Giving Thanks

I think this post will continue to be edited as I keep thinking of things to add because as I sit in reflection of what God did on our trip, there is no escaping the fact that there is much to be thankful for.  We made it home safely and saw God make a team out of a bunch of unique individuals with a variety of giftings.  We experienced God's healing with sickness making its way through some of our ranks.  We had wonderful opportunities to share a gospel presentation, in parks, town squares, on on the Plaza at Puerta del Sol, even under an overpass by the shore of a lake!  There were numerous opportunities to share one on one, and to pray with individuals and small groups, even in the day to day.  One of these included a stop on the way through a small park on the way to do some food shopping.  Andy, Luis, and Georgina shared Christ and prayed with a young man sitting on a bench as he prayed to receive Christ as his Savior.  When we were tired from long days and little rest, God allowed that some siesta time could be built into our schedule each day of the second week.  When keeping up with cooking, shopping, and outreach became too much, God provided a cook for our lunches (Pilar) taking a huge burden off our shoulders.  We were able to enjoy seeing some villages outside of Madrid as we went to swim in a couple of lakes, and traveled to do outreach in those communities.  We got many opportunities to learn and practice speaking Spanish, but God blessed us with hosts, many of whom had at least a little English language skills.  We all had opportunity to share our personal salvation testimonies in outreach.  We bonded really well with the church people in Spain, so well, in fact, that we didn't really want to leave.  Even now, a week later, my teammates and I keep commenting on how much we miss each other and miss our brothers and sisters from Las Aguilas.  I had the joy of doing music nearly every night, working with Pedro, and later others, learning to sing more and more songs in Spanish, and to share my testimony in Spanish a few times.  God allowed Georgina, Luis, and Mabel from NY, and Pedro from Spain to be there to help us all communicate with one another when limitations of Spanish-English and English-Spanish vocabularies of our native speakers on both sides were challenged.  We were blessed with a team leader, Andy, who was committed to seeking God for all decision-making with regard to the team, and managing things.  We had a blessed time with the folks at the On the Red Box ministry, and were encouraged to see that powerful evangelistic outreach going on each day in the city of Madrid.