Days 44 & 45.. not quite the end of the Summer! Couple of hours to go! #45daysofsummer

Well I'm not quite finished as there is still one more evening left of the summer! And I've not yet posted about yesterday either! So here goes..
Yesterday will be summed up in more photos than words (but a picture paints a thousand words though, right?!) and today's events as well as an overall (short!) summary of my entire summer follows at the bottom..

Laura gave me a brief but detailed tour of Bilbao in around 2 hours! I decided that if I would live anywhere in Spain (although of course I haven't been to every place in Spain) I would live in Bilbao. I loved it there! The atmosphere, the buildings, the river. Everything. We started our tour at what I think is the Old Square.

And walked round to the New Square (which didn't look that new to be fair, but was wonderful and was lined with cafés and bars and later on there was live music here!)

The library was rather modest and hidden, I felt. But had a grand door that was worth a snap.

A tiny little stage for the City Orchestra.

Live music in the street! This was on one of the main streets in the city, and had lots of shops and gorgeous little pastelerías (cake shops).

We reached the Guggenheim Museum! Selfie necessary.

A giant puppy made from flowers. Why not?

The Spider in the distance... Can you see the bride and groom in the distance having their wedding photos with said spider? Weird.

And the exterior of the museum was enough to look at without having to go in! 

The spider...! Crazy. Weird. Bride and groom finished and moved on to some other unusual spot for the rest of their shoot.

View down the river.

Arty bridge.

We went for a quick bite to eat in a gorgeous little Tapas bar in the New Square.

 

There was sooo much to choose from!

 Really, so much!! But the kind Spanish waiters helped us decide what to have and poured my mosto (grape juice) for me in a wine glass with ice, an orange slice and an olive on a stick. Wonderful.

Basketball World Cup fever - this year it is held in Bilbao!

There were loads of people milling around and taking part in all the activities in the streets.

We got free balloons :) yay!

And then, after a spot of lunch, and really all to quickly, I caught the bus to the airport.. Where my case was 26kg instead of 23kg and I had to get rid of some stuff and move some things around in a fluster as the queue for the Vueling desk was huge and out the door of the airport! After misunderstandings about hand luggage and being sad that my last proper Spanish conversation was a total muddle, all was well in the end and I reminded myself of my competent and lengthy conversation with Juanma the previous day, and my entire time with Laura which was almost totally in Spanish!! I landed back in London last night where mom and dad met me to take me home! Phew! (We did get lost in the countryside looking for a pub to eat dinner in, but alas gave up and ended up having pizza in Oxford services.) Home and bed. Yes.

Today, on my last official day of my Summer, I had a well-needed lie in, before heading to church at Zion. It didn't occur to me at the time, but thinking about it now, it was very nice to be sat in an English service, to be able to understand everything without my brain working on over time to try and translate. And how good to worship, and let God revive and refresh me. And don't get me wrong, I'm still tired and I'll be hitting the ground running as I start back at work tomorrow but I am so excited about what He is doing in my life at the moment and how clearly I can hear Him speaking to me, challenging me, encouraging and inspiring me. I hope and pray that in the busyness of this new season, I will still be able to hear Him and make time do so. 

This afternoon, we celebrated with some close family friends of ours. Two birthdays and three wedding anniversaries in these past couple of weeks! How exciting to be able to celebrate 55, 52 and 25 years of marriage with those couples, in a world when so often marriages have broken down. What a blessing to share with them in their celebrations today :)

And finally tonight, a brief but detailed and very exciting meeting about the future plans at church and about where God is leading us as a community in terms of our building plans!! 

Sadly no time for Grey's Anatomy tonight (soon I hope!) because the last 1.5 hours of this summer, I intend to be sleeping in order to be up for an early start tomorrow!

But what an incredible Summer it has been. Of adventure and challenge. Of learning and growing. Of new places, new people and new opportunities.

And what an incredible God I serve, who takes away, but who also gives in abundance. Who mends and restores what is broken and lost (and is continuing to do so). Who I don't always understand but who I am learning to trust more and more. Who makes my paths straight. Who sings over me and whispers words of love and truth to me at the times when I most need to hear them. Who is faithful to His promises. Who has said 'yes' to much more than He has said 'no'. Who has given me so much more than a great Summer. He has given me hope. He has given me Jesus. He is all I need.

#45daysofsummer #blessed

Now, what's next?!

