NEW MOSLEM MOSQUE IN VILANOVA

Excuse for writing in your blog in English. I have not ordered it to correct with the intention of which it (he,she) sounds to Eugenio. I know that I do not write in English very well but hope that you could understand what I say.

Some of you will be wondering what is this photo? I am going to explain it to you: It is the new Moslem Mosque that they have inaugurated in Vilanova this last Friday, while they expect to end their new building for the one that ALREADY there have all the funds that they need.

A few months ago were the Jehovah's Witnesses, which opened the new temple, helped by many people of Spain and of out of Spain.

Personally, I do not have any fear of the Muslims. Maybe is because in Spain we live eight hundred years conquered by them and it was one of the most resplendent epochs of our country. I do not live obsessed with the idea of that they have a strategy to damage to us, but is true that advance, and they advance very rapidly in their task of conquering people for the Islam here in Vilanova.

While they advance, we continue doing a great effort to be able to advance with our project of Church.

Today we have had a good service. Already there were no empty chairs in our place in Sitges, but still I see very far in the way the moment in which we could make as The Jehovah's Witnesses or the Muslims, open our new Temple where we want to proclaim Jesus Christ as our only and sufficient Savior.

In all that, there is a serious worry that puts a note of urgently in our agenda.

After this inauguration of the Mosque, and according to our local Newspaper, the authorities of the Government of our region are going to check the permissions granted for the transfer of lands for religious buildings and places of worship.

In our property it does already, almost one year, that we cannot make anything important with the building for lack of funds. This situation YES that worries me a little bit.

We will be grateful that you pray for us. We know that when we are in the new building in Vilanova we will grow, because we see that we are doing in our small place in Sitges. We have proposed to ask to God to be in Vilanova at the end of this year.

Pray with us for this mater. Really we believe that we cannot be slow any more without traversing the risk of losing so much as we investing in this place.

Thank you for our partnership in prayer.

We love you very much.

 

An Update from Atlanta....

First I had to share this amazing picture of the Tanksley family (thanks to Melanie, who took this last week)! Aron is growing up fast, and I'm probably the only one from our Spain team last summer who hasn't met him in person yet, but I HAVE tried! It sounds like Jen and Scott have both been sick on and off this past winter, but I think things are turning around. Thought some of you in Vilanova/Sitges might want to see this.

Well, we just celebrated EASTER here (as did you), which (in the U.S.) consists of Easter egg hunts and a visit from the Easter Bunny (if you have kids in the family), among the biggest celebration to us all, which is the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ! It always amazes me that we (full of sin) are the recipients of the ultimate sacrifice and are loved by the creator of the universe! How awesome is that?! Personally, I celebrated Easter in Richmond, Virginia with my family, who I hadn't seen since Christmas! My nieces and nephew are 8, 7, 5, 4 and 3, so it was super fun! The Easter Bunny filled their baskets with books, clothes and candy, and they were all very happy. (: I'm including a picture of me with them last weekend (and yes, my nephew and one of my neices DO have colored hair, which they did just for fun at the Easter Parade that day). I'm also anxious to hear if you (in Sitges) have hidden the eggs we left you for the kids in YOUR church? Let me know. (:

In other news....as far as updates on our team from last summer... David Walker is getting ready to leave (tomorrow) for a mission trip to NORTH AFRICA, so please keep him and his team in your prayers! They are not allowed to tell people where they're going over there OR that they're there as Christians or on a "mission trip", and they'll be staying in an all-Muslim area, so it may be a little dangerous. Check out their blog: http://northafrica08.blogspot.com/. And CARA HAIN turns 30 on April 1st (next week), which is "April Fools Day" in the states, so send her an email and wish her a happy b'day when you get a chance: carahain@gmail.com . I know she'd love to hear from you guys! Julie Allen, our very own Spanish teacher, is going to be leading a trip to Sevilla this summer! Their "mission" will be to do an English camp to teach them English, so Julie will be great for that. I know she'll miss seeing her friends in Vilanova, but obviously God has called her to another part of Spain this year, so she's following His lead! Michael Frank ("Franko", "Miguel"...) is doing great too. I talked to him this morning in fact, and he has his hands in many things as usual, from leading "Fusion" (for singles) and "Extreme" (for middle school kids), to starting a new small group, to working for the National Guard on weekends and real estate during the week! It makes me tired thinking of all that he's doing! He is hoping to go on the fall trip back to Vilanova (as I am of course), so you may see both of us again soon if all works out! Here's a picture of him, me and some other girl friends of our's from my b'day celebration 2 weeks ago (some friends had a party for me and our friend Cheryl, who has a birthday near mine). Don't ask why we have on silly hats and dresses....


