Monday February 12th
We left the church at 5ish to be at the Philadelphia International Airport. Ian took us via the church van. We were packed for the trip with several extra bags. Deb and Chuck both had huge black suitcases that were heavy. When we checked in, I believe that Deb's weighed in at 78 lb.. We checked in and got on the Us Airways plane to leave. We took off and flew to Paris, France and landed in the worst airport I have ever been in. Charles de Gault Airport. It was not easy to navigate and it wasn't very attractive. We had a two hour layover and then we took an Air Europa plane to Malaga. This last leg of the trip was the worst flight I have ever had when dealing with turbulence. It was non stop the entire 2 hours to Malaga. I wanted to sleep so bad, but I just couldn't because every couple seconds the plane would shake or rattle again. I don't mind flying, I just hate turbulence and before 9/11 that didn't even bother me so much. I just had to keep reminding myself that God was in control and if He wanted me to die and be with Him, then that was it. I needed to trust Him.
Tuesday February 13th
We arrived in Malaga Tuesday afternoon and our driver picked us up in his van and drove us to the Las Piramides (The Pyramids) Hotel.
We met the conference administrator Pamyla and got our room info and went and put our stuff away. We then kicked around for a while and had dinner at 7pm. As part of the conference the Hotel provided breakfast and dinner each day. This consisted of very nice buffets in two separate dinning areas. We were required to dress a little more formally (no jeans or t-shirts) for dinner, but I think it was worth it. After dinner we checked out the room we were going to be using for the meetings and then went to bed.
Wednesday February 14th
Although some of the ladies for the conference had arrived the previous day (like we did), today was the day when the lions share came. Their planes would come in throughout the day and they trickled into the lobby of the hotel. During this time, we were setting things up in the Menfis conference room so we would be ready for the ladies at the appropriate time. We also spent a couple hours practicing music. We quickly discovered that some of the music we were planing on wouldn't work with just a piano and guitar/drum. I think that Chuck, Tony and I realized that many of the songs we sing weekly need lots of instrumentation to work or to cover over their poor musical construction.
At 5:15 there was informal reception for everyone sponsored by the hotel and I must admit that being one of three men amongst the many women was intimidating. I think that they were a little curious about what we were going there as well, but I was a bit shy and didn't really talk to anyone. I played wallflower when in this room and ran off to be of use in the main meeting room. I know that most of you don't believe that I am a shy person, but I can be....especially around large groups of people I don't know.
The main meeting began at 6pm and we led worship for about 20 - 30 minutes. Longer than the average Sunday morning. I must admit that I was a bit surprised by the involvement of these ladies. There were about 60 of them max, but the sound they produced at times rivaled our congregation, at least to my ears. They were engaged in the worship, some weeping and some reach out their hands to the sky. It was moving. Then Jan, one of the ladies who is actually a missionary to Madrid, spoke on Mary....an ordinary woman. That was the theme of the week, Ordinary Women and their extraordinary God. After this we went to dinner and we were still a little separated from the ladies in the dinning room. We had one lady (I think it was Jill who ministers in the Ukraine) sit with us and really broke the ice. We had a great conversation with her. Afterwards we had several of the ladies share with us that they really appreciated our leading hem and being there. It was the first time in a long time for some to be able to worship the Lord in english. I never realized how important this is, but then how often do we think about those serving the Lord in the trenches of missions. We are comfortable here in the American church. I'll expand on my thoughts on missions in a later post.
Thursday February 15th
I got up and had breakfast and it was really good. I have to say that the hotel had really good food. I was quite impressed. For the rest of the conference the sessions were in the mornings. We started at 10am and the speaker was Lisa S. who is working in a sensitive area of ministry so we won't talk about that much. She spoke on Ruth, another ordinary woman of the Bible. The ladies then broke out into some seminars, but we were finished for the official part of the day and went to a nearby town of Mijas, which was in the mountains. Mijas was a mining community as well as being the last place in Spain that the Moors were before being driven out in the 1400's. What a view!!
We then came back and had dinner at the hotel. I split from the team and sat at a table full of ladies and really began to get to know some of them. I believe that this was the highlight of the trip, just getting to know these ladies and the things that were going on with their countries. So work with children, some are pastors wives and others are striving to build relationships with indigenous women. I truly valued this time with them, it had a large impact on my world view. That evening one of the ladies help a seminar/class on country line dancing. The men tried to stay out of the way so that we wouldn't make the women uncomfortable.
