Small Steps. Big Faith.

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?   And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written:  'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! '" -Romans 10:14-15 2023 has been quite a busy year for requesting missionary visas, one of several hats I wear as I serve in Agape Spain.  Although I am not a lawyer, I have learned so much over the last 15 years about the visa application process for religious visas. While it has been quite time-consuming, it has been a privilege to be one of the first from Ágape to meet these international staff  and  to serve them well through this seemingly mundane and sometimes challenging bureaucratic procedure. Nathy Ángel with GAiN Nathy Ángel, who is from Colombia, was working on a masters in Applied Neuromarketing at the University of Valencia when she got invo...

This spring has brought numerous opportunities to interact with our new staff. On this occasion, Donna Cannella (pictured front row, 2nd from right) and I invited 5 new staff, 2 interns and their trainers from a variety of Agape ministries to join us near Barcelona to cast vision for them about the value and purpose of ministry training. In our organization, Ágape prioritizes faith, growth and lasting fruit. The " Capacitación de nuevos coordinadores " (CNC) (or "New Staff Training" (NST)) exists to create a space to develop life change and ministry effectiveness. Our aim is to equip our staff not only in skills (hands), but also with knowledge (head) and attitude (heart).  At the CNC Orientation, we begin this 2-year training process by tackling together the first 3 of 39 topics. Another important component to the training includes an intentional relationship between the trainer (the director or some other senior staff) and trainee (new staff member). During the CN...

pictured above: front row - Donna, Jill, Lucía, Liz back row - Andrés, Dani, Jemima, Mateo, Laura, Israel, María, Penny 12 of us descended on Barcelona, gathering in a rented Air B-n-B apartment. It almost felt a little bit like the 12 disciples in the Upper Room. Many had come from very busy ministry schedules. Some flew in from other countries. Others were flying out to other countries after we finished.  These staff represent a variety of ministries:  GAiN , Athletes in Action , Operations and Human Resources , Family Life This group of new staff were wrapping up their two-year training period as New Staff with Ágape. Just as in the orientation, we looked together at 3 more of the 39 topics. We took time to be with the Lord. We reflected on what it means to be a servant leader, the role of coaching others and how to put to evangelize with our actions. Pictured below: María, Lucía and Laura spend time with the Lord before our first session. Pictured below: Andrés and Liz tak...

Finish packing. Drop Aaron off at school. Drive the 26 miles to pick up my teammate, Donna.  Load the car with the groceries. Drive 22 more miles to the retreat house reserved for our 5 most recent recruits who will be joining our staff in 2023. Sometimes, I can get so caught up in the details that I forget that what we do is making an impact in the lives of people in Spain because what we do is share the Good News of Jesus with others. In January, these 5 women were invited to join us outside of Barcelona for the most recent New Staff Orientation. These 2 days are reserved to get to know these new staff better, to allow them time to get to know each other, to orient them to the culture and mission of Agape and to address their concerns as they begin. If we do this part well, they are more likely, not only to have a positive, fruitful experience, but also to stay longer. (left and counterclockwise) Jill at the bottom, Donna, Andrea, Nathy, Zuleika, Becca, Laura, Begoña  The mi...

In July, God brought a new member to our Agape team for the 2017-2018 school year, intern Alejandro Bo, from Alicante. With Alejandro's arrival, God also gave a new challenge for me.... I had participated in new staff orientatons on various occasons previously, but this was my first time to organize and host an event like this. Since Alejandro lives closer to Barcelona than to Málaga,  where the directors of the LDHR team are, the decision was made to hold the Intern Orientaton in Barcelona. (Of course, since it was just one new member, the responsibility of this orientaton event was lighter than if there had been 20, although 20 new staff is what we are dreaming about and praying for in the upcoming years!) Working side-by-side with me was my fellow LDHR member, Donna Cannella. Donna is gifted as a detail person and a public speaker. Her perspective, clarity and thoroughness brought great balance to this time of welcome, preparation and orientation for Alejandro. At the l...

15 women from Morocco. They all showed up this week. They are eager to learn. A few can write. Most cannot. They are so grateful for the smallest efforts. In the one hour a week I have with them on Friday mornings I want to give them all that I have. I want to give them a step up in the midst of this world economic crisis. All but one are married. All those who are married have at least 2 often 4-6 children that they are rearing. As we seek to bless these ladies, we will also be influencing scores of children. Fatima, Fatima, Yamna, Jamila, Fatima, Fatima, Latifa,  Samira, Rahma, Halima, Fatima, Hasna, Louiza, Hanán, Turiya Would you pray for them? Please pray that God would point out those who are open to hear more about Him. Please pray that He would reveal those that we can help in other areas in addition to language acquisition. What? You don´t see anyone in the classroom pictured above? The students are very shy. They have a strong aversion to cameras, especially...

