My friends arrived home from Peru yesterday, complete with a suitcase full of their favourite foodstuffs from there. They also brought me a T-shirt and a mug with Peruvian ethnic designs on them. I haven't heard much about their trip yet, as they were slightly jet-lagged and simply slept most of the day yesterday. Gabriela turned 13 while they were gone, and seems to have grown a little taller as well, so I'm experiencing what it must be like to be the "grandmother" of a teenager.
At ministry level, this week will include more coaching sessions, as well as a number of team meetings to prepare for a couples' retreat that we'll be holding at the leadership retreat centre next week.
All the signs of summer are still with us in Alhaurín: the trees are in bloom, though the unwatered grassy areas of town are more brown than green now. The streets are deserted in the heat of the afternoon, but families emerge in the evening, and children play in the playground in front of my house until almost midnight. The ice cream shops are doing a roaring trade and have introduced their "summer" flavours like peach and pineapple. The market stalls are also full of fresh produce, and I'm enjoying nectarines and kiwis. This is also the only time of year that we get any fresh sweetcorn (something that I miss from South Africa) so I'm enjoying that too.
Ada and Gabriela have been in the winter half of the world for the past two months, as they've been visiting family in Peru. They phoned me today from Madrid to say that they'd just arrived back in Spain and can't believe how hot the summer is here. They'll be catching an overnight bus and will arrive back in Alhaurín tomorrow morning.
I've been feeding my friends' cat every day while they're on holiday, and hanging around at their house to use the internet for some of my coaching sessions. For almost two weeks now, I've had to put up with the rat-a-tat-tat of a pneumatic drill at the back of the house, where some town workers were drilling up the pavement to lay a gas pipe. Today, a pleasant surprise awaited me: no labourers and no incessant roar of the drill. As I sat down to work at the computer, though, another noise reached my ears: a strange, strident screeching, as if I had suddenly been transported to the zoo. Going outside to investigate, I discovered that the noisy chatter was coming from a flock of green amazon parrots that had taken up residence in the nearby trees. Nonetheless, I think I prefer the parrot noise to the drill noise.
Right here in the same street, a different kind of noise is coming from the premises of our church, Centro Cristiano de Alhaurin. We're holding a three day "dance camp" with about fifteen local kids, both boys and girls. They're preparing a contemporary dance that they'll perform at the church service this Sunday morning, and we're hoping that some non-believing family members will come along for that time. We're also expecting non-Christian friends and family to come this evening to a church barbecue that will include a time of baptising new believers in the swimming pool.
Yesterday was the last day of outreach in Málaga for one of our Spanish King's Kids teams this summer. After a training camp in Barcelona, this little team of ten boys, five girls and half a dozen staff made the long bus journey down to Huelva (near the Portuguese border), then crossed Andalucía to the town of Motril, before heading to Málaga for the last few days of their outreach.
"Piensa diferente" (think differently) was the theme of their outreach and this was put to the test last night when they headed to the beach area for their last hours of sharing their faith. Their sound system had broken - which meant that they weren't able to play music, perform dances, give testimonies over the microphone or do the usual sorts of things that draw a crowd. Instead, this team of teenagers had to "think differently." They simply went out in twos and threes to talk about Jesus with people who were sitting or walking in the beachfront area.
Today the young people will have a time of debriefing and evaluation before heading back home tomorrow to the different regions of Spain that they come from.
I tend not to experiment with new recipes when I have friends coming to dinner; before making something for guests, I like to have tried the recipe at least once, so that I know it'll turn out okay. In a recent email, I told a friend that I was thinking of making spicy mole with chicken for our meal next week, but I was going to try it out this weekend first.
I was a little puzzled when I got her reply - something about never having eaten rodents before - until I realised that seeing the word "mole" in writing is quite different from hearing it spoken. It's pronounced "molay" and it's a spicy Mexican sauce made with chocolate and chillies. I'm going to be serving it over chicken enchiladas.
As well as being "animal care week" (see previous post) this week also seemed to be a time for me to book tickets for upcoming travels. I've booked or changed eight tickets over the past few days! As part of the College of Education, I was planning to be in London for a faculty meeting at the beginning of September... until getting news at the end of last week that the meetings had had to be relocated to Norway. (It's difficult to find accommodation in London during the Olympic season.) Rather than completely lose my easyJet tickets to England, I paid the transfer fees to change them into tickets for visiting Scotland over Christmas. But then, of course, I had to book brand new tickets with Norwegian airlines - from Edinburgh to Oslo and from Oslo to Malaga. Finally, I managed also to book bus tickets this week for travelling up to Madrid in September. I'll be spending a few days there at the YWAM Spain national staff conference.
Now the only tickets still needing booked for 2012 are my plane tickets to Germany for the King's Kids conference at the beginning of November.
Since the beginning of July, part of my time has been dedicated to "coaching" ladies who have been part of our leadership development course here in Malaga. This involves asking them strategic questions to help them make and follow through with personal and ministry decisions. It's a way of providing care and support, without actually "telling people what they should do." It's about helping them process their own choices. Only one of the ladies actually lives in Spain, so I've been connecting with the others over the internet (by Skype). This week, however, also seems to be "animal care week" for me, and I have been making my Skype coaching calls from the homes of various furry friends: mostly from Lucy's house (I'm feeding my friends' cat while they're on holiday for two weeks) but today I'm at Brandy's house and tomorrow I'll be at Yogi's house. This is so that my friends can go out for the day, without having to leave the dogs outdoors in the hot sunshine.
One of the nice things about doing my internet work from the dogs' houses is that both of those homes have a swimming pool and I can also cool off by having a quick dip when I've finished my work. Brandy in particular has a favourite game that involves running around the pool while playing "volleyball" with the person who is in for a swim!
I was a little puzzled when I got her reply - something about never having eaten rodents before - until I realised that seeing the word "mole" in writing is quite different from hearing it spoken. It's pronounced "molay" and it's a spicy Mexican sauce made with chocolate and chillies. I'm going to be serving it over chicken enchiladas.
