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!

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!

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.

special day in Bormujos

We recently had our 2nd baptism for La Comunidad Aljar., our newer church start in Bormujos, outside the city in a suburb. We meet in a rented former cafe. Downstairs is the hall where we have worship.

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It was the 2nd baptism for our group, but a 1st for this location that we're renting.

Two of my super good university friends also shared stories of what God has done/ is doing in their lives-- Abraham & Jake (see Abe in 1st photo). The young woman who got baptised is Nieves and she will be married this summer. I pray that her example will encourage others to take this important step in the near future.

Weekend in Portugal

Here i am in the Algarve section of south Portugal, with Maggie, Hendrik and Daniel.

We had a marvelous weekend in Portugal, about 2 weeks ago...Thankfully the meal table fit us all!

Maggie and Hendrik have been serving with La Comunidad Aljarafe and my friend David in Bormujos the past weeks, and will be helping to lead the Connexxion group in Sevilla starting this fall.

There was a retreat center about 2 hours away-- & the weekend was a great chance for us to have deep fellowship together as Connexxion...

... different ones of us told our stories and talked about verses in the Bible that are meaningful to us. We also, of course, cooked together, walked on the beach (some wandering into caves), played crazy games and just hung out until the wee hours of the morning.

So the whole group: (left to rt, back) Maggie, Lea (both from Germany), Martha, Inma, Sierra, Elizabeth

-- Jake, Abraham, Tyler, Daniel, Hendrik (husband of Maggie)

Feria de Abril - April Fair!

Here is my friend Christy (far rt.) with 3 interns & some teachers from a local high school where they help with English classes -- they were kind enough to invite us to their tent/ caseta.
Inma is showing us how to use castanets-- I was pretty hopeless on my first try!
The entrance gate has a different symbol each year & is celebrated with a grand lighting at midnight when the fair opens.
My friend Sierra was good at improvising to have the flamenco "flair" with her purple scarf & flower.
Leticia was so kind to invite us to her "caseta" -- most of these tents are privately owned by families or businesses or "barrios" (neighborhoods), so you cannot just drop in.

The "Feria de Abril" is a famous week- long event each year in Sevilla.

Maybe you recognize the back of the young woman on the right with the pony tail and red swirl around the flamenco ruffles?

We enjoyed the break from regular semester college activities (everyone was off from classes) to go to various tents, learn to dance a folk dance called "sevillanas", and hang out & bond with students.

Before that week we also had a special "feria" party in my apartment-- above are Johnny (from Costa Rica); Abraham from Sevilla & Daniel (from Peru)... & here I am with my friend Carmen.

taking simple balloons to transform my place, I was grateful for Hendrik and Maggie and Aryn who were so helpful decorating -- (Aryn in red further below; Hendrik standing with a white sweater)

And we had over 25 attending! Even from Morocco, a friend of ours was in town.

Semana Santa experiences

If you want to see a plethora of gold, "images" (as it's called in Spanish), parades, dedicated people, some party-ers, and streets crowded day and night with thousands upon thousands...
Holy Week in Sevilla is the place. Easter is not really a big deal here, but the emphasis seems to be
on the crucified, suffering Christ...
and on the "Virgin" (what they call Mary usually).

Imagine walking in a parade for up to 12 hours, hidden underneath a huge parade float, carrying it along with 35 other men.
Then imagine one taxi driver we met, who was going to do this 6 days, taking his vacation during that week!
My friend Sierra is pictured here with one of the Nazarenos. During Semana Santa some of the women wear clothes for mourning.

Those with the conical hats are called "Nazarenos" and hide their faces for penitence.

Semana Santa is a one -week monumental celebration in Sevilla, where members of 40+

brotherhoods walk to bring 1 or 2 ancient statues from their church to the Cathedral in Sevilla,

so the statues can greet the main "Virgin" (Mary, mother of Christ) statue there.

Each brotherhood may have as many as 200 up to over 2,000 marching in its procession. Sometimes the processions go round the clock.

Vision Trip to Jena aka "Connexxion Headquarters"

In February we enjoyed SO Much having our very 1st "Vision Trip" with students from Braunschweig, Germany & Sevilla, Spain heading to the FIRST ever Connexxion group-- in Jena, Germany! Here is Inga, a former intern with Connexxion, re-united with Abraham and Jose Maria.
We had sessions for Bible study, meeting in the Baptist church... and also workshops and small group times, and special breakfasts -- on campus, in a student residence hall, and the Lutheran Church.
The students & staff of Connexxion Jena did a marvelous job of organizing everything!
We also had a training time on campus, right before we went out to try photo surveys called "Soularium".

Here is our Sevilla group, with the hills of Jena in the background: Sierra, Jose Maria, me, Lea, Abraham, & Jake!