Los Últimos Días.. helado a medianoche, haciendo las fundas y probando la morcilla. Días 41 y 42 (y hoy, día 43) de mi #45diasdeverano

Don't worry, the whole post isn't in Spanish - just the title!

I haven't had as much time to write recently as the days have been full (yet restful, hurrah!) On Wednesday we went to León for the afternoon, where Betsy and I enjoyed yet more Tapas. I have been told my a few people that I need to try Morcilla, as it's typical Spanish food and a typical Tapas choice. Morcilla, for those of you who don't know, is blood (and vairus other parts of a pig). The time we went for tapas I didn't even consider trying it and flat out said 'no'. But Betsy convinced me to at least try it while I am here. And so, I have to admit here, I did. Needless to say, it was gross. And just the thought of knowing what it was made from was enough to make me dislike it. It's appearance didn't do much to help either:

La Morcilla. Bleugh.

On the way back, we all went via the new church in León, which is in the process of being built. We had a tour of what is currently there and were updated on how the process is going. They have a number of supporting churches in the US who are helping to fund the building and have even had sponsors from the Catholic church in the city (who apparently wanted to be seen to be a part of it, because it's been such a huge talking point in the city!)

The baptism tank.

The work is still very much underway. They think it will take another year to complete.

This is upstairs - the rooms for the kids and youth.

The group wandering round having a look.

Manuel (the guy in the middle, in the hat, he is one of the elders of the church) explaining the process, the plans, and after this we prayed together for it all.

That night, Betsy and I went late night exploring (originally to find somewhere that sold ice cream but we ended up giving up and simply walking and exploring!) We managed to find a perfect spot where the village lights were hidden by trees and we could see multitudes of stars and  constellations. I said, when we were there, that we should have taken some blankets and hot chocolate! But we weren't there for too long and said perhaps tomorrow night! We walked far enough to find the edge of the village though which I found quite exciting (admittedly, this was not far as the village is quite tiny!)

Looking a bit wild but wanted a picture with the sign at the end of the village!

But while we were taking pictures, creatures started moving in the darkness of the bushes. Perhaps snakes, perhaps frogs, but creatures making usual noises and even the smallest of innocent little beings can sound scary in the dark of night out of reach of help. So we made our way back fairly rapidly!

Yesterday, we spent an hour at a market in Valencia don Juan (the same town that our big concert was in a few weeks back). It was heaving with people, very hot and smelled strongly of fish. It wasn't one of my favourite experiences..

Antique-looking objects

Fruit and veg looking fresh and tasty (loads better than the fish stall!)

But later, while some families went to the water park (weather was much better yesterday!), some of the ladies were doing crafts and being creative down in the basement, so despite being in swimming costumes ready to go, we changed our plans and Betsy and I got creative instead! Here were some of our finished products:

Not quite finished - Betsy midway through making her 'leather-style' case.

Mine :) Rosa y amarillo con los corazones.

Another example from one of the women there! I love the big buttons but there weren't many left of the same colour.

Again, another - with a mariposa (butterfly)

I decided to make another for my notebook, with buttons!

Betsy's first one, it inspired me to make some too!

I have spent a lot more time with Betsy again this week, and it has been really good getting to know her a lot better (and talking about loads more than food, weather and whether I'm happy haha). We are two of only very few here without their families, so have ended up spending lots of time together, exploring, being each others family and fumbling our way through deeper conversations in Spanglish. She wrote me a beautiful letter this morning, which she left on my bed. In her broken English, she wrote down some of the experiences we've had, some of her hilarious English words and phrases, her thanks for various things and generally lovely words. I wrote her back this morning too, in Spanish of course and left the little letter wrapped in some Union Jack ribbon that I brought with me for gifts! It didn't take me long to write a page or so, which just shows me how much I have advanced in the past four weeks, in vocabulary of course but mostly in confidence in the language! I don't think I would have really known where to start this time in July!

Oh and last night, we managed to find ice cream after La Noche de Talentos! Finally!!

Helado a medianoche (ice cream at midnight!)

