Ready for Furniture.... Almost

The living room and dining room are painted.... well almost. The walls are all a nice neutral shade, but there are still a few parts that are neon green.  On more than half of the walls in the living room there are built in shelves that have some ornamental trim work.  The landlord is going to paint that part a deep green that matches the "marble" (I really have no idea what kind of material it is, just reminds me of marble) around the fireplace.  Hopefully he will do that this weekend.  We are ready to start moving living room furniture over at the beginning of next week.  I think we have almost reached the point where there is more at the new address than the present one - but I guess that is the goal.  We arranged for internet service to be turned in the middle of the coming week, so I guess this is real.  Still hard to believe that we are moving - but then again, if we had to live in a house this empty I think I might be a little crazy.

Painted Living Room - if you look through the window, the indistinguishable thing is an horno, an outdoor brick oven

The "old" address - Hannah's room

The "old" address - The guest room - no more guests until the new address and our first guest comes Feb 4

Changing Colors

We have found a new home in Mejorada.  It is more home than we need, but it has lots of room for English classes, teenage hang outs, hospitality, home groups, and more.  Unfortunately, it is also in need of a lot of "love."  I have spent the last two days cleaning and Scott has been painting the living room and dining room.  In ten days we should be totally moved - oh my!

Before - The color is actually much brighter in person

 

 The After - or at least one wall

 

Changing Address

As we enter into a new year of ministry we are once again facing many changes.  2013 was filled with some incredible ministry opportunities.  We began new relationships, had the opportunity to repeatedly share Christ with new people, participated in the beginning of a new church, started METAS (the non-profit organization that SEND uses as a platform for starting ministries in new areas), and faced some hard decisions.

At the end of the last school year we realized that Alex needed to leave the Spanish school system and begin at the missionary school.  There are so many differences in the Spanish and American school systems and it was becoming apparent that these differences, along with his level of Spanish, were going to create a long term problem in regards to college.  He was entering high school and we knew that these years were extremely important.  In August he began high school at Evangelical Christian Academy (ECA), an American school that is primarily for missionary children.

The school is an hour commute each way.  Our initial plan was for us to take Alex to school every morning (2 hours driving) and for him to take public transportation to a nearby town every afternoon (an 1 1/2 hour commute).  A couple months into this process we began to realize that this plan was not sustainable for Alex's entire high school career and began to pray for wisdom.  Gas is $6.65/gallon and his monthly train pass is $95, so you can imagine the financial stress of this change.  In addition, Alex was leaving home each morning at 7:30 and usually not returning home until 7 that evening.  We began to realize that this school decision was going to have a domino effect in our ministry.

La Catedral de Justo - Mejorada del Campo

After much prayer and discussions with our leadership, we have been reassigned to a new ministry site.  There are still many unknowns, but we are excited about the potential ahead.  We are moving to Mejorada del Campo (East of Madrid, about 20 minutes from ECA), a town of about 23,000 people.  There is no established evangelical church in this town.  Over the next couple of months we will be prayer walking and investigating the best way to share Christ with this pueblo. 

   
It was not an easy decision to decide to start over again or to leave the pueblo we have grown to love.  We will continue to return to Illescas once a week for Scott to teach English and Cindy to meet with Joanna and Maria.  We pray that the seeds we have scattered will take root and our teammates will begin to see fruit.  As we move into this new pueblo of Mejorada, we pray that a God will open doors to relationships and ministries that surpass our wildest imaginations.

We ask that you pray for us over the coming days.  We have found a new home and are in the process of moving.  We are taking a van load of stuff to the new house everyday.  The new house needs some cleaning and painting before we will really feel at home, much of which we are trying to do in the next two weeks.  We are meeting with our friends here in Illescas and explaining this move.  So far they have all understood our reason for change.  Pray as we will work to maintain these relationships.  Pray for our teammates who are staying in Illescas and the work they will continue.  This is our third "starting over" in 3 years and it never gets any easier.  Pray for our hearts as we say goodbye to our neighbors, who have grown to be more like family than friends.  We know that there are some hard days ahead and we covet your prayers as we walk the path that God is leading.  We trust that although the days ahead may be hard, there are exciting things to come!

Seasons of Life

Right now God continues to work on my heart in regards to changes.  I look all around me and life is filled with them, some are much easier to face than others.  Yet God keeps reminding me that life here is filled with seasons -

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

I think in the last year I have experienced almost everyone of those seasons!  

