Our Lives, From Sunday to Sunday

(post written by Charlie)

Extreme infirmity struck our home with vengeance this week, and although I spent more time at home than normal, I find myself writing this update much later than originally anticipated. Becky's sickness took hold in her stomach on Saturday night, and felt sympathy pains with our dear brother Spencer whose recent chemotherapy has rendered him rather nauseous as well. On Monday evening, I was stricken with a life-threatening head cold that nearly incapacitated me entirely, and the fact that I have the strength to type right now is a blessing, to be sure. Perhaps it was simply by providence that I didn't update until now because I now have photos that will bind all of our day to day activities together.

NOTE: Only keep reading if you really care about our day to day events, as this entry is extremely long and could take you the rest of your life.

Sunday #1:

Sundays are not all the same for us, which is why I will write about them separately.  The first and third Sundays of the month are "church" Sundays, or Sundays where our little collection folks who love Jesus, or who might want to know more about Jesus gather under the banner of la "Communidad Cristiana de Tres Cantos" and commonly referred to as CCTC. The term church in Spain is inseparable from the Catholic church, so to be referred to as a church would be quite misleading, as we are not in the Spanish sense, a church. Although the entire service, from the music to the Sermon is in Spanish, many of our congregants speak English which is makes conversation natural and enjoyable. Timothy Wendel, our mentor, pastors the church and is our regular preacher. As our Spanish continues to improve, so does our ability to enter into the services and participate with our minds and hearts. Including Canadian, American, Dutch, and Argentinean Christian workers, we average about 30 people in attendance.  Without the aforementioned groups, about 10-15. There are twice that many who rotate in and out, but regular attendance is not a priority for many.

Monday:

Our day-off...sort of. Although nothing is scheduled for Mondays, it is often not without work of some kind—Becky still has classes and I have lots of computer work that I do for various events and classes we're involved in. We also use this day to fulfill cultural requirements that Becky has for onSite History and Culture. Last Monday we spent the day in Toledo, which is probably the most important city in Spain's history, and used the day to get to know some Campus Crusade teammates of ours, Fanny and Mariano Pineda from Argentina.  I haven't even begun to sift through the photos from Toledo yet, but uploading them might make some of our readers extremely jealous, and I would not want to bring that side of them out.

Tuesday:

Our day begins with our Tres Cantos team's weekly meeting. We gather to pray, to plan events, like the past week's Thanksgiving Extravaganza, and to gauge the needs and hopes of our members as we look to be salt and light in a city with very little of either. There are six of us who gather: Tim and Melanie Wendel, Fanny and Mariano Pineda, and the Buhlers. We often stay for lunch and hang out with the four rambunctious Wendel kids, Timothy (11), Nathanael (9), Elijah (7) and Olivia (5). Tuesday afternoons (and Thursdays), Tim and I reach out into the community by coaching the school basketball team where his kids attend and its a great way of meeting kids and parents, some of whom are connected to the church in various ways.  At this time, Becky tutors one of her two English students for an hour and half. In the evening, Becky and I meet back up and make our way down to Chamartín Evangelical Church in Madrid where we teach a conversational English class for people in the community with emphasis on world events, life stories, and spiritual matters. It's a non-threatening way to bring those wary of any Christian involvement into a church and begin dialogue. All but one of our students are retired and this is one of our favourite times of the week. We feel as though we learn as much from them, as they do from us, and feel blessed to have this weekly encounter. Although Tuesday is a long day, 12-13 hours, it's a rich one as well.

