Spring Break...

Okay, so I'm WAY overdue on updating you guys on what I have been up to and what the Lord is doing in my life here...so I'm going to do my best to catch you all up to speed!! Smile...

Speaking of speed, time is really flying. I have already been here 4 months! Sometimes hard to believe, because I still catch myself finding it hard to believe that I'm living in Spain. Smile...but here I am and time is flying by quickly.

So, last week the girls were on Spring/Easter Break. As on most of their school breaks, we packed our bags and headed to Lugo to spend the week with their relatives and friends there. I had been to visit the Towner's in Noia the weekend before leaving for Lugo, so I got home just in time to repack my bags and drive the family to Lugo. Yes, I got to drive, which I find a pleasure since I love driving and have finally conquored the operations of a manual car. Smile. PTL!!! So, back to Lugo....

The first day in Lugo I enjoyed going shopping in the evening with Irene (la madre) and finding a few shirts for the summer (gonna need those soon I suppose). During our stay there, we spent an afternoon at their country home that is connected to a mill. I tried to take some pictures of that lovely place. The buildings are made of stone, the kitchen has an old-fashioned wood stove for cooking, the main door is double wide and also separated in the middle like an old barn door (so you can open just the top portion), and the floors are marble. We had a fire going in the front entrance/living room area because it wasn't the warmest of days, especially with the wind. The girls and I played hide-n-seek, hopscotch, and then took a walk through the woods. It was a nice relaxing afternoon/evening. Later that week, we spent the evening with Irene's (la madre) best friend and her family. We made cookies there from a German recipe, painted eggs (for Easter, right?? grin), and enjoyed a lively dinner (lively because in Spain eating together is no quiet occasion)... It was a lovely time, though I had some sinus junk going on (I think due to some cigarette smoke and all the rain we've been getting lately, but not sure) and was exhausted by then end of the night.

On Friday, I made plans to leave a bit earlier than the family and catch up with the church youth at a weekend retreat. Friday was a holiday here in Spain (Good Friday or Holy Friday as they call it), so getting buses to where you need to go is much more of a challenge. With some help from some of the relatives, I spent some time trying to decide the best route to take to where I was supposed to go and thought I had it all figured out. Then, at lunch, one of the boyfriends of a relative told me he was headed toward where I needed to go and would just take me by car... Amazing blessing!! The Lord was looking out for me. Though I thought I had it figured out by bus, after I got there by car, I realized it would have been impossible to reach by bus and I would have been stuck in a bus station somewhere for who knows how long waiting for a friend to come and get me...smile...so glad the Lord can see things clearly and takes care of me.. PTL!!!

So, arrived in a small village, or somewhere practically in the middle of nowhere called Villamajor..where the retreat was being held. I got there in the middle of the evening teaching time that was being held in a tent outdoors...so I stood in the rain/mist under my umbrella (thankfully I had it) with a number of other people who couldn't fit into the tent and listened (though I didn't comprehend much from that distance) to the message preached. After the message, Susi, my dear friend, took me around introducing me to LOTS of people... of course there was really no way that I was going to remember all the people I was introduced to, but I was made very welcome. So, after dragging my bags upstairs and meeting lots of people, it was brought to my attention that some of the boys (namely, those from the Santiago church) were sleeping outdoors in tents...uhoh! Yes, the wheels in my brain were turning...and I wanted to know if anyone had done anything and if not, why not...grin So, Susi and I must have at least some similarities because she was all ears. We were soon brainstorming with one other girl, who later served as our lookout. We finally decided on sugar and salt in all the boys' sleeping bags (not just our church's boys). Yes, I know, a bit mean...we thought about what we did and only did something that we knew wouldn't be destructive to property or hard to fix (all they had to do was shake their sleeping bags and it'd be out)...So, I set about sneeking salt and sugar out of the kitchen, then we carried out our plan...smile...All went well minus a few mistakes...we shouldn't have let anyone else in on the plan and those sleeping bags in the tents ended up getting wet from rain and the sugar and salt wasn't so easily removed (though they couldn't sleep in them anyway). Grin... so, next morning I was the only one there to face the fire that I was sure was coming, but amazingly no one asked me a thing...they blamed it on another girl, who became the one to rat on the rest of us. By Sunday, the word had spread through the church and even the pastor was giving us a hard time. I think I was the last one to finally get discovered and that was only because I pretty much had to tell them I had been involved...grin...fun times!!

