We Made it to Madrid!

What an awesome 12 days we spent in Fuengirola! The Holy Spirit was mightily at work and many people including myself were blown away by the work that was being accomplished in the south of Spain. It was simply amazing to see how the Lord worked and it was truly hard and difficult to say goodbye, but here we are in Madrid! Since you guys haven´t heard from us in a few days, let me give you a quick recap of what happened the final few days of the campaign. Tuesday was the final of the basketball tournament and the final mime performance (which was done by a Spanish group from Malaga) as well as our first trip to a restaurant (Chinese buffet) in Spain!! Wednesday was one of the more relaxed days of the entire trip, as we studied God´s Word in the morning and had our goodbye fiesta party that night. Thursday was one of the toughest days of our trip as we had to say goodbye to all of our friends and hop on a train to Madrid. Last night (when we arrived in Madrid) we had pizza and worshipped the Lord together. Today, we have been shopping and are planning on meeting some of our Spanish friends for dinner here in Madrid. Tomorrow, we will be with the Davis family most of the day enjoying fellowship with them and celebrating an incredible trip to Spain. Thanks so much for your prayers and support and we look forward to seeing you all Sunday evening!!

Tate Fritz

P.S. Just some arrival information for everyone on Sunday...our flight is supposed to leave here from the Madrid airport at approximately 12,20pm and arrive in Chicago at approximately 2,20pm. Upon arrival to Chicago, we will alert all of the families as to when exactly we will be getting home. Following customs and all of the other airport business, if everything is timely and effecient, we should be back to church somewhere between 5pm and 5,30pm...but we will let you guys know anyway...see you guys then!

One more comment

Hey everyone, this is actually Sarah. But since Trev was already logged on, I¨ll just do it under his. In regards to the next couple of days, the bible festival and basketball tournament start today! I didn´t even realize this until I woke up this morning, but please be praying for the festivals! We are also doing our mime about two times every night for the next 3 days, including tonight. there is a movie night that they are trying to invite people to, so please pray for that. Also, please pray that we would be well rested. The days have been flying by so fast, and I can´t believe we are done with the campaign on Wednesday and leave for Madrid on Thursday! Everyone has been getting to know the Spaniards super well the past couple of days especially, so it will be really hard to say goodbye. Thanks for your prayers!

Our Weekend in Spain

Hey everyone,

First let me share what the past two days have looked liked. On Saturday, which was our free day, we took a bus up to the mountain city called Mijas to spend an afternoon of shooping, sightseeing and eating while the Spaniards went to a water park. It was really nice to be able to take a day off from the Campaign and just relax and enjoy a beautiful city and a wonderful view. The view we saw overlooked Fuengirola and the Mediterranian Sea, while behind was was mountains and the white buildings around us. So we spent about four hours or so in Mijas and then came back to Fuengirola to spend a few more hours relaxing. After relaxing we had our dinner and then watched some of our Spanish friends from the campaign put on a rock concert for us. After that we played the game called Ninja, which is a group game where you try to get your opponents out by slapping their hand. It´s a fun and safe game that the Spaniards love and it is usually the last thing we do at night.

Sunday,

This morning we woke up and most of the team took a morning dip in the Mediterranian Sea for about 20 minutes, and then we ate breakfast. It was nice to swim in the Mediterranian, because many of us have wanted to do that for awhile. After getting ready for the day, while the Spaniards went to the Spanish Church, we went to the British Church to worship with the British people living in Spain. It was so great to worship with our brothers and sisters from the the UK. After that we went to lunch and are now enjoying our siesta.

So now let me share a little of what I have seen during this trip. First of all, I have seen God in incredible ways and use us toward His Kingdom. I have also seen the group of us bond together and with the Spanish people as well. Whether it was passing our flyers or performing a mime, I know that God is using us to impact Spain in ways that were beyond our imagination. And this really excites us to be able to be part of God´s plan for the Spanish people.

Now tonight we are going to hold the Bible Festival/Basketball tournament and the Mime. We are all excited for both of these events and know the potential for these events to make a big impact on people.

Prayer:

Please continue to be in pray for the Bible Festival/Basketball tournament and the Mime these can make a big impact on people´s hearts. Please also pray that we would be used for God´s Kingdom, as wer have been, for the last four days in Fuengirola.

I think that is all, and thanks for reading!!

