doing

I realized after writing that last post that some of you are perhaps wondering what I'm actually doing here. So I'm gonna write another one, and we'll call it a double feature.

A lot of people asked me this question before I came: What are you going to do in Spain? Of course they did. What else are they gonna ask me? Well, the response I often gave, while good and accurate in my own estimation, was vague, and left most people unsatisfied. "I'm going to help."
"Okay..?" was a common response.
"With what?" was another one.
"Right on." was my favorite.

As I said, I stand by what I said about coming here to help. It was and is my chief desire to be a blessing to Mark and Stephanie and the team here at YFC Spain in whatever way I can. (Actually, that idea has been rolling around in my head since I heard about a conversation that took place between my brother, his wife, and some of their college friends - the idea of being a blessing. Whether you are working at a law firm or building houses or going to school, one of your jobs, if you are a Christian, is to be a blessing to those around you. I love that. That makes work so much more fun. Of course, I haven't perfected it.)

Anyway, here are some of the things I've been doing, for those curious.

Cleaning
There is a LOT of cleaning to be done. Well, first, I should tell you about the center. YFC Spain has a center in Barcelona which is a front, if you will, for their missions operation. One thing they do at the center is run an English Academy. They have a couple of classrooms and a couple of teachers - a wonderful British lady named Bev and a full-time missionary named Brandon. They also run a tutoring program and have forums on Monday and Friday nights. Monday nights are for twentysomethings to come and talk about ideas. Fridays are for the kids.

Well. Kids make things dirty. They run around and play like kids do, and they scuff the walls, etc. So, Friday, I came in and scrubbed the walls in the rec room. This room is also used by two churches on the weekends. Today, I scrubbed the walls in the lobby and in the hallway which leads to the classrooms. It was a fair amount of work, but nothing that a couple afternoons couldn't take care of.

Future tasks include more wall-scrubbing and painting what can't be scrubbed.

Berea
Berea is a camp that YFC runs during the summer, named for the city Paul and Silas visited in Acts 17. It. is. beautiful. It's an hour or so inland - and let me tell you, the Spanish countryside feels like being in a movie or a novel - and it's in the middle of nowhere up in the hills so you can see the Mediterranean in the far distance as well as this incredible mountain called Montserrat. On Monday, Mark and I went up to ready ourselves before the Spanish Inquisition came to make sure we didn't need to be put on the rack for our heresies. Ok bad joke. We had to make sure the camp would pass the yearly, somewhat-capricious inspection. No big deal. We spent the night and I spent a few hours on Tuesday morning painting the concrete around the pool in some seriously ideal weather. An awful sacrifice, I know.

So one of the big pluses (or drawbacks, depending on your point of view) of doing jobs like these for missionaries who don't have the time to do them is that you're an immediate hero. They are simple tasks, really. (I mean, it is true that there's a certain lack of...I don't know...initiative...in the Spanish psyche, so probably any American who came in would look very industrious and/or ambitious. Also crazy.) But that you have done them is SUCH. a big HELP. you have no IDEA!

The reason I said that about drawbacks is that it doesn't do much to help me fight my pride. But by God's grace, I am vigilant.

What else? Ah yes. I really like YFC Spain's approach to missions because it's right up my alley. (Also, it works very well within the context of recent Spanish history, but I won't get into that here.) YFC Spain is all about developing relationships with people, building trust in those relationships, and then speaking the Gospel into that space. If you know me, you know I love that. I love people. I love people's stories. I love hearing people's stories. I love building relationships with people. And most of all, Jesus loves me and I love Jesus and I love telling people about how Jesus loves them. It can be a very long process, but it's my favorite.

So anyway. I hope the picture is coming into focus, now.

priorities

Hey everyone!

(I considered writing something like "Saludos!" but I didn't want to be predictable.)

Well. I arrived in Spain over a week ago on Tuesday at eight in the morning Barcelona time. That's 1 a.m. Chicago time. I hadn't slept except for maybe an hour on the transatlantic flight because there were several fantastic in-flight movies available, so I was very tired. I was advised, however, that the best way to conquer jet lag is to stay up for the first day, be in the sun, let your body-clock readjust, etc, and this I did. It wasn't easy.

Anyway, the first week has been really good. Until yesterday, when I moved to the center, I'd been staying with the Dodrills. It was nice to be in a comfortable environment around people I know while acclimating to the new culture and learning my way around. They have a great place in a town called Castelldefels which is a couple towns over from Barcelona. It's actually a destination in itself because it has the longest beach on the Mediterranean.

But on to the good stuff. One of the great things about major transitions is that there are many lessons to be learned and God's teachings seem abundantly clear. I think this is because the times are volatile, and one feels one's need of and dependence on God more acutely and thus searches more diligently, perhaps, for the diamonds in the rough.

So, the major question of the last week: What are your priorities?

On my first work day at the center, Mark and I sat down to eat lunch with another worker named Ruben. I finished my lunch first, which is not uncommon no matter whom I'm with, and as soon as Mark finished his food, I grabbed both of our plates and darted for the kitchen sink. Mark looked at Ruben, laughed and shook his head, and said something along the lines of, "Crazy Americans..." It was in Spanish, so I didn't catch all of it.

Meals take a long time here. Lunch can be a two-hour event, no matter the context. You go out (or stay in), you order your food (or you heat up what you brought with you), you sit down and eat, and you talk. And talk. And let the silences linger. And talk.

At first, I was thinking, "Oh my gosh these lazy people! How does anything get done around here?" But then I started to wonder if it isn't more a question of priority. In America, efficiency is king - You're done eating lunch? Alright, get the place cleared and get back to it. - and we think that's universal. What's more, we tend to think that inefficiency is immoral. Well, maybe it is, but was what I just experienced inefficiency? Was it, in fact, laziness? Or was there simply a higher priority being placed on time spent with one another, enjoying the moment, however small.

Well, I think that's enough for now. Feedback? Feel free to write.

And thanks for being on this journey with me.