So, back to the rest of the retreat that I went to. We had a talent show Friday night after dinner, in which my friends asked me to sing. With the Lord's help, I was able to get up and sing...not always the easiest thing for me. We had others who performed interpretive dances to songs, others rapped Christian songs, one girl gave a monologue that was quite good, and then some others who were being silly got up and performed skits. We ended the night with a game of "I have never...". I tried to play along, but it was a challenge to understand both Spanish and Gallego being spoken and then everyone running. My mind wasn't translating fast enough. Once, one the of the girls thought she had me singled out by saying, "I've never lived in the USA." so I'd have to get up and she'd get my chair and there would be no others to trade chairs with...but thankfully, one of my friends from church has lived in the US for a few years and I got his chair...grin...unfortunately, he turned around and did the same thing being more specific and saying he'd never lived in Missouri...so I had to get up. No probs, I was armed with something that I could say in Spanish (I'd been sitting through the entire game thinking of something to use if I got caught standing...grin). So, I finally made my way to bed around 2am, but didn't get much sleep with others staying up until 5 ,6 ,& 7AM just chatting. Oh well, good times!! So, the icing on the cake of this weekend was the drive home. I rode home with my friend Juan and four other girls. We were packed into his small, black sports car like sardines with luggage on our laps. We weren't very far down the road when Juan pulled over and asked me if I wanted to drive. I took him up on the offer and ended up with the most comfortable spot in the car..grin!! DRIVING!! I loved it. It was so relaxing to fly down the roads at 130-150kpm (about 80-100mph) for about an hour. For the first 5-10 minutes, the backseat full of girls was quiet. I don't think they were sure about having me drive. Only one of them had a license to drive and she didn't really like driving, so I understood why they were nervous. They soon relaxed, some fell asleep, and I enjoyed myself and the stereo system. Grin!! Sorry don't have a picture of the car...Well, Saturday ended well with a b-day celebration for one of the girls in the youth group. We were all pretty tired after the weekend, so we didn't stay out very late (which we normally do)...and I actually got 10 hours of sleep that night!! Woohoo!! Easter Sunday, went to church as normal...there was a special speaker who was a bit difficult for me to pay attention to and understand...so I spent time reading my Bible, which isn't an unusual occurrence when I'm lost (don't understand what's being said)...smile.. I had lunch with Susi for Easter Sunday and then we decided to go to the church in Pontevedra again for the evening service... We ended up going as a group of 8 this time, taking with us one Catholic (or atheist) girl. The service was fantastic. I spent sometime praying for Alicia, the gal who went with us...on the way home we got into quite a discussion about the Lord, but I didn't feel like she was really open to hearing...so we are praying for her salvation. I was telling her about the church in Santiago that we go to and asked her if she'd come..she agreed. So now, this Friday night, she is going with some of the girls to the service at the church!! PTL!!! Please keep her in your prayers as the Lord opens her heart.

This week has been fairly normal. The family got back from visiting family in Lugo on Sunday evening. The girls had Monday off from school, so they slept in (as did I) and then we made cookies in the afternoon and tried making another dessert that was in a girls' magazine that they recieve monthly. It was a good day! This week hasn't been without it's challenges, but the Lord has been at work. I am thankful for the challenges that cause me to grow stronger in and closer to the Lord.

So, something the Lord has brought to my attention from His word recently is from Eph.6:10-18 about the armor of God. I hadn't noticed before that it says things like, "having girded your waist with truth" or "having put on the breatplate of righteousness" and so on... but it isn't something we start doing as the enemy is coming against us, but rather is a continual daily process in which we are prepared in season and out of season, we are ready for whatever comes our way because we are remaining in the Lord, constantly strengthening ourselves and our armor from God's Word, His strength, His life. Rather exciting!! Also, a great responsibility and call for us to not be lazy citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NKJ)

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--
Another thing....the Lord has been putting it in my heart to be thankful, especially in the difficult times and situations. Fighting discouragement and trial with thankfulness. I can practice now with the small trials with the girls and life in Spain, but am encouraged because I can see how beneficial this knowledge will be to me in CG training. Smile.. The Lord is so faithful to prepare me. Then the Lord gave me this scripture last night as I sat awake praying...