This afternoon, I didn't have enough time after lunch to say goodbye to everyone so I ended up addressing the whole camp while they finished there food and said a few words of thanks and apologies that I couldn't say goodbye to everyone individually. Before I left as well, I spoke with Laura on the phone (the girl who's house I am now at!) to confirm travel details and make plans for tonight. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but actually, it was my very first phone call in Spanish :) and I was reeeally nervous about using the phone but it was actually really fine! She spoke very slowly for me but it was way easier than I thought it would be! Hurrah!
Juanma drove me to the station in León. We left with like 38 minutes to get there, and it is about a 25minute drive. Ok, not exactly necessary to panic but more rushed that i would have liked. Of course, the only time in my four weeks here that I experience traffic is the journey to the station with not much time to spare.. A lot of praying occurred. But it was all OK in the end and I got on the coach! Actually, the journey with Juanma was really cool because he was the first person who I met in Spain, he picked me up from the Airport on my first day here. Our first conversation on the drive to the camp was almost totally in English. On our drive to the station, for him to drop me off on my penultimate day here, our conversation was almost entirely in Spanish! Woo!! And it was really comfortable. We both commented on how it is a sign of how much I have learnt these past few weeks!

My bus journey to Bilbao was about a 4.5 hours. It wasn't much like the buses I have previously caught here - more like a near-luxury coach to be honest, with black and gold seat, far-reclining chairs and loads of room. Very nice!
And I am now here in Bilbao, lush and green (it was raining when I arrived - preparing me for my return to England I think!) And here I will spend the night and the first part of tomorrow exploring Bilbao with Laura (who I met at the Music camp and who speaks only a little English!) before my flight back to England tomorrow evening...
Oh wow. #45daysofsummer nearly done! Mañana, England here I come!

(I have also updated my post of Day 39 with a picture of Josué and the snake at the lake (that wasn't meant to rhyme!) for those who are interested to see it..)

Simple obedience. And raspberry picking. Day 4 #45daysofsummer

For the first time in weeks, I didn't set an alarm last night to let myself sleep in as long as my body felt necessary. Normally, I love being able to do that! But this morning, I woke feeling restless and uneasy at around 8am. I dozed for a while and then decided to take advantage of the quiet of the morning and spend some time with God. During holiday times, when my routine is out the window and every day looks different, I often find it hard to make the time to sit and pray or read the Bible. But recently, particularly during times when I've been feeling low, I have recognised God's quiet call to go to Him as He reminds me of the promise that He is all I need.

This morning was another of those times when I heard His gentle whisper, come to me.

So I did. And it was so refreshing, as it always is. 

I want to get better at practising simple obedience. When I hear His voice I want to respond immediately. Whenever I do, I am never disappointed but the next time, it is so easy to forget the time before, to doubt, to question, to fear.. And the moment can be quickly lost. But I am thankful that our God is so gracious and so willing and eager for us to connect with Him, He gives us chance after chance.
I am praying for strength and discipline to keep coming to Him throughout this holiday season, despite my lack of routine, and that I will hear and respond to His voice straight away, rather than miss what He has for me!

The rest of this day has been fruitful and productive.
In a later post, I will share more about the Summer Project that we have started with some students from Earls but I can already tick off some of the suggested activities which I am very excited about! After all, who doesn't love ticking things off a list?!

Dad and I took Missy up Clent this afternoon ('Go for a walk.' Check.) and as we were wandering along our familiar route trying to avoid other dog-walkers (if you've ever met Missy in a context with another dog, you'll understand why) we realised that all along the side of the path, raspberries were ripening by the dozen. We sampled a few to see if they were ready to pick and then collected a few (OK, more than few but not too many!) to bring home ('Go fruit picking.' Check). I figured I could use them to bake something delicious ('Bake something' is also one of the suggested Summer activities for the project so tomorrow I hope to tick that off too!) and therefore I'm going to make Raspberry & Orange muffins at some point tomorrow, all being well. :)

Bounding through the fields (Missy, not us!)

Finally got her to sit for a photo! What a cutie!

Raspberries!!

Our raspberries!!

My day got even more productive / active as I got some last minute holiday shopping done (well, I still have 5 days before I leave, so not quite last minute but ya know!) before going swimming with Rebs and Laura (I won't do this all the time, honest! But 'Go Swimming.' Check! Yay! Getting through them!). Want to add here that I am super proud of Rebs - she conquered some more fears today and achieved so much!

And nowww, I'm going to wrap up because Mom and I have just watched another episode of Grey's Anatomy (had to wait a whole two weeks while she was away!) and we're hoping to get another episode or half in before bed!

Day 4. Good day. So thankful for for Jesus' perseverance in calling me to Himself, and for family and friends.

