![]() What is success? What does fruit look like, when it comes to the fruits of your labor or the fruit of ministry work? How do you measure it? I'm all about measureable goals and achievements, but is that always exactly possible? I admit to being ready to give up and throw in the towel on several occasions, for different reasons and in different situations. Just three weeks ago, I was evaluating my involvement in my quilting group. To be honest, I was weighing pros and cons and the ever-present issue of finances. I mean, I already know how to sew. And Pinterest and I solve lots of problems together when I get stuck. So just how much do I really need to be in this quilting group? Yes, it's true that I got in to the group as a way to meet some new people and to broaden my relationship circle. Everyone in the group is outside of the 'church realm' and not affiliated with that circle at all. I also looked at it as a way to learn about culture from people outside my current circle and current age-bracket. And in all of those ways, it has been a success... I know an entirely new set of people, I have been steadily learning culture in new and different ways, and I occasionally learn new vocabulary. But, as to making real in-roads with friendships or toward conversations about Jesus... it just seemed like it was a non-starter. And I have to pay group dues to attend each month. And fabric is RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE in Spain!!! So, how much do I need to stick with this? Well, true to form, God usually hits me in the head right after I have gone through a period of working so diligently to weigh out the pros and cons. He usually smacks me with a, "If you would just wait, I'll show up! I always do!" But, as my husband always reminds me, I wasn't in line when they handed out Patience... I was too busy trying to get something done. :) So the last few weeks have been major ah-ha moments with my quilting friends. For example, one week there was a huge discussion on religion and what they don't like about Spain and the Church (folks, culture learning just doesn't get any better than being privy to THAT conversation!). Last week, one of the ladies got so excited because I said that I like a particular dish that she was talking about making for lunch... then she asked if I would come eat lunch at her house some time after class! Okay - for those who don't get why that is a big thing - Spaniards are very social, but in public places like cafes or on the street, etc. They are VERY private when it comes to their private space of home. You have arrived in the inner circle if you are invited in to someone's home! So, this was BIG! This week, another of the women was talking about how we need to surround ourselves with people we like, who have common interests, who love us for who we are, etc, because sometimes family just isn't like that, so you have to invent your own family. Then she announced that the quilting group would be her 'family', and she specifically reached over and grabbed my shoulder and said she wanted me in her family, too! WHAT?! How did I ever doubt that I should remain in this group!!!??? Then, after our group time was over, the leader (the one who made me cry when I first started this endeavour) started telling me all about baptisms and first communion rituals and weddings and all the traditions that surround them in Andalucia! Again, cultural learning just doesn't get better than personal teaching from folks who live it! I learned about her childhood, the church traditions in her childhood, and how all is changing now. Incredible... So, that was a glimpse of fruit... not necessarily fruit that I worked very hard for, but fruit that God gave to me for being faithful to going to this group each week and for trying to build relationships. There are other little things that are evidence of fruit. There is the woman who has always been a little combative in bible study - she really opened up this week and even thanked us for having our class available to her and helping her to understand without judging her. Fruit. There is the teen girl in our youth class who is always loud, always attention-seeking, always confrontational about major biblical concepts (like forgiveness and grace and faith). On several occasions, she has said that it's all stupid and we are all crazy for believing and she raises her voice to fighting volume. But, over the past few weeks, she has greeting us with huge hugs. She has softened. She hasn't been at war with the lessons. She sits more calmly, she participates, she listens. She even apologized for having a hard time understanding. And this week, she kissed Billy and I both on the cheeks and thanked us for our time with the group. Wow. Fruit. There is the friend who followed up, days after a bible study lesson, with questions and deep needs to understand more, and spent hours talking about how he was convicted by The Word that week. There is the pastor who needs a safe place to pour out his worries and needs and struggles without worrying that he is being judged... he came to Billy this week and asked for Billy to be that listening ear and that friend who will hold his cares and walk with him in the hard stuff. There is the Spanish friend who sends a random text to say that she loves me and is thinking about me and praying for my week and my family... a text that arrived just as I was feeling weary and wondering if anyone cared. So, when I think of fruit, I also think of God's provision. I think about how most of the fruit that we see is NOT what I would have chosen to measure. But the fruit is in the things that God has given us and allowed us to see where we are touching lives, and where those lives intersect with ours and enrich us, too. I thank God for His provision, and for allowing us to see fruit, in whatever form it comes. ![]() I have to be honest with you - a major issue stated by most missionaries in the field is the fact that they have a very hard time staying spiritually fed and filled up. You might be saying, “What?! How is that possible? Missionaries are the experts, right? How could they have a hard time with staying rooted in The Word???”