Another thing the Lord has been teaching me or reminding me of is about being thankful. We can combat difficult times, challenges, depression, and so many other things with thankfulness. The following scripture is what the Lord gave to me as I sat up late one night after having woken from dreams in which I was praying constantly and in a battle against the enemy.

Colossians 1:11-12 (NKJ)

11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

So, I believe that about catches things up. I would request your prayers for this family that I live with and for others that I am meeting occasionally or regularly who don't know the Lord. Hope that you all are doing well. Headed into the weekend and who knows what that will hold. I have heard wind that the youth group is going horseback riding on Saturday all day, but I have to work in the morning, so I don't know if I will go and try to catch up with them later in the evening or not. May depend on the weather as well since it has been rainy and a bit on the cold side lately. So, until later....

Since Then...

Vale, estoy aprendido espanol en un curso de la universidad. (I am studying Spanish in a course at the university here in Santiago.) I believe I told you how the Lord had provided a way for me to take a class at the university free of charge. I volunteer an hour a week in the language lab leading English conversation sessions in exchange for this wonderful opportunity. Anyway... So, this last week was my first week and it was a lovely experience. The university is about a 25 minute walk through the old part of town from where I'm living. I am in a class with students from various EU countries. The girls I have been sitting with are from near Naples, Italy (which I actually had an opportunity to pass through while I was in Italy in 2005). I beleive that a number of the others are also Italian, as many of them seem quite comfortable communicating with each other. I believe there is one German and a few from other countries, but I haven't discovered which ones yet. Anyway...still have another few months with them, so hopefully I will learn more over the next few weeks.

Anyway, my Spanish is improving tremendously. PTL!!! I have a number of friends from the church who like to get online and chat with me in Spanish..that's a challenge, but also great practice. So, I'm learning to read, write, and speak Spanish. I'd love to be fairly fluent before returning to the US and would appreciate your continued prayers as I apply myself.

I am still attending a Bible study every Thursday night. My friend Susana is such a HUGE blessing to me, coming way out of her way to pick me up every Thursday so I can go with her. I is such a blessing to be with a small group of Christians seeking to know God better through His word, prayer, and worship. They are also very patient with me in my increasing knowledge of Spanish, and expect me to participate in looking up and reading scripture verses from the Spanish Bible, etc... My first time reading out loud in Spanish was horrible, but it has also improved which makes me very excited and blessed. This last week was such a blessing as we spent time praying for many in the church who are sick, grieving, or otherwise afflicted. PTL!!!

This past weekend, I spent a few days with my friends (the Towners) in Noia, the missionary family. They are such an encouragement to me and it is always great to spend a few days speaking in English with people and not having to try to explain what I want to say. PTL!!! I enjoyed seashell hunting on the beach with them, watching a movie in English (ahhh, how relaxing!), visiting another church with them in Pontedeume (a small coastal town), and just relaxing with their home. They are currently preparing to return to live in the States as that is the direction the Lord has given them. This is a HUGE step for them as they have lived in Spain more than 25 years. Spain has become home to them in many ways and especially for their children who were born here. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this time of GREAT change. I remember the feeling of leaving behind India knowing my life was changing once again in a big way and then having my wonderful parents move home as well made the change even more permanent. So, pray that I can be an encouragement to this family and that the Lord will open doors for them in the US and give them grace for this time of goodbyes..

Ruthie Towner with Argentina the Pastor's wife of the Pontedeume church

So, I arrived back in Santiago on Monday morning only to re-pack my bags and jump in the car with the family headed to Lugo. They are currently on Spring Break/Easter week vacations and we are spending time visiting relatives in Lugo. This is where they come for nearly every holiday, so this is the third time I have visited here. This visit, we are going to spend some time at their country home as well. The family owns a rather lovely country home that is connected to an old mill and is situated next to a small river that use to operate the mill. I have only seen the place at night, so am rather looking forward to spending a bit of time there tomorrow.

