Pepe and Mari visit Atlanta!

A few weeks ago, some of us had the pleasure of seeing Pepe and Mari (from our partner church in Sevilla), who were in Atlanta for a wedding! Unfortunately their stay here was very short, but we had fun catching up with them nevertheless.

As one of the few people who have NOT been to Sevilla on a mission trip yet, I didn't know Pepe and Mari well, so I took the chance to have dinner with them one night while they were here, along with several others who had been on trips to Sevilla before. All I can say is WOW! God has gifted Pepe with an amazing ability to communicate God's word to his church in Sevilla (and anyone he comes across), and even more than that, Pepe and Mari both are filled with kindness and passion for spreading the Gospel in Spain! It's all over their faces and on their tongues!

Sweet Julie Allen, who we all know is a gifted communicator (and fluent in Spanish) herself, interpreted the whole time I talked with Pepe at dinner, but I think we both understood each other well and one thing we have in common is our passion for Spain and excitement for what God is doing there! One day I hope to get to Sevilla and see what God is doing at their church in PERSON. In the meantime, I thank God that I get to also see the amazing things God is doing at the small church in Sitges and through the hearts of the people there as well. God is GOOD!

Here are more pictures from their visit: http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=412520015/a=4776916_4776916/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

(if the link doesn't work, try taking out the "http://" or just check it out on my facebook page!)

Pepe and Mari... I am praying for you and your church!

Love, Carolyn

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(Here is my attempt to translate into spanish through yahoo.... ):

¡Hace algunas semanas, algunos de nosotros tenían el placer de ver Pepe y a Mari (de nuestra iglesia del socio en Sevilla), que estaban en Atlanta para una boda! Desafortunadamente su estancia aquí era muy corta, pero nos divertíamos el alcanzar ellos sin embargo.

Como uno de la poca gente que no ha estado a Sevilla en un viaje de la misión todavía, I didn' t conoce a Pepe y a Mari bien, así que tomé la ocasión de cenar con ellos una noche mientras que estaban aquí, junto con varios otras que habían estado en viajes a Sevilla antes. ¡Todo lo que puedo decir está GUAU! Dios tiene Pepe dotado con una capacidad asombrosa de comunicar God' ¡la palabra de s a su iglesia en Sevilla (y cualquier persona que él parece), y aún más que ese, Pepe y Mari ambos se llena de amabilidad y de la pasión para separar el evangelio en España! It' ¡s por todas partes sus caras y en sus lengüetas! ¡Julia dulce Allen, que todos sabemos es un comunicador dotado (y fluida en español) ella misma, interpretó el todo el tiempo que hablé con Pepe en la cena, pero pienso nos entendíamos que cosa bien y una tenemos en campo común es nuestra pasión para España y el entusiasmo para qué dios está haciendo allí! Una esperanza del día I de llegar a Sevilla y de ver lo que está haciendo dios en su iglesia personalmente. Mientras tanto, agradezco a dios que consiga también ver que dios asombroso de las cosas está haciendo en la pequeña iglesia en Sitges y a través de los corazones de la gente allí también. ¡Dios es BUENO!

Aquí están más cuadros de su visita:

Pepe y Mari… ¡Estoy rogando para usted y su iglesia!

Amor, Carolyn

16 days and counting!

AMIGOS!

Our team of 9 leaves for Vilanova/ Sitges in 16 days (May 15), and we couldn't be more excited! We just had our team retreat at Lake Lanier two weeks ago, and had an amazing weekend of fellowship, prayer and planning for our trip. We also celebrated Brandi and Mozelle's birthdays that weekend! Here are more pictures from that:
www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=432855015/a=4776916_4776916/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
(and above is a picture of everyone except me, Carolyn, but you know what I look like).

Now, let me briefly introduce you to this incredible team:

Brandi and Steve are married and just found out that they are having a baby BOY in October! They feel very blessed and ask for prayers for a healthy pregnancy. Brandi is on the "Encouragement Team" for our trip, and Steve is our faithful "FINANCE" manager for our trip, which we all know is a HARD job. He's so good at it though! This will be their first mission trip to Spain (though Steve has been to Spain before and knows a little Spanish himself).

Renee Crosby is the "Queen" of Starting Point and Small groups, as she has led several of them through Buckhead Church. She's a great leader, talented in most anything she puts her mind to, and she's creative on top of that! Wait until you see the amazing "rice jars" that she's made to encourage people to pray for Spain (that's all I will tell you for now). This will be her first mission trip to Spain!