… don’t pretend like you’re not thinking that… I hear you. But the honest truth of the matter is that many, many, many missionaries become spiritually dry and shrivel up. They do a lot of teaching and preaching and sharing and serving, and sometimes they just have a really tough time finding someone who can speak in to their lives, who is willing to really sit with them and pour in to them and help to revitalize them on a regular basis, who will be open to really going deep in study with them. It’s a real thing, and it is eating missionaries alive all around the globe. It’s not a new thing… it’s been happening for centuries. And, it happens to us. In Peru, we did a lot of giving and serving and teaching and pouring out to others. But, when it came to our own spiritual growth and development, we were drying up quick. Exhausted and, frankly, a little tired of hearing our own thoughts being taught all the time, we were just getting a little stale and run down in our spiritual growth. And with no mature believers around us in our community to help us and to study with us and to pour in to our lives… well, it was not a good thing. Oh, how we wished for a group of folks who would go deep, who would ask hard questions, who would hold each other accountable to the Scriptures and who would really struggle together in The Word! On the few occasions that we were able to study with someone in that way, it was incredible and life-giving! But, there were lots of long, dry periods between those springs of Living Water. Several years ago, we were introduced to a method of Bible study that really made the Scriptures come to life for us. Inductive Bible Study is an investigative approach to the Bible using three basic components: Observation, Interpretation, and Application. Okay… don’t check out on me yet. Hang in there. This is NOT hard, and it is OH SO GOOD!!! And this whole story is going to come full circle, so hang in there! Observation: Observation teaches you to look for and see exactly what the passage says. Observation answers the question, “what does the passage say?” Keep looking. Keep digging. What do you see? What else to you see? What else? Notice connections. Notice repeated words. Really pay attention. Slow down. When I teach this method, I tell people to look at it as if they were investigating like detectives or forensic scientists. Slow down and pay attention to everything. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Underline things that seem important or interesting. I like to use different colors. Make lists of anything that seems to go together. I often make lists of verbs/action words… for example, a list of all the actions that describe Paul in a chapter in Acts, or a list of characteristics exhibited by Jesus in a certain passage. Interpretation: While observation leads to an accurate understanding of what the Word of God says, interpretation goes a step further and helps you understand what it means. So, where in Observation we were looking at everything with a fine toothed comb and asking the basic 5W questions, now we are going to look at it and say, “So, what’s that all about?” What does it mean? Why did the characters do that particular thing? Does the culture of the time have anything to do with this? This is the part where we really want to step in to the story and try to see it through the eyes of each character. How would you feel if Jesus said those particular words to you? What would you be thinking or experiencing if you were a player in this passage? What would it be like to actually be there? If you were in this story, who would you be? Who do you identify with? What are you feeling, thinking, seeing, tasting, experiencing… think with all of your senses and emotions. Application: “So, now what?” That’s the question, isn’t it!? Now that you have really dug in and really experienced the Scripture, now what? How does this impact you? What are you going to do with your day-to-day life now that you have been impacted by this particular passage? How do you go forward and walk in this new knowledge of The Word. I tell you all of this to get to the point of how Inductive Bible Study has made a major difference in our spiritual lives. When we moved to Spain, we still really longed for people to study the Bible with at a really deep level. What would that look like? Would we dry up in this new field of mission service? We didn’t know the answer, but we really prayed for someone to study with. A couple of months in to our time here, I was asked to ‘bring the Word’ (speak or teach) to a small women’s study group one evening. Being a teacher who believes in the power of inquiry and discovery as a great teaching tool - so much better than just