The past few days have been filled to the brim with many firsts. My first time taking the metro. My first time meeting the other team members. My first cup of Cafe con Leche... I could go home this week and have enough stories to last for quite a while, and the camp hasn't even begun!

 From above Spain's many farms look very much like a patchwork quilt with spiderweb cities spiraling out and connecting the whole piece together. Olives are a very important part of the culture and industry. Also, it's very strange to see a real smoked pig leg hanging from the walls of a bar. They just cut off pieces of it as they need it. Also, the coke here tastes different from the coke we drink in the U.S. It's sweeter, and when I looked at the ingredients it just said sugar.

On Sundays you can go to the Spanish market, where you can buy everything! There are clothes, bags, and whole shelves devoted to nothing but the multiple varieties of olives. In the U.S., we basically have two kinds of olives: black and green. Sometimes, if you go to a Greek restaurant, you'll get something a little more fancy, but otherwise that's pretty much it. Here is Spain, there are so many different kinds of Olives! Spiced ones, weird looking ones with extra long stems, dark green, light green, and all sorts of shades from brownish red to black.

Thus far, I have met most of the team coming from the States: Joshua, Gina, Stephanie, and I'll soon be meeting Kelsey. Joshua is originally from California, but he currently lives in New York where he works producing promotional videos. Gina is originally from New York, but she lives in Hawaii where she teaches special education. Stephanie is originally from Chicago, but she lives in New York where she arranges window displays for fashion companies. It has been such a pleasure to get to know them this past week, and I'm very excited to work with them to minister to these kids!

Gina and Stephanie both arrived on Wednesday of last week. Gina greeted us with shell leis she had brought from Hawaii, and Stephanie brought stories about her 11 day pilgrimage walking over 100 miles of El Camino de Santiago. According to Catholic tradition, the bones of Saint Jame are buried in a cathedral in northern Spain. Pilgrims seeking a blessing from God promise to travel this road, believing that if they fulfill their promise, God will give them what they ask. Many different people from different walks of life travel the road, some for spiritual reasons and others just for the experience.

I'm so excited to learn even more about Spanish culture! =)

Here we go!

Wednesday was the first day of El Campamento Urbana Bilingüe! Many of our team members stayed up exceptionally late preparing for the day. We all woke up late, but managed to make it to la escuela (the school) just in time for our daily prayer meeting. We had a lot of fun playing get-to-know-you games with the kids, y estamos muy emocionados (we are very excited), though also quite nervous, to jump into our classes tomorrow. 

In the morning we are "casting" the play! We take the morning hour to go through and audition each student. I'm very excited! 

P.s.: I'm sorry you guys I haven't been posting more. Hence forth, my blog posts will probably be mini blogs, giving brief updates/important things to pray for while we are working here. Thank you so much for your prayers! Specifically pray for peace on these kids as they audition, that they would have fun and know that we love each and every one of them! Please ask God to continue to grace us with His love and unity for each other as a team. Thank you God for the amazing experiences thus far!

Desynchronosis: AKA, Jet Lag

According to Wikipedia, Jet Lag is caused when your body gets out of synch with its usual sleeping pattern (Hence the medical term desynchronosis). Symptoms include sleep disturbance, increased difficulty performing cognitive tasks, and sometimes lack of appetite and/or indigestion.

Mostly, it's just not very fun. Yesterday, I wanted very much to help with Hector and Lili's music recital. They really needed the help, but when it came time to leave at 4:00 in the afternoon, I was just done. I thought to myself "All right, I'll sleep today, and tomorrow I'll get up and I'll help," since I knew they had another recital planned for the next day. Today I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, which is early, but I didn't think too much of it. Until 12:00 rolls around and I realize I will be no good to anyone if I don't at least take a nap. So here was my plan: Take a nap, get up around 3:00, eat something and then head out to help work this recital!

I realized too late that there was a flaw with my plan. At home, I usually use my phone as an alarm clock. The problem is that when a phone is in Airplane mode, it doesn't receive any signals telling it what time it is, which means I can't set my alarm. I guess I just sort of assumed I would wake up when I wanted to, even without the alarm. I ended up waking up at 5:30. I ate a little something, and then went back to sleep until 9:00.

So, here's my new plan for tomorrow: I just wont sleep. That should do the trick!

Please pray that I would adjust better to the day and night cycles here in Spain. If you have any suggestions for adapting more quickly, leave a comment. Thank you very much for your continued prayers and support while I'm here! I know God has good plans for these next few weeks, I just hope I'm awake to take it all in. ;)

I'm sitting on the couch in the living room of Hector and Lilli Ramirez. It is very warm out, but the fan is going and the windows are open. It is quiet, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the house right now, unless everyone else just happens to be taking an exceptionally long nap, seeing as here it is already 7:00pm. Where is here, you might ask? Here is Madrid, Spain, where I will be spending the next six weeks working with Hector and Lilli at their children's summer arts camp. I am very excited to see what God will do in these next few weeks!

