Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day!

This is Father's Day in the US, and I wanna wish my wonderful Dad, and my marvelous brother Bruce a VERY Blessed Day! Bruce is one of my heroes... how he makes time with men to mentor them early in the morning before they head out to work; teaches in his small group; balances a busy church life as one of the key pastors with great NEW ideas... and carves out special, fun moments with his family.Here is Dad teaching a group of college students while in Sevilla visiting. I could not have a better father! He is my hero, in how he sacrifices for his family, has a global vision, emphasizes the power of "ONE" and mentoring. Plus he's a fantastic communicator. He prays for us, & encourages me (his spiritual gift is exhortation; encouragement!) to be ALL that God wants for me, without limits -- he makes me feel as if I could fly!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Visit to Extremadura

Dusty, dry-- the name of the state north of us is called "Extremadura," meaning extremely hard. I was able to be on that university campus in May. Here is Arnulfo, who I was able to team up with to do surveys on campus.
Last month i had the privilege of being with a group of 7 young adults in Caceres, who are reaching out to students in various ways, using sport, English & their lifestyle. We had 2 park days, playing soccer and ultimate frisbee (frisbee is not really known here in Spain!).We also enjoyed a games night...
And did surveys with Soularium on the campus (using 50 photos & 5 questions) ... and ate yummy cafeteria food! The student on the far right is someone we met who is interested in bettering his English.
It was really fun for me to brainstorm with them, explore the campus... and meet their friends!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Beach Party

We had a blast this weekend with a beach party theme in my apartment... even though students are beginning final exams, it seemed a great chance to "catch" a few before they really get tied up in exams, or some head out for the summer months... some of the guys here had a "Kodak moment" under the beach umbrella! Maggie and others did a great job decorating...above are Boomer (intern in Bormujos for 10 weeks from Oklahoma) and Lenny. And on the back row: Francisco, Carlos and Hendrik (aka Enrique, in Spanish)!
Hendrik kept running into several guys on campus -- and they came to the party! One of them saved the day for Natasha, a new intern, too, by finding her iPhone which she'd left on a bench!
Fran, Carlos and Lenny pretending to be on the beach!
Even though the temps have turned surprisingly cooler recently, I still tried to "fake it" by putting my toes into the pool on my balcony & asked Abraham to pull off his sandles for a foto.
Of course, the girls had to have their photo shoot as well-- me with Leti (Leticia) and Inma (on front row), and Natasha, Maggie and Christy in the back.