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'