  

As I was "chatting" with Hannah yesterday (meaning we were facebook chatting) I realized that even that relationship is in a new season.  She no longer needs my everyday input.  She is becoming a beautiful adult.  She is joining a new church today - the first time she has joined without her family.  She had a date last night - first date that her parents haven't first met the guy.  She is saving for a car (anyone have a dependable used car for sale - for cheap?).  She is already making payments on her student loans to avoid accumulated interest.  She handled all kinds of flight delays on her own in JFK when returning from Spain.  She isn't planning on coming back here for the summer and thus is looking for a full-time summer job and housing situation (anyone need a nanny or babysitter for the summer?).  

Change brings so many emotions - so many reactions - so many new dreams and yet closing the door on old dreams.  I am learning to live life a littler fuller everyday as I realize that tomorrow will be different.  I am learning to love a little deeper, but at the same time, I wonder, am I becoming like the typical third culture person who also holds back a little to protect my heart from changes.  Changes, hmm.. I still say "I hate changes!" and yet I am still learning to say "there is a season."

Changes

I cannot count the number of times that I have said "I do not like change."  I guess God has decided that is a part of my character that needs to be molded and thus He has placed me in a season of life that can only be described by the word change.  We are once again finding ourselves deeply immersed in a season of change.  (Keep checking back over the coming weeks to read of all of them)

One big change began last October when I was asked to return to the classroom here in Spain.  As a

Evangelical Christian Academy - the MK school

child I loved the idea of being called to be a teacher.  I went to college and got my degree and entered the teaching world filled with the idea that I had the power to change the world.  Unfortunately, after ten years of teaching I found that as a Special Education teacher I did very little to change the world and instead a lot of paperwork.  I left teaching and said "I never see myself back in the classroom."

Hmm, that word never seems to always cause problems, doesn't it?

After months of searching for God's direction in my life, in the year 2000 I went back to school and got my seminary degree in Christian Education.  Ok - so that should have been a sign, but I really felt that I was at a turning point in my calling to education - I wanted to help teachers (in the church) be better teachers.  I found myself teaching at conferences across several states, helping lay teachers in the church be better teachers.  I became a Children's Minister and felt I had found God's calling.

And then...

There was the "fateful" trip to Ecuador where I found a new passion - short term missions.  Interestingly enough, over the coming years I would find myself in several different countries teaching teachers.  Hind sight is 20/20 - but good grief, how did I miss that education was always going to be a part of my life?

And now I find myself in Spain.  Our family came as "church planters," the latest buzz word in mission agencies.  Wait!  Don't react to that sentence - church planting is essential! New churches in unreached parts of the world (including Spain) are crucial!  But somehow I heard that phrase so much that I was only able to put that label on my calling here.  "I am a church planter."

And then....

I found myself in an intensive language course (praying to pass the proficiency exam) and distracted by my cell phone that just chimed there was a new email.  It was from the headmaster at the MK school where Alex had just begun.  Oh no!  What has he done?

Whew!  He wasn't in trouble, but I was afraid I was about to be.

A teacher at the school needed to resign immediately and return to the states due to a family crisis.  They needed a trained teacher to step in and teach 12th grade English.  Would I pray about taking the position?

NO!  I am not going back to teaching!  NO!  I am a "church planter!"  NO!  I came to Spain to change the world, not teach MKs!

So, yes, I am stubborn, but at least wise enough to pray before proclaiming those things to the world.  And in a still small voice I heard God say "I created you for this."  Due to a variety of other circumstances that were occurring at the time SEND leadership agreed this was not only a good thing for the school, but a good thing for me.  One week later I found myself introducing myself to a group of 8 students.  I had first day of school jitters and all the excitement of a new school year came rushing back. 

Yet, what do I do with the fact that I am a "church planter?"  I struggle and wrestle with God.  That is what!  I work to define what does that really mean?  I deal with the question of "but what about all our financial supporters who see us as "church planters."

And then within the first week of teaching I received an email from a parent who had read my syllabus and background.  She wrote "When I read your sheet on the assignment I recognized right away you are an experienced teacher.  I am so thankful you are taking this position.  I am sure you are leaving other areas of ministry undone for this time.  I  really appreciate it."  Her son has some struggles at school that match my training.  She and her family are planting a new church.  Could it be possible that by my being a part of providing the education her son needs I am allowing them to remain faithful in their church plant and thus I am helping "plant a church?" 

