All Good Gifts

Before we left for Aguas Vivas, Meggan and I took some time to pray, reflect, and collect ourselves after the news that we received on Friday night (see previous entry). In that time, the Lord told Meggan that the week would be a gift to us. And it was. Aguas Vivas is a camp facility situated about an hour north of Madrid. It is absolutely beautiful, as you can see.

We joined the director, Enrique, and the team of counselors: Eugenio, Luna, Marta, Dámaris, Mariano, María, Juan-An. The team was so wonderful; we felt immediately welcomed into the family.

We arrived at the site on Saturday night to decorate. We weren't really sure what could take all night and the next morning, but that's because we'd never seen a camp so lovingly decorated. The theme was the story of Joseph; thus the decoration theme was Egypt. We cut out and painted nearly life-size mummies, Egyptian people, hung posters and Egyptian characters, prepared games, and finally went out to dinner as a team in the late-night Spanish style.

The 24 children arrived Sunday afternoon, and the fun began! In total, there ended up being 27 children as three more arrived. The days were filled with daily tournament games outside, trips to the local pool, crafts, workshops, and night activities. Several times Meggan was very nostaligic, remembering her very precious summer working at Arrowhead Bible Camp when she was 19.

In terms of the language, Meggan went through the normal feelings of frustration and joy as she learned and learned more. By the end of the week, she was more comfortable than ever, both in the quickness with which words would come to mind when speaking & in the ability to understand the accent. As for me, the week was a time of IMMENSE growth in the language; there's nothing like immersion, and this was our one week interacting heavily with people who spoke almost no English. In addition to comfort in speaking and listening, I picked up some important vocabulary for using in conversation with Spanish boys - words like culo (butt), pedo (fart), eructo (burp), and mocos (snot).

We continue to learn flexibility here. Meggan had prepared a dance to teach the children in her workshop; however, she shared the workshop with another counselor, and the workshop only met 2 days. Thus, they only had time to learn the other counselor's dance. She still enjoyed herself very much.

We are now back in Madrid, staying in the sixth and last apartment of our time here. It is a lovely apartment (huge in fact) that is owned by a local church. It is close to the metro and a grocery store - so we're very well settled.

Speaking of flexibility again, we have been assigned to head up the crafts for the next three weeks, though Meggan had planned to teach or assist in teaching the dance classes. We are slowly learning what it means to be open to serve in all ways. We will also meet with various other missionaries in the weeks to come, including the Gudemans who have recently returned to Spain. We also have a few "dates" with the counselors from Aguas Vivas.

Thank you for all your prayers and emails. Meggan sat in the Music School this afternoon, very teary-eyed, feeling very loved by all your emails of encouragement. We are learning what it means to trust. It is a place of contentment, even when we don't understand. Love to you all.