GRACIAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, what a wonderful week we spent with David, Michael, Scott, Bobby, Jill, Cibele and Laura. First off, a huge THANK YOU to the whole team for sharing your time, your hearts and your prayers with us. As a church (and for me personally), it's a huge encouragement to spend time with people who have come so far just to show us love. It just makes me realize yet again how special it is to be part of God's family. It was wonderful to get to know all of you, and I know that this trip was only the beginning of relationships that will last a long time.

You guys did a great job keeping the blog updated - a hard thing to do when your days and nights here were so full!! But it's great fun to look back and read about the week and see the pictures (though I know you just posted a fraction of them - there must be zillions between all the cameras!!)

I'm sure we all got something different out of your trip, but it was definitely a growing experience for all of us (and a lot of fun too!) This past week was great and gave us some wonderful opportunities to spend in prayer, but I'm also really excited to see what blessings will come out of this time. The Lord was listening as we all prayed for Spain and for our church here!

I'm sure I speak of behalf of the whole church when I say that we are grateful and humbled by the fact that you all made such an effort, and in some cases a real sacrifice, to come here to Spain just to be with us, to pray for us, to know us and to love on us. What a huge blessing! I hope I see you guys again soon - either here in Spain or there in Atlanta!!

Lots of love,
Sarah

The next series in East Park Church

Por favor, 

orad por la próxima serie de dos partes en la que 

Marcos  tratará el aspecto práctico y las implicaciones 

de ser creados a imagen y semejanza de Dios. 

Mira el clip de video que Josué ha preparado.

Gracias,

Pepe

October 08 Vilanova Team: Final Day

This is our last shot from the beach in Sitges, Spain. We just finished praying for the church and sharing again how wonderful our week was here. We'll post more pictures and stories from the last few days in the morning... 

David

Speaking Frankly, by Michael Frank

Tonight we come to a close on our mission trip to Spain. It was a truly great trip. I am so very thankful to each and every member of the church here in Garraf. Everyone here as opened up their homes, and their hearts to us. I can only hope and pray that they were even remotely as blessed to have us here with them as I feel we were/are blessed to have them in our lives. Our friends here in Spain have an amazing heart for God, and a desire to know Him, to serve Him, and to bring others to Him.

My hope and goal that a day will come soon when I come back here on another trip, and sit in their new church in Villanova, and witness a service in full attendance!

I am thankful for these people, for their hearts, their hospitality, and most importantly, THEIR FOOD!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you. I will see you again.

Speaking Frankly, by Michael Frank

I've been to church

I've read the book

I know He's here, but I don't look

near as often as I should

Yeah, I know I should

His fingerprints are everywhere

I'd just slow down and stop and stare

opened my eyes and man I swear

I saw God today

by George Strait

October 08 Vilanova Team: Monday and Tuesday

Tuesday:

Our team spent most of the morning and afternoon with David Martinez, Isma's little brother. David was so excited on Monday afternoon to help construct a "cornhole" set with Michael and myself. Cornhole is a game that is gaining much 

popularity back in the states, and our team really enjoyed playing together when we used it as a team building experience on our pre-trip retreat about 6 weeks ago. We couldn't help but share it with our friends here in Vilanova and Sitges. We decided to give it another name in Spanish... so we call it "Agujero de Maiz". Isma, David Martinez, Michael and I went to an AKI (the local Home Depot) to purchase some lumber and screws for the job. Then David, Michael and I took it all up to the church in Sitges to assemble. Nothing like some power tools and sawdust to promote some male bonding time with our Spanish friends-- David Martinez proved to be quite the expert carpenter! The plan is to finish the project for the church to enjoy while we complete the service project of cleaning up the two church sites this week.

