{Mission Team}

So in March, a group of college students from my church came to work with us for a week. And my brother, Michael, got to come too so that was really great to have him here with me! This week was super packed with so many activities such as going on campus and doing spiritual surveys with university students, english clubs, days in the park playing ultimate and soccer, and lots of tapas!! We were able to meet a lot of new Spanish students that week in addition to just enjoying the company of the American believers. It was a really fun week blessed with many good spiritual conversations and new friendships. I think the coolest thing that week though was hearing how the Lord worked in so many of the hearts of the American students giving them a burden for Spain and a desire to return to do more long-term stuff.

Two sweet girls, Carmen & Esther, who we were able to meet that week.

Having a picnic in the park one day.

The whole group of American students with two of our friends, David & Jose Luis.

Everyone at the park on the last day! It was an awesome time of food, hanging out, and playing lots of sports!

{Tapas y Temas}

This semester we have started a new type of Bible Discussion Group called "Tapas y Temas." We will have dinner at our house and hang out a bit then sit together and read a story from the Bible and talk about it. The purpose is to expose students to the Scripture in a comfortable and fun environment where they can feel open to discussing their opinions. It's been amazing to see the number of people that come each week and especially the students who continue to come week after week. This time has definitely provided for deeper conversations with students after the big group time, and it's been such a blessing to see how the Lord is working in hearts!

Two friends, Ana & David, who come to "Tapas y Temas" almost every week. They are really fun and sweet people who are not sure if they believe in God or not, but they always come ready to listen and learn. They are asking questions and very participatory in the conversations each week.

My sweet friends Ana & Leticia. It's been cool to see the transformation in Leticia over the past few months. In the fall, she wasn't interested in the Bible or gospel at all, but now she comes every week to "Tapas y Temas" and always is very involved in the discussions. Last week I got to talk to her a lot about what we believe, and she took a Bible home with her to read. We're going to start meeting to read some together and discuss, so please pray for that time!

Our sweet friends Jose Luis & David who wanted to cook authentic Spanish food for us one night. They are such a joy to be around, and always provide some good laughs. Jose Luis now lives in Scotland, so we definitely miss having him around, but we are praying the Lord will use this time alone to really work in his heart.

{Milan}

So in February we had two girls who come to our English clubs ask us go to Milan with them for a few days. This was a huge deal because Spaniards are not the most open to inviting outsiders into their friend groups...let alone to travel with them for a whole weekend! We were definitely stoked about this trip and excited to have more focused, intimate time with these girls to talk about spiritual things!

These are our friends Alejandra & Cecilia. They're two really sweet girls who always come to our English clubs. We had a great time with them in Milan and were able to share the gospel with them and have some really good discussions. We even read some of the Bible together. Please continue to pray for the Lord to give us opportunities to share with them!

The main cathedral in Milan. It's beautiful on the outside, but feels very dead and creepy on the inside. The presence of the Lord is definitely not in this place. Please pray for God to fill the cathedrals of Europe with his truth and spirit!

{New Years}

For New Years, I went to London to visit a friend from Samford. It was so great to see a familiar face and spend time together catching up and exploring London. I got to study abroad in London while at Samford, and I loved this city! So it was great to get to go back and recall all those wonderful memories!

We went to Wimbledon one day, which was one of my favorite things I did in London! Hopefully one summer I can come back and go to a tournament. Interesting fact that I'm sure everyone but me knows...they play on grass!! Loving tennis as I do, I'm so disappointed that I didn't know that before.

So this is the stadium where all the champions play! Center court seats like 15,000 people and the small box on the right is where the Queen sits or other royalty or famous people.

This was really cool too! We went to Greenwich where the Prime Meridian is! So this green light is the actual Prime Meridian...the center of the world when split into East and West!

Big Ben.
Platform 9 3/4 for all those Harry Potter fans.

Tower Bridge- thought to be London Bridge by many, but no, it is not!

The London Eye where all the fireworks were shot on the 31st! Instead of going there to see them, we went to this really beautiful park that overlooks the whole city of London. We could see the entire city and the fireworks very clearly without having our ears being blown up or being surrounded by millions of people! We also got to see a cool spectacle of lanterns being sent into the sky all around London. The whole London sky was filled with thousands of beautiful specks of light!

Once again, sorry for not many pictures! London is such a wonderful city though, and the break of Christmas and New Years were such a great time of renewal and refreshment for me! It was a well needed break and energized me to start the semester again strong! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years too!

{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.