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Hosting 32 student volunteers involves a lot of preparation. Thankfully, IWC sends a staff ahead of time to get things ready. Here is the Project Coordinator, Vicki; the Ministry Coordinator, Lorie; the Office Manager, Sheila; and the Worship Speaker, Jason. The day before the students arrived we made shopping trip #1 of the week. We made the check-out clerks stop and stare at the amount of toilet paper, bread, ham and turkey, chips, and drinks we bought. They wanted to know where the party was and how they could be invited! 
IWC was split into 4 "crews". Each crew was able to experience a different type of ministry each morning and we all worked together in the evenings. One of the morning ministries was teaching kids English. Above we are using a game (Elbow tag) to keep the students involved and speaking English. 
Two evenings we hosted "Family Fairs". These are block parties where the student volunteers play with the kids (make crafts, etc) while we adults go around and try to get into good conversations with their parents. We have made some very good contacts with this method and are able to invite them to Bible studies and/or worship services. 
And what mission trip would be complete without dancing? We did enough Cha-cha slide this summer to kill ourselves. I bet the guy who sings that never dreamed it would be such a crowd draw-er for mission teams!
One ministry that Chanelle has been doing for a few years is called "merienda". In the past she has hosted this snack time (as well as breakfasts) at her home. These days, others who attend have started to host at their homes and the group is growing.
Each month ladies meet together to share a light meal and a devotion time. To date one very precious lady has come to faith as a result of these meetings! She is now involved in a weekly Bible study and is praying for her husband and children to follow Christ as well. We praise God for her decision and ask that you would pray that God would continue to use these times to draw others to himself.
The church that started in February just had its first baptism!!! We were so excited to celebrate with new believer, Nieves! She was baptized a couple Sundays ago and, like good Baptists, we followed it with a pot-luck lunch! We have two more new believers who want to be baptized but are struggling to commit to it. I admire them in that they don't want to do it lightly, but we're praying that they will take this step of faith and we know the Lord will bless them for it when they do. Please pray with us for new believers, C and A.
As a thank you to our team for volunteering in their English classes and helping them, the teachers from Los Alamos took the interns and I out to eat last week. This semester's interns have worked hard at both schools where we volunteer and it has been a blessing to have them on our team.
Here we are with the teachers who took us to lunch. There were several who were not able to make it, but we were so surprised by the number who did and by the gifts they gave us! It is nice to be appreciated.
In our after school English club the other day, we had the kids play "2 truths and a lie". Its a game where you have to say 3 things about yourself and people have to figure out which of the 3 is a lie. The week before, JoHelen had mentioned that in Louisiana, where she is from, it is common to eat turtle. They kids freaked out. This week, one girl's "truth" was that JoHelen scares her because she eats turtle! We had to take the photo. It was too good to pass up.
On a side note, it makes me laugh that eating turtle is strange to them, but frying up a pan of chicken BLOOD (no chicken, just blood) and onions is good ole' down home cookin'!
I introduced you recently to JoHelen and Andrea, our Hands On volunteers who are here for a bit over 4 months. Now, let me introduce Aryn (middle). She just arrived last week and will be staying with us for about 3 months. All three girls are volunteering in the high schools teaching English with both students and teachers. They also do dance classes, university work, children's ministry and one on one English practice. It is so fun to have energetic, fun girls to work with! They keep us "long-timers" pumped up!
One of the ministries that the Chicas have gotten involved in is a dance class for a group of "old folks". These men and ladies meet once a week and back in November they somehow roped some of our teamates into coming and teaching them to line dance. Sean, Shelley, and Darby taught them the Cotton Eyed Joe and the Virgina Real. Now the girls are working on the Cha Cha Slide with them. It is a HOOT! Each week after class they are having coffee together. It is a good time for spiritual conversations. Pray that God will use this time for His glory and to draw Spaniards to Himself.
JoHelen and Andrea are our new Hands On girls. They will be here working with Team Seville for 4 1/2 months. So far they have jumped in with both feet and are fully involved in the 2 high schools and with dance classes with old folks and with one on one English chats. They are adjusting well and we are waiting for another girl to arrive tomorrow. Team Seville lost a lot of folks at Christmas time, but God is bring reinforcements. We're so excited to have "new blood"!
Poor little Shaphan has a birthday at Christmas time. I always feel sorry for those poor people who get those combo gifts. Sad for them. To add to his misery this year, our whole team left town before his big day. We usually celebrate b-days together. We just didn't get to with everyone headed out of town. I didn't realize that his big day was the next day when I had his family over for dinner before I left town. However, I improvised! In an effort to make his day "merry and bright", I put a nice scented candle beside his brownie and we all sang while he made a wish. What more can a boy want than a scented candle and a brownie???
At our weekly worship the week before Christmas, we invited folks from each nation represented to come and share about their traditions from home. We had people from Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, the US, the Netherlands, and, of course, Spain! (No doubt I left out someone. Sorry.) Everyone brought a Christmas treat with them and we started off the holidays in that very special way...by eating way too much! Um-um good!
I got to hang out with the Acton Kidlets a couple of weekends ago. We partied like rock stars the whole time! Okay, maybe not the whole time and maybe not BIG rock stars, but we did eat out 3 times and went shopping twice! If that's not a fun weekend, I don't know what is! 
On our Saturday shopping outing, the girls decided that chestnuts roasted on an open fire were what would make our day complete. Here's Olivia trying the first one. YUUUMMMMM!!!
Darby and Megan worked all semester on a Christmas play and concert at one of the local schools. They had various kids show up at several practices, but by the time it came down to "show time" the concert consisted of two boys (on the right) and our MKs who joined in on that very night. The play turned out to be two girls and Darby. That is just the way it is here. There is little commitment to anything. But it was sweet anyway. I sat next to one of the singing boys' mothers. She was so stinking proud of her little boy up there singing in English. So sweet.
Hosting 32 student volunteers involves a lot of preparation. Thankfully, IWC sends a staff ahead of time to get things ready. Here is the Project Coordinator, Vicki; the Ministry Coordinator, Lorie; the Office Manager, Sheila; and the Worship Speaker, Jason. The day before the students arrived we made shopping trip #1 of the week. We made the check-out clerks stop and stare at the amount of toilet paper, bread, ham and turkey, chips, and drinks we bought. They wanted to know where the party was and how they could be invited! 
IWC was split into 4 "crews". Each crew was able to experience a different type of ministry each morning and we all worked together in the evenings. One of the morning ministries was teaching kids English. Above we are using a game (Elbow tag) to keep the students involved and speaking English. 
Two evenings we hosted "Family Fairs". These are block parties where the student volunteers play with the kids (make crafts, etc) while we adults go around and try to get into good conversations with their parents. We have made some very good contacts with this method and are able to invite them to Bible studies and/or worship services. 
And what mission trip would be complete without dancing? We did enough Cha-cha slide this summer to kill ourselves. I bet the guy who sings that never dreamed it would be such a crowd draw-er for mission teams!
