Arrivals and Departures

We're driving back and forward to Malaga airport more than a couple of dozen times this month. After a fun and fruitful coaching seminar, we took that group of people (photo on the left) to the airport last weekend, and began to welcome the seventeen staff who were arriving to work with us during the Leadership Development Course. Over the past week we've had a time of preparing and praying for the LDC. The photos on the right show us praying for the 30 delegates, their families and nannies who will be arriving this weekend from places as diverse as Austria and Australia, Vietnam and Cambodia, Norway and Northern Ireland, Thailand and Holland, Romania and Albania.... and several more besides. The next six weeks will be a stimulating time of teaching and coaching, mentoring and encouraging.... seeing these leaders grasping hold of all that God has for them in this season of their lives. Thanks for your prayers.

Gone with the wind...

Well, the good news is that our internet is working again, and that we've also finally solved the problem of being unable to send emails. I'm very thankful for that, as there are always lots of last minute emails from delegates preparing to come to LDC and sending their flight information so that we can meet them at the airport. We'll have a lot of airport runs this weekend, as we take the coaching seminar people for their homeward flights, and welcome the LDC staff who are arriving for the week of staff training and preparation.
Meanwhile the intensive coaching seminar is going well. Wolfgang is doing most of the teaching, while Stephe and I are having fun doing the demonstrations and debriefing in the sessions where the participants practise the different kinds of coaching skills that they're learning.
After the wonderful sunny weather that Jacqui and I enjoyed last week for our "holiday" days, this week has been much cooler and strangely overcast. This morning we awoke to strong winds of more than 45 kiometres per hour - so strong, in fact, that the garden furniture was being blown all over the place, and one of the green plastic tables that we use at lunch time was lifted right off the terrace, flown over the wall, and deposited a little bit down the road in a nearby fig tree. We had to send out a rescue party to recover the table in time for lunch!!

Climbing to Cordoba... and coasting home

As the countdown begins for the coaching seminar and leadership development course, I've faced an unforeseen challenge this week in the area of communi-cation with the many people who are making their way to Spain for these two events. You may have seen on TV that there have been "outages" with some of the larger email service providers... and I've unfortunately been one of the millions who've been able to receive emails but totally unable to send any for the past week. I'm praying that the problem will be resolved soon, as this is an important time for me to be able to communi-cate with the eighty or so people who'll be arriving here over the next couple of weeks. Yesterday, however, Jacqui and I did take advantage of our last "break" day to take a trip to the city of Córdoba. It's a two hour drive at the best of times but, with much of it being uphill, my little car sometimes couldn't get above 60 kph on the motorway, and we had to laugh when we found ourselves needing to use the "slow lane" that is normally designated for 18-wheeler trucks! We had a lovely time there, though, and thoroughly enjoyed wandering round the narrow streets and floral patios of the old town, as well as visiting the famous "mosque" (which is now the catherdral), the old roman bridge and the alcazaba fortress. Our homeward journey included more downhill stretches than uphill ones, and so we felt like we were cruising home to Alhaurin again.
We have a ladies retreat at Villa Rehoboth today, and people have also already begun arriving for the coaching seminar which begins on Monday. So we're also busy with lots of trips to the airport this weekend. The coaching seminar lasts for a week and then, next weekend, the LDC staff begin arriving for our week of prayer and preparation. Finally, during the weekend of 15th - 17th April, all the LDC delegates and families will be arriving for the six weeks of the Leadership Development Course. I'll share more in my April newsletter; you should be receiving it soon.... but, thanks to this email problem, I've been trying in vain to send it for several days now.

Going to Granada...

Although I've lived in Spain for a couple of years now, I'd never had an opportunity to visit some of the Andalucian cities that are the main tourist attractions of this region. The busiest season of our year lies ahead (during the intensive coaching seminar and the LDC, we leave home at 8 am, have classes, small groups and other activities for most of the day, and sometimes only get home at 9 pm or later) and so I decided it would be a good idea to take a short break before that busy time began. A friend who is also involved in the seminar and the leadership course arrived from England this week, and we planned in three days to visit some of the "highlights" of this part of Spain.

Yesterday we went to visit the famous Alhambra in the city of Granada. We left early and the weather was still rather misty as we drove into the mountains. In fact, even when we arrived, the sky was grey and overcast, so it was amazing that it later turned out to be a very hot and sunny day. Looking at these photos, you can easily tell which ones were taken in the morning and which in the afternoon. The other main place we want to visit is Córdoba, and so that will be our destination for tomorrow.