Coming to Spain

Entry from Mark

We left Rosedale after lunch on Tuesday, January 8th after lunch. We were grateful for the prayers offered up before we left. I hope everyone who reads this blog will continue to prayer for us- team unity, language skills, cultural skills, and learning to reach out to nominal or notional Christians are our biggest needs right now, I think.

Our first plane took us to Chicago (behind one hour) where we had a large layover. The girls and guys split up to find food. The guys ended up in a little food court that had chinese food. Yum! Later we reunited at our gate, made final calls home to say goodbye and waited for The Big One.

Some of us tried to sleep (the smart ones) or read, but I think most of us just watched the movies that were available. We arrived at Frankfurt, Germany around breakfast time (9am?) on the 9th. With four hours to waste until take-off, we wondered around the airport complex, and then outside in the brisk, chilly morning air.

Around 2 we left for Malaga, Spain. I was very excited, but very tired, so I slept most of the way. I woke up for a small breakfast, and to look out the window and take some shots of the landing, which can be seen in the movie above.

When we got to the airport we searched for our luggage in the special glass-enclosed area where non-EU luggage is placed. We got it, sent it through a security scanner, and then found our valets.

Elizabeth Rivas is the wife of Juan Carlos Rivas who visited RBC during the fall term, she and her husband moved with their three children to La Cala to pastor the Comunidad Cristiana Evangelica, where we Rosedale students meet for classes.

Raquel (her name is Rachel, but this makes it easier to distinguish from Rachel Sommers) is a local missionary who lives with her husband, Matt, and two children in the lower part of the church. Raquel is our local contact who found us families and makes sure that everything runs smoothly with that side of things.

Maretta was also there, and her husband, Phil Barr (RBC professor) arrived a few minutes later.

They drove us all to the church where we sat around and waited for our parents to arrive. Dan's family was gone for the first week of school, so he ended up staying with some single guys. Matt drove Dan to his house, and then dropped off Morgan and I at our Argentinian home, underneath a huge bridge. (It's technically in the shadow of the bridge)

The next day we all met at the church for orientation. Raquel told us about culture, rules for interaction with our host families and basic Spanish manners. Then she showed us around the facility. The church doubles as a multi-use center during the week. It has an impressive fitness center in the basement (I think people buy memberships there, because there are a lot of non-church members around through the week). There is also a music room, and a room with a punching bag- though I have not had a chance to use it. Upstairs there are several meeting rooms, a large gym with a stage for Sunday church meetings. This floor also includes the kitchen and some unfinished rooms. There are two stories above the first floor that are not finished, we looked at them and walked out on the terrace to see a great view of La Cala del Moral, and the Mediterranean Sea.

After orientation we walked to our respective homes for dinner, and met later to walk the beach, a favorite pastime that repeated itself many times that first week.