Oh, and we saw Betsy, our fearless leader from last summer, at our last Spain Celebration, who looks great and is enjoying married life! That's all I know, besides the Tanksley's news, which I told you about above. Just wanted to fill you in on some updates.


Miss you and love you all! Get back on the blog and fill us in on what's going on in YOUR lives! (:
Carolina

Gracias a todos por venir a la Noche de Celebración por España.

Gracias a todo por estar en la "noche de celebración de lo que Dios está haciendo en España". Gracias a todos por vuestro amor por España, viniendo, orando, dando para que otros vengan, invitando, trabajando para hacer posible este movimiento. ¡Gracias!

Desde mi salida del seminario, junto con mi esposa, soñamos con levantar un día una iglesia en España que pudiese tomar la mano de otras más pequeñas y ayudarlas a crecer y desarrollarse por si mismas.  Ayudarlas a alcanzar su visión. Establecer una iglesia relevante, que fuese como el hermano mayor para otras iglesias en España y en Europa.  Por eso trabajamos en Sevilla. Pero, eso es lo que Dios nos ha dado con vosotros.   Sois como nuestro hermano mayor.  Estáis tomándonos de la mano como hace un hermano mayor con su hermano pequeño ayudándonos a hacer lo que solos no podríamos.

Gracias, 

Pepe y Mari

Spain Celebration Night at Buckhead Church

Tonight we had our 2nd "Spain Celebration Night" at Buckhead Church. We do this about 3 times a year, and it's just a chance for all mission teams (who have gone or ARE going to Spain), their supporters (people who have helped them raise money or supported them in prayer), and other special guests to come together to celebrate what God is doing in SPAIN! Tonight we were blessed to have several special guests with us all the way from Vilanova/Sitges! Sarah Andrews was here with her grandparents, parents and some of their friends, and Eugenio was here with Samuel from AFC! It was so fun to see them. I got to sit with Sarah in church this morning too, so what a fun way to spend the day!


At the beginning of the celebration, we did something we haven't done before, which was to have a video conference with our friends in Spain! First up was Isma, Eva and Isaac in Vilanova. Personally, it brought tears to my eyes to see their faces and get to hear their voices LIVE! We all got to get in front of the camera and say hi, and then Isma gave us an update on their church and how they were affected by our most recent trip there. Next up was Pepe and Mari, all the way from Sevilla! Julie did a great job translating in Spanish for them (and Sarah A. translated back what they said into english for us), and they just looked so happy, and so did Dave Karger and his team, who just got back from their trip to Sevilla! Pepe gave us a great update as well. It's so obvious God is doing big things in both places over there!

Next, Dave gave an update on their trip to Sevilla and then he showed a cool video that they've done in their church recently, to open up a series Pepe did called "Libre". It was amazing! Then, we saw a great slideshow of their trip, played to the song "Love can build a bridge" (I think that's the name). Next, I (Carolyn) gave an update on our trip to Vilanova/ Sitges, and we showed one of their recent videos about "the empty chair" (excellente!). Finally, we ended with a slideshow of our trip, played to the song "Everlasting God". We appreciate all that Dave did to put those slideshows together!

