Hola from Pamplona!!

First night out in Pamplona :)

I made it to Spain!!  I flew in last Thursday and everything is going really well.  Thank you again for all of the love and support I received before I left Minnesota. J

God is faithful!!  On the first day, God answered a prayer.  I was very excited to come to Pamplona, but two things I prayed about were companionship and help speaking Spanish.  In Minnesota, I have three amazing roommates and am surrounded by many loving people.  I knew it would be a tough transition to go from that to a city where I only know a handful of people.  As for speaking Spanish, I started learning three months ago and wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to get around the city without translators.  Well..on the first day, I was brought to the apartment where I was supposed to live.  The woman who owns the apartment is Maria and is a member of the church in San Juan.  She was very welcoming and had a beautiful place.  The one problem was that she owns a cat and I recently found out that I am very allergic to cats.  I called Pastor Dom’s wife Damaris to see if I could possibly stay with a different woman named Sangra and found out she has cats as well.  For a few hours, I didn’t know what would happen, but it’s beautiful how God works everything out! 

Damaris called me back and said I could stay with Monica – another woman from church who has a 15-year old daughter and another girl staying with her (Maria) who is my age!!  Praise God!  Living with them is such a blessing.  Monica is a wonderful woman and I really enjoy talking with her.  She is also an amazing cook so I hope to learn a few recipes while I am here. J Maria and I know each other from both short-term trips I took to Pamplona and she picked me up from the airport when I arrived last week!  She speaks fluent English and we have a lot in common.  God is GOOD.  J

The first few days flew by.  We met friends for dinner on Friday and then spent Saturday and Sunday at church.  For those who don’t know, the pastor I am working with (Pastor Dom) is married to a woman who is the daughter of a pastor in Pamplona/Spain (Pastor Felix).  One church he started is located in San Juan and Pastor Dom is a member.  They have a Young Persons Group (Grupo de Jovenes) and I enjoyed meeting new people this weekend.  Everyone is so friendly and welcoming!

Tonight we have English Club and I was thankful to learn that there are currently two people helping!  One is Hannah – a student from England who I met in October.  The other is Ellis – a student from South Carolina.  God provides.  I’ll let you know how it goes in my next update!

What God is teaching me..

The song that has been on my heart this entire trip is ‘Be Thou My Vision’.  It’s a beautiful hymn and a continued prayer of mine is to grow closer to God and become more reliant on his strength.

Transitioning to life here has been more difficult than I expected.  Speaking Spanish all day is a challenge.  It is one thing to use the Rosetta Stone or have a 3-hour dinner, but to be completely immersed in a Spanish speaking city is very different.  I was surprised at how quickly I became discouraged.  I started praying, ‘Lord, why did you bring me here?  How much good can I do when I struggle with having basic conversations let alone talking about you?’.

Thankfully, God is faithful!  I love how He gives us exactly what we need when we need it.  I’m currently going through a year-long message series by David Platt called, ‘A Chronicle of Redemption’.  The series walks through the entire Bible and shows how the Bible is one large story all pointing to Christ.  It’s really good!  If you’re interested, you can find it for free at www.radical.net.  (Resources à Sermons à Series à Start with ‘Prologue: Creation’)

Two messages I listened to before coming to Spain talked about the Fearful vs. the Faithful.  The examples were Joshua versus the giants in the Promised Land and David versus Goliath.  In both stories, the fearful made the giants look bigger than they really were. They were too afraid to move forward even though God promised victory.  The faithful (Joshua and David) knew that God is more powerful than anything on Earth and walked forward in faith. 

In a similar story, I’m finishing a book called ‘The Heart and the Fist’ by Eric Greitens.  It’s a story of a Rhodes Scholar who becomes a Navy Seal and Humanitarian.  One chapter is about Navy Seal training and Hell Week.  The first night (Monday) is the most brutal and before they get started, all of the men stand on the beach and watch the sun go down.  They don’t have to do anything else, just watch the sunset.  It’s at that moment that many men quit.  They had already been through a day of intense physical challenges and trained for months to be a Navy Seal.  Why do they quit?

“They quit, I believe, because they allowed their fear to overwhelm them.  As the sun went down, and the thoughts of what was to come grew stronger and stronger, they focused on all of the pain that they thought they might have to endure and how difficult it might be.” (Eric Greitens, P. 186)

It’s easy to become fearful and make the giant (Spanish) larger than it is.  The temptation is to quit, but thankfully, God is much bigger than our fears and we can trust him. 

The greatest lesson God has taught me so far is that He is all we need.  He is God.  He LOVES us.  He created everything and holds the world in His hands.  The battle is already won and if we trust Him and walk in faithful obedience, He will surely provide and we will see HIS glory.  It’s not about my strength or how well I speak Spanish.  God is in control and all we need to do is walk forward in faith.