This weekend is a youth retreat with the church. I am hoping to be able to attend a few days of it, but am waiting to see how the family's schedule looks for the weekend, before making too many plans of my own.

Another matter of prayer, please continue to keep this lovely family in your prayers. I have had opportunity to share about my relationship with the Lord with the girls a couple different times. Even today I had an opportunity to mention that I talk with God, which was a bit confusing for them. I just prayed that God would reveal Himself to them and let me be a witness of Him in word and deed...thankfully there is both, because often Ihave no idea what to say or how to answer their questions. Some things about God require Him giving us understanding and can't simply be grasped with the human mind. PTL!!!

I suppose that catches you all up with what the Lord is doing here. He continues to teach me as I'm faced with small challenges daily. It is fantastic though difficult at times. I'm excited though. This is a blessing of a time for me as I draw nearer to the Lord and learn more and more how to rely upon Him for strength. He has already begun to prepare my heart for where He is taking me next, for which I am thankful. So...PTL!!! God bless you all richly with joy, love, and peace...

Mexican Birthday Parties in Spain...

Yep, you read the title right!! I went to a Mexican birthday party here in Spain on Monday night. One of the guys from the church (Jaokin) suddenly revealed to us on Sunday that it was his birthday and then invited us all to his place on Monday night to celebrate with him. So, after I was finished with my work with the girls, I headed out to Jaokin's house, which is not far from where I live to join others from the church in celebration. I took me brownies to add to the foods, and many people seemed to enjoy them.. Happy Birthday Joakin.. Anyway. We had quite a time....Pizza Hut delivered pizza, to go with the many other foods, drinks, and desserts available. Fun times...

So, after a while, when I thought the party might be breaking up, and many people were leaving, we began the games and singing...Yes, games & singing (or rather rapping).. It was rather funny ad quite interesting to watch. One of the kids is rather god at rapping so they easily talked him into doing a rap or so. Then they talked one of the girls into joining as a dancer, later they talked another girl into rapping with the guy.. It was great to listen to, though I was sagging in my chair before the night was over (thankfully I was seated on the couch..grin). At one point in the night they began a writing game...ouch, difficult if you struggle to speak, let alone write in Spanish (though my speaking and writing abilities aren't too far apart)...so to say the least I was a bit frustrated before the evening was over because of communication difficulties, but oh well... Thankfully not everyone was put out with my limited ability to communicate in Spanish and they helped me...grin!

So, guess that about sums up the Mexican birthday party in Spain...just thought it might be something interesting to read about...

Hope you guys can see this...not very pro, but I tried!!

I had my first Spanish class today in the University of Santiago de Compostela!! YEAH!!! I finished my exam for getting into the class last Friday, and was able to start classes today. Quite interesting. I am in a class with quite a few Italians. The one I was sitting by today was a nice Italian gal from Naples, Italy. I'm not sure where some of the other students are from, but know that the girls directly behind us were also Italian...so should be an interesting few months. The professor is very spunky and likeable. She should make the next few months fun I think. Hoping that I can learn quite a bit from this class. I think it will help me with grammar and hopefully at least get me headed in the right direction with the past and future tenses (not doing too bad with the present tense, but it sure is difficult to communicate everything one wants to say using the present tense...) GRIN!!! Anyway, I'm very thankful for the class...if nothing else, it's a great experience!!

I'll keep you guys updated on the exciting adventures of life in Spain as I'm able... My time here seems to be flying by rather quickly these days.

My girls playing dress up with a visiting girl from Germany.

Spiritual Blessing

Well, life has been getting back to a normal schedule around here since my return to Santiago. It has been nice to be back and catching up with friends. I was only gone a short time, but somehow it felt longer.

