{Christmas}

It's been interesting being in a different country for Christmas. Although there are some decorations around the city and our church is doing advent, it's just not the same as America. For once in my life I'm actually wanting to hear Christmas music everywhere I go. So needless to say, I've been frequenting Starbucks a lot to get that "Christmas feel" and also listening to Christmas music at my house all the time too. And I've decorated our apartment a little for Christmas- we had a few things already here, so I just kinda worked with what we had. I do miss having a real Christmas tree though and the house smelling like evergreen! I think that is my favorite part of Christmas...well besides celebrating Jesus's birth of course!

I have been reminded lately though that Christmas isn't about the decorations or music or family or food, but it's about Jesus!! And although a part of me misses all the extra stuff, a part of me is very excited just to be here on Christmas and really enjoy and delight in Jesus and his birth!! I think it will be a great time just to read the Christmas story and dwell on the miracle of Christmas! What a true miracle and gift...that the God of the Universe would humble himself by coming to earth as a child in order to save His lost and hurting creation!

So these are a few of our Christmas decorations...Christmas cards from friends and family at home, red candles, and a few homemade construction paper Christmas trees.

This is our little Christmas tree that we had at the house and all the "ornaments" were just found around our house...a little ribbon, some mini Christmas cards, and a few balls. We also had a Christmas party with the students and played Dirty Santa, which they didn't really understand the purpose is to steal presents from other people. They said it was mean to steal presents from others...haha I guess they were being more "Christian" than we were!

For Christmas, Lauren and I got to go to Paris to hang out with some other Journeymen that we know there. It was a great time just to be with fellow believers and friends, seeing a new city and enjoying each other's fellowship. For Christmas, we went to one American family's house and had a big lunch and dinner with lots of American food! At their house, there were about 10 or 15 Americans who live all over the world. We played games, built gingerbread houses, and just had a great time together! It was a really good Christmas for not being able to be at home.

This was a really beautifully decorated building in Paris! I think it's the most beautiful Christmas light arrangement I've ever seen!

Eiffel Tower of course! And well, these are all my pictures from Paris because I'm horrible at remembering to take pictures and frankly just quite lazy. Pictures can never really do things justice either, so I just recommend that all of you go to Paris yourself to experience the beauty!

{Touring Seville}

After being here for two months, I finally got to be a tourist in Sevilla this weekend. It was a big holiday weekend, and I had a friend come visit from Salamanca. She wanted to do all the touristy stuff, so it was a great excuse for me to do it all too. Sevilla is a very historic city with lots of Arabic influence due to its acquisition by the Moors. It was also a famous port city due to its navigable river the Guadalquivir and its close proximity to the Mediterranean.

This is the awesome river walk next to the Guadalquivir river. It's filled with cafes, boat docks, palm trees, and people roller-blading or walking! I always love running here because it's got such a beautiful view. This is probably one of my favorite places to be in the city!

These are the beautiful Arabic tiles that cover the rooms of the castle in Sevilla. The castle was built by the Moors when they had control of Spain, so the architecture and design is all Arabic and extremely unique.

Above is a fountain located in the gardens of the castle. These gardens are definitely a hidden treasure located in the center of the city.

This is the Torre de Oro that means Tower of Gold. It is where the Spaniards stored all their gold from their many worldwide expeditions. It is situated right next to the river so they could easily transport the gold from the ships.
This is the main cathedral in the center of the city. Its huge tower is known as La Giralda.

This is the Plaza de España where part of the first Star Wars movie was filmed. It is actually much larger than this, and so large that my camera cannot even capture the entire thing. There is a little mote that goes around the whole building and people can rent boats and paddle around in it.

{Retreat}

In November, we took a weekend spiritual retreat with some students. We left Sevilla, and went to a small town a few hours away. It was a great time of worship, Bible study, fellowship, and rest. We played games, watched movies, went hiking, got lost at night while hiking, and ate a lot! But most of all we were there to spend time together learning more about God, encouraging one another as brothers and sisters, and also sharing more with our non-believing friend. It was so cool to see how the Lord opened her heart to ask questions, participate in skits about the Bible, and even sing worship songs!! She really saw who we are as believers and heard more of the truth about Jesus and the new life He wants to give us!

All the guys on the retreat. They were always keeping us entertained!

Our whole group sitting on top of a castle! This was the most beautiful view of the entire area.

On the trail, we found some berries that we could eat, and they were pretty tasty!

All the boys making our lunches before heading off to hike...not the best idea as we ended up with a lot of crazy combinations such as ham and ketchup sandwiches! Yuck!

All of the girls! We had one Spanish girl, Lluvia, come with us on the retreat and it was a great time of learning for her! She has heard the gospel before this trip but during the retreat we had a lot of time to share with her more about God and answer some of her questions. She has recently been coming to church with us and meeting with us to read the Bible together.