have just rented a former pub and are turning it into a

casual cafe/ sitting area for meetings & youth/ children events (at the entrance level);

a classroom for English, women's events, and other activities (like folklore dance, on the floor above);

and a worship center in the basement! God is so good to give us this cool space-- now, we just gotta figure out how to furnish it. Our first worship is THIS Sunday at 11:30 a.m., after drinking coffee and munching on "churros." (But we have no water or electricity yet!)

There is even an area for the babies, in back of the worship room, which looks onto a patio.

For more info. about our ministry there in Spanish, click on this!

A fun welcome HOME

Home can be different things to different people-- but returning to Sevilla after a stressful time (5 weeks) related to my mom's passing... was, well, really coming HOME! And some very special friends helped me feel right AT home. First I was picked up by a dear colleague family of 6, plus 2 new interns with our organization, who had just flown in 2 hours before me! Also, I got a fun surprise in my apartment building's entrance lobby, when i came from the airport... "SURPRISE" was the greeting from behind a column! 4 awesome student friends had taken down the old Christmas decorations I'd left up, cleaned my apartment, gotten me a flowering plant, and made a 2-course meal!! They are active in our Connexxion group: Abraham (Spain), me, Jake (from Wyoming), Lea (from Germany) and Sierra (Oregon).