Here are just a few things....
1. My kids are amazing. They are hard (all the time), and a terrible sometimes, and really loud, but I cannot believe that they have done this with us and thrived! (this being, leave all their comforts, friends, foods, beds, pillows, toys, TV, movies, grandparents, etc. and come to Spain for Jesus) It brings me to tears thinking that God blessed me with these adventuresome, flexible, "they get it in the end" girls....I just cant believe it sometimes. My heart is just bursting with thanks for them (at least until bedtime tonight, when they will continue their plot to turn my hair grey by 35)!
2. Marriage takes real work. Our life in Alabama is so cushy, we love our job, our city, our friends, our church....but here all of that was stripped away and Ryan and I have been left (for a short time, I know) with what we started with, each other (and three little kids). There have been moments where we have both thought, "it would be so much easier to be here, doing Kingdom work, single", no one else to think about or take care of, moments where we have REALLY had to remember our vows....that we made a promise to sacrifice our desires for the sake of another. It has taken more work here to have a "marriage that sings" than it has at home and I am thankful for it. It's made us cling to Jesus and each other, which are good things.
3. Spanish women are all beautiful. I have not seen one ugly person since we got here...it's the truth.
4. Context matters. I knew this going in, but have seen it even more so here. There is NO doing ministry in Spain if you don't understand these people...if you can't speak their language, do not attempt to understand their history, and can not respect their customs and traditions. You have to love people where they are, which means you have to understand/know where they are in regards to their heritage, language, nation, family, maturity, spirituality, EVERYTHING....and then MEET them THERE with the gospel. I have never been more convinced that ministry has to be as Christ is,INCARNATIONAL and CONDESCENDING. I hope this changes the way I love people when we return.
5. Spanish women do not bake or use butter...which makes conversation hard.
6. The obstacles and problems faced by the American church look like mere hiccups compared to the overwhelming, only God can do this, issues faced by the European Protestant church...I am actually laughing now at some of the things that have bothered me about American Evangelicalism and can't wait to get back home to our church and worship with SOOOO many across Tuscaloosa and our nation. We live in a 'dream world' of church problems comparatively.
7. PRAYER IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE CHRISTIAN. I have prayed more in these last weeks than certainly I did in the months prior....this might be directly correlated to the fact that we dont have a TV, but I can't be sure. However, I have found such peace and hope knowing that while I cannot be with the team all/most of the time, I can pray for them and I can pray for Spain. This old nation is struggling to find an identity, to know/name who they are and what they are about....I pray that God works in such a way that Christ becomes not just a central theme of that identity, but encompasses it all. That Spain would find peace and rest in the God who has responded to their sin, hurt, and brokenness.
8. The Spanish put Nutella on everything... so when we say that God is at work here, you can believe it!
I am ,oh so sure, that this list will only continue to increase.
lots of love from Madrid,
Ada
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