In the late afternoon, Eva and Issac met up with us in to pray for the people of Vilanova. We split the team into two groups, and we went through the town of Vilanova to pray for the many people who do not know God here. We are praying continuously for a revival here in Spain, and we believe God is blessing La Iglesia Cristiana del Garraf so that His Name will be known all over the country here. For generation upon generation in Spain and throughout Europe, the traditional Catholic church has slowly become an afterthought in the daily lives of people here. The desire of La Iglesia Cristiana del Garraf is to have a church that emphasizes making church relevant again. In the past year and a half, we have been so excited to see small groups expanding and new people coming to see what makes these Christians different.

Monday night we went to dinner with the executive Leadership team from the church. They chose an American type restaurant with a nice open area so we could discuss the church, small groups and service. Mom, you will be pleased to know that I am eating very well... Over dinner we discussed small groups and the things that they want to work on moving forward. It is so great to see the progress that has happened over the past year. God is really making things happen here, and it is wonderful to witness.

Tuesday:

Today Samuel and Loles took us on a prayer walk in Barcelona to pray for all of Spain. We went to see the many churches in Barcelona to learn about the history of the Catholic Church here. For years it was associated with government control and oppression, even corruption... so it made it easier to understand the people falling away from the church over the generations. Sarah Andrews also met up with us this afternoon. It was pretty neat to see the spot, near one of the churches, where Christopher Columbus was sent on a mission to find a route to the East Indies.

After a long day, our team split up to meet with two different families from the church: the girls went to eat with Eugenio and Marc, and the guys went to eat with David at Dani and Tamar's house. It has been a great day. I am ever thankful for this mission team and our Spanish friends here in Vilanova. Tomorrow, our team will travel with Eugenio and Loles to Monserrat in the mountains to pray for the region of Catalunya. I will attach a few pictures...

Thanks for following along. I appreciate the letters of encouragement that I am getting this week.

David

¡Gracias por una semana fantástica!

Mary, Nova, Kimber, Kevin, Chisty, Wendy, Leigh, Katie, Sherri y John.

!Qué semana tan extraordinaria hemos vivido juntos!   Una semana  en la que hemos

experimentado, una vez mas, grandes bendiciones y apreciado, una vez mas, vuestra generosidad y ganas de servir y de compartir vuestras experiencias e historias con nosotros.

Cada uno de vosotros ha sido especial y ya formáis parte de nuestras vidas y de la 

historia de lo que Dios va a hacer en Sevilla.

En nombre de la iglesia Parque Este, del equipo de responsables y de mi familia, Gracias. Gracias a cada uno y a todos los que lo han hecho posible.

Pepe y Mari

Oct 2008 Sevilla Spain Mission (Slide Show Part-C)

We all arrived in Sevilla hoping to leave a lasting impact behind, but as our mission comes to an end, we realize that the impact goes both ways and that our own personal Walk with Christ has taken giant steps with personal growth. Pepe exemplifies a strength that only our Lord can provide and through his example, along with everyone at Iglesia Parque Este, our hearts have grown in ways we didn’t know were possible. Today the presence of our Lord was truly present in Iglesia Parque Este. Although the words spoken were unknown to many of us, somehow we still knew the message and felt the Lords presence all the same. Thank you for inviting us into your hearts, homes, and Iglesia. God Bless to all and we will always keep you in our hearts and prayers

October 08 Vilanova Team: Sunday Service

Michael Frank just posted a summary of the day's events. I wanted to add a few more pictures. I am starting to understand why I am wide awake at 1AM after a packed day... I am drinking espressos with 3 sugars every night. I feel like I won't be able to go to sleep for the next couple of days. Here are a few more pics...

David

Speaking Frankly, by Michael Frank

We just finished a truly awesome day. As I said while we were having our night cap a few minutes ago as a team, it seemed like every hour was my "favorite part of the day".