In Christ,

Trevor

Please keep praying!

Hey everyone! I just thought I´d add a quick blog entry. Today, while a couple people gave blood, most of us ended up handing out pamphlets for our campaign. It talked about the two concerts we have tonight and tomorrow at the discoteca, the Bible Festival, the Basketball tournament, and...I think that´s it. Please be praying for our opportunities with those. the Bible Festival is next week, I can´t remember the dates. We will be manning different stations for kids, and I¨m doing a hyroglyfics station. I´m trying to say the Joseph story in spanish from memory; it´s a little bit of a challenge. Oh, as a side note, I also forgot to mention; Tate is also in a Spanish mini group. And the reason Rebecca´s post didn´t show up until a day later is because she typed it out...twice!...and then the computer shut down before she could save it both times. This is a post full of random information, but going back a little bit now, the fast was a great experience for all of us. We were all concerned about going that long without eating, but it was a great experience. Also, the food is pretty decent; we´ve seen some pretty strange things, but everyone is getting fed. Thanks for praying! ¨We´ve seen soem active spiritual forces active here, and we´ve seen the power that prayer holds. Brigitta blogged about that, and will be posting it later. Well, I´d better go. Thanks!

Buenas Tardes from Fuengirola

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your prayers and support this past week! It has been awesome to see how God has answered our prayers for this trip. It has also been awesome to see how He is so clearly in control of these two weeks. We arrived safely, have bonded really well with the Spanish groups here, have been picking up the language, and have been very busy preparing for the campaign, which started two nights ago with a mime and preaching along the boardwalk that runs along the beach. God has given us many different people to share with during this mimes, including a Muslim teenager, an athiest couple from Sweden, an elderly lady, and a Nigerian Christian, among others. The students did an awesome job with the mime and it was clear that God blessed it as it attracted many onlookers.

During our time here we have had a chance to learn about the spiritual conditions here in Spain, and it is heartbreaking - according to one presentation we saw there were less Evangelical Christians here as a percentage of the population than in Saudia Arabia. Whatever statistics you look at, there are very few Christians here. There are very unique opportunities here for the gospel too - one person said Fuengirola is populated by people from over 140 nationalities.

I believe the four objectives of World Impact are to
SERVE our partners
LEARN about the world
GROW in Christ
CONTINUE in missions
It´s been really awesome to see how the students are serving, learning about Spain and God´s work here, and growing in their relationship with Christ. The students are really enjoying serving alongside the Spanish believers which has been great to see. It has also been great to see the students trust God as each day brings new challenges and opportunities to share the gospel and grow in Christ. Please continue to pray for us as the campaign continues with two concerts, one tonight and one tomorrow night, a Bible festival for children, a basketball tournament, and many other outreach events. Pray that the students would have many opportunities to share their faith, and would take them and be encouraged by sharing their faith. Please also continue to pray for our safety, and for strength to finish strong.

Thank you for your partnership!
In Christ,
Brian

An awesome start

Hey everybody! I haven´t had a chance to see what other people have written, so sorry if I repeat anything. I tried to write yesterday, but since everything was in spanish, I ended up deleting everything instead of saving it. So here it is today.

Spain has been so much fun so far. We´ve been kept busy getting ready for the festival next week. Here´s what a typical day looks like:

8:00 breakfast
9:00 public service type thing ie. handing out info cards for red cross
12:00 session with big group ... in spanish
2:00 lunch
3:00 to 6:00 siesta, or, free time :D
6:30 minigroups
7:30 training for festival ... again, in spanish
9:30 dinner
10:00 evening activity ie. mime
1:00 lights out

A couple nights ago, we led a game night for everyone. We basically played the games that we thought would be the least awkward... yank em, ninja, and shuffle your buns, of course! Ninja was especially a hit; now there is always someone who is trying to start up a game.

The language barrier has been a challenge. For me it´s been fun trying to talk with people in spanish, and I´ve gotten to know some really sweet girls. However, it´s hard during the sessions because few of us know what´s going on. It can also be discouraging when we´re trying to do street evangelism, not being able to talk with anybody because we feel like we can´t get as involved. We usually end up going off to the side and just praying for people.

Tonight we´re going to perform our mime for the first time. We´ve been practicing so much and we´re all really excited about it. It´s really come together since the first time we practiced it!

