From Spain, With Love

Seeing as I have been home from Spain for 10 days now, I am overdue for an update post about my trip!

Our main goal while in Spain was to hold an English camp for the children in Parla, a smaller town in the southern part of Madrid, to help our partners create contacts and friendships in that area. Most of us spoke little to no Spanish and they spoke little to no English, so you can imagine the chaos that ensued. As the week went on, communication became easier and the for the children love grew deeper and after a week, the thought of going back to the states filled us with more sadness that joy.  Towards the final days of the trip as exhaustion- both physical and emotional-set in, I was reminded of a verse in 2 Timothy.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. 

While this verse discussed Paul reaching the end of his life, our team found it easy to relate as we all felt we had been poured out ourselves. Coming home from Spain we were able to say that we had given the trip, our camp and the people all the time, effort and love we possessed.

I could go on and on about this trip and what it meant to me, but I figured you all would like to see some pictures too.

Adventures in DC

For those of you who didn't know, I spent the first week of January in Alexandria, Virginia which is a suburban area surrounding Washington, DC.

It was INCREDIBLE, but didn't start that way.

Rewind to January 1st, around 11 pm and you would find me in my mother's room crying, asking if it was too late to change my mind about the trip. I was physically hurting and doubting my body's ability to make it through a full week in the cold of the North. Mind you, three of my best friends are in the next room sleeping away, completely stoked about the adventure planned for the next morning.

Against my doubts, I was dressed, ready and in the van Thursday morning on my way to DC. The day of driving passed slowly as we inched north towards upper Virginia. When we finally made it to our new "home", the excitement of the week finally set in.

When we were finally settled in, we were given the story of the church building and how we came to be a part of this project.

The church Woodlawn Baptist had been dying for a long time and when it made the way down to the final members. the decision to gift it to a local church plant project was made.

Enter Pastor Brian.

Brian Collison was a father, Army Reserve and student in South Eastern Seminary when the Father called him to be a church planter. His number in the Army was called up and he and his family were uprooted and moved to DC where he would be a part of a security detail for important members of government. During his time in DC, Brian began going to Pillar Church where the Father made it clear his plan was for Brian and his family to begin a church close to the local military base, Fort Belvoir.

Our job was simple. Woodlawn Baptist gave the building to the Collisons as is. All of their junk and stuff left in it's place. It was our job to clear our the building, organize all of the stuff left from the former church, paint walls and basically give the building a fresh start.

The days of organization and painting passed with friendships blossoming right and left. 22 girls in one small room in an upper, cold room of the church made sure of that. There were times, because of a leak, that we went without water, but there were never any complaints. Our group came together and performed our mission; to serve wholeheartedly.

While we worked hard, we also played hard. Our third day in the area, we spent a few hours in the National Mall taking pictures of monuments and playing the part of perfect tourists. Our nights were filled with Mafia (a classic of the Loft), Jenga, Assassin, Phase 10 and as many games of cards as we could handle.

I couldn't have imagined a better group of people to work, serve and do life with.