We started out with our morning meeting and devotional as a team, then we walked up to the church (about a 10-15 min walk) and went to their Sunday morning service. The church looks amazing! They have done so much to it, and put in so much work. They opened with worship songs that we sing in America, Indescribable, Mighty to Save and How Great is Our God (In Spanish of course). And one of the coolest things I have seen happened as we were singing Mighty to Save. At that point, everyone in the congregation was quiet, sitting down, and just watching Alvaro, David and Julian play guitar. But somewhere in the middle of the song, people from the congregation started standing up and singing along... it was very powerful. Very hard to describe just how powerful, just amazing to see the same church that year ago, was very quiet and reserved about their faith, to now, stand, sing out loud, and to be open about it.

Followed by the service was yet another amazing meal, this time served at the church. Several people on our team commented during the meal that it is like one big family here. (everyone is practically family here, but that's besides the point).

Then we had our small group break out session. I gave a brief introduction on Small Groups and our viewpoint on them at Buckhead. Then we watched a quick video by Andy from the "Pause" series, subtitled in Spanish. After the video, we broke out into two groups, guys with the guys, girls with the girls.

Each group had a set of six discussion questions to discuss in regards to the video. Our hope and goal was to get them into groups, and from our team leading by example, show them that its good to share and to be open in a group, even as men...

The guys, we only got one question out of the way, then we started getting questions, comments and feedback from their experiences with small group this past year, how we conduct small group in America. We actually had really deep discussions from the very start, and almost each one was inquisitive and open. It was really awesome to see their heart for God and they are growing.  The guys also commented how they liked just being in a guys group, and that it was easier to share that way. Right now, they are in mixed groups, guys and girls, and they say that they don't ever get too deep, its mostly just "surface conversation", small talk... we introduced the thought of maybe that they continue with their current small groups, but once a month or so, get together with just the guys... we'll stay posted with that.

The women... the report we got back from the women was that they covered all six questions pretty quickly, then the conversation became real light and chatty..... women........( I am so just kidding for whoever is reading this and does not know me...)

The night ended with dinner at Isma and Eva's place. Yes another amazing meal in Spain! Thank you Isma and Eva so much for your hospitality and friendship!

It was an amazing day. There is no other way to describe it.

Stay tuned for more updates from our team, and more "Speaking Frankly"!

Thank you for reading ( I hope someone is...)

Michael Frank

Oct 2008 Sevilla Spain Mission (Slide Show Part-B)

Tonight we met so many wonderful new friends at East Park Church and with much enthusiasm; our new partners welcomed the concept of Small Groups through the sharing of our own personal experiences. With approximately 30 attendees, we split into three intimate groups to reside in small living room settings much like Buckhead. Topics near and dear to each of our hearts were shared to express the strength, love, transparency, authenticity, inclusion, family like characteristics to which we all have found in our individual Small Groups. Afterwards we continued our fellowship as a whole to the local Pizza restaurant….. mucho delicioso!!

October 08 Vilanova Team Arrives in Spain!

It's after midnight here, and we are wrapping up our first day in Spain! We have all been up for nearly 36 hours straight, so excuse the typing errors. We touched down in Barcelona at about 7AM local time this morning... after we got our bags, Alvaro and Isma arrived to pick us up and take us to Sitges where we are staying. Most of today was supposed to be time to recover from the long flight, but we were too excited to take any rest. Michael, Cibele, Jill and myself took a run along the coastline to explore the Mediterranean town. It has been about a year and a half, but Michael and I remembered our way to the church. When we finally got there (we were soaked because it was raining), we found Alvaro, David Martinez, and Julian there rehearsing the music for tomorrow's service. We listened to them practice for a little while and then we headed back. We discussed our goals for the week while we are here... we wanted to share with each other how our small groups are working. We have a few workshops that we have put together to partner with our Spain friends on small groups, service in the community and strategies for moving forward. We are probably most excited about attending the Sunday service tomorrow and spending the whole day with the entire congregation.

Sarah, Miguel and their two month old baby Carolina met us for lunch, and we talked about what had been happening at the church recently. They are so excited about having us with them for the next week!

