Two weeks... Wow, who knew...

Well... Hi everyone... Sorry... I guess time flys when you're having fun and/or super busy.

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. We started out having visitors from Ecuador (one of which was originally from Sweden), the south of Spain and Colorado, all here to talk about church planting. During this time, Rob, and one of the other pastors of the church here went throughout Italy and ended up in Barcelona, also talking about church planting. It was amazing to see people from three continents all moving together, totally on fire for the same thing. Very awesome! Apparently there is a great need/desire/opening for protestant/evangelical churches in the mentioned areas, as well as the idea of youth churches! Wow! What does that even look like? I have no clue, but it’s a very exciting idea to me.

We finished up our last week of Alpha (pictured above), and gathered around and took a picture. There has been a few times that some of the people from Alpha have come to church, one man (besides the two people that had already come to know Christ) expressed a great desire to “return” to the LORD. He was at our weekly prayer meeting (Friday nights from 10pm-… whenever…), and then came to both services this last Sunday! This has been awesome to watch, as this man just happened to be in the bar where we were doing Alpha, and he thought he’d check it out, and now… We’ll see, but it’s all very exciting!

We also had a husband and wife come and stay for a few days in La Coruña to play music in various settings. It was a lot of fun to watch them work together, and share their gifts (and very talented gifts at that) with everyone here. One of the concerts they had was at a gypsy church “Living Water” (Agua Vida). I finally got to see the gypsy band play… It was quite the experience. Just a piano and drums, two female vocals and, of course, the Holy Spirit, and that place was a movin’ an’ a shakin’.

I was also asked to play my dulcimer at a wedding in a neighboring town, Santiago. The wedding was, basically, like any other wedding I’d ever seen. Apparently though, protestant/evangelical weddings aren’t done much in Spain, and so this wedding was very different from many which others had attended. Rob officiated the ceremony, and, from what I could understand, basically shared the Gospel with everyone from the marriage alter. It was pretty cool.

Now, what was even cooler was the eight course (yes, EIGHT course) meal that followed… I had more food at this wedding than… Well, any other wedding… And it was so good! Mostly seafood, the plates just kept coming. Before it was all said and done, I’d eaten myself silly, able to say I’d had a whole lobster, along with everything else, and three different desserts. The whole meal took about 5 hours. It was magical☺!

Well, apart from all the happenings, I’ve been able to improve my Spanish quite a bit. It’s nice to be able to say I understand most of what’s going on most of the time. After all of these events were over, I had about two days where I had my evenings free, and was able to catch up on some greatly missed, greatly needing reading time. I hadn’t really been able to sit down with a book (or three) and really read since I got here. It was so refreshing (and believe me, I never thought I’d say that books refreshed me).

I appreciate your continued prayer support. What with the business of the last few weeks, a lot of questions have been raised in my mind, mainly about church planting here, and further education (where, I have no clue, but it could be anywhere, from Fresno, to Chicago to Jerusalem). Since my mind has been “excited” by a lot of this, I tend to think a lot… Which means that I have trouble sleeping most nights. I know I need my rest, but my mind seems to have it’s own agenda when I’m ready for bed. In this I feel like Martha, rushing around, and I here Jesus saying, “Nate, Nate, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is important… Remember Mary? Do more of that.” So, we’ll see. However, I could definitely use your prayers for peace of mind. Thank you.

Well, as I write, it’s about 2:30am, and I need to get up in three hours for a six-day retreat in Barcelona. I already feel the need for it. We are actually all going, that is, the Covenant missionaries. I also get to help with the music there! I’m really excited, because the songs are in English! Please pray that we will all be able to rest and have a wonderful time of hanging out and encouragement with the other missionaries in Europe (I think there are about 30 people coming).

Oh! I can’t believe I almost forgot this! During our small group tonight, one of the bolts in a water pipe under the sink in Leah and Rebecca’s apartment broke off and water started going everywhere. We had a nice inch or so of water in about three-fourths of the apartment, and it started going into the hall to visit the neighbors. We were able to find the shut off for the water though, and about four or five neighbors came over and helped mop up. It was great! Please pray that Rebecca would be able to have the pipe fixed before she leaves on Saturday for Barcelona. Since we’re all gone, nobody will be at the apartment, and it would be great to have that fixed before she left to join the rest of us. As it is now, she can’t use any water.

Well, thank you again for reading and praying. I will try to be more consistent with posting. I hope and pray you all are well. Blessings!