Storming the Fortress

Mountains surround Aguilas, a sprawling town along the Mediterranean. A castle from Carlos III's era crowns one such mountain, overlooking the cliffs down into the cerulean waters. Aguilas is a fortress in many ways. But this past week, the Christians invaded.
From Sunday to Sunday the campers, ages 6 through 12, learned about being soldiers of Christ, the theme from Ephesians 6. Each day we'd have a devotional and breakfast, Bible class with songs, play time at the beach, lunch, cleanup, rest hour, English class, crafts, more play time, snack time (merienda), supper and group games, then make sure all were in their bunk beds. We had approximately 20 children, many of them immigrants.
The camp is about 50 years old, which is a considerable feat when you think that it ran through the time of Franco's oppression. Esther, the pastor's wife, told me stories of how her family held underground church services when the government closed the church. Despite persecution, danger and neglect (non-Catholics were not permitted ration cards), the church grew. For a few years the camp ceased, but this was the second year since the hiatus, and hopefully it will continue.
It was amazing to see so many children having the opportunity to hear the Gospel. And I was really affected by having the chance to meet and fellowship with the Lopez-Soto family. Paco not only is the pastor and accomplishes his ministerial duties without having any formal seminary training, but also has another job. In addition, he did much of the cooking during camp. Esther is the tourism director for the city and knows everyone, and speaks English, French, German, Italian, etc. Samuel, 23, teaches Sunday school, is finishing his master's in music paedegogy and served as the principal camp teacher. Abraham,18, the poet (and jokingly dubbed "the model" by the short-termers), plays violin and will attend the university in Murcia in the fall. It was such a blessing to be able to hang out and have discussions with Samuel and Abraham. They don't have any Christian friends, so our time together was precious -- we even got to watch a movie together the last night. What a dear family we have in Christ!

This week a group of 12 teenagers from the Barcelona area is putting on a campaign in Azuqueca. We set up their stage and they'll present the story of Noah, I believe. More on that as I receive information.
This morning the short-term clan went to Vicalvaro, another Madrid suburb, to help unload a truck for the church's food bank there. We transferred five tons of milk, muffins, sugar and flour into the storeroom and church sanctuary in preparation for distribution on Saturday. The mornings for the next few days will be devoted to helping Craig with assorted duties (helping at the MK school and cleaning up the SEND Spain office) and the evenings will be dedicated to aiding the Azuqueca campaign. Praise God for the strength and opportunities He gives!

Grupo Alfa -- the campers I led with Ryan.

Samuel and the girls after church.

Abraham and Maria.