Spain 2007 Team

Photos Available

2007-08-02T04:32:00.000+02:00

Good news! My luggage arrived today and we have posted photos from the trip. Some of the photos may need some work done on them, but for sake of time I will post them and fix them later this week.

We have posted the photos at spain2007team.myphotoalbum.com. We will be placing a smaller album on the church website, nhccgilroy.org, in the near future.

We're Back!

2007-07-31T17:17:00.000+02:00

We all made it home safely, last night about 1:30 am Pacific. Besides a nearly 3 hour delay in Philadelphia and a delay on my luggage, it was an uneventful return.

Unfortunately, the transfer cable for my camera is with my luggage somewhere between Philadelphia and San Francisco. So I may not be able to post any photos today. Check again later today, to see if we have been able to post some photos.

On Our Way

2007-07-29T15:11:00.000+02:00

We have completed a successful trip. Today we had a great worship service with the church in Puente Genil. They expressed many thanks for the work we completed this week. We had a translator for the first time so Mike, Aaron and I got to share our testimonies and Pastor Bill was able to preach. We are about to drive to Cordoba to catch a train to Madrid. We will fly out of Madrid tomorrow. See you all soon.

Just a Little Update

2007-07-25T16:53:00.000+02:00

Well, we are about half way through our mission here in Spain and things are going vary well, great. The church is amazing and the people are so warm and friendly they are so thankful for the help and ministry of our church in California. We have had to adjust our schedule to fit the lifestyle here in Spain. We get up about 8 a.m. and then breakfast and off to the church to work at 9. We work until about 3 then lunch which is the big meal, so they say, every meal is big. Then after a 2 hour lunch everything shuts down due to the heat until 7 p.m. Then people start coming out of their homes for the evening. We eat dinner about 10 or 11 and we have been up until 1 or 2 visiting with people from the church in their homes or at one of the many outdoor eating sites on the streets downtown. We have been doing some prayer walking at night as well as leading worship for services. This Sunday I´m going to preach if we have an interpreter and also do some worship along with the team sharing their testimonies. We will board a high speed train on Sunday afternoon for Madrid and spend the night. Our flight home leaves at 1 p.m. on Monday. Once again the mission field is wide open and we have an open door and some wonderfull relationships here that I expect a return trip in the future. The team has been great and so flexible we have to adjust our days work several times depending on who our local boss was for the day, sometimes many times in a day. I don't know when we will have access to a computer again so I will say bye for now.

We were saddened to hear the news about Wally Brown and we are praying for Kathy Malcolm and the entire family. We love you guys and pray Gods peace and presence will be with you through this time.

In Christ
Pastor Bill

Construction

2007-07-24T13:02:00.000+02:00

Well the church that we´re at is great! The pastor and his family are so kind, always smiling, and very exited that we are there to help. Upon our arrival, we discovered that our main objective this week is to work on, and hopefully complete, the construction of the new church building.

When we arrived, most of the constuction had been done. The walls (including sheetrock) were in place, the floor was tiled, and the framework for the stage and baptismal tank were set. Our goal is to sand the the walls, apply a finish coat, sand again, and paint. We also are repairing any gaps or rough spots in the walls with putty, setting a massive sound-proof door into place, and finshing the stage with flooring and carpet. The hope of the pastor is that we will have constrution complete by Friday and have church in the new building on Sunday. That will be a lot of work but if we work diligently it could happen.

Although, we have had some construction complications because Spanish handy-man construction is different from the American way of doing things. Although, Jonatan and Ruben, the pastor´s sons, do construction for a living and the pastor himself is retired from tile work. So our projects will last in the long run : )

Where are we?

2007-07-23T21:54:00.000+02:00

After what felt like 7 hours on the road, we made it to a city called Puente Genil. It is a beautiful city about the size of Gilroy and the weather is about the same as well. The host family, (Jonatan and Ester) has been very hospitible and has introduced us to much of the city and nearby area.

We have had a few setbacks. Due to a variety reasons, we have no translator and no project coordinator. Mike and Aaron have done an excellent job of translating for us in cooperation with the pastor´s son, Jonatan. I throw in my two cents every now and then, but they do most of the work. :) Jonatan became our project coordinator (see Aaron´s blog tomorrow for more about the work), but he still has a full time job to work during the week and is trying to move his family to their new home as well. We are grateful for everything he has done to make this trip a success.

Additionally, we found that calling cards and internet access were more problematic than anticipated. Our hotel does not have internet access and we didn´t find a shop with computers to rent, until tonight. Unfortunately, it closes during siesta hours (2pm-6pm), the only time we´ve had free until today to use it. We set aside this time to make sure to get info to everyone.

In spite of the complications, this trip is going very well. We are making progress on the construction work, have participated in Sunday worship services, will be joining the church´s prayer meeting on Tuesday Night and hope to do street evangelism during the evenings this week. We also had the privilege of meeting YWAM missionaries, Pablo Coronado Cerrillo and Raquel Flores in Malaga, Spain (on the Mediterranean coast). Next Sunday, Pastor Bill will be preaching, if we can secure a translator.

We hope to post pictures soon, but we´re a little nervous about connecting my camera to public computers. Maybe we can borrow a personal computer in the next couple days. TTYL

In Madrid

2007-07-20T10:56:00.000+02:00

We have safely arrived in Madrid. This morning, we met missionaries to Madrid, David and Dana Santiago, and our host missionary Scott Smith for breakfast. In the next hour or so we will begin the 5 hour drive to Córdoba and then another half hour to the town we will be spending the week in. I forgot the name, but I sure I'll find out soon enough. Now to make sure we don't fall asleep during the day. Jet lag could be painful.

Appreciation

2007-07-19T06:44:00.000+02:00

Mike and I attended the Men's BBQ tonight at Las Animas park and were overwhelmed by the encouragement and prayers lifted up for us. We know that this is just a few of the many people who have been supporting us as we prepare for this venture. So we wanted to express our gratitude and post a photo of Mike, I'm sure he didn't know was taken. :)

So long and thanks for all the prayers!

Preparing to Leave

2007-07-18T21:08:00.000+02:00

We are preparing to leave in the morning at 3:30 a.m. We will arrive in Madrid at 7:30 a.m. on Friday please be praying for the team: Aaron, Mike, Scott and Pastor Bill

Greetings!

2007-07-17T02:23:00.000+02:00

Greetings from the Spain 2007 Team!

In two days, we depart for Spain at "way too early" in the morning. Preparations have been made, prayers have been said and passports have been obtained. Now to fly.

We have created this blog to help keep you updated on the progress of our trip and perhaps even post a few photos. If you're curious, the Blog times are on Spain time.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.