Then I read this article Teaching Children of Missionaries is Real Missionary Service.  Ok, God I get it.  But will those back home get it?  I don't know, but I am also learning that is not my problem.

And now, in the midst of a season of more changes, I find myself in the classroom a little more.  Beginning tomorrow (today is King's Day so Christmas vacation isn't quite over) I will be a long term sub in 7th and 8th grade English.  (My minor was Calculus... wanna explain why I am teaching so much English?)  One of our fellow missionaries has VISA issues and had to leave the country.  She is still waiting on the problem to be resolved so I am stepping in to help while waiting on my language scores and etc. 

Again, that question is being raised in my head.  Is this what I came for?  Then I look at Alex, who has this teacher for 9th grade English and see how much he has grown in his walk with Christ and how he has blossomed since beginning this school in August and I realize that without this school it is likely that we would have to make some hard decisions for him before he graduated.  It is because of ECA (the school) that we can confidently move forward as "church planters." 

Then I stumbled across a group of videos done by Thom Votaw putting a better picture on MK teachers.  Here are two Parents May Have To Leave Their Own Jobs To Become Teacher and Bible Translators in Papa New Guinea Need Teachers.

So, back to the classroom I go.  For now I will continue to teach 12th grade English and sub for 7th and 8th grade English.  I am in the process of talking about an exciting potential "change" for the coming school year.  And I will cherish the fact that God is allowing me to not only help "plant one church," but instead to "plant" many.

Lesson learned (at least for the day).  Be careful with the word never!

A New Year, A New Blog, A New Tomorrow

I have been silent on m original blog for awhile now.   Mostly because life has just been
overwhelming (schedule, life in a foreign country, exams, classes, children, travel, ministry, ....), but also because I felt like God was telling me it was time for something new.  As usual, God only gave me one direction at a time. 

Then earlier in December a friend of mine posted on her facebook page that she had begun to pray for her word for 2014.  Word for a year?  Huh?  I knew several from our home church did this, but kind of thought it was a little odd or something so never paid much attention to it.  (*See the bottom of this post for her "story" of her word for the year)  In fact, this year was no different.  I didn't pray for a "word," but I have been praying for some answers to some very difficult questions - all questions that had to do with the coming year. 

Then just this weekend another friend posted on her facebook page Philippians 3:13-14

"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind (like unmet expectations of myself, mistakes, hurts) and straining forward to what lies ahead…(like sending my second off to college, facing many unknowns in 2014, continuing to grow in my relationship with Christ) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (parenthesis are her notes)  

As I read that, it was like God yelling that is what I have for you for this coming year - letting go of what is behind and straining toward what tomorrow holds.  (by the way, this same friend posted a few days later her word for the year - think God is trying to get my attention)

As I began to pray about what this verse held for me - the hope and excitement that comes from being able to throw off all the hurt and disappointments and failures of what is behind and strain towards the prize of the call of God in the "mañana," I began to realize God had given me His word for the year.  I've always been known to be a little wordy, so I guess it is natural that my "word" is actually several long sentences.  :)

I also realized last night that this was what God has been preparing me for in regards to the blog.  It was time to "forget what lies behind" and "strain toward what lies ahead."  I know that a blog seems like a simple thing to leave behind, but for me, it is a concrete, physical motion of moving forward.

Who knows what this new blog will hold?  Maybe it will look just like the old one - filled with stories and pictures and recipes - or maybe God has something totally new for here as well.  Either way, I know that the reward of pressing forward is worth it all!

Hope you are up for another edition of my ramblings. 

So with all that said - what is your word/verse/focus/paragraph for 2014?  What do you need to leave behind?  What do you need to do to strain toward tomorrow?  Hold on!  I believe 2014 is going to be one wild ride!






*Shirley's story of the yearly word:  For those who don't know about my yearly word --- I was challenged in 2003 to pray and ask God for a word for the new year. Thought it was hooky but God convicted me to try -- my first word was obedience -ouch. What a blessing and walk with God it's been!!! Examples: 2007 was told to focus on Philippians and how that carried me thru my Dad's cancer diagnosis and death AND planning a wedding!!! 2011 and 2012 words were hope and joy --- what words to carry me thru those trying years (and it was neat to see how God ministered to others thru my joy pictures). Some words fun some hard (trust fellowship thanksgiving) but all taught me more about Gods character and hand on my life! So I encourage you to PRAY for your 2014 word -- it's NOT your plan/wish/resolution but Gods (and let me know and be apart of Gods working). It will amaze you!!!!