| | Hola! Ayer estaba mi dia favorito! (Yesterday was my favorite day). This is from the voice of Katlyn. I want to write about what we did yesterday, but first and foremost, I must tell you a couple things from the whole team:
1. We have not been able to update in a while because our internet was down at the church we are staying at in Ubeda, but it is back up and running so we should have internet access at least until we leave for Barcelona on Monday.
2. Half of our team has gotten a little sick and we could really use your prayers for sleep, health, and strength! 5 people had sore throats and congestion yesterday and our team leader, Aaron, has been especially sick. He had an adventurous trip to the Spanish doctor yesterday and found out that he has a virus so he has been resting a lot.
Although the last couple days have brought unforeseen challenges our way, our prayer has been that God will use us in whatever way to bring Him the most glory... sickness and all.... and He is definitely at work here in Ubeda!
We are about to leave to visit a local nursing home, but I will finish my update about yesterday when we return. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!!
To be continued...
Ok, well, I wanted to tell you about Day 5 (yesterday) but the team figured we should tell you about Day 4 first so that we don't leave anything out...
Day 4 - This was our first day in Ubeda and we went to the local high school to give presentations on Estados de Unidos (the US). The Pascuals are the missionaries here in Ubeda and they have been so gracious as to providing us with places to stay, feeding us and trying SO hard to communicate with us in Spanish!!! Their children go to the high school. The high school was fairly similar to any American high school, but hardly anyone believes in God. They are either Catholic or do not believe in God at all. Even the Catholics do not believe their religion is applicable to daily life. It was really neat to be able to attempt to use our Spanish in speaking with them and get to know them. After our usual lunch and afternoon siesta ("When in Spain we must do as the Spainiards do" - they typically eat around 2, take a siesta and then stay up very late into the night and get up rather early), we were able to go to the Historic area of Ubeda and learn about the culture of Ubeda and see some of the old buildings. Then, we visited a couple families in the church. There is only one Evangelical Christian church in Ubeda. To be in an authentic Spanish home and to meet a few of the very small amount of Christians was very neat. The couple we visited wanted us to marry their son and the lady told me that my face was "mas guapa" than my name - ha! That means prettier. Guess she didn't like my name...? (We think the name "Catalina" has a bad conotation in Spanish)
Day 5 - This started out as a very rough day for the team because we realized that 5 of us were not feeling good and Mr. Pascual (Lazaro) told Aaron that he must go to the Doctor because he was feeling so badly. We decided that only 4 kids on our team would be able to go out as planned and carry out the day's ministry because Lazaro would have to drive us...our big "Green machine" rental van can only be driven by Aaron...so after re-enacting The Survivor (it felt as though we were kicking people off the island for a day; the sick people were voted off) we had our team of 4: Anna, Molly, Nicole and Katlyn. So, Lazaro drove the 4 of us to a very cute little town (Pueblito) nearby, The Villa Nueva, and we were able to do presentations similar to the day before at a smaller Catholic high school. We enjoyed being able to use our Spanish some more and get to know them - they were very kind to us. The local Evangelical Christian church in that town (again, only one) gave us a very nice lunch. And then after lunch, Diego and his wife let us take siestas at their home! They were so gracious and it was such a joy to meet them! One thing that has been SO neat is, when we do meet Christians here, we can tell how genuine they are even with the language barrier because they have so much joy in their faces. It is so encouraging to see in a country that is so lost. After our siesta we went to the church and the 4 of us shared our testimonies (Anna translated everything into Spanish) and then they prayed for a very long time -- once again, it was so incredible to hear their genuine hearts for God, even though I cannot understand everything they were saying, their small (pequeno!) church is so humble and grateful to God. The challenge here is persecution...
Diego and his wife told us we could stay with them any time and the church told me that if I become a missionary, I should come back there! The warm welcome we received from them was so encouraging and is one of the things that made it my favorite day!
On the way back from the Pueblito....I called "Shot gun" and Diego said that, in Spain, I was the "Co-pilota!" He said that I would get back to Ubeda before the rest of the girls. haha. And on the way back we were able to drive through the prettiest part of Spain I have seen by far -- there was a gorgeous sunset with tons and tons of olive groves. Diego told us about the Mt. of Olives in the Bible and how the Olive Tree is the second tree to be referred to by name in the Bible.
Yesterday was my favorite day for many reasons but, mostly because several of my prayers I had prayed the night before, God answered them in a special way, such as...
1. That we would be able to use our Spanish more and to get across the language barrier and I felt that we really did connect more with the kids at the Catholic school and with Diego and his wife....
2. I asked that our ministry would be effective and the church's warm welcome and prayers, etc...were sure signs of that...
and I could say more but this has been long enough and I must close! Hopefully this long update will satisfy everyone for a little while.
More to come....thanks again for all your prayers everyone!!! We love you!
P.S. Everyone but Aaron is feeling better and Aaron's fever has gone down but he is still recovering...
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| | Posted 5/18/2007 11:00 AM - 8 Views - 8 eProps - 4 comments
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