telling / lecturing and giving out information - I decided to take the passage of the Paralytic and the Matt Carriers and just try out the Inductive Method with this group. Folks… it got deep! There was some serious discovery and some big time lightbulb moments as people really dug in and observed, made connections, and saw Scripture in a whole new way. At the end of the evening one woman said, “I have read this passage and heard it at least a hundred times. But I haven’t ever seen so much or gotten so deep as we got tonight. This is amazing!” And the beautiful part is, I just bring the Scripture to the table and help guide people to dig and ask questions. And in the process of discovery and discussion, I, too, get to learn and process and see new things through the perspective and hearts of others! Now, 18 months later, we found the thing that sustains us spiritually in the field...reading the Scriptures via Inductive study methods with others and having deep discussions and times of great growth! We have several different study groups each week, each studying a different passage or book of the Bible. One group has 12-15 adults studying stories of Jesus and the disciples. Our youth study group has 12 youth studying Jesus. We have a group of 3 couples who are currently studying the book of James. Billy meets one-on-one with another man to study a passage each week. And I study with a group of ladies in another town once a week. It is truly incredible how God has given us a great method (via some great teachers years ago) and this method has really appealed to those around us in Spain! We are definitely NOT shriveling up in The Word nowadays… we are THRIVING! Praises to Him!!! ![]() We just returned from the big parent meeting at school. The one where all the parents of 6th grade students file in to the room and sit nervously listening to the Director (Principal) tell us not to be nervous, moving up and changing schools is a good thing, etc. etc. etc. Somehow, I wasn't nervous until I heard how I shouldn't be nervous and watched lots of other parents be nervous... THAT made me nervous. In Spain, students go to Primary school for 6 years (unless you opted in for preschool before that). They spend those first 6 years together, with the same students in the same class the entire time. They are seriously bonded. They even keep the same teacher for every two year cycle. Although Sarah would be in the 5th grade in Texas this year, her birthday fell squarely in to the dates of all 6th grade students here. So, we had to skip a grade last year and pray for the best. Okay.. I might have shed a nervous tear or two that day in the office of the Director. My baby... skipping a grade? Anyway - that's water under the bridge now. Today, she sits in the top 3 of her class and has risen to the task! After 'graduation' from the 6th grade, students move to another school building for what is the mandated Secondary classes (4 years). After the 4 years, they can choose to take one of three options... go to Bachillerato (College Prep school), go to a vocational school, or go directly to the work force. Sarah moves up to the ESO (secondary school) at the end of this school year. We had to make some choices and sign up for the route she would take... would she go in to the regular course work, or would she go the route of Bilingual Secondary education? Only 30 students are accepted for the bilingual program. Of course, we chose the bilingual route... shouldn't be a problem to take 50% of your coursework in English, right? ;) The Director laughed when we signed the paperwork and said, "I'll think she'll do great!" Because the bilingual trac is more difficult for most students, only the top ones are allowed in, and no behavior issues are tolerated...This was Sarah's entire reason for wanting in... so she doesn't have to be around a couple of the behavior issues any more.Tolerance and compassion...even with the behavior issue kids... it's a skill we're working on... All in all, we have been pleased with the education system so far. In my 16 years as a certified Texas teacher opinion, I think the curriculum is pretty good. Math seems higher and more advanced than we teach in Texas at this age level. Social studies is WAY more advanced... these kids know so much more geography and history than most American adults know! Science is way lower at this point (so disappointing to her parents who were both science teachers), but it seems to pick up in the higher grades. Language arts (in Spanish, of course) is really good and there is a deep understanding of how language works. All children must take English as a foreign language from the moment they enter school, all the way through to secondary graduation. So all students graduate with 10 years of a foreign language. Students in the second half of secondary, will choose a trac that takes them in to a third language (most choose French). So, in many ways, I really like the curriculum. Of course, there are things I don't love, but right now we're all happy with her education. There are no extra-curriculur activities in the school. Anything extra is on the family. So, Sarah takes piano once a week outside of school...gotta get in that music education and higher level brain function! And, she's just really great at music! Last year, she was in a taekwondo group 3 days a week. This year, she also is picking up a second day with her riding coach (she is in the jumper / dressage