Day 3: All hands on deck. #45daysofsummer

It was a joy to celebrate 3 people getting baptised this morning at church, one of whom was my cousin-in-law! Although the past week has held quite a lot of sad news for a lot of people in our church family, today was a day for rejoicing and thanking God for His grace and for what Jesus did so that anyone could know Him. God is so good! Also got to don my Purple T-Shirt this morning and hang out with the DZ kids today as we learnt about Idea Scudder, a missionary in India in the early 1900s. The kids were challenged to think about what God might be asking them to do to help others - such a good question for them to be considering at such a young age so they can start using what they have to make a difference in other peoples' lives!

In other news, Mom and Dad arrived home from Austria late last night! Its so lovely to have them back, not only because I'm now not the only responsible adult in the household (sorry Matty!) which means I'm not the only one that has to remember to feed & water the dog, the snails, the plants, check the post, sort washing, etc.etc.etc.... But its lovely to have them back because I love them and I really have missed them these past couple of weeks, and particularly since I'm away for most of the summer, I'm glad they're back in time for me to spend some quality time with them before I go! (I'll stop being soppy now!)

So in amongst the mass of unpacking and laundry we had a quiet afternoon out for lunch and catching up. But let me get back to the laundry for a second - there was soooo much! Thus we made a trip to the launderette and Dad even had to put up 2 extra washing lines to dry it all so it certainly was all hands on deck (until the hanging it out to dry part when I managed to escape upstairs and have a lie down! Hehe) We also popped to Tesco for some essentials (including Mars Bar ice creams, which we had to eat as a matter of urgency, of course, before they melted so didn't even wait to get home but tucked straight in on the drive back..!)

And since then I've had a quiet night in, packing (woooo only 6 days to go before my travels begin!!) because I'm just too excited to keep waiting and I think packing may actually be one of my favourite pass times. No, perhaps the completion of packing is the part I love.. Getting to tick it off and move on to something else. Either way, we're nearly there and suitcase is already looking rather full!

                             

Ooh and before I forget - we harvested one of my cucumbers today.. I've been waiting for about 4 weeks for this little one to ripen, but found out today that its actually meant to small, round and yellow... Tasted delicious anyway!! Like a tangier version of normal cucumber, would be lovely in a salad! Of course I shared it with my snails and they enjoyed it too! Thank you again, Jo and Grandpa Wheeler for starting me off with these!

So a quiet day generally today, but thanking God for the many blessings He gives me and for bringing M&D back safely! Until tomorrow folks!

New brothers :)

I got a text from my friend the other night saying:

"woahhh the amount of Christians I know on campus just doubled!"

Sadly not because 40 people came to know Christ that night, but because he got introduced to another group of Christians on campus.

Tonight I had the same experience.

Enter, Jesus Jam.

Never before have I seen such energy and passion for the LORD, in praise and worship and through study of His word in a student setting.

And my brothers and sisters here welcomed and embraced me, and taught me how to high five / low five (whatever) properly!

But before I go further, let me start at the beginning of today.

As I prayed and spent time with God this morning, I text some of my JJ (Jesus Jam) brothers with a verse and told them I'd be at their meeting tonight! One reply I got was 'Amen.. and God willing, we will see you tonight!"

:)

Praise the LORD for His will. I hoped I would make it!

At that point in my day, though, I didn't realise that today would be one of the most difficult and exhausting days of my Uni experience so far.

But my God is good. And in all I do He sustains me (Psalm 3:5).

After everything, I was so blessed by being at the JJ meeting this evening.

I am so thankful it was God's will!!

And I am thankful that God was truly at the centre of all aspects of this evening.

I saw love and encouragement in everyone there. We had fun together and the words shared were edifying and we spent time in prayer and pouring over pages of our Bibles soaking in the scriptures.

They don't have words up during praise and worship so I didn't know the lyrics to most of the songs but I remember one of the lines we sang declared (something like) "Even when trouble comes my way, You will be with me. Almighty God, You are my all in all."

There was so much truth in those couple of sentences. I saw that truth earlier today. Trouble comes, yes. But my God is Almighty and He is with me and He is all I need.

After the meeting, as they packed down, they sang in harmonies, more praise to God. Everyone helped out. And a bunch of my newly-found-family even walked me home.

When the body is in working order, it is so beautiful to watch in action, and it's so beautiful to be a part of it.

"..God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.." 1 Corinthians 12:18

Thank You LORD, for the family of believers that is here at Keele.

May we continue to work as a body, in unity and for your will and purposes!

Don't let us hide our light, don't let us keep your love to ourselves.

But may the love we have for you and each other, overflow and spill out on everyone we see through out the day.

Amen.

(and goodnight!)