I'm back!! Yes, that means back in the USA and not just back to updating my blog. Grin... I know that I have gotten a little behind on this in the last few weeks as I've been busy spending more time with friends and the family before leaving. I'll try to catch you all up a bit and close out the story of my Spanish Adventures. Smile... The last few weekends were spent introducing the girls to my good friend Susana. I think I might have mentioned the desire in my heart to leave them with some Christian contact there in Spain. I knew my friends Susana would be great with them as she seems to love kids and gets along excellently with all the kids at church. I mentioned to her my desire as a matter of prayer that I'd know what to do...the next week she told me she wanted to meet them. So over the last few weeks that I was in Spain, I hooked them up with her a bit. The two youngest loved her. They enjoyed spending an evening at her house dancing to Christian kids music videos along with Vicki, the baby girl of another of my friends. I loved it because they were happy and they were listening to the words of the music and thinking about them (occasionally commenting to me or Susana). PTL!!! I really feel like the Lord was working in their hearts and am still praying (and would ask that you continue to join me) for the lives of these girls and this family, that the Lord would bring them to salvation. PTL!!! 
My last week in Spain was fairly normal until about Thursday...then things got busy and sleep wasn't a bit part of life. Smile.. I spent a lot of time with friends and the church family when I wasn't with the girls. My middle gal, Irenita, took off on a school trip to an island in the south of Spain. She was very excited and overall I think it was the best thing for her as it made my departure a little easier for her I think. Of course, I wasn't there upon her return, so I can only assume at this point that it was the best thing. She did have an old aupair to come home to, another American gal who will be staying with them through the end of June. After that the girls will be out of school and moving into summer vacations when I don't think they normally have an aupair with them. Anyway... Friday night I was blessed with the evening off work so I could attend the church service there in Santiago and say goodbye to some people that I wouldn't see Sunday at church. In the last month that I was in Spain, the Santiago church opened a new church in Milladoiro (where nearly all my closests friends live) to spread out the church a bit and reach out to more people. So, to say the least and continue with the other topic, I have been going to Milladoiro for church for the last 3 weeks. Anyway...back to Santiago church. We had a GREAT service with the Presence of the Lord and then at the end they gathered around me and prayed for me knowing that it was my last time there. What a blessing. After the service I went out for some dinner with friends and after waiting in a hamburger joint for an hour we finally got our food about 12:30apm. Goodness... A little sleep that night and right on into Saturday and spending the morning with the girls enjoying ourselves. It was rather relaxed. I ended up spending some one on one time with the two girls still at home, which I enjoyed. After lunch, Susana came by and picked me up. I was off for a weekend of who knows what that was sure to be fun. 
So, my last Saturday/Sunday in Spain. Susana had been at work putting together a fun Saturday afternoon and party that evening. About 10 of us drove out to an island to enjoy the beach, though not swim...still too cold for that. The Lord blessed me with a day of sunshine. This was the first sunny day we'd had in a month...I'm not even exaggerating. We'd had rain 27 days in a row (though some days we'd get a bit of sun in the morning or the afternoon one)...one of my friends was counting the days. 
Anyway... We enjoyed wading in the water out to some rocks and surprisingly the water wasn't freezing cold. 
Fresh Seafood
I tried fresh seafood *G* while we were out there. My friends Susana and Juan told me this particular type of shellfish was good raw or cooked and so I tried it. Figured it couldn't hurt. It actually tasted fine, salty like the sea, but not fishy or dirty. So now I can say I have had fresh seafood...or raw shell fish...whichever way I decide to say it. Grin. 
After a few hours enjoying the beach and a nearby cafe, we headed to the restaurant back up the road a ways. They had been telling me about this pizza place that cooked HUGE pizzas in big stone ovens. It was called "A Pedra". Yum!! So, we'd tried going there like two or three different times and each time something came up and changed our plans...so finally we were going.
In addition to appetizers of shellfish and octopus, I ended up having a pizza with ham, mushrooms, garlic, and cheese....along with a calazone with fresh tuna and onions (sounds gross, but was surprisingly good especially since I don't like tuna). *G* We ended up having a total of 27 people at that party. 
