Beginnings of Growth

I am always so amazed at how God works in our lives! I'm not going to lie, there have been rough spots, but its with those tough times that God cuts off our rough edges. I don't know about the rest of the team, but I know that I have had points in the last few weeks where there's been tension and such festering in my heart, specifically. Knowing that this is one way in which we can really hurt the work we do here, I'd been praying that God would give me, the team, and the leaders wisdom on how to deal with each issue as it rises. But God's given me the grace I need specifically to be graceful and merciful. I also know He's showing me ways that I need to work so that I'm also not bothering people. Today Trevor, our field leader, gave a powerful devotional on working on healing wounds. it was great, because earlier today, one person asked for the two us to talk and pray mending something that could have really damaged our relationship. When we prayed, it was like God had filled us with His love, not just the love of man.

The team has really worked hard to make sure that we don't let things get between us. We know that Satan uses even the smallest annoyances to break us apart. One way in which we have had to work together, work past differences, and put our different gifts together is through making a puppet stage (which is still in the workings because of some mathematical thing that I really don't understand.) But Thomas drew a blue print for us, Erin and Danielle helped out with the math, and Oli and I did the translating as we went to town and priced all the pieces. We then came home and began putting it together and cutting and doing everything that needed to be done when we hit a bump due to the math problem. It's funny how we all give our opinion and try to "help" when sometimes we have no idea. For me that was frustrating because I really like to feel useful, but when I don't understand something I can't help. Anyway, we had to go to one of the mid-week meetings and had to leave it, but we were able to come back together as a team even though nothing has been solved about the stage, we have been able to grow stronger as a team. I praise God for a team that loves Him and wants to grow closer to Him, and know Him more, and as a result we grow closer as a team, growing stronger, getting ready to do amazing things!
On a more personal note, God has been using my personal devotions to teach me, encourage me, help me and grow me more and more each day. This is all what I mean when I say that I'm a sunflower seedling. Right now, I'm weak, young, inexperienced, but through God's work in my heart and life hopefully I'll become a beautiful sunflower; but we all know that won't happen until we get to heaven.
There's just so much to tell you all, but I'll summarize it as best I can. On Saturday we went to the Evangelical Olympics which is an event that the Evangelical Churches of Galicia put on for the kids to compete in races and marathons and other Olympic events. Some of us volunteered and helped out with keeping score and lining kids up. The rest of the team stayed in the stands cheering on the kids with their drums, bongos, banners and voices. It was really cold, but a lot of fun that day. Church here is different for a couple reasons: 1) It starts at 6:30 PM on Sundays 2) Even though we're in Spain 90% of the Church is Latin. Galicians, and Spaniards in general seem to be harder to reach because Catholicism is THE religion here. Mondays are our days off, so it's nice to physically, emotionally, and spiritually renew ourselves. This Tuesday Oli and I started working in "La Puerta" which is a really cheap thrift store that the church has set up to help those in the town. The economic crisis hit Spain hard as there is about 20% unemployment. At the shop we get to help with the retail and we also sit and drink coffee with people who want to come in and talk. It's a great way to show Christ's love to the people. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the days we work, we also hand out food that the people can take home. This part of the ministry is a government given area so that they can take care of their citizens. Tuesday nights we have prayer meeting which I love because we get to meet with other believers and truly listen to what's going on in someone else's life and pray for them. The people here in this church have a strong bond and love for one another and love to pray for each other as well as praise God for all that He's done for us. It truly puts a smile on my face. Tonight, Wednesday, we go to English class, which is another ministry that the church and specifically Eli, my leader, puts on to invite the community in to learn English which also doubles as an opportunity to spread God's light and love. Last week we also were given several different workshops to learn about the culture, the history, how to make a testimony, and so on.
So far that has been the past week and a half. So sorry I get wordy. Here are a few more points of prayer:
1) Praise God for His mercy and grace so that we can then show mercy and grace.
2) Continue to pray for team unity.
3) Pray for our leaders as they plan the whole program and deal with everything as situations come up.
4) Praise God for OM Belgium which has let us borrow their van for a while. But they now need it back so pray that God provides a van of our own for OM Spain.
5) Pray for all of us as we prepare our testimonies and practice sharing them for later ministries.
6) Pray for me as I get ready to teach a Sunday School class. Pray that there would be clarity in what I say.
7) Praise God for this opportunity to be here, to learn, and become more like Him.