group). Piano and riding costs come out of our own family funds. If you ask Sarah about the future... "I'm going back to Texas for college. I want to go to vet school at Texas A&M. And I'm going to be on the Texas A&M Equestrian team." Gotta love a girl with goals! And one that bleeds maroon... Gig'em Aggies!!! Although, I won't be surprised if her saddle and tack doesn't somehow sport a tiny Peruvian flag and a tiny Spain flag... the girl is multicultural at heart. I just received a prayer focus newsletter from a colleague who works in Germany. She shared it with me because we had recently been together for a week and we had spent much time discussing the context of working in Spain, as well as her context in Germany, and the context of other peers who work in other areas of Europe. I wanted to share the prayer letter with you because I felt that it is a very good depiction of what the current 'religious climate' looks like here:
Europe Focus on Spain The church – the key to the nation “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” I Kings 18:44 A Brief Historical overview of the Spanish Church There has been a Christian testimony in Spain since the early days of the Apostolic Church and the following centuries of the developing Roman Church, up until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The Church continued to grow during the Visigoth era, surviving and remaining faithful even during seven centuries of the Islamic Caliphate, which began in 722 and ended in 1492. Seven centuries of Islamic domination had forged in the Spanish Church, not only longsuffering, but also a defiant and militant spirit that jealously guarded Christ’s testimony in Spain. During the early years of the struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and the Reformation in Europe, the Spanish Church was at the forefront in protecting the ‘Spanish’ Expression of the Roman Catholic Church on the Iberian Peninsula. The abuses of the Spanish Inquisition and the fate of the Reformed Church in Spain are well known. The Spanish Inquisition virtually drove out the Jewish and Islamic communities from Spain and also extinguished the Reformation-Evangelical testimony within the Spanish Church. The courts and trials of the Inquisition were not officially ended until 1834. A Protestant and Evangelical expression of the faith was not ‘legal’ and consequently almost non-existent until the Law of Religious Liberty was passed in 1967. The modern freedom of religion and the open expression and creation of Protestant-Evangelical Churches and public evangelization in Spain really did not begin until after the death of Franco in 1975. “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice….” Zechariah 4:10 The Protestant-Evangelical Spanish Church in1975 consisted of approximately 30,000 Christians who represented less than one tenth of one percent of Spain’s population. Today after 40 years of religious liberty there are approximately 500,000 Evangelical Christians or a little more than 1% of Spain’s 47 million population, a ten fold increase in the Evangelical witness. While this is an extraordinary increase, one must soberly note that it is still a minute minority in a nominally Catholic and secular nation and has not really affected the mainstream of the Spanish nation or culture. Furthermore all the growth in the Evangelical Church has come from three marginalized people groups: The Philadelphia Gypsy Church (during their 1970’s and 1980’s explosive revival), the Heroin addicts (resulting from the explosive growth of the REMAR, RETO, and BETEL rehab communities and churches during the three decades from 1980 to the present), and finally from the massive immigration of Latin Americans and Eastern Europeans from 2000 until the present where in a ten year period Spain’s population increased from 40 to 47 million.) In the last decade almost all the growth in the Spanish Church has been among the marginalized and already converted Latin American Evangelicals. Sadly, working class, middle class, the professional and upper class Spaniards have remained unreached and uninterested in the Gospel. Even the Roman Catholics have lost millions of nominal Christians as Spain has grown ever more secular. (In a survey in ‘El Pais’, one of the leading Spanish newspapers, 59% of Spanish men claiming to be Catholic also claimed to be atheists. Incongruous.) Please pray that:
Elliott Tepper WEC Missionary Senior Pastor of Betel Madrid International Director of Betel International Please join us in praying for Spain and for ministry initiatives in all of Europe. ![]() Let me just start by saying that being a woman is hard enough. I mean, seriously. Guys put on pants and a shirt and life's good. The biggest decision is between jeans and slacks, short sleeves or long. If they gain a little weight, they don't really care. And why should they? They lose weight without really even thinking very hard. I never understood that... how is it that I can eat like a bird and shun sweets like they carry the plague, yet I gain weight? All the while, my husband eats everything he sees and never turns down a dessert and his weight doesn't change. So, all that to say, women already have issues with clothing and weight and all the trappings of being a woman in our North American culture. I didn't need the added issues of changing styles and sizes when I moved to another culture. First was the shoes. I needed to get shoes that are