Then, Julie talked about the prayer requests for both churches (and we got a card with the general requests on them to take home), and each person there was then told to take individual prayer requests (or two) off each table and write a prayer letter to that person (or those people) to let them know that someone in Atlanta was praying for them. Each person took that name home with them too, so we can be praying for them every day! Both teams (when we were on these trips) really tried to pay attention to the personal prayer requests you told us over there (or ones we read on our prayer journey, like at the Sitges church) and we wrote them down, typed them up when we got home, and made copies to put on the tables tonight, so I hope you feel our prayers because we ARE praying hard for each of you! We'd like to keep a "prayer journal", so we can keep track of the prayers that are answered over the years, so please send those updates and any other prayer requests to me (Carolyn) at: cnorton@na.ko.com .

Finally, after a few words from Jenny Strange, David Walker led us in a great closing prayer and then we took this group picture, just for all of you who couldn't be here (click on it to see a bigger version). It was an amazing night! We did FEEL like you were all here in spirit with us, and we certainly felt God's presence through the entire event. I am so blessed to be one of many people chosen to journey with you and see first hand how you are working hard to further God's Kingdom and spread the light of Christ to others in Spain! It's the coolest thing I've ever been a part of!

I'll leave you with this verse, that seems to sum up so well what you're doing over there:

“…All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God… So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal..”

(2nd Corinthians 4:15-18)

Keep running the race and be encouraged that ARE bringing glory to God as you do so! We all love you soo much and are praying for each of you and your churches!

God Bless!
Carolyn

Gracias chicos!

Este ha sido un gran día...  

Echamos mucho de menos a nuestros amigos de Atlanta... 

 

Hoy sábado, hemos pasado todo el día trabajando en la iglesia y ahora luce de manera diferente.  Hemos podido colocar la pantalla y ver el efecto que produce a la gente que pasa.

Esta ha sido una gran idea y un gran regalo de vuestra parte.  

Un matrimonio nos ha visitado esta tarde y nos ha dicho  que nuestra iglesia tiene un toque diferente y nosotros decimos por dentro ¡bien! 

Gracias chicos,

Pepe

Parque Este

On Saturday morning, we gathered early in the lobby of our hotel to meet with Pepe and Mari to head over to the place where the church got started: East Park!

It was such a gorgeous day out and when we got there Pepe gave us a bit of history about how they were able to have church services in the park. Then we headed into the park for the tour and found a sunny patch of grass to gather for worship and prayer time...

Small Group Dinner - Friday

Downtown Sevilla on Friday

More pics from our tour and prayer walk in downtown Sevilla on Friday....

Beauty en Sevilla

What we saw when we went on a small group prayer walk through Sevilla on Friday :) You can hear the guy playing the guitar in the plaza.... awesome!

We're Home!!

We made it home to Atlanta! We had a little turbulence on the flight home.... look what happened to us!!






Just kidding! We are all home okay and had a good night sleep. Dave and Kinsey are over here now processing pictures so we can share them with everyone!



We miss everyone so much already!!

XOXO,
Liana, Kinsey, David

Friday Night Small Groups

I know the blog is a few days behind from our Sevilla team but we had an incredibly busy weekend so I would like to catch everyone up on everthing God did this past weekend!

Friday after our prayer walk through the city we split up into two groups as we did the night before and went to Nono's house and Paco's house. There were about 10 people at each house for their weekly small group. We again had the opportunity to pray for the church over them, pray for their personal prayer request, share our testimonies and break bread with them, talking about how important prayer is and how we as a Prayer Mission Team and Northpoint back in Atlanta along with all of our personal supporters are continually praying for them that God will continue to bless all of them including the church. Both teams were back by the hotel around midnight. After looking back we realized how much of an impact these small group settings made to the members of the church.

Gracias por poner vuestras manos en nuestros hombros

Nono, Marcos, Mari y yo, venimos  de dejar a este equipo fantástico en el aeropuerto para su regreso a Atlanta y me pongo a escribir porque quiero agradecerles muchas cosas.   Entre otras muchas, quiero agradecerles el poner sus manos en nuestros hombros. Han orando con nosotros y por nosotros.  No sólo hemos sentido sus oraciones y sus palabras, sino también, el calor de sus manos en nuestros hombros mientras oraban.  Hemos sentido su corazón, su servicio, su generosidad y apoyo a la nueva iglesia que, junto con nuestro equipo, estamos levantando en Sevilla.

