Week One: Orientation

May 25

This first week in Naron, Spain has been a good one. I am enjoying getting to know my two roommates and the other two girls on our team. In the picture the five girls in the middle are the ones I'm going to be working with for the next three months. There is also a guy from France and the other team leader who are not pictured. The two ladies on the extremities are here for a "Communications 'Conference'", and are leaving today. Eli, the second in from the left, is our girl-team leader, and her roommate, Erin, is second in from the right. Me, and my two roommates are in the middle. 

We truly have had a good week of orientation. My morning routine usually starts with me waking up around 6:30, breakfast and getting ready, then chores. Yes, I said chores. We then meet at 9:10 or 9:15 for devotionals and then we head out for the day or work in the house. Lunch here is around 2 PM and "siesta" generally comes right after. We all rotate cooking lunch, which is the big meal of the day. Each week we will be going to 5 different mid-week meetings such as English class, Bible study, Prayer meeting, Kids club (which is called "Happy Hour") and, lastly, Youth Group. Sundays are different because church doesn't start till 5 PM. 

We've also already learned a lot about Spain's history going from before the Roman period all the way to present day which explains a lot about their culture. I would love to share some of it with you, but it would take too long. 

Yesterday was great because we had our first mini hike to start training us for the 120 Km hike we will be taking in July. Yesterday we went to a Castle-Fort that the city of Ferrol used as a strategic place for defense. In order for ships to come into Spain at that point, they would have had to come between two forts that would have cannoned any enemy. No enemy ship survived. Anyway, the walk yesterday was about 8 Km long. There were a lot of steep, long hills, but we all made it! I learned a very important life lesson: I need people, and more importantly I need Christ. I can't do anything by myself, and it's pride when I say I can. 

Pray and Praise

1) Thank God that we are all here safe and sound.

2) Continue to pray for team unity.

3) Praise God for our ability to learn languages. (Side note: the Spanish in this region is called Gallego, which has some differences in its writing and pronunciation  The biggest any other Spanish speaker will notice is the fact that when a "C" makes an "S" sound or when there is a "Z", they pronounce it with the English "TH" sound. So instead of saying "Gracias" they'd say "Grathias".)

4) Pray that despite any language barriers we would be used by God to do great things!

5) Praise God for good health, but continue to pray that we wouldn't get sick. 

6) Lastly, pray for strength for all of us. We all have our weaknesses, pray that we would constantly seek God to fight the fight with us and for us instead of trying to do it by ourselves.

Thank you all.