One Month!

Hello Everyone! Time for an update...=)
I can't believe that Lara and I have already been here for a month! It has just flown by. We have been so busy that we haven't even had time to really stop and think about how long we've been here.lol. So much has happened in the past month, and it's so exciting to start to really connect with people and build new relationships. I have already learned a ton from the people here, and I respect and love many of them, after only a month. It's been so fun to see how God is working as we become more involved in the happenings at both the church in Torre Vieja, and in Murcia,

A few updates on what I'm involved in:
- I am now in charge of the worship team in Torre Vieja. I pick the music, organize the practice (The worship team is made up of Mary on the piano, one acoustic guitar, and three other singers), e-mail the notices, and lead the worship time on Sunday evenings in Torre Vieja. It's actually a very time consuming thing,which i didn't really expect, but I'm loving it.
-I am also singing in the worship band at the Spanish church in Murcia. I practice with them on Saturday mornings, sing for the sunday morning church service, and supposedly am going to be playing the piano for them in the future...should be interesting...lol
-I am teaching Sunday School for the kids in the Torre Vieja church. It is quite a challenge because I am having to teach it in both English and Spanish. I am basically translating for myself as I tell the Bible stories, which I've never done before, so it's been fun trying to think in two languages at the same time. It's definitely good for my Spanish. =)
- Lara and I have also become involved with a purity class for the teenage girls in the Spanish church in Murcia. We meet on Friday nights at 8 and have a time of games, and a "chat" where we talk about Biblical purity. It's been so fun getting to know the girls, and I can't wait to see where the study goes..it's fairly new. We have only been meeting for three weeks.
-On thursday mornings we have what we call our "ladies meeting" in Torre Vieja. We are going through a Beth Moore study about the life of Christ...LOVE it...and the ladies.
-On Friday and Saturday mornings we are evangelizing in two of the local outdoor markets in Torre Vieja. We had out flyers and tracts, and invite people to church. If you could pray that God would be working in people's hearts the draw them to him through this outreach it would be greatly appreciated. You never know who you're going to come into contact with, and I can't wait to see how God works! I am specifically praying that God would put us in the path of some young families, and college students. We really want to fill the church with kids before we come home =).

A couple of weeks ago, after we had gone to the market to evangelize, i was sitting thinking about my personal witness, and how I could show people their need for a Saviour. I came to the conclusion...and was very convicted in the process... that the one thing that I have that is different from anyone else in the world is my joy in Christ. It's a joy that can never be taken away, no matter the circumstances. Without that joy i wouldn't look any different than all of the other people walking in the market. I have received an amazing gift, and have a light inside of me that should shine through me no matter what kind of horrible day I've had. My prayer for myself is that my mind and heart would be so in tune with the Lord, that my joy would overflow into the lives of those around me. That will be my real witness to people.

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers. You all mean so much to me! I hope everyone doing well..I miss you all.
God bless,
Mindy

The Rain in Spain...

Hello there! I thought it was about time for another update! =) We are all alive and well here in Spain, something that we don't take for granted.lol....we have now been driving ourselves around for two weeks, and say a prayer of thanks everytime we get somewhere safely. the drivers here are CRAZY. But God has been watching over us, and we are so excited to be two weeks in. Lara and I both agree that it seems like we've been here for way longer than two weeks, because we have done SO MUCH already. Mary and Rafael have definitely been keeping us busy. =)
This week has been very eventful. On Tuesday and Wednesday we took a group of 17 ladies from the church in Torre Vieja to La Manga, a resort area on the coast of the Mediterranean, for a women's retreat. We stayed there Tuesday night, had some great fellowship, praise and worship, and teaching. The hotel we stayed at was absolutely amazing, and all of the ladies has a great time. Lara and I loved it, because it gave us a chance to really get to know all of them. Sometimes at church you just don't get the chance to have a real conversation..so we were really happy for the opportunity. I stayed with a lady named Mary, who is from England. a Lovely lady...lol. I'm already catching myself starting to use British words when I talk. They are contagious. When we got back from the retreat I wanted to get a picture with all of us and so I yelled to get everyone's attention and said, "I'm going to take a photo!!" They're so nice, though, and it's been such a blessing already to get to know them. Il put a couple of pictures of the weekend above so that you can see some of the faces. They're so much fun!
The other pictures that you see were taken last night at a big Valentines Day bash in Torre Vieja=). We had a potluck dinner, some music, and several amazingly fun games...that I just happened to be in charge of. If you haven't ever tried to give instructions to a group of 45 people over the age of 60, then I would suggest that you do, just so you can feel my pain.lol. They're worse than kids...as far as the listening goes. =) It did go very well..and we had a great time, and a lot of laughs.
Ive been enjoying running on the beach every day, a perk that I didn't really expect coming here, but it's soooo beautiful. There is a little strip of land that goes about 2 miles out into the sea called Lo Pagan, and I have been running on it a lot. I don't think anything really compares to the beauty of the ocean. it just takes my breath away, to see something that giant and endless and to think that God is so much bigger..
Thank you so much for your support and prayers. Please continue praying that God would use us in the ways that He has planned, and that we would be open to serving in every possible way that we can.
God Bless.

A few Pics of my new Home!!

I MADE IT!!!

Hey everyone...so this is my first "official" blog in Spain!! GAH. I'm so excited to be here!! Lara and I flew into the Alicante airport on Friday night at about 8 pm. We had to switch airlines everytime we had a layover ( 4 times), so that made it kind of ahem..interesting =), but we made it without too many problems. Both of my bags got lost in all of the transitions, which wasn't a surprise, but I only had to spend one night without them so it could have been worse. Um...let's see...what should I tell you about...

Our apartment...is actually a duplex. VERY nice. Amazing actually. It has three floors, three bedrooms, and three full baths. My bedroom is on the third floor, has its own bathroom, and connects to a huge patio on the roof. The beach is about a five minute walk from my complex...rough.;)I'll get pictures up as soon as I can. Our internet hasn't been connected yet so I have to go somewhere else to get a connection.

San Javier, the town where Lara and I live, is about thirty minutes from Murcia, and thirty minutes from Torre Vieja, the two towns where we will be working. This morning we drove (by ourselves in our new five speed car might I add) to Murcia to go to the Spanish church that Mary and Rafael are involved with. We will be helping with various activities at this church, one of them being a purity class with the high school girls on Friday nights. I'm really excited to get involved, and can't wait to use my Spanish on them. They might not be excited to listen to me however...lol. Tonight we will go to our first service in Torre Vieja. It is mostly made up of retired British people and is all in English, so it will be a completely different atmosphere.  We are so excited to get started, and can't wait to kind of get into the swing of things. 

The jet lag hasn't completely gone away yet, but it's getting better. A couple more nights of sleep and we'll be good to go. 

I'll write on here again soon. I miss all of you and I hope everything is going okay back home. God bless