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks

Gracias a todos y a cada uno de vosotros en especial.

• Gracias Tony por tu música.
• Gracias Kinsey por tu sonrisa y por tu ánimo cuando me decías ¡Hola Pepe!
• Gracias Bonnie por orar en cada rincón de la iglesia y por emocionarte conmigo.
• Gracias Julie por tu alegría, tu sonrisa explosiva y tu ayuda perfecta con el idioma.
• Gracias Rohn por tu perspicacia y serenidad.
• Gracias Mary por cuidarnos y apretar nuestras manos.
• Gracias Daniel por tu diligencia y por tu servicio.
• Gracias Tracy porque se han cumplido tus deseos al venir a Sevilla (motivarnos, apoyarnos y orar por nosotros, nuestra iglesia y nuestra ciudad)¡objetivo cumplido!
• Gracias Karen por el ánimo de tus miradas, sonrisas de cariño y la visión de ver cosas grandes para el futuro.
• Gracias Scott por tu ánimo y tus detalles.
• Gracias Liana por conseguir que lo vivido perdure con tus fotos.
• Gracias Dave por tu liderazgo al estilo de Jesús y tu sabiduría.  No olvides que hay un gran filósofo en ti.
• Gracias Heather por tus oraciones, tu sonrisa y tus abrazos.  
• Gracias Samuel por venir a servirnos.
• Gracias a todos los familiares y amigos en Atlanta que han ayudado con su dinero, ánimo y oraciones para que este equipo fantástico pudiera venir y el milagro pudiera suceder.  
• Gracias a todos los que han venido y están por venir a Sevilla.
• Gracias a los Walton  a Jenny Strange y a Eugenio por estar siempre ahí.
• Gracias a globalX por su pasión por el mundo.
• Gracias a Buckhead porque sois nuestro apoyo e inspiración. 

Gracias a todos, porque os sentimos muy cerca al poner vuestras manos en nuestros hombros, mientras trabajamos para ayudar a las personas de Sevilla a establecer una relación cada vez más creciente con Jesús.

Con amor,

Pepe

What can i say?

That's been my question when you guys who came to help and left us. What can i say, you spend your money and your time to fin supporters, spend your vacation time coming in a mission trip to help a church in Spain, and more and more... What can i say? Thank's? Only thank's? Thank you very much? Perhaps my english is not so good but i don't know the word or the phrase to say thank's in the way you guys deserve it. And definitely Thank you very much is not enough.

Since the team that came to Vilanova left i'm really noticing they've done an awesome job with us.

A lot of people in the church are rethinking things about our spiritual live that needs to be "refurbished" it doesn't mean we're doing the things in a wrong way but this happens when somebody makes you see the things from a different point of view, and this guys have opened our eyes in some important things.

We're really considering how to get us deeply in God, sometimes we are working a lot fot He, you know, planning and working the sunday services, the small groups, the kids, ... but sometimes we're not letting Him to work in us, does it makes sense? I mean we know we all have a lot of things to do in our live, work, family, friends, church, and of course, God. But sometimes it is hard to find time to spend with Him.

We're gonna work hard in that thing, because if we want our church in Sitges to relevant in our city we need to have an attractive church for the outsiders, but at the same time we need to have the closest relation with Him as possible to show them what it means to have Him in our live.

This guys showed us this to us, they're walking love, we want the people who are around us, our friends to see this in us.

Praying with them, talking about our lives as christians, sharing our thoughts and plans, has been awesome, really helping in all the possible ways.

This is to you guys, (in not particular order) Carloyn, Heather, Anne, Anne, Michael, Steve, Christie, even though it's not enough and it the word can't mean what i want to say, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, (i could full the whole page with this phrase and it would not be enough) for coming, for praying, for talking, for sharing, for loving, for taking care of us, for removing the words (the last embarrasing thing) on our building, thanks for thinking us very long ago, for spending your vacation time and your money, thanks for encouraging us, thanks for making us feel proud of what we're doing, thanks for the gifts you brought, thanks for everything you have done during this week, for your work on the last months, and for what you're gonna do for us, and the last but the most important for being our friends. I really thank God for having you as brothers and sisters.

