God Bless All!
Greetings from Sunny Beautiful Spain!
I arrived last almost a week and a half ago, and I have been enjoying all that there is to experience here. God is preparing me in ways that I couldn't believe, and I'm more and more excited everyday to be learning how to survive in this country. Barcelona will be different, yes, but by then I'll have some grasp of the country, definitely the language, and I'll be excited to be with people I love.
In the meantime, God has been showing me some amazing things through the tourist-y type things here. We were in Madrid this past weekend (my study abroad group) for some tours and such, and while in el Museo del Prado, He opened my eyes to some things.
God has given us everything we have in our lives, yet we spend our time honoring good people, good places, and good things, rather than seeing the Creator of it all. I was looking at thousands of paintings and statues of saints, the virgin, Christ, and it dawned on me, where is He in all of this? We´ve been commemorating his followers since their beginning, but no one could know what John the baptist looked like, or Christ, or Mary. Yet everyone tries?
Why do we try so hard to confine God to this perfect box of a human image? Especially when He is so much more than that. We have a perfect, unfailing, loving God, and when we try so hard to put him into this box, we leave out the qualities of him that we don´t like, or don´t understand, or don´t go along with what we´re doing in our lives. I don´t want to do that any more.
I have a God that possesses more qualities than I´ll ever know, and I don´t want to limit those. I want to explore them, to know more about His essence and why He has created me in His image, and what qualities of His I have.
I´ve been given an opportunity to take a break from America, and I´m taking every moment I can to sop it up and focus on what´s important to me. I want to invest in people, and I want to be open to allow God to invest in me.
I'm praying that this is something that isn´t just changing in me while I´m here, but will return with me.
God Bless, Take care, More soon,
K
Monday, May 25
Tuesday, May 19
Fotos
Hey all! Here are some pictures!
This is the garage just next to the entrance to the apartment. I love the message. This isn´t graffiti, but all the graffiti here is mostly positive. On the sides of the freeways/highways, it´s all "te amo ..." (i love...) and in the cities, it´s a lot of names, like Jake, or Okey. And then there are pictures. Some are stencil art like the famous Banksy, birds or my favorite are these two creepy little girls done in black and white on an abandoned building near La Plaza del Virgen.
These are some of the fountains that are in the Park of Arts and Sciences up here. At one time it was used for the America´s Cup soccer games, and now it´s just a HUGE park that runs through the north of the city. We went for lunch one afternoon, got totally lost, and found El Corte Ingles (a really big spanish Macy´s).
This was the view from one of the towers in Peñíscola. Very Beautiful, no?
This is the whole group on one of the steps at Peñíscola.
Hope you´re having a great day, may God bless it!
K
This is the garage just next to the entrance to the apartment. I love the message. This isn´t graffiti, but all the graffiti here is mostly positive. On the sides of the freeways/highways, it´s all "te amo ..." (i love...) and in the cities, it´s a lot of names, like Jake, or Okey. And then there are pictures. Some are stencil art like the famous Banksy, birds or my favorite are these two creepy little girls done in black and white on an abandoned building near La Plaza del Virgen.
These are some of the fountains that are in the Park of Arts and Sciences up here. At one time it was used for the America´s Cup soccer games, and now it´s just a HUGE park that runs through the north of the city. We went for lunch one afternoon, got totally lost, and found El Corte Ingles (a really big spanish Macy´s).
This was the view from one of the towers in Peñíscola. Very Beautiful, no?
This is the whole group on one of the steps at Peñíscola.
Hope you´re having a great day, may God bless it!
K
Sunday, May 17
I´m here!!!!
Alright, this might just be the longest post that I´ve ever done. Sorry! Read on for more info about my adventures!
I arrived two days ago, exhausted! Coley and I had to run (literally) to catch our flight from Madrid to Valencia. But we made it. We waited for a little over three hours for the rest of the group to show up, and so far all has gone mostly without a hitch! The first day, we drove into town and met our "madres" and moved in. Chelo is very sweet, but doesn´t speak any english, and we seem to be getting along just fine! I´m very excited to be living with her, and learning about this culture. That night we went out for dinner, drinks, and exploration. Let me tell you, exploring has never seemed so tedious. We walked for about 40 minutes to get from the far side of the center of the city to Chelo´s. After that, there was no question, we were going to sleep!