Friday, March 7th, I took a test at the university here in Santiago to determine my level of Spanish and which class I could take at the university. I am being given a free Spanish class at the university in exchange for leading two English conversation classes (30 minutes each) each week. I don't beleive that should be any problem for me. Anyway, so I took the exam on Friday...everything was in Spanish..ahhh.. Some of it was easy, but much of it was the future or past tense with which I am not as familiar. Quite interesting and definitely took me nearly the entire hour to complete. I did manage to make it into a class and will start attending Tuesdays & Thursdays in the early afternoons (about the normal lunch time for Americans...grin). So, this is another new adventure for me, taking classes at a university in a foreign country. Please keep me in your prayers. I think this will be quite an interesting class because it will be filled with students from all over Europe and possibly some from South America.

I spent this weekend hanging out with the young singles from the church here in Santiago. It has been a blessing to have Christian fellowship, which I know that I have expressed multiple times. This Saturday we celebrated the birthday of one of the girls in the church. I am not sure whether it is because she has cancer or what, but this turned into a big celebration that not only those of us attending the youth meeting were there for but also others who showed up at the end of our meeting. It was quite a fun time and the young lady, Monica, seemed very pleased. PTL!!!

Sunday started out normal, other than the fact that I had gotten to bed at 2:30 the night before. We had a good Sunday service and then I headed to Susana's house for lunch and the afternoon. After we finished a lovely lunch and some coffee, we began to discuss plans for the afternoon. Evidentally some of the other girls from church had been talking about doing various things. It came down to three options: play soccer with the guys at some park, go visit Susana's sister and friends in Padron (where we go for Bible study every Thursday night), or go to Pontevedra (a city about an hour away) for an evening meeting we discovered they were having. We finally decided on Pontevedra!! I am SOOO glad that we went. We got there in plenty of time before the meeting started. I needed a restroom so we hopped over to a bar across the street to use the toilet and drink a coffee oor something (since we were using their facilities) and while we were there I looked up at the TV to see they had Mr. Bean playing.. I was laughing until I was crying...haha... Then we went back over to the church, where they had started worship. The presence of the Lord was very much in our midst and we had such a blessed time of fellowship with the Lord. We didn't leave until sometime after 11pm after having such a wonderful time enjoying the ministry of the Holy Spirit. PTL!!! Such a refreshing time for me as well as for all those who were present and joined in. PTL!!!

Finally made it to bed late on Sunday, so I had to take a bit of a rest this morning, but now we are starting a new week. With Easter holidays/Spring Break coming up, there are pls being made for how to spend the vacation days. I believe the family has like 10 days free, but I'm not sure. Please keep me in your prayers as I find out what we are doing and what is expected of me. Sometimes holiday times for the family are a bit challenging for me because I'm not always sure what I'm supposed to do and because the girls are away from their normal schedule, which seems to upset the smoothness of life occasionally..grin.. I guess that is all for now. God's blessings to you all..

LONDON

So, I've just returned from yet another adventure, this one to London!! Yeah, I didn't even stay put in Spain for long before I was off to visit yet another country. Smile... Actually, I'm rather amazed at myself for taking this adventure like I did. Normally, I'm one for planned trips. I like to know where I'm going, who's meeting me where on the other end, etc... This trip to London was a bit different.

Trafagal Square just up the road from the Mall and Buckingham Palace

I left for London Wednesday morning, Feb 27th, with plans to get to London and then contact and eventually meet up with my friend & her husband once they got off work.. It was a cold day in Santiago! I caught a bus from just up the street from our house to the airport. PTL!!! It was nice to have discovered that there was a bus that left from so close to the house and that I didn't have to walk all the way to the main bus station (@ least a 30 min. walk) to catch a bus. Anyway... Had no problems in the airport and was soon waiting to board the plane. I enjoyed a rather comical episode with an elderly Spanish couple who didn't seem to have much experience in flying. They were rather perplexed that the gate number on their ticket wasn't the one their plane was leaving from and weren't sure where they were supposed to be. With my limited Spanish I attempted to help them a bit, and they rattled on to me in a local language mixed with Spanish (Gallego), which I can follow a bit, but not as well as Spanish. Grin... I wasn't sure whether they thought I was a Spaniard or not. An English couple watching, just grinned and found it all amusing as well. After the elderly couple finally learned where they were supposed to board their plane, the little lady gave me big kisses on my cheeks and said goodbye. Smile.. So, that was the start to my adventure and I haven't even made it out of Spain yet.. Grin.

