What are your takeaways?

A whole week has gone by and the group of ladies who are with us for the "preschool in a suitcase" seminar have been excited and encouraged to see the potential of this simple tool. Most of them are trained teachers in early childhood education, who have already had involvement in training others to work in Christian preschools. But it takes several years to study for a degree in early childhood education, and God had been speaking to some of these ladies about the need to "get back to basics" and find ways of equipping people in developing nations (including people who themselves have minimal education and would never be able to study for years at university) to set up Biblically based preschools that will influence the next generation in understanding the ways of God.

The "preschool in a suitcase" curriculum and training programme was an answer to their prayers, and seems to be just the tool that these ladies in the College of Education were looking for. Even as we talked and prayed last night, the ladies spoke out their willingness to get involved in training more trainers, and in going out to use this tool in different nations of the world. India and Afghanistan were two of the locations that were mentioned as probable contexts for pioneering the material over the coming twelve months.

This afternoon, we'll be having a time of debriefing where everyone will be considering, "What are my takeaways?" What have I gained personally in my relationship with God this week? What ideas would I like to implement personally in my work with 3 - 5 year olds? And which nation of the world is God calling me to - to take a preschool in a suitcase for a short term investment in training indigenous people to make a big difference for the youngest and most vulnerable members of their society?

Getting back what was taken...

Last Sunday morning at church, I felt that God gave me a prophetic word to speak out during the worship time. Speaking to one or more persons present, He wanted to say, "I am more than able to restore what the enemy has stolen from you." The Bible tells us, in John chapter 10 verse 10, that our enemy the devil seeks only to steal, kill and destroy. He will try to rob us of our joy, our confidence, our faith, our relationships, our trust in God, our health..... and so many other things. But God is able to restore and renew all of those things in our lives.

I'm not sure what the word meant to those at the service on Sunday morning (although two or three came to me afterwards to say that they'd felt God was speaking specifically to them) but it was also particularly meaningful to me because of something that had happened just the week before. When my parents were still here in Spain, my Mum and I had taken a trip into Malaga by bus and, while we were in a shopping centre, a thief had managed to unzip a shopping bag, remove my purse, and zip the bag up again. This meant that I lost a large amount of cash (my parents' holiday money), as well as my driving licence, my health card, other bits and pieces, and several bank cards. And, even though I discovered the theft within twenty minutes of its happening, that wasn't quite fast enough: when I called the UK to cancel my cards, they told me that the thief had already used one of the cards to get £300.

It's a horrible feeling to be robbed like that. Quite apart from the loss of money and the hassle of having to replace bank cards and identity documents, you feel so violated. When I was praying about it afterwards (and refusing to let it spoil the remaining few days of my parents' holiday) I said, "God, you are so much bigger than this. I know that you are able to give back to me all that has been stolen, or even to double it, if you wanted to. And so I simply trust for your justice to be done in this situation."

A couple of days later, when I checked my email, an incredible surprise was awaiting me. Someone from my church in Scotland, who knew nothing about the theft, had given me a generous gift of £600 - exactly double what the thief had taken with my debit card!! God truly had replaced what had been stolen.. and more!

And so, for the past two weeks I've been filling in police reports, applying for new bank cards, and being grilled by the criminal investigation department of my bank!! It's all been a bit of a nuisance, especially the fact that my replacement Spanish bank card hasn't arrived in the post yet, making it difficult to get cash flow or pay for the things still needed for my Africa trip next week. 

The police had also recommended that I make regular contact with the Lost Property office in Malaga, just in case the thief threw away the purse after taking all the cards out of it. I'd just about given up hope of getting anything back, and so it was a pleasant surprise when the "Objetos Perdidos" office contacted me this morning to say that my purse had been found. Absolutely everything had been taken out of it (even all my photos and my library card) except for my driving licence, my health card and my petrol station card.) They had already posted my driving licence to the British Consulate, but it hadn't arrived in the post yet, and so I'll need to go back into Malaga to collect it next week.

I had to laugh when I saw my BP petrol card among the two remaining items in my purse. At the time of the theft, I had moaned to a friend, "They took everything; they even got my petrol card and I've been saving up points for four years!!" This, of course, is ridiculously insignificant when compared to the loss of all the money, bank cards and personal ID documents. At the most, my accumulated petrol points would get me a toaster, a kettle or some other small item of household equipment. But there was the card, among the few things that had amazingly been given back to me. Now it's only my library card and a few other bits and pieces that still need to be replaced.

And so, when God spoke that word last Sunday morning, it was very meaningful to me too.... because He had already proved that He was more than able to give back double what had been taken from me. We serve a generous God!

Skyping Senegal by starlight

Why, you might wonder, am I sitting in my car at midnight, in the darkness of my street here in Alhaurín? Well, the reason is that the countdown has begun and it's not long now until we gather in Dakar, Senegal, with around a hundred young people who are joining us for tree planting and missionary outreach. 

The small group of us who form the core leadership team of the Planting Together project are needing to skype regularly in order to make decisions about final details relating to food, transportation,  airport pick ups, currency exchange, renting of tents and chairs for our orientation camp, etc, etc.

However, like many African cities, Dakar often has power cuts for many hours at a time. If the electricity is off all day, there's no way you can skype from there until the power comes back on in the late evening. And so our last few team meetings by Skype have been held on Thursday evenings from 10 pm till midnight - two of us in Spain, one in England, and the other already down in Senegal.