We all broke off on our own afterwards to explore more of the town. At 5PM, we met up with Alvaro, Raquel and their two kids Oriol and Noa to see the progress on the construction of the new church in Vilanova (the church in Sitges is a temporary site until the new building in nearby Vilanova is completed). Much construction has been completed, about 60%... and they are still raising funds to complete the project. One of our big service activities this week is to work together with them to clean up the property in and around the construction site. After we toured the church, we prayed together with the Lignan family over the church and the communities surrounding it. It was really awesome to pray with our team and also to listen to Alvaro, Raquel and Cibele pray with us in Catalan and Spanish.

We then went in to Vilanova for dinner with all of our Spain friends that we haven't seen for the past year. For Michael and myself (since we have come to know our friends here so well), this trip is very special. This mission trip is more than just a week long visit. Our friends here have come back to the US multiple times to stay with us and work with Buckhead Church on developing their own ministry. Alvaro, Raquel, Isma, Eva, David, Sarah, Dani and Tamar have come to see us so much that they have become family to us. Dani and Tamar even stayed with my parents last summer when they spent a week in Atlanta.

Even the new members of our mission team have already seen how easy it is to come to love these people. We love our Spaniard friends that we have come to know so well and we continue to pray for them, ever looking forward to what God is doing next here in Spain. I am about to fall asleep, so here are a few pictures from the day's events...

David

October Vilanova Team Leaves for Spain!!!!!

The October Vilanova Team from Buckhead leaves for Spain today! We will be working with La Iglesia Cristiana Garraf just outside of Barcelona from October 17th-26th.

In the first picture, we had just arrived a

t the check in counter at Atlanta airport... from left to right-- Scott, Laura, Michael, Bobby, David, Cibele and Jill.

In Vilanova, we will be partnering with the church families to help them continue to develop small groups as well as assist them as they begin to reach out to the community through service opportunities. Michael and I are returning for our second trip to Vilanova and Sitges... so we can't wait to see our friends again! Today is pretty much a travel day-- we are flying to New York (JFK) and

 then on to Barcelona! We will arrive in Barcelona at about 7:50 AM local time (keep in mind that Barcelona is about 6 hours ahead of us).  Right now, we are waiting for our New York flight to board... the girls are making fun of my "fanny pack" but I call it a money belt (se

e the second pic below). W

ell... time to grab something to eat! More of our team will post soon!

Oct 2008 Sevilla Spain Mission (Slide Show Part-A)

Today we visited East Park Church with much excitement of all that has been accomplished. The Lord is truely at work here in Sevilla Spain with this amazing group of Christians. You can feel these people's love pouring out into the streets and I know it is just a matter of time before the people of Sevilla will be pouring in to East Park Church just the same.

Hasta Manana

Hasta Manana
God Bless

Oct08 Seville Spain Mission (Video A)

Buenas noches
God Bless

A que hora sale el avion?

In just a few hours a new team of 10 from Buckhead Church will arrive in Sevilla! We are thrilled to meet the community of East Park Church and look forward to our week in Sevilla. This picture is from our group retreat. Pictured in the back from L to R: Kimber, Leigh, Wendy, Mary and Katie. In the front row is Kevin, Christy and Nova. Not pictured are Sherri and John.

So far, we made it through to our gate without incident. Unfortunately, Kimber's 8 cans of red bull put her bag over the weight limit so she donated about $20 worth of red bull to the security checkpoint guard. Do they sell red bull in Spain? We'll let you know. Otherwise, Kimber will start drinking coffee this week. We'll keep the updates coming from Spain. Hasta luego!

Seguimos trabajando en "La Estación"

El equipo de "La Estación" ha organizado un curso de iniciación al teatro dirigido a formar 

a aquellos que cuentan la historia a los niños así como aquellos que forman parte del equipo 

de voluntarios.  Hemos pasado toda la tarde en la iglesia y ha sido muy útil y divertido  !Ha sido un éxito!  Hemos tenido como 20 personas y no ha visitado una chica del barrio.

Estamos muy animados con los que Dios va a hacer a través de "La Estación"

Gracias por formar parte,

Mary