A Full Month
It’s been a full and good month! So much going on that I haven’t had time to write about it – but I will try to do so now.
On June 12, we spent the day in the small village of Fuensalida, which is south of Madrid near Toledo. It is the hometown of our friends Myriam and NoemÃ. We enjoyed a great meal with their parents, and then a tour of the town. We really enjoyed our time with their family and friends and the chance to see “real Spain” away from all things tourist or monumental.
On June 15 my parents came for a visit. We all had a lot of fun touring new places, constantly getting our picture taken by my dad, experiencing typical Spanish foods and introducing them to our friends. I really appreciated their visit and being able to spend time with them and show them our new home.
Black Squid Paella (very good!) Waiting for the Metro Fancy lemon dessert The last day at Calle Libertad
A few days after they arrived we moved out of the city to a northwest suburb called Las Rozas. We moved here to care for the house and dog of our pastor and his family as they spend two months in the U.S. I am really enjoying a tranquil break from the noise, pollution, busyness and heat of the city. It’s still hot (last week it was around 100 degrees for a few days), but we have access to a pool and the breezes are stronger out here. Samuel “hates” it. He thinks it’s boring. I admit that the commute into the city is tiresome, but I still spend less time commuting now than I did when I was teaching and living in the city.
Lexi The bus stop routine Walking the dog
A game of Rummikub The community pool.
The morning that my parents left, more visitors arrived. In fact, they even met one another in the airport. Our second visitors were Mike and Linda Otis from our home church, Mars Hill. We were privileged to be able to spend three days getting to know them and sharing with them our life here and future goals.
On Saturday, June 26 they joined us in an eastern suburb of Madrid – Alcala de Henares – where we did a service project with others from our church here. We had become aware of an organization in this city, called Operacion SOS., through a friend of Samuel’s from Grand Rapids. This organization takes donations to other organizations, orphanages and schools in North Africa. It is run by a husband and wife. They also own a small store, the earnings of which help finance the organization. Recently they had an 8-ton truck donated to them and they plan to fill it with clothes, wheelchairs, desks, toys and other needed items to be delivered to places in Mauritania in August. We spent the day sorting, organizing and packaging items to prepare for transport. It was exciting to meet this couple and learn about their ministry to these people. They will make a very long, treacherous drive – 50 km of which is through unpaved sand of the desert. They are able to reach and encourage people who do not often receive help because the terrain and difficult traveling conditions that are faced to do so.
Mary Beth at the SOS Store Inside the SOS Truck Sorting and organizing
After having almost two weeks straight of visitors, we felt a bit of sadness and loneliness when the OtisÂ’ left on the 27th. But it was also a good time for us to get settled into the house and somewhat of a routine. My last day of teaching was June 30!!
On July 4th we hosted a pool party and BBQ for about 25 friends and new friends. We even sang “America The Beautiful,” and “The Star Spangled Banner” upon request from our Spanish friends who wanted to hear an Independence Day song!
Now we are both students again as we started daily Spanish classes yesterday. WeÂ’re even in the same class together. There is only one other student in class with us, so weÂ’re getting lots of attention! I will also continue to meet with my Spanish friend, Myriam, every week to practice my Spanish and help her with English.
We have also been very busy preparing for our next season here in Madrid. Our hope is to be able to continue to intensively study Spanish when we return in September. We also have the goal of staying in Madrid longer than our original two-year goal to dedicate our time and talents to serving the refugees in Spain. There are over 600,000 refugees living in Madrid alone. This represents 12.3% of the population. More than half of them are here without legal papers. WeÂ’ve been working on our next newsletter, which will explain our goals a bit more. If you are not on our newsletter list, and would like to be added, let me know and weÂ’ll get you signed up.
So, that’s June in a big nutshell. Of course we are also looking forward to our visit home from August 16 – September 16. Samuel has a program on his computer that is counting down the days, hours and minutes until our plane departs from Madrid! We hope to be able to see many of our friends and family in the weeks that we spend between Wisconsin and Michigan.
Hasta pronto!
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