Please continue praying for us and the people of Fuengirola. Another group performed a mime last night and it seems that quite a few people were impacted by it. God is definitely working here, and I just hope he continues to use us to bring people to him.

Also, this is an emergency number for the parents: 346.794.46850 (Jose Pablo´s cell phone)

I know rebecca is writing an entry now, but another perspective is always helpful

Hey everybody! This is Sarah, and although I know Rebecca is writing an entry two computers over as I write, I decided to quickly blog about Spanish mini grupos. While most of the American team has been participating in an English mini grupo, me, Marilyn, John, and Michael have decided to be part of the Spanish ones. Marilyn and I are in the same one, which is helpful because when I dont´understand something (which is pretty often,) we can confer. It has been a great experience, learning more Spanish and talking with Spaniards, althought is is extremely difficult when there are about 4 different types of Spanish we are in contact with here. Its pretty easy to understand people from Northern Spain, but from Southern Spain, they cut off all their endings of most of their words and also have the lisp, which has made it difficult. Please continue to pray for us, as we struggle to have conversations with the Spaniards, because there is only so much our vocabulary allows us to say. Also, pray for the 4 of us in the mini grupos, that we can become better friends with the people in the mini groups and get to a point where we can contribute and understand clearly what is being said.

VIVA ESPAÑA!

Hey everyone!

We have been busy busy busy busy! Yesterday we woke up and had a simple breakfast of bread and jam. Then we went a church service in the church that the Decision Campaign (what we´re helping out with) is trying to build up. Following that we had lunch and a siesta where we practiced our mime. Then, we greeted the rest of the members of the campaign who were arriving that night. We all met for an intro session which was around 8 o clock in the evening (the man running it said it was great to see us this afternoon... ya definitely NOT afternoon!) After our meeting we all had dinner together, and then split up into groups to go out and pray at the sites that we would be working at the next few days. We came homoe and wentto bed around 1 am or 6 pm your time! We are all having an incredible time here and love learning more Spanish. We are excited to see how God uses us and the entire Decision campaign for his glory. This morning we went and helped out the Red Cross and passed out pamphlets for Spaniards to become members. After that we showered and met at the town hall for Jose Pablo to present a gift to the mayor, it was very interesting and we will apparently be on local tv tonight. We are fasting tonight and tomorrow morning in order to prepare ourselves for the spiritual warfare we may encounter these next days. We miss you all and I will update you soon! Please pray for continued safety and our ability to be open to the Spaniards. Also, pray that our mime really comes together and that we can use it to witness!

VIVA ESPAÑA!

-Jamison

We Are Here!

We arrived in Fuengirola this afternoon at around 2 after flying from Chicago to Madrid and then to Malaga, followed by the train ride to Fuengirola. Everyone is exhausted and looking forward to a goood night of SLEEP! Continue to pray for safety and the upcoming campaign, as the rest of the volunteers will be arriving tomorrow. We have enjoyed a lot of great food and are excited to get working tomorrow!

- Jamison

AND WE'RE OFF!

And We're Off! Our flight leaves at 4 pm and we are excited! I'll update you as soon as I have access in Spain to a computer! Please pray for safety!

Your blogger-
Jamison

A Blog is Born!

Congratulations! You've made it to the World Impact Spain Blog! Whether by accident or you're actually following us on our trip, you're probably going to finish reading this post :) My hope for this blog is to update it a few more times before we leave and then daily in Spain, to let you all know what we're up to. But enough chit chat, here's a little bit about our team. A trip with 11 students 4 leaders, 16 days in Fuengirola Spain, Decision Spain Campaign, a mime, a hip hop dance, street evangelism, and of course a dramatically different culture... It's gonna be exciting.

I asked everyone on the team a few questions in order for you to get to know who exactly you'll be reading about these next few weeks. The questions: What's your name? What superpower do you dream of having? And finally, what are your excitements and hopes for the trip? The answers... well you'll see just how different everyone is on our team!

LEADERS:

Ms. Courtney

• Superpower- Blink my eyes and be anywhere in the world.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I am thankful to have the opportunity to be a part of this mission trip to Spain. I hope to deepen my relationship with the Lord, develop relationships with students and leaders on the team, serve those that we will meet, share the gospel with them and hopefully make an impact for the Lord through our efforts.