Susana's oldest sister, Sonia, and her boyfriend showed up after we'd eaten and brought a cake and other dessert. Sonia works in a bakery for making cakes and such things, so she made it specially for me. Bless her heart! It was chocolate because they know how much I love chocolate. 
They also brought some walnut dessert that was like filo dough with syrupy stuff between the layers and walnuts....delicious is the best word to describe it. We had a fantastic time and finally made it back to Susana's house to sleep about 2:30am. Restaurants in Spain stay open much later than here (we didn't leave the restaurant until after 1am). Smile...
Sunday morning up early enough to get to church on time for the 11am prayer hour before the service. Love going to that and getting to pray for the service, pray with others, and enjoy the presence of the Lord...preparing my heart and mind for the service. I had once again been asked to sing in this service. So, after the worship and communion I sang along with the worship leader and the congregation rejoicing and celebrating the Lord. It was fantastic. I sang "Trading My Sorrows" by Darrell Evans. They started it in Spanish and then I joined in Spanish on the chorus (still working on the verse part in Spanish). Then I sang it in English and then we all sang together in both languages. Sometimes the worship leader would sing in English and I in Spanish and viceversa. It was a blast and a blessing to me to be able to join with them in worship. My last Sunday they had a joint lunch at the church after the service, I so I got to spend a bit more time with everyone from the church. This church also gathered around me to pray for me and send me home with their continued prayers. I was so blessed by the church body there in Santiago/Milladoiro. PTL!!! After lunch, the young people hung around to show me a video that they had put together for me all saying something and mostly being silly. It was fun to watch with them and have to bring home with me. I said a lot of goodbyes that day, but not to my closest friends. I spent the evening in the park before heading home to hang with the family and the newly arrived American gal who is currently staying with them. 
So, this newly arrived American gal is a girl I have mentioned before that I was communicating with over the internet and sharing the Lord with. It was cool to get to meet her and later actually get to talk to her about the Lord and what He's doing in her life. A bit excited to see how this will effect the girls as they new her before she was following Christ and now she'll be different. She is a verbal person and I'm pretty sure she won't be quiet about her new found faith in the Lord. Pray for her as I have already had feedback from her that some oher Spanish friends aren't really that interested in hearing about her "God experience". That can be a bit discouraging for a new believer.
Okay...so now we're down to my last day, Monday. I met up with Susana and her sis Mila for b-fast. Funny story there.. I order an orange juice and croissant and the others ordered something and coffee. Well they got a little chocolate with their coffee (it's the norm) and Susi was giving me a hard time about not getting chocolate.. Smile...ornery girl. Anyway, later some guy walks in sits down in a table near us and stares at us...it was strange...okay to be honest he was staring at me for who knows why. Anyway, later he turns around and gives me his chocolate off of his coffee...haha.. Susi thought that was great...I was trying to figure out what in the world was going on. He hadn't overheard our conversation of earlier because he hadn't been there yet...so it was a funny story if nothing else. Later, we girls went and exchanged something they had bought me for a bigger size (guess I look smaller than I really am...haha). Then we met up with some other friends (Andres and Celia from the Bible study group of Thursday nights) and stopped in a cafe to get a coffee. Randomly some church member came up and joined us then paid for everyone's drink and left... WOW! From there, another friend got out of his university classes and met up with us. While most headed home, Susi, Joel (the other friend), and I headed to another bar to get a soda and chat a bit. Finally, saying goodbye to him, I walked with Susana to the busstand where we would say goodbye and she'd catch a bus home to get to work on time. That was difficult especially since I'm not a teary person and didn't cry though she was. I was standing there trying to cheer her up and praying. I slowly made my way home from there to spend the rest of the day with the family....though there was still one other friend I had to say goodbye to besides the family.