stylish, yet good for walking. There is a lot of walking here. And it is cobblestone street walking. Add to that the fact that Spaniards do not approve of tennis shoes unless you are actually running or playing tennis. Tennis shoes are NOT apparel. So, I needed real shoes. "What size?", asked the saleslady. Oh great... I have no idea. I wear a 7 in the USA, but European sizes are different. I told her that I'm a 7 in the USA, so she says, "You need a 37 or 38 here." WHAT? That sounds absurd. But true... I now wear a size 37 shoe. Then came the pants. My pants that I had been loving and wearing for several years were now close to death and it was necessary to go shopping for replacements. Again, no idea on size. There is no such thing as small, medium, or large. I looked for a conversion chart, to no avail. So I asked the saleswoman how to figure out what size I am in European pants. She looks at my butt (I kid you not) and announces that I am probably a 44 or 46. EXCUSE ME!!!! I DO NOT ACCEPT THAT! Mean spirited little stick figure woman... Except, she was correct. A 44 is exactly what now covers my not-so-delicate derriere. Serious depression began seeping in to my soul... how could I live with being a 37 foot in a 44 pants? This is a serious attack on my ego... Until I needed a bra. Let me just say that I have insider knowledge that the average 6th grader wears a size 90, and I'm not even CLOSE to that... I might need counseling. And underwear... again, a sixth grade girl wears a 182 panty. I gave up... no new underwear for me. I can't take it. Just the thought of knowing that number is enough to make me have cold sweats and dizzy spells. I'm accustomed to single-digit underwear sizes. I can't do it. 37. 44. 90. 182. This sounds like a phone number, or coordinates on a GPS system. How can these possibly be the sizes associated with a woman's body? So, I don't know if I'll survive the Great Size Crisis of 2015. Being a woman in a cross-cultural context is tough... I'm going to go eat a head of lettuce. Sometimes, progress is barely perceivable. Sometimes, we're just looking for BNIs - barely noticeable improvements. Tiny glimmers that let us know that something is changing.
When we moved to our current house, we were excited to be out amongst farmers again. It seems to be our 'place' in life. We just seem to love being around the soil, the crops, animals, and plain country folks. We loved and missed that part of our lives from Peru. So moving to this house in between a wheat field and a field of beans and an asparagus crop felt perfect. And we met the farmer and his family next door. Great people! Instant love. However, not everyone is super welcoming and warm. Quite the opposite for one farmer man who lives on our road. We pass him several times a day. He wears the same grumpy gruff facial expression each time. Never changes. Never smiles. Kind-of an Eeyore-type, only he appears more irritated than depressed. Almost as if just your meer presence in this world is a problem for him. Nevertheless, we wave. We wave at him and smile. Every time. No matter what. Sarah and I stopped to talk to him once about some kittens that were at his gate, but we were not exactly met with warm glowing hugs and love. We were definitely not feeling the hospitality. Still, we smiled and thanked him, and waved as we left. We affectionately named him "Mr. Sunshine". Not to his face, of course. We don't know his name. He hasn't shared that information with us. But in our car each day, we wave to "Mr. Sunshine" and smile a greeting in his direction. Every day. Every day. Every day. Then one day, we saw it. A BNI - barely noticable improvement. A twitch of his hand in response to the wave. A very subtle tiny flick of the hand. That was all we needed! The challenge was now on! We took it on as a family project. "We are going to get Mr. Sunshine to soften up if it kills us!" We continued to wave a smile. Every day. Each time we pass his place. Each time we see him in his vehicle. Each time he walks down the road. Wave. Smile. Nod the head in his direction. Every time, we do it with the enthusiasm that says, "Hey! Sunshine! Great to see you again!" I'm sure he thinks we're nuts. Again, we saw it. BNI. A half-raised arm wave. Whoa!!! There may have been some shrieks of "wow!" and some cheering in the car. Each time we saw a little improvement, we were more determined. So now, nine months later, we are up to a full-arm over the head wave. Real acknowledgement! Honest to Goodness waving! On a good day, there is even a head nod. Progress. I have dreams that one day Mr. Sunshine will actually smile. I'm hoping for an actual conversation one day. Maybe even grow in to his Mr. Sunshine name. Some folks are just slow to warm up. But for now, I'm celebrating the BNIs. Sometimes, building relationships is about a wave and a smile - every day, every day, every day - and patience. One of the typical foods here in Andalucia is churros and chocolate. These aren't the churros you might know from Mexican food stands or the county fair. The Spanish version is somewhat like a funnel cake-type batter that is made in to giant donut-shaped goodness. The hot chocolate is also not what you would expect. It is more the consistency of homemade cooked pudding... the kind your grandma used to make on the stove. Yummmmm!!!!! It is typical to order churros and chocolate for a breakfast food, or for coffee time (mid-morning or late afternoon).