Friday February 16th
Pretty much the same schedule as Thursday, except I didn't go out site seeing with some of the others after the morning sessions. I was feeling tired and wanted to spend some time reading and resting. I had the good fortune to have an extended discussion wit Cindie Pike who ministers in the Ukraine. I think we chatted for about an hour about the ministry to the Ukraine and the people there and the eastern european world view. It was truly fascinating and enlightening. That night I had dinner with several different ladies from France, Slovakia, and Romania and the Ukraine. I have to say that by this point in the week I was in awe of these women. They have sacrificed so much for the Lord. They have raised their children in foreign lands, some have left creature comforts and they only desire to serve the Lord more. Of course there is discouragement to them at times, but they persevere. How often do we quit when things are hard, or uncomfortable. Some of these ladies were single and they have forsaken dreams and desires for marriage to serve our God. And they would just tell you that they are not anything special.
That night we shared a concert with them in which we sang a few solos between me and Debbie, and led them in some songs (some we taught them). At the end of the evening, they didn't want to stop. A group of about ten gathered around Kathleen who used Tony's guitar and led them through about ten songs. It was beautiful to hear this group of women sing in harmonies to these songs. At times they sounded better than any other group I have ever heard. We then went and sat up with several of them until about 2am talking. It was a real time of fellowship and encouragement. If we did nothing else on this trip, but to make them feel appreciated I think it was well worth it.
Saturday February 17th
I had breakfast with several of the ladies and then our sessions. We have the church office back at GRPC fax us lots of music over the week to supplement what we brought. We were constantly adjusting the orders of worship to better minister to these ladies. We wanted songs with deeper meaning or had better musical quality, and it was a daily evaluation based on what we felt the Spirit was leading.
After the morning sessions we went to visit Malaga proper and visited a huge cathedral (the biggest I have ever seen), we also visited a castle on the mountaintop. We had to walk tot he top of the mountain and I must say that I am proud of the fact that I made it all the way up. The view again was spectacular. Somehow our party got split up and we all met back up at dinner at the hotel.
That night the hotel sponsored a Flamenco show, and had a band play. It seems that the weekend after Valentines day is a huge deal in Spain when the couples go out for dinner and dancing. The crowd was full of a diverse age group of people who were not shy to get up and dance. Deb actually convinced some of the locals to teach her the traditional dances and they adopted her for the rest of the night. It was a great time. Again we were up late talking with the ladies about ministry and their lives and needs in the field.
Sunday February 18th
We had church of sorts Sunday morning, and Barbara shared a message on Abigail for the ladies. I think this woman was a powerful speaker and our own women's ministry would do well to have her at one of their conferences if it was ever possible. Afterwards the group prayed for specific needs amongst the women and we prayed for them and their needs. They asked us to sing a couple songs to end the event and we were glad to. Then they presented with some gifts, but they couldn't match what they had given us in the form of their hearts and wisdom. I was so blessed to be a part of this event, and I know that the Lord used us to encourage them as well. As we were finishing up, some of the ladies had to leave to make their flights. We were leaving Monday morning so we got to say goodbye them in waves as they departed. We also had the opportunity to go out to lunch with several ladies from the England and Spain teams. Oddly enough The Sun Coast of Spain is to Europe what Florida is to the United States. It is a very international area and we had a traditional English Roast Sunday meal. Mine was lamb roast with yorkshire pudding. As we sat around the table, we got to share some more. We then went back to the hotel and spent time with the remaining ladies who were leaving the next day. We hung out in the hotel lobby and played cards and games with several of them. And then to bed. We had to be up early the next morning.
Monday February 19th
We had to be in the lobby ready to go at 7:30am to meet our taxi. I was up and ready. I was going to miss this place. I found myself humming the song "If Your Presence Doesn't Go With Us, We Don't Want To Leave This Place" the whole morning. We got to the airport and we were off. We flew from Malaga to Madrid (thankfully not France) and then from Madrid to Philadelphia. It was something like 9 hours (give or take). I don't remember exactly because I was so tired. I just remember that on the flight I watched two movies (Grid Iron Gang, and The Guardian) and four episodes of TV on my iPod. It was good to be home, but it was really cold. Apparently we missed a major ice storm. It was 65- 70 degrees each day in Spain, but it was in the 30's here. I have so much to think about and digest from this trip, and I know that God wants me to make some changes in my life because of it. I truly hope we get invited to do something like this again some day.
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