A new decade begins...

I've entered a new decade since writing my previous post, and it felt kind of strange to realise that, of all the places I've lived in the world, Spain is the only country where I've celebrated two "new decade" birthdays. (Unless you count Scotland, where I lived when I turned 10 and 20.) My 30th was in Austria and my 40th was in South Africa.

Most of my friends were travelling, so I didn't really do much celebrating on the actual birthday, but various celebrations (a meal, a coffee, an ice cream...) are still planned for the coming month. I also received many messages, cards and even funny videos (like the one above) with birthday greetings, so I didn't feel forgotten.

As well as being the month of my "big" birthday, May also seems to have marked the arrival of summer here in Andalucía, and we've found ways to get outdoors to enjoy the sunshine and the open air. One day, a public holiday, twenty of us from church went to the lake district of Ardales, which has always been a favourite spot of mine, with its stunning views and deep turquoise water. We went for a pleasant hike through the forest, and then had a picnic on an outlook with beautiful views over the lakes. I had taken two of the dogs with me, and I also went down for a walk at the water's edge, so that they could have a swim.

I was actually supposed to be in Sweden during this first week of May - to teach on the PCYM (child and youth ministry school) there. My friend who is leading the school is just one day younger than me, so our big birthdays were on the same weekend, and we'd planned to celebrate there in Sweden.

However, their student numbers were lower than foreseen and so, instead of flying to Sweden for the week, I taught the group every day over the internet. It was an interesting experience to be teaching in Sweden while sitting in Spain in my own living room!

I was teaching on various leadership topics - including how to motivate and mentor teenagers, how to raise up godly leaders for youth ministry, and how to resolve conflicts in ministry team contexts. It actually snowed in Sweden one of the days that we had class, but as I was here in Spain, it meant that I escaped the chill and was able to take advantage of some free hours to get out and enjoy the sunshine. One day we went to Barranco Blanco, a beauty spot that I discovered last summer, where multiple waterfalls along the River Alaminos were the setting for an old shampoo advert that you probably saw on TV in the 1980s. All in all, my birthday week turned out to be both fruitful and fun.