Ransomed Redux

This week we worked in Guadalajara, a suburb of Madrid and the capital of the eponymous province. Monday through Thursday we handed out tracts and talked with folks about Jesus in the public parks. At first I was nervous, but God worked in spite of our fears.

Gerry and Casiana Castillo are SEND Spain missionaries from the Philippines. They lead and host the house church in Guadalajara. How have they grown the church? By going to the parks daily and talking with people and handing out tracts. They have numerous stories of people coming to faith and calling their number on the back of the tracts, asking about Jesus. They fearlessly talk to people and are patient when hardened people curse them. Gerry and Casiana are true people of God and they live only to tell others about Him.

I had the privilege of accompanying Casiana in the mornings, since we were sent out in pairs. It reminded me a bit of Luke 10, when Jesus sent out the 70 ahead of Him. We walked up to people or sat on benches until people sat with us and started talking about life, then gradually brought the conversation around to God. We found a range of stories -- some Spaniards were so hardened they just instantly dismissed us (at one point I was handing out tracts and a woman cursed me out in the name of the Virgin Mary!), some were interested but afraid, and some were immigrant believers looking for a church.
Because of the lure of the Euro, may people emigrate illegally to Spain from such places as Africa and Eastern Europe. But if they don't have papers, they cannot work. Yet to obtain their papers, they must have a job. So the story of one Bulgarian I met is a similar refrain. He came to Spain ahead of his family, but lives on the street because he cannot rent a piso. He works during the night and sleeps in parks or wherever he can find. He said he was a believer and was so excited when we talked to him.

The main job Casiana gave me was to pray for people we talked with. On Tuesday I sat on a bench and prayed until a girl came and sat down next to me. We started to talk and I found that her name was Angelita, she was 16 and from Barcelona. She was interested in the church, although her family was Catholic and some of her extended family was in a cult -- read: Mormon, Jehovah's Witnesses or Evangelical. She said she was really glad to meet me and we talked until her friend shouted across the park for her to join her. Please pray for Angelita -- she's one of the many who are interested and seeking.

We held a children's outreach in the park on Wednesday night and sang songs, did a craft and Pablo, a member of the church in Azuqueca, told the story of the prodigal son using a sketchboard. Some of the parents stayed to watch the story and we had a good number of children interested.

But Thursday was my favorite night because we hosted a Ransomed-style event for jovenes (young people, age 18-26). For the first part of the three and a half hour event we played icebreaker games (rompehielos), had a time of corporate worship, then presented a skit about identity in Christ. I played a hippie who urged the main character to just love, think of the present and be happy, and we had other identities enter and counsel/confuse Dani, who was searching for his identity. After the skit and a monologue about searching for God, Dani (he's a missionary kid in a Guatemalan family working in Ubeda, in southern Spain) gave a message about our identity in Christ and how that should look. We played a few more games, had some snacks and ended in prayer. Many jovenes hung out and talked outside the church long after we ended. At this point I'll mention that we "borrowed" a Pentecostal church for the event. How can Brethren, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Pentecostals work together? By being united in the same goal. In Spain this is easier because if you're not a true Christian, you won't be found in an evangelical (non-Catholic) church. The people from the Pentecostal church were positively tickled that the Evangelicals wanted to reach youth in Guadalajara and said they would love to continue hosting the event.

Saturday we will head to Aguilas, Murcia, a town along the southern coast. We'll be leading a Christian camp for kids age 8-12 for 8 days. So far we have about 15 signed up, but we'll get the final count when we get there. We'll be teaching an English class, have Bible lessons, excursions to the Mediterranean (only a few blocks away from the church), crafts and be counselors, since the children will sleep in bunks on the church property. We'll also rotate helping with cooking. Please pray that this will be a fruitful time and the children will learn more about Christ and see Him in our example.