Week 3 Cobeña, Spain

This week we have been working in the 10th century town of Cobeña conducting two hour long English classes followed by Gospel presentations in the park. We have seen how just like in the book of Acts chapter 11 where the Lord's hand was on the people and then the people believed and turned to the Lord, we have seen the Lord's hand on this little town of Cobeña.  For some people their demeanor has changed towards us, some have been broken over their sin, and some peoples hearts have been changed.  We have also seen the power of prayer in that when no one showed up at the beginning of English class, after praying people just turned up out of no where.

"Oh that's called a cooking table!" 

This week is the first week that we are openly teaching English to anyone who's interested in a little town called Cobeña, Spain. Paul put me in charge of all of the planning and the organizing for this 3 day class. I had about a day to organize everything for the first day of classes. Sunday we went around and handed out fliers to people on the street and we hung them up on the windows of any restaurant that wouldn't mind. Monday came around and we had everything ready. We weren't sure who was coming and who would know some English and who wouldn't, so we had to be prepared to be flexible. We started at 6:30 and for about an hour there wasn't anyone coming in. It was honestly a big discouragement from working so hard to get everything ready for that afternoon. Some of us went into one of the classrooms and just prayed for God to bring people out of their homes and to come ready to learn. I didn't figure this out until later that night, but at the same time the pastor we are working with walked back home and prayed for people to come out and another guy, Peter, walked up to the church and prayed by the door for God to bring people out. When we were done praying and came out of the classroom there were actually people waiting to be taught! It was incredible that God answered our prayers immediately. After the classes we gave out refreshments and everyone sat in the park outside. We then set up the paint board and gave a Gospel presentation along with a Gospel trick. All of them listened including some of the older guys who were just there hanging out.

From teaching the kids that a stove is not called a cooking table, to drinking warm Coca Cola in the park, it was awesome to just sit around and laugh and have fellowship with people who were actually open and interested in talking about the Gospel. Some of the guys who were just hanging out there are even coming back today for the English class! It was a very successful day even though it was slow at the beginning and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for my team and me for the remaining of this week and the rest of the summer! - Seneca Bradley 

Big God, Little Town

For our second week of ministry in Spain we

were working in a little town called Cobeña to teach English classes. We walked around on Sunday handing out fliers to anyone that would take them. The class was supposed to start at 6:30pm on Monday but it had been about an hour and no one was there. We were discouraged because of all the effort that was put into the class, but we knew that God had a plan. We prayed asking God to send the people that he wanted to the class and when we finished we walked out of the classroom and there were people waiting! The class was successful but we were told we couldn't share the Gospel during it, so as soon as it was over we had everyone come out to the park for snacks and drinks and we set up a sketch board. 

There were a group of college students sitting at the park that didn't want to go to the English class, but Paul walked over to them anyway and shared a bit of his testimony. It was amazing to see them hang on his every word and ask a ton of questions. Another guy with very long hair and his dog (we all fell in love with the dog) were there the first day. He sat with all the kids during the message and was really open to everything that we had to say. The next day he came back and had a lot of his friends with him. Honestly, it was pretty funny to see him and his friends sitting with all the kids listening intently to Bethany give her message. Praise God for all the people that showed up throughout the 3 classes that we had in Cobeña, I think God is definitely working throughout that little town.

-Lauren Hollidge 

English & Evangelism

This has been a great third week of ministry! We were in the small town of Cobeña,and worked with this amazing family.  They were from the small church we went to last Sunday, that helped us pass out fliers regarding our ESL classes. They were so gracious, with feeding us "dinner" and materials we needed for our ESL classes. The classes were so successful! Going into the week, we were all nervous about how many people would show up, as we had so much preparation into what English material we were going to teach. It was so great to see that people from the community showed up! Since we weren't allowed to preach the Gospel in the building, we set up our paint boards outside so we could talk to those who attended, and those at the park outside, about God. Paul got into so many great conversations, as well as us teens! It was so amazing to see how God is doing such great big things in such a tiny community. By the end of the week, we had eleven people in attendance, which may not be a lot, but there is no doubt that God has great plans in store for those who came! Though it makes me upset to think we are already half way through the trip, God has really opened my eyes to see how great His world is! From working in such a large city (Madrid, La Puerta de Sol) to a little community (Cobeña), I cannot wait to see what great plans God has in store for us as we fly to Seville! - Erica Feagans 

Group Devotions in Segovia