Final touches

Day 11!

Today has been one of realised opportunity. We have had our usual groups, visited an old people’s home and toured a closed Azuaga mine. Following a successful morning, these one off visits enabled us to spend time with the more marginalised elderly population where we played songs and chatted with the residents. 

Meanwhile, following an invitation from two very welcoming attendees of the English language café, some of us had a tour of the mines in Peñarroya where we were shown the history of Spanish miners in a museum. We shared a drinks and stories with them afterwards.

Today we also attended a Catholic youth group which was a much anticipated occasion that has never happened before. Super exciting! The group has a total of around 60 young people with a wide range of ages. We spent the evening singing songs, sharing experiences, eating and dancing. This was a lot of fun and, for me, was a hugely uniting time. I felt that God’s love was able to transcend tradition and location and that us young people could connect over a shared interest. This much anticipated trip was wildly successful and, as our trip nears to an end, please pray that the connections formed with Peter and Kate would flourish in the future (particularly with the new friendship forming with the local priest).

Day 12!

This was our final day of both English groups. The English language café finished on a high, with great discussions about travel. The children and young people split into two groups, involving games and chat while the older group had some off topic discussion as ever. There have been multiple continued relationships within this group that have seen friendships develop. Pray that Peter and Kate would be able to maintain contact via the Café. Pray that this work would bear fruit. 

The kids work today was a bittersweet farewell. Working with the same 20 kids for 2 weeks has been both joyful and exhausting. We shared breakfast with them this morning as a surprise goodbye present. They were delighted by this. There were many hugs and goodbyes with both the kids and the Red Cross moniters. Pray that the kids would continue this interest in the group even following our departure and that we would leave a lasting impression. Praise God for the success in the group and the way our prayers have been answered.

Psalm 103 v 1 - 'Praise the Lord, My soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name'

Busy busy busy...

Day 9 and 10!

On Tuesday, we had a busy day in both the kids club (focussing on a circus theme) and the English cafe (looking at the sombre theme of slavery and trafficking). Some of us spent the morning playing basketball with a group of local girls, getting to know them. This has been a very exciting oppertunity for us to develop the friendships that were introduced in the park outreach events. These evening events have involved games, songs and sketches in the park, engaging the youth and having lots of fun together. Please pray for developments in these relationships. Pray that the young people of Azuaga would see something of Jesus' love in us and would want to know more of who God is.

Tuesday evening involved a quiz in the Alejandria cafe. This was highly successful and a great laugh, quizzing the locals on British trivia. There are a few regular groups in our activities, including a few older men, some teenage girls and younger boys. Please pray for continued interaction with these individuals.

We really appriciate your prayers and thank you for your support from home! I hope this blog is doing a good job of updating you.

Anna.

1 Corinthians 10 v 31 - 'So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!'

Wednesday's update is brought to you by Issac!

Hola! We had a great turnout at the English Language Cafe this morning. We discussed weddings, Brexit, and the Catolonian Referendum.  We also discussed Spanish tongue-twisters and the pros and cons of attending a University. We were invited to the Azuaga Swimming Pool by two young people, where two of us attended.

At The Kids Club today the topic was sport and we made sock puppets. This was effective but please keep praying for energy for the team. The kids are hard work at times!

Tonight we split into groups and organised the "Fruity Family Fun Night" for Saturday.  Also, many of us will be attending a Gypsy Church tonight, so please keep that in your prayers.

We thank you for your continued prayer and support. We are loving spreading the Gospel through our various groups and we are looking forward to the remaining four days of our trip.

Thanks for reading,
Isaac.