Friday, August 10, 2012

We have arrived safely back in the USA! After a few close calls in getting on our planes due to very short layovers and huge airports (Madrid and O'Hare) we were able to make it to LAX without a glitch.  We had such a wonderful time connecting with the Spanish and making friends there. It was really hard to leave everyone- but we all exchanged email and many of us are already Facebook friends.

It was amazing to see God work through our conversations, our events, community service and even simply our presence there. I had no idea that so many people would be sad to see us leave. Being in Spain was such an amazing experience and opened all of our eyes to another element of missions that many of us had never explored, and also made us aware of areas in the world that desperately need their spiritual need met. Prayers for Spain and Altea specifically are very much needed and appreciated. Arianna, Xara, Ryann, Jiska, and Gin will be staying there for the winter term as well and will be continuing the art nights in a different way.

Thank-you so much for your prayer and support!

Me, Whitney, Lisa, Lauren, Terri and Xara

Community meal- these happened twice a week and we were able to invite our friends from the town to join us :)

Final meal together

Me and Mila- a sweet woman who worked in one of the shops by our house

Blanca- another friend who owned this shop

Beautiful sunrise

On the plane to LAX! So Spanish with our fans :)
Dios le bendiga!

Sunday, July 29, 2012


July 25, 2012
Well, we are in our finals days here in Altea and lots of things are going on! This last week was definitely not one of rest and relaxation for sure. More girls have arrived and so we have been in process of welcoming them and showing them around as well as introducing them to what we have been doing so far in the installation and in the community. They have jumped in like pros and have worked hard to make their contributions to the exhibition. Tonight will be our third exhibition and thus we feel it is going to be our best- third time is the charm right?!  Each night has gone well, we have just had different experiences at each. This week I have made quite a number of friends throughout the community- many are actually from Holland and Norway and have  been able to invite them to our exhibition- so hopefully we will be able to see them there.
Another crazy element is that we have been informed that the house we are living in needs to be moved out by tomorrow morning- which means these last few days have been filled with cleaning, packing and moving. Quite exhausting. We are going to be staying at La Terraza and the staff house for the remaining nights- a few of us will be sleeping under the stars J

It has been wonderful being here and being able to see God work not only in Altea but also in our own community of women. It has been such a blessing to see God’s faithfulness in all we have done.

July 29, 2012
We will be coming home tomorrow and it is so crazy that time went by so quickly. Last night we had our last night out and went salsa dancing! It was quite fun. We have been mostly packing today and then tonight we have our closing meeting with communion. Then we leave for the airport at 6 am!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

So, we had our second art exhibition on Friday and it was a success. We added a few more items to the installation- including some of my own sketches, and more decopauged bottles. Also, the local artist Daniel sold one of his pieces! It was the first event that we had without our only male on the trip, Jared, as he left early Friday morning- so it was a bit of a test doing it without him :(

This last week was pretty exhausting- lots of good things, but they are all catching up with us now. I haven't been so exhausted in a while. We went on a hike to the lighthouse and then swam in a little cove. We also have had 3 community meals this week which adds up to a lot of time of preparation and clean-up in addition to the socializing in Spanish which poses its own challenges. :) All of the meals were successful and we invited our new Spanish friends to come- and they were all able to! Daniel came to our meals as well as our friends from the gelateria, Ana and Pere, and also some of Xara's friends. At Jared's Farewell Fiesta we were all assigned to bring something to the meal and I was assigned dessert- so logically and what I thought was very uninventive I homemade chocolate chip cookies. Little did I know that they would be a huge hit! The Spanish don't really have homemade soft chocolate chip cookies and so for many of them, this was the first time they had ever had one! I made two batches and every single cookie was eaten. This was a little revelation for me in regards to the purpose of EDGE 2012, which is to be yourself and through that you can share the gospel. So through my little act of making cookies which is something that I am so comfortable with, I was able to show a little bit of myself and God through that :) Who knew?!

Well, amazingly we have about one week left here!

Ryan and me at the art night

The chocolate chip cookies!

My dress sketches displayed.. on a dress :)

Gin hanging some of the prayers that were written at the art night for restoration and healing

Swimming at the cove by the lighthouse

Hike to the lighthouse!

Farewell Jared :(

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Hello!