Mr. Kevin

• Superpower- I would breathe like a fish in water and fly high as an eagle.
• Excitements/ Hopes- Spreading the Word of God, ad getting reacquainted with people I met back in '06.

Ms. Lindsay

• Superpower- If I could have a superpower I'd like to have the ability to understand any language instantaneously.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I think I'm most looking forward to seeing how the Lord works as we team up with the Spanish believers to reach out to the town of Fuengirola and praying that as a unified team, we'll demonstrate the power of the gospel and be used by the Lord to share the gospel with those who are ready to hear.

Mr. Brian

• Superpower- Teleportation
• Excitements/ Hopes- Seeing the different ways in which God works through the gifts he's given the members of our team; experiencing Spanish culture and cuisine.

STUDENTS:

Sarah

• Superpower- I wish I could fly. End of story.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I'm excited to see what God has in store for our team and the Spanish locals; I am most excited to be partnering in the Gospel with the Spanish teens who don't have the same type of Christian community that we have here in Wheaton, and hopefully, to be an encouragement to them.

Katie

• Superpower- Shape shifter... that would be pretty sweet!
• Excitements/ Hopes- Being able to share the Gospel openly with the people in Fuengirola. I hope everything just goes smoothly and well.

Tate

• Superpower- I would undoubtedly want to fly.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I'm hoping to not only develop great relationships with the Spaniards, but more importantly to use those relationships to introduce and present the Gospel to the town of Fuengirola.

Brigitta

• Superpower- Maybe teleportation or I'd be like Elastigirl from the Incredibles.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I'm excited for this trip to see what God is going to do in Spain through a bunch of high school students!

Michael

• Superpower- Flying would be cool, as well as having super-sonic hearing.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I am really excited to be able to share my faith and serve the community. I also am excited to get to know everyone on our team better while serving Christ. And, it'll be cool to go to Europe.

Lauren

• Superpower- I want to be able to FLY! How legit would that be?
• Excitements/ Hopes- To reach those in Spain and have God working in both theirs and our lives while we are there and after we leave. I want to be able to push myself out of my comfort zone and really make a difference and have a servants heart while doing so. Also, I would like to learn more about the Spanish culture.

Marilyn

• Superpower- Invisibility, no doubt.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I'm looking forward to working with and getting to know our team better as well as the Spaniards who we will be working side by side with. I'm excited to see how God will use this Decision Spain campaign in Fuengirola to further His kingdom, especially with the beginning of the first Evangelical Christian church in the town. On a different note, I'm really excited to be immersed in a Spanish- speaking environment :)

Trevor

• Superpower- To fly.
• Excitements/ Hopes- To grow in faith, minister to others, and to get to know both the people on our team and those in Spain better.

John- Marvin

• Superpower- If I had one superpower it would be Technopathy; which, according to Wikipedia, means "Ability to manipulate technology. Manifested as a special form of electrical/ telekinetic manipulation, a special form of "morphing" which allows physical interaction with machines, or even a psychic ability that allows for mental interface with computer data." Yep, I actually researched.
• Excitements/ Hopes- I'm excited for many things, but I'm especially happy that I will be returning to Spain after being away for almost 4 years. It will be good to be back and be able to use my Spanish. Also, I think it is a fantastic ministry opportunity that has the potential to change many lives.

Rebecca

• Superpower- Super speed because I'm always running late :)
• Excitements/ Hopes- Where do I start? Excited to travel and experience a different culture, to make new friends both American and Spanish, and to see God working through everybody there.

Jamison

• Superpower- I would love to be able to fly and teleport to wherever I want!
• Excitements/ Hopes- I'm really excited to be going to the birthplace of the Spanish language! I want to improve my spanish by speaking it DAILY with the Spaniards. I am also looking forward to getting to know my team better and seeing them "shine" through their talents, during the trip. My hopes? That God uses us to advance his kingdom and that my team will be a blessing to those we work with. And of course that travel goes smoothly!

So there you have it! A brief little encounter with our team and a bit of who we are. I know our team is getting more and more excited as our departure date draws closer and closer! Please pray for us these next few weeks as we continue to prepare: for our mime and hip hop dance as we practice over and over... and over. For everyone on the team, that we would draw closer to God throughout our time of preparation, and finally that when the time to travel comes, we are safe and have no complications. Your prayers are appreciated. Keep following us as I'm sure I'll have much to report!

Your Blogger-

Jamison