Honestly, I LOVE churros y chocolate, but I don't do it too often. It's really rich and really loaded with calories. It is a special treat for us. But, today was a special treat kind of a day... I was out walking Hannah (our spring intern) around town and showing her where some typical places are that she would need to know... the bank, the post office, I was just sitting here and realizing what a crazy multicultural mix of holiday experiences we had this year! We try to keep many of our own family traditions in place, no matter where we live and serve. We have added other experiences along the way. And we are always ready to learn something new and celebrate with someone else in their traditional way.
Our 'home culture traditions' that we carry with us:
Every once in awhile you make an amateur mistake. You know, the kind of mistake that makes people say, "you knew better than to do that! What were you thinking?" Yep... I made just that kind of mistake, and I'm paying for it in stress and fretting.
In August, we were asked to take over teaching the youth Sunday school class for awhile. No problem. Then we realized that 'awhile' was going to turn in to 'forever'. Well, okay... we can handle forever... we like these kids and we like teaching, so it's okay. But then came the Christmas program. Not having been here in Spain for past Christmas celebrations (last year, we were hosting someone from another country and were not in town during the church services), I have absolutely no idea what a Christmas program looks like in this cultural context. But somehow that slipped my mind when the meeting about the program rolled around. I thought I was just sitting in a teacher's meeting, minding my own business and listening to the proceedings. Then, all of the sudden, it slipped into the conversation that the youth would be doing a theatre or drama production during the service "like they always do". They don't always do the same thing, but they always do a drama of some sort. "Oh, okay," I said. "We can do that." I didn't know how, but I figured that it couldn't be too hard. I could pull it off. It wasn't until after that meeting that I found out that the church usually does NOT do a Christmas program. They usually do a program for the Epiphany on January 6th - the Coming of the Three Kings. This would be the FIRST year for a Christmas program. Oh, and by the way, several key folks in the church are not too happy about it... they don't want to celebrate Christmas, they want to do the Epiphany and the three kings. Oh Great! So now I'm in charge of a drama that some folks don't even want to see because of cultural taboos about Christmas and the Evangelical church. Awesome. Nothing like the missionary coming in and stepping all over some religious cultural norms! So, I decided to play it safe. Can't go wrong with a word-for-word reading of the Bible's telling of the Nativity, right? Silent actors playing their parts while the Scripture is read outloud. And the pastor gave it a thumbs up, so I'm safe, right? Well, yeah, except that the reader is one of the guys who was against the Christmas program. I'm trying to build bridges here... Then I found out that none of my kids can practice or build scenery EXCEPT on Sundays during Sunday school time. Remember, all but two of them are immigrants, and 75% of them do not live in town. None of them drive. And it is time for finals at school (a big deal here). So we are 100% dependent on their parents and their school exam schedules. Yeah, so, we are having to try to do everything during the 1.5 hour Sunday school time. Not working out so great. Then it dawns on me that I have no idea what it means in this culture to 'decorate the stage'. Are we talking major production stuff? Are we talking about teenagers drawing and painting scenery? Are we talking about lights and props? Oh my goodness... what have I gotten myself in to? 