My journey to Madrid began early yesterday morning. I was especially emotional, only barely able to keep from crying at breakfast. I'm very thankful God allowed my Mom, Dad, my oldest brother Justin, and my wonderful boyfriend Scott to come with me to the airport. After I went through security and could no longer see them, there was no stopping the tears. I had been very nervous about this trip all week long because I wasn't sure what Hector looked like or how I would know it was him or even if he would be there to pick me up when I finally landed, nor was I completely sure where I would be staying, or what exactly I would be doing once I finally got here. I knew I was coming to help work at a kids youth camp, probably helping to teach the music, but that was about it. The fact that I was traveling alone only made things 1000 times worse, because I had no idea what I would do if something went wrong and I knew I would just have to figure something out for myself. At least that was my initial thought, before I remembered later that God actually was and is with me and is directing my steps even when I am very anxious.

The flight from Mobile to Charlotte was uneventful. After we landed, I walked from one end of the airport all the way to the other, grabbed a sandwich and some coffee at Starbucks, then sat down to call my dear friend Kaitlin Mosher before I headed out over the Atlantic where my phone would no longer be able to make calls. I was sitting there talking to Kaitlin when this beautiful little 1 year old girl walked up and threw her cup right under my chair! She smiled that cute never-meets-a-stranger smile, when her mom came up and apologized, picking up the cup and carrying that sweet little girl away. She definitely made me smile!

I finished up my conversation and sat for a while. And then a while more. And then Mom suggested I get snacks for the plane, so I did. And then I sat even longer. The longer I sat, the more anxious I became. "God, I just need somebody to talk to!" I thought to myself. Did you know that God provides even things as simple as that? I ended up calling mom, mostly just to let her know the flight was a little delayed, when she asked, "So, you have a moment? Cool, hold on!"

And then I heard Ronnie say hello! I was so excited to get to talk to him and Alex and hear a little bit about their CEF training which they were apart of this week. I was especially blessed when Ronnie said "All us guys are praying for you." No joke, when he said that, I felt a peace finally begin to settle over me in place of my anxiety. It was really cool. Thanks guys for praying, and thank you Ronnie for letting me know!

After what seemed like an eternity but was really only about a 30 minute delay, we were finally able to board the plane. On the plane I found myself sitting next to Juan, a guy from San Diego studying medicine. Juan was returning to Spain for a week to visit family and friends. You know how I asked God for someone to talk to? Not only was I able to talk to my mom and my brothers before boarding, but God provided someone to talk to on the way to Spain, and I was even given the opportunity to share some of my testimony. Though the flight was long, we did make it (and so did our luggage!) And that's when things got interesting...

You see, though I knew that Hector Ramirez was coming to pick me up at the Airport, I didn't know what he looked like. I expected him to be holding some sort of sign, but I was wrong, and I walked right past him without even knowing it was him when I walked out of the terminal! He didn't quite recognize me either, as he had expected me to walk out alone since I was traveling alone, but I walked out with a group of people because we all got our luggage at about the same time. Juan had actually left the airport when he turned around and came back in to give me a few euros in case I needed to use a pay phone or get a bus ticket. I tried to call Hector's number, but it didn't work. And then I was alone. At the airport. With no idea what I was doing, or what I should do, when all of the sudden I see a beautiful little girl. The same little girl who had been on the same flight to Madrid with that adorable smile. I remembered hearing her mom speak English and Spanish, so I walked up to her and very bluntly asked, "You speak English right?"

"Yes I do!" She replied.

"Ok, I am supposed to be picked up by somebody here and I can't find them and I don't know what to do and the pay phone isn't working and I don't know what to do!"

"Ok, do you have the number? Is it for here in Spain?"

"Yes!" And so she called Hector. His voice mail box was full. So she called Lilli, Hector's wife. I understood a lot of what she said, though she was speaking in Spanish. She said hello and that she was called on behalf of Lydia and that she had tried to call Hector and couldn't get a hold of him. Lilli said Hector had left for the airport an hour ago, and that she didn't know why he wasn't there. After the phone call I still didn't know what to do exactly, except wait for a while and see if Hector showed up.

And then the other lady turned and said "It's all right, He'll show up, don't worry! Did you check all of those people waiting at the gate?" I went back up and looked, but I didn't see a sign with my name on it, so I walked back over to the ladies, when suddenly this guy walks up and says, "Hello, are you Lydia?"

I replied, "Yes, yes I am!" Hurray! I was ok. I thanked the ladies for the help, and walked out of the airport with Hector. As we were driving back to his place, which is where all of the workers for this camp will be staying, Hector explained a little about Spanish culture and mindset and why missionaries are so desperately needed. as well as why they are actually very hard to find here. He describes the spirit of the people as having a hardness, a pride which causes people to stick to their guns even when they don't know whether what they are saying is true. It makes it very difficult to minister to them. This is one way you can pray for the people we will be working with hear, that God would soften their hearts and show himself to them in a way that they recognize that He is real.

When we finally arrived at the house after taking a quick detour to the school, I was greeted warmly by Lilli. Lilli danced at Belhaven many years ago. I knew she was an alumni, but what I didn't know is that she is actually Austrian. So I'm sitting at the breakfast table, listening to Hector and Lilli and their son, Danny, speak English, Spanish, and German. It was really neat! We ate palachinka, which is a very thin Austrian pancake which we spread plum jam on and rolled up and ate.

And then I took a little nap, and now we are all caught up to the present on our story. I'm very excited to see where it goes from here! Pray for our team members safety and wisdom, pray for me personally that I will listen and let God direct me. Pray for the kids and their parents, that Christ would become real to them. I love you all and thank you very much for your support! Thank you God for taking care of me and helping me get here safely and for providing help in the little things. You are awesome!