The next morning was no rest either, we got up early to quickly visit the market and buy beach towels before we were whisked away to Los Torres de Serranos to meet the bus for Peñíscola, to go to the beach. It was blast and the castle was so beautiful. Pictures will be up soon! Without a doubt, we had a great day laying on the beach, lauging at wakeboarders, and exploring. Last night we were exhausted again and just decided to crash. We had Arroz con pollo yesterday for dinner and it was delicious! Today, most things are closed because it´s sunday, but found and internet cafe right around the corner from where we live, and we´re off to find our school and explore the city a little after this. I pray all is well at home, and everyone is enjoying their days! Take care. See you soon!
K
I arrived two days ago, exhausted! Coley and I had to run (literally) to catch our flight from Madrid to Valencia. But we made it. We waited for a little over three hours for the rest of the group to show up, and so far all has gone mostly without a hitch! The first day, we drove into town and met our "madres" and moved in. Chelo is very sweet, but doesn´t speak any english, and we seem to be getting along just fine! I´m very excited to be living with her, and learning about this culture. That night we went out for dinner, drinks, and exploration. Let me tell you, exploring has never seemed so tedious. We walked for about 40 minutes to get from the far side of the center of the city to Chelo´s. After that, there was no question, we were going to sleep!
The next morning was no rest either, we got up early to quickly visit the market and buy beach towels before we were whisked away to Los Torres de Serranos to meet the bus for Peñíscola, to go to the beach. It was blast and the castle was so beautiful. Pictures will be up soon! Without a doubt, we had a great day laying on the beach, lauging at wakeboarders, and exploring. Last night we were exhausted again and just decided to crash. We had Arroz con pollo yesterday for dinner and it was delicious! Today, most things are closed because it´s sunday, but found and internet cafe right around the corner from where we live, and we´re off to find our school and explore the city a little after this. I pray all is well at home, and everyone is enjoying their days! Take care. See you soon!
K
Tuesday, May 12
Tedious and Tough
I am leaving in two days.
I really didn't ever think this week would actually come. But it's here!! It's time for packing, and saying goodbye, and getting nervous. I've been "pre-packing" tons and tons. Organizing and choosing has been a bit tedious and tough, but I'm getting there. I'm trying to prep for what God has in store for me in Barcelona, but I'm just not sure what that is yet, or how to prep for it. So in the meantime, God and I are just kind of going with the flow, waiting to see what happens.
I've been reading Genesis with G though, one chapter at a time. It's different re-reading the stories from sunday school, seeing what was left out, what lead up to it, where it fits.... It's been giving me an interesting perspective.
Oh, and I got a hair cut.
Anyways, I've received almost $450 for the Barcelona trip, and I'm super excited because we've been in touch with a few different groups and have found a couple churches to work with! The time is getting closer and I'm more and more excited to be on my way :D
More later, God Bless,
K
I really didn't ever think this week would actually come. But it's here!! It's time for packing, and saying goodbye, and getting nervous. I've been "pre-packing" tons and tons. Organizing and choosing has been a bit tedious and tough, but I'm getting there. I'm trying to prep for what God has in store for me in Barcelona, but I'm just not sure what that is yet, or how to prep for it. So in the meantime, God and I are just kind of going with the flow, waiting to see what happens.
I've been reading Genesis with G though, one chapter at a time. It's different re-reading the stories from sunday school, seeing what was left out, what lead up to it, where it fits.... It's been giving me an interesting perspective.
Oh, and I got a hair cut.
Anyways, I've received almost $450 for the Barcelona trip, and I'm super excited because we've been in touch with a few different groups and have found a couple churches to work with! The time is getting closer and I'm more and more excited to be on my way :D
More later, God Bless,
K
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