Small Steps. Big Faith.

During these weeks of waiting for the baby to arrive, we´ve been trying to make room for him, which has meant sorting through my stuff and throwing away non-essentials. I´ve done a fairly good job of parting with things (my efficient friend, Jalynn, would be so proud of me). However, there have been a few things that I just have not been able to part with. Among those things are a few select journals that I´ve carried with me from my days on campus at the University of Granada. With all this extra time on my hands, I decided to go back and read through some of my thoughts and experiences, recorded at a very different point in my life from now. August 9th, 2002 In the next 3 years I long to see... *20 new Spanish staff raised up in cities where they can be trained *group after group of Spanish students discipling each other *a regular annual conference providing times of worship and Biblical teaching for students leaders August 19th, 2002 There are many times when I lose hope, ...

Well, after a couple of months of being away, I'm finally back home and longing to reconnect with my blog. One of the things we did in July was take part in the Agape Campus trip to the Camino de Santiago. I worked with 5 ohter women in the kitchen, providing sustenance and humor for the pilgrims in our group. It was a lot of work but it was also very fun too. The staff and students that participated this year made the trip unique and special. There was lots of walking, eating, sleeping; but there were also times of personal reflection and group discussion as well. This summer journey is one more seed planted in the minds and hearts of these young churchgoers as they examine more about the power and hope of Jesus on a very practical level: as teacher, as healer, as savior, etc. Ruben was able to come and join us on the last few days of the trip. We walked into Santiago together on the last day and caught the laser light show celebration in front of the Cathedral. ...

For more than 6 months I have been working with a small team of Spanish staff to pull together the first-ever Staff Family Retreat for Agape Spain. We had a couple of meetings beforehand, several phone calls and LOTS of prayer. Our team arrived a day early in order to prepare. We had a few tasks to complete, but mostly I wanted for us to pray together. Finally the day had arrived. They came pouring in one or two cars at a time. We had over 100 people participate in this retreat. The work team worked together, stepping in to encourage and pick up the slack where necessary. The staff at the residence were so helpful and flexible! The hostal had a GREAT location: beachfront just outside of Valencia. The main speaker, Ester Martinez, a renowned Christian psychologist in Spain, talked about finding the balance between ministry and our personal lives and challenged us with the phrase that Paul speaks to Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if...

Our organization has been wrestling with growing pains almost since I arrived in Barcelona. I've witnessed lots of changes in the last few years. The time had come to consolidate, focus everyone on the same goal and challenge us to move forward with new motivation and hope for the future. What better way to do that than to learn from those who've come before us? The theme, RETRATOS(or PORTRAITS), was created to help us remember and celebrate heroes of the faith from the past and those personal heroes who've invested in us; and to inspire us to live with the same perspective. We looked together at the challenges facing Abraham, Joshua and Caleb and Joseph and the personal steps of faith they took to overcome them. I worked closely with Edi Souto, Isabel Fernandez and Natan de Souza to bring this gathering to life. The planning aspects (organization and delegation) were fun for me. It definitely was a positive moment for us as a staff family. Below there are a few pho...

One day last week I was working "on location" on a mountain top. Yes...a literal mountain top. (Sometimes I just marvel at the opportunities I have and often wonder, "How in the world would I put what I do on a resumé?") At the end of May staff leaders from all over the world will come to Spain, actually to Montserrat (about 6 miles from my little pueblo), to an event hosted by Campus Crusade for Christ, Internationl. They are coming to discuss reaching the large cities around the globe with the gospel. "Global Cities Summit" (or something along those lines) is the title of the gathering. Their planning team, based in Orlando needed help with some preparation on the Spain side and somehow this job ended up on my desk. I've helped to facilitate letters of invitation and permission for visas for specific people coming from India and from Ghana. I don´t really mind. Events like these help keep alive my vision for reaching the world. They also help me...

Recently the Agape accountant in the National Office, Mari Carmen, called to ask me a favor. "Everyone in the office will be out of town next week at a conference except for me. Since your work is portable, is there any chance you could come to the office, work from here, answer the phone when it rings and keep me company?" After several weeks of being holed up in my home office consumed by tiny details for our conference the invitation was quite inviting. So, I caught the train early each morning to Barcelona and then caught it back in the evenings. It was actually a needed lift to my "people person" spirit to be in the midst of a flurry of activity. Family Life, Student Venture, Campus Ministry, Jesus film, International Ministry....it all runs through the National Office. Since I'd spent significant time in 2006 in the office I was generally familiar with the protocol, etc. It's a balancing act sometimes to focus on one's own work (in this case the...

Living in Spain gives ample opportunity to drink in the art culture that swirls around us, especially in Barcelona. There is actually a significant number of Agape staff in Spain that are gifted in and dedicated to the arts. Officially I am not one of these. Maybe it's a hobby, maybe it's just something I piddle with. Even though I'm working in the role of diretor for the updcoming Staff Family Conference in May, I've discovered (or re-discovered) that what I really like is being able to create! There are some elements of the creative arts that I really like working on and I especially like reviewing again and again with pride my finished product! I've been working on a number of audio/visual resources to spice up the main meetings. Photos, blogspots, videos, music clips; graphic design, powerpoints are all technological tools that I'm learning to handle, edit, etc. (I'll upload something here once the conference is over. Don't want to spoil t...