'Mary' just sent me a Facebook message... "Where am I supposed to get a costume? I need help. My mom can't do it, and I don't have any money. Can you help me figure it out?" Costumes!!! Hadn't dawned on me until this weekend. Oh poop... So now I'm freaking out. I don't know what is expected of this 'production'. I know that some of the church folks are already not happy about it. The scenery is not even close to happening and I am scrambling. I found a few costumes, and I think I can throw something together for the rest. We have one weekend left to pull this together. We haven't ever practiced the entire thing in the sanctuary. Is this even going to fly, culturally? This may be the end of my stage direction career... Did I mention that there are also puppets involved? Puppets AND live action. What was I thinking? The bright side is that the youth are having a blast! They don't seem to be getting anything much done in any orderly fashion, but they are having a great time doing it, and learning a lot of Scripture in the process. That should count for something, right? Does eggnog sooth stress ulcers??? Probably not... ADDENDUM... The Christmas program was AWESOME! Okay, I'm a little biased. But seriously - it was great. We had to get pretty flexible there in the end. The scenery just wasn't happening. The kids didn't have time to work on it during the week and there was no way that I was going to pull it off alone. So, I punted (sorry for the sports analogies). I found some backgrounds for scenery online and we projected them on to a giant sheet/screen that we hung up in front of the church. It was actually cool! We had a scene for Mary's house, a scene for Joseph's bedroom, a scene for traveling to Bethlehem, a manger scene, and a scene for the shepherds in the countryside. The puppet stage was on the right hand side of the live action and the puppets narrated the whole story. The youth were great, the puppets were fun, and it all worked out! The audience loved it! This year marks our second holiday season in Spain and our second Thanksgiving and Christmas away from family. That part is tough! When we were in Peru, it always just ‘worked out’ that family was able to come visit us at Christmas time, or we were back in Texas for furlough or a mandatory meeting or training in The States. So we hadn’t ever experienced truly being without family on the major family holidays until the past year.
Last week, we celebrated our second Thanksgiving in Spain. Newsflash… Spain does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I know, I know… some of you are astonished by that. ☺ So, Thanksgiving Day came and went with little fanfare. Sarah went to school. We worked: we held a Bible study in the house, we trained a missionary couple in coaching skills, Laurie led her disciple group in Campillos. Business as usual. We did take some time to phone family and talk to folks back home as they sat down to have their feasts. The highlight for us was getting to speak to both of our boys. One was having Thanksgiving with his grandmother. The other was eating with his girlfriend’s family. Both have jobs that required them to not leave town because they had to be back at work early Friday morning. Now, before you get all upset thinking that we missed Thanksgiving, take heart… we hosted three other missionary families in our home for a feast on Saturday. One family is from Mexico, one from Puerto Rico, and one from USA/Canada, plus our family from the great country of TEXAS (hee hee!). We put tables together and made one long dining room table that stretched the length of my house. Everyone brought food. We ate, we laughed, we ate more, we laughed more… it was great! Between dinner and dessert, we each read a verse from the Bible on giving thanks, then we each talked about what we are thankful for. We discussed how difficult our first year in Antequera has been for each of us (3 of the 4 families have arrived here within the past year to 18 months) and how thankful we are to have found good friends and good community, both among each other as missionaries, and also among the Spanish people in town and in our church families. We are so thankful for each of these families and what they have meant to us as we work here. As to Christmas… What does Christmas look like for us? Last year, we had only been in Spain for a couple of months by the time Christmas came around. We still didn’t have ‘community’ as far as a good friend group goes. We had the beginnings of friendships brewing. And church… well, the protestant church and Christmas are a whole other ball game here in Spain. Bottom line, there is a big division between distinguishing themselves from the Catholic church. Now this sounds silly to those of you in the USA, but it is a big deal here. Think of it as a type of denominational battle. Catholics think of all protestant churches as ’sects’ and the evangelicals are ‘strange’ and radical rebels. Evangelicals / protestants think that Catholics are all idol-worshipers and shallow and opposed to studying the bible or knowing much about Jesus. So, long story short, if the Catholic church does something, then