Bobby Garrett is our "apprentice" on the trip (meaning he wants to learn more about leading a trip to Spain in case he can do that in the future). He's the oldest on our team, but we would probably all say he's the "wisest", as he has an amazing story, which includes a "secret service" background! This is his 2nd mission trip to Spain (he came with David Walker's team last October).

Jamey Gibson is in his 30's and part of our "Ministry Team". God has really gifted him with the skills of Biblical Wisdom and "sheperding", and he and Alan have been leading our devotions and "worship time" during our retreat and each meeting. I (Carolyn) had the pleasure of going on my first overseas mission trip to Romania with Jamey about four years ago, but this is his FIRST mission trip to Spain!

Gail Turk is our very own Spanish "guru". She lived in Spain for several years and knows the language fluently, so we have been relying on her to teach US some words and phrases in Spanish! Don't expect too much of us, but we do know a little more now, thanks to her. She's also a flight attendant for Delta, so while this will be her first mission trip to Vilanova, she has been there once before on a layover and met some of you briefly. She also has been on one mission trip to Sevilla last year!

Alan Boyd is also on our "ministry team" (with Jamey) and has been helping to prepare us for this trip through his gifted devotions and prayers. He works for a roofing company in Atlanta and has a construction background, so if you need a "handy man" while we're there, HE is your guy! I have the pleasure serving with Alan on the "host team" at church on Sundays as well. He's our "Captain"! This will be his first mission trip to Spain.

Mozelle Pittman is going to be our "communicator" at your church on Sunday, May 17! She has an amazing story of how God has brought her through some hard times and back, and I felt like she was the one God would want to talk to you that Sunday. So voila! I also have the pleasure of being in a new small group bible study (called "BLC") with Mozelle every Tuesday night! This is her first mission trip to Spain.

Finally, there's Carolyn (me), and God has chosen me to be the "leader" on this trip again, which I feel blessed and humbled to do. This is my 2nd time leading a trip to your beautiful town, but the 3rd time coming on a trip there, and I wish I could explain how excited I am! There are no words though. All of you are like family to me! I know God has gone before us and prepared our way, and HE is the ultimate leader for this trip, so I am not worried in any way, but just very ready to be there!

So there you have it! We all are so encouraged by what God is doing in your country, and we can't wait to be a part of it in a few weeks. We will be doing a little bit of everything with you, from Starting Point and Small Group training, to a church retreat with all of you, to lots of prayer and hopefully some encouragement too!

By the way, congratulations to Eva and Isma (our friends in Vilanova) who are pregnant and due in September! They find out on May 20 (while we're there) if they're having a boy or girl! Please pray for their pregnancy as well. AND congrats to Alvaro and Raquel, who are celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary! WOW!

Muchos Bessos y abrazos!
"Carolina" and team

Sevilla English Camp Team hits the course!

As a short term mission team, we are fortunate to be provided with one team building experience prior to leaving the country. This past weekend we drove up to Berry College, home of the beautiful Winshape Wilderness course. There, we were led through great discussion by a couple well-versed in team dynamics and personality profiles. We learned that we have a well-rounded, multi-talented group of people packed into our small team! All morning we discussed the DISC profile assessment and had verbal and practical application of how we will work together while we are in Sevilla. Then after a delicious Chick-fil-A lunch, we headed over to scale a 35 foot telephone pole. There was a ladder propped against it, and you would climb the ladder then the pole(which was not stable), and then stand on a tiny little piece of wood at the top before leaping off and trying to touch a cone. It was intense. I am proud to say our entire team scaled the pole! What a brave group!!! Our team had already bonded really well, but this weekend just confirmed how wonderfully blessed we are to be serving alongside each other and helped build even deeper relationships. Some of the highlights of the day were digging into each others unique gifting, solving a really difficult puzzle relying on communication and identifying a pattern, and braving the soaring heights of a wobbly telephone pole!

All in all, it was a wonderful day. We are thankful God has provided this opportunity to serve, and we pray that He uses all of our work for our dear friends in Sevilla for His glory! We are less than 2 months away. Thank you for your continued prayers!

Julie, Kim, Lisa, Arinn, Shaun, and Steph

Meet the Team - Sevilla English Camp

This June we will be heading to Sevilla to hold the second english camp at East Park Community Church. The team is SO excited to see everyone in the church and invest in their community. Please pray for our team as we continue to raise the support we need for the trip, prepare the lesson plans, and head off for our team retreat in April.