We gathered today at the GAiN ( Global Aid Network ) headquarters  to prepare for this Fall´s new wave of Spanish students, who are almost exclusively Moroccan immigrant women living in Terrassa, Spain. This is the 5th consecutive year that we´ve been able to offer these classes to more than 100 women whose social needs are enormous. Our teaching team for the 2012-2013 year is made up of 8 women: 3 full-time staff and 5 volunteers, one of whom is an alumni of these Spanish classes. We are very excited because this project continues to grow in number and we believe that it is also improving in quality and excellence. This year we will be using specific student manuals for each of the five lanugage levels. Although it might seem like a small detail, it reflects a huge step forward compared to the previous years. As you may already know, GAiN is working to improve the quality of life for its students and to encourage social participation from those who don´t have the same econom...

22 students started. 10 continued faithfully to the end. They come with head coverings, long skirts, hard life stories and big smiles. Each Wednesday I have looked forward to my Spanish class, a solid group of 8-10 women who have attended faithfully each week, pictured here: (left to right) Karthoum, Saliha, Guita, me, Rachma and Malika. The learning curve is high. Many are not literate in their own native languages. So, learning to hold a pencil and/or re-learning to read from left to right (instead of right to left) are some of the language challenges that they must overcome as they gather the building blocks for adequate communication in this new world they live in. The learning process is slow. Many have lived here for years and are just starting to learn the language. Others have attended classes for multiple years but require much repetition of basic topics until they are recorded in long-term memory. The year-long course ended this week.  We celebrated with trad...

Ruben Rivera (second from the right) was a teenager with a dream. After a childhood filled with unknowns, he entered adolescence, dreaming about changing the world. He wanted to help children and others in great need. That feeling became a great fire that drove him to take steps. A good friend took a chance on him and discipled him with patience and faithfulness…and helped him to mold and shape his dream. His story is of one who has been changed by Jesus. His dream is to participate with Him in changing the world. His calling is to work among those who suffer most. Ruben is now the National Director of  Global Aid Network  in Spain. He´s working to raise up a team of staff and volunteers that can work with him to reach the hidden and hurting in our world. In just two years, GAiN is now sponsoring a recovery house for homeless men in Barcelona, hosting a program to reduce social exclusion for Moroccan women in Terrassa (Barcelona) and supporting the ...

The Good News: They found it! It was like striking gold. The workers on the construction site of the  Ça-Ira Children´s Home  in Haiti had found a new water source for a well. The Bad News: The water still needed to be treated to guarantee the health of the children and staff who currently live in the orphanage. Soon, this need will cease to be a concern. Within a few weeks, our children at the home will not need to worry about the quality of the water that they drink or bathe with. As we filed into the conference room at  Optima Renovables , a renewable energy company located in Terrassa, Spain, we were eager to hear their response to participate in the needs at the children´s home in Haiti. The directors were willing AND eager to donate a special water purification system to GAiN Spain to be used at the orphanage in Haiti. (pictured below) It´s a system with the latest technology and has the ability to purify 7000 liters of water a day, which is mo...

I was encircled by them, squishy colored squirrels-teething rings actually. And then there were the pacifiers, the rattles,  baby bottles...A generous donor had unloaded a truckful of materials at our GAiN office just the week before. Some of the materials were destined for the join GAiN project at the  Ça-Ira Children´s Home in Haiti, while other materials would be used at GAiN´s new recovery house, el Llar Manel Pujades in Barcelona. Just two weeks after the stillborn delivery of our daughter , it seemed a bit ironic to be surrounded by baby toys; but the task at hand was urgent: take inventory of all the materials, prepare lists and labels to relocate the boxes in a new storage area, also donated by another volunteer. It was quiet, individual work, spread out over several days, perfect for me as I dealt with the first weeks of loss. (It reminded me of Brother Lawrence and his book, The Practice of the Presence of God . ) As I emptied the boxes and counted the...

From December 28th to January 5th, we sent a GAiN Spain team of two to Haiti to observe and serve at our long-term project at the Ça-Ira Children´s Home in Leogane, Haiti. There were several objectives for the trip: -to work directly with teh children in order to be able to update the information for our sponsorship program through which many of these children are supported by individual Spanish sponsors. -to continue advancing the construction work on the buildings at the children´s home that were destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. The activities with the children were truly a special time, filled with unforgettable moments. At the same time, the construction work also continues to move forward according to schedule. So far, we have finished each phase on time. We were also albe to bring specific aid (blankets and shoes) to the children which was previously collected during the Christmas holidays. This August a new GAiN team will head to Haiti from Spain with the...