I'm excited to report that I finally got my Senegal visa this week (after quite a lot of challenges) and most of our participants now have their visas too. We still need to see some breakthroughs in terms of clear communication and confirmation of detais with the manager of our campsite and with local church people who'll be coming to an inter-church worship celebration that we're having one Sunday evening. Thanks for your prayers for that.

Well, I'd better be heading home now..... Tomorrow we have another full day with the "preschool in a suitcase" seminar here in Malaga. Good night :-)

Pre-school in a suitcase

We're running a seminar this week that is called, "Preschool in a Suitcase." The goal is to equip teachers to go, with minimal resources, to developing nations and train people to set up Christian preschools, using resources that are available within their own nation and cultural context.

Yesterday I was teaching about how we can lay the foundations for a Biblical Christian view of the world, even when we are working with 3 - 5 year olds. Today, Rite and Margie are teaching about the pillars of preschool curriculum that form the basis of that worldview: knowing God as Creator, knowing God as Father, knowing Jesus who is "God with us", and knowing the Bible which is the written Word of God.

The holidaymakers head home...

Well, the time has come and my parents' holiday is over for another year. Yesterday Mum had her last Spanish swim of the summer - at Villa Rehoboth while I was busy there with a coaching class - and then I also had time for my first swim in July. At night we had a nice meal in a Thai restaurant... together with my German friend, Anja, who has been our "airport chauffeur" when we needed a van big enough for the mobility scooter as well as the suitcases. Anja was also our driver on Monday when we went to visit the old town of Ronda.

We took a drive into the "snowy mountains" (sierra de las nieves; no snow at this time of year, though) - through stunning scenery to the town of Ronda with its famous bridge over a high gorge.  We had a picnic there and wandered around looking at the town for a bit, before heading down to the coast - through more amazing mountain scenery - and driving home that way. It was a long circular round trip, and a tiring but very interesting day.

Anja and I took my parents to the airport this morning, and they're already back in Scotland now. Meanwhile at the leadership retreat and development centre, we're gearing up for a seminar designed to equip teachers to establish Christian preschools in developing nations. People are coming from all over the world - including places like Norway, Australia and Rwanda - and the seminar begins on Sunday. Thanks for your prayers.

Encouragements and emergencies

What a mixed week this has been: many encouragements at the beginning and many emergencies at the end!! Our base leaders' training seminar went very well and the feedback from the participants was that they felt encouraged and equipped for their task of leading missionary training centres. During the week, as well as teaching on a wide range of leadership topics, we had good times of worship and powerful times of intercessory prayer for the Middle East and for missionary leaders in that part of the world.
Towards the end of the week, however, I had a number of crises to deal with. First I had to take my Dad to the doctor, as he had a painful throat making it impossible for him to eat or swallow. Next I ended up at the dentist for emergency root canal treatment And then, perhaps most devastating of all, I had my purse stolen when we were in the city yesterday, which means I'm currently in that laborious process of cancelling bank cards and filing police reports.

We have absolutely no idea how the theft could have happened. I'm always extra vigilant in cities, holding on to the zip of my shopping bag so that no one can open it. In fact, we discovered the theft within twenty minutes, as it happened between our leaving the supermarket and getting to the bus station. But this seems to have been a professional at work, as within five minutes of the theft he had already used one of my British debit cards for purchases of more than £300. I don't yet know if my credit card or my Spanish bank card have also been used. Of course, I had to phone my banks both in Scotland and Spain to cancel the cards, and I had to file reports with the Spanish police. I'll also need to start the process of applying for a new driving licence, health card, library card, petrol card, insurance card, etc, etc.  Apart from the loss of the holiday cash we had in the purse, you feel so violated when all your personal stuff is torn from you like that. We are praying, however, and trusting God that this will not spoil the remaining few days of my parents' holiday in Spain.

After two days of using a gel for a fungal infection in his throat, Dad is beginning to feel better again now. As for me, my tooth is still very sensitive, even after removal of the nerve, so the dentist has given me antibiotics to deal with a secondary infection, and I'm trusting that the pain will be gone soon, and that things will settle down before my trip to Africa next month. My follow up dental appointment to complete the root canal treatment needs to be a month later, and so it will only happen when I get back from Senegal at the beginning of September.

Meanwhile, on the holiday front, I've been taking my parents for short trips to nearby Torremolinos and Benalmádena, and tomorrow we're planning a trip up the mountains to the town of Ronda with its famous old bridge over a high gorge. Thanks for your prayers as we also sort out our "emergencies" and I continue the task of communicating with the police, with the bank, etc.

Out and about in sunny Spain

Well, apart from ongoing computer work (preparing for the Africa camp next month, and answering enquiries about a European KKI leadership summit that we've begun preparing for), my role over the past ten days has been that of cook, chauffeur and tour guide. 

My family enjoyed lazy afternoons at the swimming pool and, when we discovered that my Dad's mobility scooter amazingly fitted into my tiny little car (when dismantled into its four pieces), that also allowed us to get out and about a bit - visiting the original pueblos or "old towns" of Benalmádena and Marbella, and seeing the cannons and fountains at the "battery park" in Torremolinos. My brother and niece are back in Scotland now, but my parents still have two more weeks here in Spain. Next week will be a lazier one for them, though, as they'll be relaxing in Alhaurín while I'm teaching and working all week with a leadership seminar at the retreat centre.