So, over the last few days we have been preparing for our installation that opened on Friday night. Overall the event was a success! The theme was repurposing, restoration and beauty from ashes, so we have been taking items from the trash and turning them into treasure. We took waterbottles and made them into lanterns with plant-esque designs on them, we painted and sketched on envelopes, turning something ordinary into a canvas.  We also painted on the cups and wine glasses that our guests would be using. Rebecca made some luminaries and also decoupaged some old jars to turn into votive holders. In addition to our own work, we hosted a local artist named Daniel and  had him exhibit some of his work- he does portraits in watercolor as well as some other types of paintings. He is quite talented and it was an honor to have him as a focus of our party.
In hosting this party we want to draw the community in and invite them to look at art, ask questions about it and ultimately have it lead into a conversation about the ultimate Creator. At these first nights we are focusing on building those relationships so that in the future we are able to delve into deeper conversations. It has been quite difficult to share the gospel with people that don’t feel as though they need it- in fact, many know about God yet choose not to have him as part of their lives.
An interesting point that Rebecca brought up in a one on one conversation with me is how do you share the gospel with a community that desperately needs it, yet does not have any physical needs that we can come and meet to show the love of Christ through our acts of service.  This is one of the reasons that we are focusing on relationship building rather than physically building.  Spain is a first-world country and therefore the need for water, clothes and shelter is not as imminent- but their need for a savior is just as great as those in other third-world countries.
Some of the ways that I have seen God using me as a walking testimony is through our interactions with the store owners. We have all been intentional about talking with the store workers, restaurant owners, waitresses and gelato workers and through these conversations we have  been able to be a witness. Many of the workers have told us how nice we were and that there are not many Americans that come to visit. I had a very interesting encounter in one of the sotres that showed me how the way I have been interacting with the store owners has been visibly different than normal tourists.
There were a couple girls that were clearly from the states because they were speaking English with an American accent. I had seen them earlier in another store and so in this second store I was all too aware of their presence. I was talking with the cashier and inviting him to our art night and the girl behind me was getting frustrated because I was trying to speak Spanish with the guy and he was obviously more interested in our conversation than making sure she was taken care of. I hear her say, “Ugh I just wanna buy these and get out of here”, She then proceeds to take a couple more deep breaths and then moves in front of me, puts her purchase on the table and then throws her money down. Then without saying “thanks” or anything, she quickly grabs her purchase and leaves in a huff. Quite the experience. There have been a couple more of those instances where people were trying to bargain with the workers in one of the boutiques- and it comes across as serious cultural insensitivity. We would never try and bargain with a boutique owner in the states- yet here, many of the foreigners try and do just that.
So, my focus has been to try and get to know the owners and in my actions show how I care about the whole person and not just about what services they can offer me.  Many of these lessons I can see taking back to the states to be able to be the light of Christ in every day life and not just on a mission trip.
Unfortunately I am still sick :( Diagnosis: ear infection. Remedy: antibiotics, sleep and prayer. So far the first two haven't made a huge difference, so lots of prayer is appreciated! But on the bright side here are some photos of the last couple weeks. 

These are some of the glasses that we painted for our guests to drink out of at the art exhibition



These are the luminaries Rebecca made
One of our guests writing her thoughts and prayers on the papers provided- lit by the decopauged votive holders
Anne and I are airing out our smoking pans from our attempt at having a 4th of July BBQ.. haha  Nothing caught on fire- no worries!


 For Jiska's birthday we all went out for tapas


 and mojitos

 these are the stairs we traverse every day

This is Rebecca playing her electric cello in the plaza to invite people to the gallery opening.  

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

We are getting ready for our installation to open on Friday night! Things are coming together well :) Unfortunately I have come down with a terrible illness consisting of fever, and a cough :( Prayer for recovery is much appreciated!!!!  Jeremy and Anna come late tonight so we will be hanging out with them tomorrow and Friday. Sorry for the delay in posts but my illness has kept me away from wifi :( Updates on the installation to come! And hopefully more pictures. :)

the theme is avant-garden... get excited :)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

It is the morning on July 5 and we are excited for our preparations for the gallery. We are working toward an installation that will be next Friday and with the theme of repurposing, reimagining life, and beauty out of ashes. We are being challenged to look for ordinary things and reinvent them to be something beautiful- like a trash to treasure kind of approach. Tonight we have our second creative night where we are going to begin putting some of the pieces together. Yesterday, we met some people along the paseo and were able to invite them to the gallery showing! They were very interested so that is so exciting to see such a positive response. By going to the same places every day we are building relationships with these people and then better able to show them Christ through our daily lives and everyday actions.

Thanks so much for your support!!! More pictures to come- but the WIFI is a little unreliable and pictures take forever to upload... :(