Spain

We made it to Spain!  It has been a major traveling day for us and points we wondered if it was going to end.  The phrase “Are We There Yet?” kept coming to mind.  I left my house at about 7:30 am and we arrived in Leon around 8 pm the next day.

Me at SeaTac International Airport.

The beautiful skies of Seattle.

We were hampered by bad weather at every leg of our trip.  We were delayed getting into Philly for our connection because of weather and flying a hold pattern for a while.  The flight was also filled with extended times of turbulence, almost like a roller coaster ride at times.  By the time we got off the plane, it was boarding time for our Spain connection; and of course our connecting gate was at the farthest possible point in the Philly airport!  We had to quickly make our way over and basically were the guys holding up the plane.  The pilot tried to get us up in the air quickly but again we were put in a hold and were 8th in line for the runway.  Flying over the Atlantic was again not a smooth ride.  We again had extended periods of turbulence.  Pat from our team, doesn’t do well on planes and the turbulence didn’t help his fears.

Getting ready for the 6 hour flight to Madrid from Philly.

Madrid from the sky.

We finally arrived in Madrid and were delighted to get out of the airport.  After getting our bags and clearing customs, we were met by Nacho, who was a huge blessing.  We were to catch a train ride to the city of Leon where we would spend the night before heading to the city of Teruel where the worship camp is going to be.  We discovered that we didn’t have our train tickets printed and thankfully we had Nacho there to help us figure it all out.

Outside the Madrid International airport.

I think I over-packed – I had a largest suitcase of the team and the heaviest, granted I took on more weight to help reduce another person’s bag, plus I have quite a bit of gear packed in my bag.  The return trip should be lighter unless I shop.

After waiting about 4 hours we were ready to load on the train for our next 4 hours of travel.

It was 10 degrees Celcius this afternoon, brr…

Views from the train ride.  Our travel so far is very movie like and it quite an experience.  I am soaking it all in!

Pat and I trying to find things to do during our train ride.  You can see Kris (in orange) and Aaron (sleeping) in the background.

Finally after what seemed like traveling forever, we arrived in Leon.

The city of Leon is so far quite lovely.  I love the buildings/architecture and history.  Our host, Tan Molina, who is the director of the camp we are teaching at, picked us up and took us to our hotel – Hotel Corde Luna.

The hotel has a –1 level which is strange and we speculate that it might have been one time a underground dungeon where people were totured; just saying.

After we checked in, Tan took us for a mini tour around the city and worked up our appetite for dinner.  So far, we are learning the Spaniards eat late lunches and late dinner; and we just plain love to eat whenever.

The Cathedral (as it’s known) in the middle of town square is quite a marvel; built in the 11th century and covered with stained glass.

Huge wooden carved door leading into the Cathedral –very inspiring.

After touring the inside of the cathedral (no pictures allowed there), we posed for a picture (L to R – Kris, Pat, Jireh, Peter & Aaron).

The town center of Leon is filled with intricate alleys that are lined with little eateries that are mostly standing room only.  It is like people just go to these places, stand around and snack on some yummy food and drink wine.

The first eatery we stopped at.

Here’s me with my Coke Light at El Gaucho.  It is like happy hour all night long.

Tan ordered us some potato and meat appetizer that was very delicious.

Couldn’t pass up a trinket store selling miniature drums

For my soccer/futbol crazy friends, a sports bar for the soccer fans.

A shop selling everything that’s got to do with the Pig and derivatives of pork products – fascinating.

I was quite pleased to find Casa Jesus (Jesus house) except they sold women’s lingerie – not sure what to think of that.

More cool buildings

This was on one of the walls we walked by – how did they know?  What up Renton!

Our final stop for the night before the hotel – a real Churro stand and this is what I got:

 

Chocolate covered, cream filled Churro – amazing!

It has been a wonderful trip so far!  Spain is a very beautiful place.  I have, however, been challenged today as we roamed the streets and observed people, there are so many people disconnected from Jesus.  They are aware of Him because of traditions and upbringing in the Roman Catholic church but they have not experienced the transformation that can come only from Him.  A missionary who met with us for a few moments today set the tone for us – she told us that last weekend she helped put together a concert at a public venue, in a city of 35,000 people and only 7 Christ followers living there.  People came and some gave their hearts to Jesus.  She told us that music is a key to reaching the people of Spain – they will not come to a church evangelistic meeting but will come to a concert.  We have an huge yet amazing opportunity this week because we get to help equip worship leaders and musicians so they can go back to their cities and carry on the mission of reconnecting people to Jesus through music.  I am very excited and very thankful for the chance to be a part of something like this.

Please do keep us in your prayers.  Until my next update, peace and love.