In London, through security, nothing to declare, & no luggage to wait for, I headed out to find a bus to take me to the city center and Victoria Station. Within only a little time, I was settled on a bus and making my way into the city of London!! I had purchased a city map in the airport, so I was prepared to take on the city! Arriving at the station, I began to wander the streets down to the Parliament building, to see Big Ben, to the Thames River and a nearby bridge, to Westminster Abbey, and then began to look for a place to sit!! I very quickly discovered that my backpack containing my laptop and few clothes was rather heavy to be carrying around.

Westminster Abbey visited on my first half-day in London

Starbucks was my next stop!! Now, I can live without Starbucks, but when it's right there to enjoy and it's something familiar to home, why not relish the moment and enjoy!! Starbucks had some special that day and were giving away little bags of coffee!!So, in addition to my Java Chip Frappuccino, I left with a small bag of coffee for later's enjoyment and the remaining flavor of various dessert samples in my mouth. Well, that was lunch!! This particular Starbucks was packed, so I found a nearby park and sat myself down to enjoy my coffee and take a break from my pack. Later, I met up with my friend and her husband at oen of the many underground metro stations and we made our way to their house for some dinner. That first night, other than a walk by the Thames River, we just enjoyed conversation over dinner and a relaxing time.

Thursday!! Yeah, believe it or not, that last paragraph was all just re-telling the first half-day in London!! So, Thursday morning I was rather lazy and didn't leave the house before 11AM. Tanya, my friend from Russia who I was visiting, and her husband Ali both had work Thursday and Friday so I was left to entertain myself and view the city at my own leisure. So, I got the idea in my head that I would like to walk from where they lived on the north side of London all the way south into the center of the city. This is no small walk I suppose, but I wanted to experience London, not just whiz by it in a bus or under it in a metro train... so with map in hand (or pocket), I traipsed about the streets of London making my way south and eventually to the Thames River. I took a big detour west to see Regeant's Park, then headed south again and walked east along Oxford Street, which is a big shopping area. Then continued south until I had reached the river. I followed walked along the river a while, taking plenty of pictures this whole time, then finally decided that I should turn around in order to get back to the metro station to ride the train home, where I would meet up with Tanya and Ali when they got off work. Before eventually getting on the train, I grabbed a cheesy bread stick and coffee for my 3:30pm lunch. Yummy... What a day walking for nearly 5 hours. I didn't manage to make it far enough down river to see the Tower of London & the London Bridge...but oh well! I accomplished quite a lot for one day! Thursday evening was spent hanging out with Tanya since Ali had worship practice...

Chris Sargeant in front of the Tower of London

Friday morning, I was on the train headed northwest by 10:15am, to meet up with an old friend of the family, Chris Sargeant. Some of you know him. I rode the train about 40 minutes to a smaller suburb of London called, Pinner. There, I met up with Chris for some lunch. Boy that sure was a good ribeye steak with chips (better known as fries in the US). Chris has a golf club there where he gets two meals for 10 Pounds, which is a good price in London. After lunch, Chris took me back into the city center and to see the Tower of London and London Bridge!! It was freezing cold, rainy, and windy...so made for a rather interesting day, but we had fun none-the-less. I enjoyed seeing these interesting historical places in London and it was nice to have someone showing me around a bit. Finally, we found a Starbucks (yes again) to warm up over some hot coffee (yes I got a plain hot coffee this time, nothing fancy). Smile... Back at the house, I crawled into my bed to warm up and relax after yet another day of adventure and walking. By 6pm though, I was back out on the streets wandering around watching people, and shopping a bit (though not much). It didn't take long for me to tire of all the crowds of people racing past me in every direction. Knowing I was in a big city, I was constantly on guard especially since I was out alone. I soon found refuge in a book store where I browsed through some books in a quite place, then before long I found refuge in yet another starbucks to enjoy a hot chocolate and watch the people go by from inside the store.

