first real week...

Have you ever met one of those people who is so in love with Christ, that they cant help talking about him all the time? The kind of people who have received so much love and joy from God, that they just automatically pour out into other people’s lives? This week, we met a whole group of them.

Every Wednesday night, the SIS (semester in Spain) group gets together to have our own worship time together. We talked about being God’s Ambassadors in every moment. When the American Ambassador to China is there, he can’t decide that on the weekends he just doesn’t feel like being the Ambassador-No! He’s representing the US at every moment-when he’s in a taxi, at his hotel, when he goes out at night-he never stops being the Ambassador.

In the same way, we are called to represent Christ at all times. This is something I’ve always known, but I’ve never truly lived it. I seem to live my life thinking, Well, as long as I don’t do anything wrong I’m not actually misrepresenting Jesus. This is so off! In the same way that we shouldn’t live not to sin-but to live in order to bring God glory, we need to stop living acceptably, and truly LOVE every person we see.

Here in Spain, people are really closed off to the gospel. Christianity is thought of as a cult, and discussing their personal lives and belief s is not a cultural norm like it is in the States. I was really surprised to learn that not a single director, receptionist, or teacher here in the program is a Christian. The lady who is so graciously letting us stay in her house and giving us food three (very different!) times a day has been hosting girls for 14 years. She is not a Christian either.

At the end of our service on Wednesday, a group of Germans and their leader from the Dominican Republic came and shared with us about the work that they are doing. For four months they are traveling around Spain, supporting different churches in their work, brining different churches together with different projects, going out into the streets and talking to people about Jesus, etc. I can’t remember when I’ve met people so in love with Christ. Three girls in the group came with us during our “Noche de Chicas” (Girls’ Night) and we had the most amazing conversation about God’s plans for our lives and how to be a light to this city.

I can’t really explain what’s happened this week, but I do know that something’s changed. When I got here two weeks ago, I was excited about the opportunity to better my Spanish. Now, our focus has changed. We’re here to be God’s Ambassadors here in Spain. We’re here to show God’s love to as many people in Spain, even if it doesn’t mean “fitting in” with the culture. If you want to pray for us, please join us in asking God for opportunities to talk to Amparo and José (the couple who host us), as well as our teachers, and the other people who we come into contact to.

Thanks for your prayers.

May God be lifted high here in Spain!

Hello Sevilla...

 Um. Wow.
I'm not even sure if I can explain just how beautiful this place is. I'd seen pictures, but literally walking through every street is like walking through a storybook. Basically I am in love with the cobblestone roads, the tiny streets, and the beautiful Cathedrals that are everywhere here.

We ended up meeting up with Katie, the Student Activities Coordinator in the Chicago Airport, which was such a help. She has made this whole process a whole lot easier. Thanks to her, Allison and I found our taxi, got to our hotel (where we promptly took way too long of a nap!), came to help us take a shuttle back to the airport to pick up Jonathan, Allison's brother, who somehow had gotten a later flight to Seville. We picked up some groceries, had our first meal in Seville...Burger King (lame, but cheap...ish ;] haha...we've done better since then, don't worry!)

Today, we got to explore around the city, see a lot of beautiful places, and stop by our school that Katie showed us yesterday. We met everyone in the office and some of the teachers--everyone seems so nice! We got to see the classrooms, library, computer lab, etc. so we are getting pretty excited about where we are going to be studying (the yellow/white building in the picture ahead). It really is a beautiful building--it is right next to the river, and on/or right near one of the main plazas of the city.

Right now, we are just enjoying this down time before classes start--coming early was definitely the thing to do! I'm happy we can have time to relax, adjust to the time difference, explore the city, and rest some more before we get into all the craziness of classes. Estámos felices!

I can't believe we get to live here for the next four months! I already love it here, and am excited to get to meet more people, and see all that there is to see here! Thank you to those who have been praying for me. Our flight was great, and we're in a nice hotel here in a beautiful part of the city. Everything has gone so smoothly so far, and I KNOW that this is because of you all who are praying for me. Thank you.

If you want to see more of what we're up to here, please check my Facebook--I'll be uploading all my pictures there.

ALSO!

Please check our my roommate/amazing friend/fellow volleyball player's blog at:
allisoninspain2012.blogspot.com


and Jonathan's blog at: jrehnerinspain.blogspot.com

Almost that time again :)

I don't think it has even sunk in for me that I will be leaving the country in a week. 

If you'd like to keep up with me as I study in Spain for a semester, I will be trying to publish some updates here.

Stay tuned! :)