So, the family decided they wanted to take me to their favorite nearby beach spot. So, I drove them to the beach (yes, I drove...there's a story there, but I'll skip it to keep this readable..grin). We had a good time enjoying the seabreeze and sunshine (yes, yet another day of sunshine...the Lord blessed me with a whole weekend of sun) and view. Then to a cafe for coffee and ice cream before heading home. 
Back in Santiago we headed to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Good times. We reached back home at 11:15ish and I went out again to meet up with my last friend that I needed to say goodbye to, Juan. We ended up sitting in a cafe/bar until 1am chatting over coffee and having a good time. Juan and Susi have been my closest friends in Spain and both were difficult to say goodbye to. Finally got home about 1:30am to do last minute stuff and get one hour of sleep before embarking on my trip back to the USA. 
The trip home was fine. I got to Philadelphia and spent an hour and a half going through customs...which was a bit exhausting. Then I had a long wait until my next flight. In that time, I caught up with friends and family on my cell. Found out the weather in St. Louis where I was headed wasn't the greatest and not wanting to risk a night in the Philly airport, I went to customer service and asked for a change of ticket to fly to Kansas City. That was given to me without any trouble. PTL!!! I ended up leaving Philly about 1 1/2 eariler than my other scheduled flight and arriving in KC to a lightening storm that was fun to watch from the air. The luggage didn't follow me, but that turned out to be a blessing and was later delivered to my parent's home in Rogersville. So, about an hour outside of Kansas City, traffic came to a standstill due to an accident ahead. We stopped and ended up putting the car in park. After about five minutes, the lane next to us started moving slowly.. still not completely sure how happened, but before I knew what was happening I heard a loud screech of tires followed by a car colliding with ours. Yes, it totalled Mom and Dad's car crushing in the trunk. Now you can understand why we were thankful that we didn't have the luggage to get all damaged. PTL!!! My laptop was back there, but the Lord protected that and it still works to perfection. PTL!!! All of us are fine, though we've been sore a few days. I had a headache a few days as did others in the family. We've been to see the chiropractor and are doing well. PTL!!! for His protection. My uncle lived abotu 45 minutes from there, so I held my Dad's chair (the driver's chair broke) in place so we could drive to his place. Amazingly, after so little sleep for the last 48 hours and the whole weekend really, I was still going.. It was all by God's grace and strength. I finally got to sleep on my uncle's couch at 3am to sleep for a few hours before driving the rest of the way home in daylight (the lights were out on the car). It was good to finally get home and I did end up crashing on a bed for three hours (thought I'd just lay down to think and pray a bit, but you know how that goes...grin). So, I've been home 4 1/2 days now and have been going since I touched the ground. Spent Friday hanging with my Mom and running around town trying to get some things done. Friday evening I headed to Branson to catch up with some friends and go to a wedding on Saturday. Honestly that was a bit overwhelming for me and now I'm back in Springfield with plans to get a job and take things a bit slower for a bit to catch up with myself. This return to the US has been quite a different experience for me, and nothing like when I returned from India. Maybe because this time I'm returning from another world and a different life that the Lord has blessed me with there in Spain. Anyway, I'd greatly appreciate your prayers as I continue to adjust back to my own native country and life here for a bit. Smile...
Actually, some of the most exciting news is that I won't be in Missouri very long, because the long awaited acceptance to the United States Coast Guard has finally arrived!!! Woohoo!! Yes, I am finally officially accepted... A year of waiting and believing the Lord that it was what He was opening for me to do...and now it is here before me. PTL!!! I will be moving to Connecticutt the first part of August to begin August 7th. PTL!!! I'm thinking about starting a new blog for that new adventure, but pretty sure that I won't have internet access the first few months being there, so not sure yet. I'll try to let you all know when I know.. Smile.. Please keep me in your prayers as I head out on yet another adventure with the Lord. PTL!!! if you have any questions, you have my email address or can contact me through this blog by posting a comment and I'll be happy to answer them. So for the next few weeks I'll be spending my time with family, friends, and preparing for going into the USCG.
Thank you all VERY much for your prayer support and encouragement over the last 6 months of my life in Spain. May the Lord belss you all richly in return. Jonna Clouse
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