the protestant church opposes it and does the opposite. Therefore, Christmas is a bone of contingency. Catholics use nativity scenes, so protestants do not. Catholics use Christmas trees, so protestants do not. I know - it sounds nuts!!! But, that’s the culture where we live.So, what do we do??? Well, we have a Christmas tree in our house. And we have a nativity scene. (Maybe we ARE radical rebels?!) Last year, the pastor came to our home and saw these things. He said, “Some people in the church wouldn’t like that. But I don’t mind it.” Whew! Good. On that subject, the church is having a little bit of a coup this year. Our protestant church is going to do a Christmas play and have a Christmas service, complete with a re-enactment of the Christmas story and Christmas carols and (gasp!) they are decorating and using a Christmas tree! (Katy, bar the door! The world might end on Dec. 21st at 11 a.m. in Antequera, Spain.) There has been no shortage of grumbling and complaining by some members. But this pastor is bound and determined to celebrate the birth of Christ, and not just the coming of the Three Wise Men! (oh, PS… Spain doesn’t do Santa, either. They do Christmas gifts on Jan. 6th for the coming of the Three Wise Men.) Our youth class is doing the Christmas story for the church. For the past couple of weeks, we have been preparing by making scenery and reading through the Scripture and practicing the different scenes of the story. It has been a fun learning experience for the kids! They wanted to put pigs in the manger scene, but one youth knew a little something about the Jewish culture and pigs… a small argument ensued, followed by the great learning moment about pigs and culture. I love that they are learning as they go, that they are reading Scripture carefully, and that they are teaching each other (with a little guiding and correction on our part). As to Christmas in our home, I’m not quite sure what that will look like yet. Last year, we hosted a young lady from the USA who worked and lived in a Middle Eastern country (sorry - I can’t give details for security reasons). We had Christmas for her here in a Christian context and provided ‘family’ for her as she was far from home, too. On the issue of pork… living in the ME, she couldn’t ever eat pork. So when she was here, we had a ham on Christmas day. We had bacon for breakfast. I think she ate a ham sandwich every day! On her last day, she made a baggie of leftover ham to take with her to eat on the train before she got to the airport. Too funny! For us, being away from our boys and families was hard, but hosting someone in our home and making ‘family’ for her somehow eased that sorrow. This year? Who knows… maybe we will find someone else to host! Or maybe we will share the holiday with friends. We’re not quite sure yet. I do know that we look forward to next year, when we KNOW that we will be going home for a visit at Christmas time! |
Laurie DrumIn my USA life, I was a teacher in Texas for 15 years. I was also a professional photographer, a soccer mom, a horsewoman, and the neighborhood hospitality queen. I did "Joanna Gaines farmhouse style" before Chip and JoJo were even a thing - we restored an 1884 Victorian farmhouse in small town Texas and did shiplap walls until I thought I'd go crazy. I taught at NASA, scuba dived with astronauts in training, and studied animals at Sea World for educational purposes. I've tried just about everything, because I have an insatiable need to know if I can do it! Never underestimate a Texas girl in cowboy boots! In 2006, my husband Billy and I became cross-cultural workers (CCWs) with TMS Global. For five years, we served in three rural Quechua Wanca villages in the Andes of Peru. And when I say rural, I mean RURAL - like no potty! I spent my days in Peru learning to live a Quechua lifestyle in a rustic adobe house - cooking Peruvian foods, sewing with Quechua women, raising my chickens and goats and pigs, and planting my gardens. Now I live my life in small town Spain, serving other cross-cultural workers via teaching and training and care, and helping displaced people to navigate their new reality in Europe.
I'm passionate about fostering personal growth, growth in community, and growth in The Kingdom. Walking alongside others and helping them to use their unique design, their gifts and strengths and maximize their abilities to fulfill their God-given purpose - that's what makes my heart sing! Archives
March 2024
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