Eva, Isaac and i wish we have money to go to the State to go to see again as soon as possible. We're really missing you guys, you can't imagine how much we're missing you.

Y'all saw Isaac crying the last night because it was the last good bye, don't you? Ok, then the morning after when he wope up his first phrase was "I'm gonna miss them".

We love you guys.

Again (and again not enough) Thanks.

Isma, Eva and Isaac.

PS: This no-enough-thanks works for every team who have came to help us and for everyone who is helping, praying, whatever to our church.

¡FANTÁSTICO!

Lo que está sucediendo estos días es Sevilla es fantástico. La presencia de Dios entre sus hijos es notada y disfrutada por todos. Oramos, lloramos, reímos, cantamos, nos abrazamos con un sentido de amor y comunidad extraordinario. Dios se hace presente donde dos o tres se reúnen en su nombre y su promesa es cumplida con nosotros en esta visita.

Gracias chicos,

os amamos.

Pepe

Prayer walk and Prayer Groups with Families

Prayer Walk through the city



We had our first prayer walk through the city on Friday morning. Pepe, the pastor, picked us up and we went to downtown Sevilla. What an incredible city!!! The feeling of walking around the streets full of history and amazing architecture along with the plazas, small passage ways and restaurants full of the spainards set the mood for our walk. Pepe brought us to the largest Catholic cathedral in the world. He gave us the history behind the church and after that we went to a small plaza to pray. We prayed as a group then split up into small groups and walked around praying in the streets for the people of Sevilla that God would open their hearts and that there would be a revolution of Christianity through Sevilla and the rest of Spain. Also that the church we are supporting would be able to reach out to the population of Spain and continue to grow each day.

David Y Pepe



After our prayers we decided to have a tipcal Spanish lunch filled with tapas of olives, cheese, beet salad, fried cod, potatoes, bread and olive oil.
It was an absolutely amazing afternoon to spend with the group, praying for the city and spending time with Pepe and Mari.

All the guys!



We then arrived back to the hotel and split up into two groups and one group went to the house of Paco and the other group went the the house of Jose. Both are members of the church. We ate, prayed and shared our testimonies with the families that were there with us. We all had very intense nights and thanks to the help of Julie, Samy(our friend from Barcelona who is helping with translating, and Daniel. We prayed for all of their personal requests along with the city of Sevilla and the church as a whole.



Both groups ended up back at the hotel around midnight. Some of us thought we were going to actually get some sleep but Jose, one of our new Spanish friends, wanted to take us out to a dance school that is a dance place at night. It was so much fun getting to see the Spanish culture at night.

POR CIERTO, ¿Y LAS CHICAS?

¿CÓMO SE LO ESTÁ PASANDO EL EQUIPO DE BUCKHEAD EN SEVILLA?

First Glance at the New Church and Pray Groups

After a wonderful night sleep the team was reengergized and ready for our tasks on Thursday. Pepe, the head pastor, picked us up and brought us to the church. While at the church Pepe gave us his testimony and the history of the church. After that we all prayed for him, the church, and all the different rooms in the church. Pepe then toured us around the surrounding neighborhood and we had a chance to see his vision of a piece of land where he would one day love to see an actual building for the church. We then prayed over that land and the surrounding neighborhood.















We then went to Pepe's house and Mari, his wife, cooked us a wonderful lunch. We had Pallea, bread, clams, olives and salad. A very traditional Spanish lunch. We had a few hours just to relax and spend time with their family playing football with their son Pablo and talking with their other two children.



At around 7pm we split up into two groups and went to two different houses to eat and spend time with families from the church. It was an an amazing experience to pray for them and their families. We had incredible meals along with great conversations about how we can continue to support them and their church. (to be continued)