Forgot to mention that we wandered through Harrods shopping center once for a bathroom

London is full of rather interesting people...there are people from all over the world there. You will hear languages from around the world. I enjoyed trying to pick out languages I recognized, try to understand what people were saying in other languages, or try to guess where others were from if I didn't recognize their language. I heard Russian, Hindi, Spanish, English, American English (it's different), forms of Chinese, German, and more...those were the prominent ones that I recognized. WoW!!! A bit overwhelming I suppose. I enjoyed watching people. Anyway...so I was sitting in starbucks just watching the world whiz by and enjoying my hot chocolate while trying to collect myself...smile..when I got into a bit of a daze and was simply staring at nothing in particular out the window... It became rather funny because before long a smiley fella walks by and notices my daze and just grins & waves...I just kept staring straight ahead but noticed that before he left the view of the window he looked back to see if I was still just staring.. I found this rather comical!!
Me @ the gate of Buckingham Palace

Met up with Tanya and Ali rather late that night and the 3 of us headed out for a walk towards Buckingham Palace. It was still windy and cold, but we managed to make out way down a road that is known as the Mall and to the Buckingham Palace. The Mall road is where all the royal parades are normally held that we see in pictures and on tv. The Buckingham Palace I somehow imagined to be bigger, more castle-like, or grander in some way...but it looks more like a government building. From the outside it was lovely, but didn't look like much of a home to live in. Later when I was near there during the day I noticed a LOT of tourists crowding around the front gate to see it and take pictures.. Can't imagine living in such a place. But then, I don't imagine that the royal family actually lives there much of the time. Who knows though!

Men drawing with chalk in front of the National Gallery, an art museumView of Big Ben & people riding a lion statue outside of the National Gallery in Trafagal Sqr.

Saturday was rather interesting. Ali, being a good drummer, was asked to help out at a wedding and play with the band for worship...so on Saturday afternoon, I found myself in an English wedding! Enjoyed the time of worship they had in English (nice to hear things in English for a change). I also enjoyed watching the people. Weddings in England are a rather dressier occasion than we make them in the US. There were black ladies with fancy hats, ladies with feathers in their hair, other ladies with formal dresses on...men in black suits (nothing terribly abnormal or eye-catching really). It was quite interesting to stand back and watch.

After the wedding, we wandered around town a bit more, grabbed some Japanese carry-out food from a small store and ate a late dinner in the park, then walked about some more before eventually catching a double-decker bus home. I rather liked the big red double-decker buses! I enjoyed sitting on the second deck nearly every time and watching the city from there and occasionally getting a picture worth keeping. View @ night from a double-decker bus
Sunday was my last full day in London. Ali had worship practice and set up at 11:30am, so he was out the door long before us. The church that Tanya and Ali attend is much like my church in Springfield in that they rent a building and have to set-up and tear-down every Sunday. The building they rent is Piccadilly Theater in the middle of town. The church service doesn't start until 4pm, so Tanya and I headed into town later and took a walk through Green Park & then Hyde Park near the Buckingham Palace. Then we stopped for a good lunch in a small Chinese buffet. I enjoyed the lunch because it was in a rather crowded, not-extremely clean, little place. You could watch a lady washing the dishes in the back of the restaurant (which wasn't very deep anyway)...it was interesting! Following lunch, we walked the streets a bit more around the Piccadilly Theater area so we were close to the church and could make our way there with little difficulty and be on time. We had to stop for coffee, because I discovered that Tanya loves coffee.. We got along just fine as I don't mind drinking coffee as well. Smile.. So, grabbing some coffee, we began to walk to church. We soon found ourselves in a redlight district just behind the church and were happy to get out of that part of town...grin...ooops. It is very saddening to see such an area. Parliament Building & Big Ben from across the Thames River
The worship in church was great. It was once again nice to worship in English and singing songs that I know and enjoy, Hillsongs worship as well as others. I'm told the service was a bit different than normal with the focus on healing this Sunday. They had a special speaker who simply spoke the truth from the Bible, encouraging and building peoples' faith for what God has already given us and promised us in His word.. Then instead of offering to lay hands on or prayer for anyone with a sickness...he invited all who were sick to come forward and then asked members of the church to come forward and pray for those who were sick. I was very impressed. It wasn't about the speaker, or his faith in God's promises, but about encouraging the faith and corresponding actions of the church body. PTL!!! Quite a service. A few shared testimonies of immediate healing which was quite encouraging.

