Hey all!

I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon, the 14th. Just got back from church, watching Alonso, a famous racecar driver here in Spain, on TV. Soo…I freakin love the church here. It’s nothing fancy, but it was such an encouragement again today. There’s something that just gets me, being able to worship in a different language, listening to the words of God in a different language, and knowing this is the same God I serve. Hearing these words in Spanish is like hearing them for the first time again. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s definitely a joy and honesty in this simple church, and it’s so refreshing. Today part of the sermon was from John 15, the passage about how God is the vine and we are the branches….how we can’t bear any fruit without being connected to the vine. Such a lesson I’ve been learning these weeks. This week was a little rougher, and many times I was just brought to my knees by my own weakness, my own fears, and my own faults. It’s so backwards, this walk with Christ. I want to be strong, independent, and beautiful, but it’s when I’m on my knees, “sweetly broken and wholly surrendered” that I’m where I’m supposed to be. It’s here, in my weakness that Christ is working. I’m feeling more and more like a “niña”, a little girl in the arms of my Father. But once again, he’s so, so faithful! He’s answering prayers I never thought would be answered, opening my eyes to things I’ve never seen before, and creating some amazing conversations of healing and growth with friends and family.

Yesterday we had our first official excursion (we’ll be taking one nearly every weekend) to Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) and El Escorial. The first was this incredible cathedral that was built by Spain’s dictator, Franco. It was built as a memorial to those who died in the Spanish Civil War, but only for those on Franco’s side (the nationalists). Ironically, it was built by prisoners who protested against the corrupt dictatorship of Franco during this time. This basilica was a gorgeous place, but very, very cold. I was so torn between feeling such awe at the beauty of the sculptures and architecture, but such confusion at the same time. There were sculptures of virgins of the faith, and they were portrayed as representing different branches of the army. Franco’s grave was only steps away from a crucifix. Here, I can see why so many people in Spain hate the Catholic church, or even the church in general, and brush it off as hypocritical. Because for so many years, Franco and the church were permanently tied, associated with each other. The same face that represented the army and the killings of innocent people was the face of the loving Savior on the cross. It so does not make sense, but that was so normal at this time….to die “por Espana y por Dios”- for Spain and for God. It’s not all bad, there was a sacredness, a holiness to this worship of God that I feel like we’ve lost sometimes in this day of modernizing everything. We tend to focus on the humility and love of God, which I can’t get enough of. But it’s also way cool to walk into an enormous stone cathedral, filled with candles and sculptures and paintings and hushed whispers and think “wow….how great is our God.” Anyways, I feel like after that visit, I understand a little better the distrust of the church…..but I just wanted to scream “ahh! This is not our God! He’s so different than war and fear and dictators and coldness…”

El Escorial was an ENORMOUS building…I don’t even know how to describe it. It had a monastery, a cathedral, a library, rooms and rooms of amazing art, tons of rooms elaborately decorated that held the bones of past kings and queens, even their bedrooms! It was so crazy! I was in a room and saw the actual caskets, with the names on them, that held 20 or more kings and queens of Spain. Incredible. Everything was beautiful, but it was a major information and sensory overload, and by the end we were all exhausted, if not a tad creeped out by all the dead bodies. :P

I finally feel like I’m starting to settle into the Spanish social life….kind of.  I’ve been taken for French or Italian, but never American. I now know that you have to ask for the check at the end of meal, because the Spanish are accustomed to sitting and talking for hours, and if they bring you the check on their own it’s because they’re trying to get rid of you. We found a sweet karaoke bar that also has bingo last night but alas, at 12:45am it was far too early in the night and so it was pretty empty. :P One huge blessing of last week was one night when, after churros and chocolate, 6 or 7 of us were able to go over to one girl’s house and play guitar and sing and talk for a few hours. It was incredibly refreshing to be able to sing and play, harmonize to familiar songs (thinking of my sisters!) and just be in a home with others for a while.

Still been having some sweet conversations with Sandra….I really am so thankful for her! I couldn’t have asked for a better host. We took a long walk the other night around Segovia, and seeing the cathedral and alcazar all lit up over the woods here, I just kept saying “No puedo creer que estoy en Espana! No puedo creerlo!”- “I can’t believe that I’m in Spain! I just can’t believe it!”

What an adventure….what a rollercoaster. I love you all!