Here's a picture from our last team meeting... pictured from l-r are: Lisa, Stephanie, Shaun, Julie, Kim, and Arinn.

Introducing...the next team to come to Vilanova!

HOLA AMIGOS!

Here we are! Fresh off of our third team meeting. I finally got everyone together for a group picture so you can meet the next team coming from Atlanta May 15-26. We are 9 people strong...some coming to Spain for the first time and others having been before, but we all felt like God was calling us to be a part of His "bigger plan" in your country, so we can't wait to step foot over there in May!

This blog will be short, but I wanted to introduce everyone (from left to right, sitting down first):

• Brandi Booker (married to Steve, behind her)
• Alan Boyd (in red)
• Mozelle Pittman
• Bobby Garrett
• Steve Roach (Brandi's husband...top left, 2nd row)
• Gail Turk
• Renee Crosby
• Jamey Gibson
• Carolyn Norton (ME)

We are still getting to know each other, and we haven't told our "testimonies" yet, but we all have our "roles" for the team meetings and our trip over there, which include:

1. Ministry Team (Alan and Jamey): to do devotionals at each meeting and while in Spain
2. Service Team (Mozelle): to help with any service project we may do in Spain
3. Cultural "Expert" (Gail): to teach us some basics in the Spanish language and culture (she's fluent!)
4. Financial team (Bobby and Steve): to keep track of the money we raise, our budget etc.
5. Encouragement Team (Renee and Brandi): to keep us all feeling encouraged and energized while we're over there

And I, Carolyn, have been called to lead this team (2nd time leading a team to Vilanova, and 3rd time going on a team there)! Bobby is going to "apprentice" so he can learn more about leading a trip there too one day.

So that's us "in a nutshell" (as we say in America)! There will be more to come, but for now, know that you are all in our prayers, and we can't wait to see you and share more with you in May!

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

Hasta Luego!

Carolina (and team)

Eugenio in Atlanta!

It's been a long time since we have posted a blog here from Atlanta, so I figured it was time to do that since we've had a special guest in town. Eugenio has been here from Vilanova, and this week, we finally got a chance to see him! Randy and Crista Walton invited some of our mission teams to their home for dinner last night (Thursday) so that we could spend some time with him. We had yummy fajitas, though Eugenio says "You always feed me mexican food when I come here, and I'm not MEXICAN!" (we do know that, we just love mexican food). (:

Anyway, it was a fun night of seeing old and new faces.... faces from old trips like: Besty (who is now pregnant with a BOY due in May), Cara, Melanie, David Walker, Jill Hansen and me (Carolyn); as well as some new faces who will be coming on my trip to Vilanova in May (Alan Boyd, Mozelle Pittman and Renee Crosby). Also in attendance were: Brad (Betsy's husband), Randy and Crista Walton (and their girls), Paul and Barbara Hanock, Eugenio (our guest of honor) and also our new Spain friend Mario (from Madrid! He's in David Walker's fusion group and goes to Buckhead Church with us now!).

After a nice dinner together, Randy gathered us all around and we talked about the progress at Iglesia Christiana del Garraf (Eugenio's church in Vilanova, that we have visited), as well as what still needs to be done (mainly finishing the new building). We also talked about AFCI (Ambassadors for Christ International), and the amazing things that are going on around the world through their missionaries. Let's just say that GOD WAS IN DA HOUSE! (: We are so proud of all that you're doing over there! Keep up the great work!

The next blog you see from me (Carolyn) will be to introduce my new team coming to Vilanova May 15-26. We have 9 amazing team members that I can't wait for you all to meet! They include:

• Brandi and Steve (married couple; first time coming to spain)
• Bobby Garrett (who came on David's trip in October)
• Gail Turk (who has been to Sevilla trip and met some of you in Vilanova on a short layover; she is a flight attendant)
• Renee Crosby (first time coming to Spain)
• Mozelle Pittman (first time coming....)
• Alan Boyd (first time coming...)
• Jamey Gibson (first time coming...)
• CAROLYN! (this will be my third trip there!)

We'll update you with more soon, but we are so excited to hear more about what the Lord is doing through you (and for some of us to come SEE it for ourselves very soon)! Here are more pictures from Eugenio's visit:

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=264756865/a=4776916_4776916/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Te Amo!

Carolyn

Breaking attendance records!!!

Great news from Vilanova!!!
Great news from the Iglesia Cristiana del Garraf!!!

Follow the link.