View from Primrose Hill looking toward London

So, after church...and a pit stop at McD's to grab Ali a bite to eat (he didn't get lunch like we did)...we headed down to the river to walk along side it. We ended up walking for quite a while along the Thames River, eventually reaching the London Bridge and crossing over. It is a lovely sight at night with all the lights of London. From there, we bussed our way home and we were soon headed to bed. I had to get up early the next day to catch my early morning flight back to Santiago and they had to work the next day.

Monday morning, 3:45am...I was up and by 4am out the door to catch a bus that would take me to Victoria Station where I could catch a bus to the airport. A bit nervous to be standing at a bus stand by the road at 4am, I was definitely doing a bit of praying...The Lord brought my bus along soon though and before long I was at Victoria station and trying to find my way around there to the bus that I needed and had a ticket for. With 5 minutes remaining before departure of my bus I was given directions to another place just up the street where my bus was supposed to depart from. I took off running up the street and was thankful to get on with plenty of time still as other passengers were still boarding. PTL!!! The Lord helped me get where I needed to be on time. Reached the airport and my return trip to Santiago was rather uneventful. I slept...smile.. This one's for you Mom!!
On this trip I discovered a few important things...traveling alone isn't the most fun thing in the world...Irishmen are really friendly and like to talk...and it's great to have the Lord with me wherever I go to share my experiences with, to direct my steps, and to keep me safe!! So, okay okay...the bit about the Irishmen.. I just happened to meet a man from Ireland on my way to London who struck up a conversation with me and seemed to really like to talk a lot...then on my flight back to Santiago, I was seated next to an Irishman who, when I finally wasn't sleeping anymore, struck up a conversation with me and seemed to like talking as well.. Quite amusing really!

So, now I'm back in Santiago and VERY THANKFUL!! I much prefer smaller cities to the larger ones. It is nice to be back in my temporary home in Spain. I was blessed to have Susana meet me at the airport. I could say she surprised me because I didn't know if she'd be there, but I had a feeling she would be. She is such a blessing, coming way out of her way to give me a ride home from the airport. We did stop for a coffee in a nice little bar part way home and caught up a bit. Then back at home the girls were happy to see me. YEAH!! Smile.. Each of the girls showed me in their own way how they had missed me. Helena showered me with random hugs, kisses, and words of affection throughout the rest of the day. She also proceeded to help me prepare dinner. Irenita was a model student for our English lesson together and was very excited about the British coins that I brought her (just happened to have one of each, except for the 1 pence). Celia came into my room in the afternoon and wanted to sit and look through all the pictures I had taken. She rather likes my little portable mouse, so that's an added attraction to looking at picture on my laptop. Anyway...it is a blessing to be home again.

Thank you all for all your prayers. I know that the Lord was with me. I can say that though I was surrounded by lots of people, there were times that I felt VERY lonely. It doesn't help that in those times I miss home as well. It's a pleasure to hear someone speaking in American English when walking down the streets or somewhere. I suppose that eventually when it is time for me to return to the USA, I'll be ready, but for now I'm still here where the Lord wants me and still learning. Seems that learning never ends and for that I'm thankful. Sometimes the lessons are hard ones and other times they are exciting...but PTL for all that the Lord is teaching me here. Please continue to pray for me to have wisdom with the family I live with...sharing Christ with them.

Please shoot me an email and update me on what the Lord is doing in your lives and how things are going. Some may feel that nothing spectacular or as exciting is happening and is therefore not worth writing about, but it's interesting for me to hear about none-the-less. God bless you all.. Hope you enjoy the pictures I've included!! I took over 200 pictures...so if you wanna see more pics, just let me know and I can try to send you a link to see more..smile