Wednesday:

A slightly lighter day begins with Spanish lessons in the morning at home with our tutor Iñigo (like Iñigo Montoya from Princess Bride fame). Our Spanish has improved dramatically in a short time and I give most of the credit to Iñigo. He is funny, engaging, and I think comes more for the coffee than to teach us, but we learn nonetheless. Wednesday afternoon is spent working on projects that change continually. We work for one boss, but two separate entities. The first, as you know is CCTC, our church, and the second is "Global Ventures". An NGO with no Christian affiliation, Global Ventures is our link to the community. The big "event" for Global Ventures is a non-Christian summer camp that provides two weeks of intensive English for Elementary students. The effectiveness of this starts with the volunteers, all believing Americans, Canadians, or Brits who stay in the homes of the families whose kids go to camp. They are able to live their faith, answer questions very honestly, and have lead to these families entering into our churches, kids' groups and youth groups. I have already done a large amount of design work (most of which was re-design work) and Wednesdays are a great day for me to get a lot done. To say that they needed help in the over all "fit and finish" of the info and marketing they were sending out is a slight understatement, and I have enjoyed bringing them into the 21st century. On Wednesday evenings, Becky attends a weekly women's study and has already wowed them twice with her cooking—apparently all of Tres Cantos thinks she's the most spectacular cook they've ever seen. Last week she made a Carrot Soup with nutmeg and honey and topped it with a healthy dollop Crème Fraîche. I can understand why they think she's so amazing.

Thursday:

Thursday mornings are generally useful for catching up on sleep (Spaniards go to bed SO LATE!). In the early afternoon, I tutor Augustin in English (he has no idea how awesome his name is) and we spend half of our time playing English, and the other half hanging out and playing ping pong. Timothy Wendel (Jr.) often comes along and we have a really great time hanging out, studying, going to McDonalds, and playing games. He recently had his First Communion at one of the local Catholic churches, which means that his family no longer needs to attend because "he's in". He comes to our Friday night boys' group and I feel is soaking a lot up this year. Thursdays are another basketball coaching day as well.

Friday:

Iñigo joins us again on Friday morning and Becky tutors an advanced English student in the afternoon. I benefited this week as the lesson was in reading an English cookbook and Becky brought Naiara home to bake cookies. Friday nights begin with Godly Play (a Sunday School curriculum that works better on Fridays because we have people to help). Becky helps here and really loves this time with the kids. After this, four junior high girls gather at the Wendels' for "youth group" and 8-10 junior high boys at our CCTC location meet for our "youth group". The girls at a different social level than the boys, and keeping them separate is good for everyone involved. Many of the boys who come met us through basketball or English camp, and we are seeing fruit from years of hard labour. Friday nights are the result of others spending years and years and years breaking down walls of Spanish families through servanthood, friendship, and love, and it's a privilege to enter the scene when we are.

Saturday:

Saturday often begins with Churros, and ends with Chorizo. Our mornings are often ours to do with what we please, and in the afternoon, I play on a community basketball team with Tim Wendel (Sr.). It's a great way to get to know some guys our own age and to continually be involved in the community which we have been called to serve. If we don't have a Global Ventures event, Becky and I often spend the evening eating cured chorizo, popcorn, and hard, aged sheep's cheese called manchego, and watching a movie or the previous week's episode of The Office. Often this is followed by a few episodes of the West Wing, an addiction which we attempted to break before coming to Spain, but which we were totally unable to do. If we do have a Global Ventures event, which we did last night, the whole day is often devoted to preparation and execution of this event. Last night, we participated in the annual American 

Thanksgiving Night held at the Casa de la Cultura and it was a blast. Please check out the photos for more info. For me, the highlight of the event was watching parents and kids interact in the activities together—Spanish parents are often quite distant from the kids and to provide an opportunity for parents and kids to spend time together felt great. Even though it was an "English" event, Thanksgiving is kind of our bread and butter event, in that the holiday provides us the opportunity to talk about gratitude to God for the blessings he provides. It will be exciting to see how some of the seeds planted last night might have longer lasting effects.

Sunday #2:

And finally, Sunday, again. The 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month are for a Couples Study called Amor y Respeto, or Love and Respect. Many of you may have done this study in your own churches. The couples that come, many of whom are not believers, receive very Christian perspectives on how to love one another and their families better, in a country with a higher divorce rate than almost anywhere else in the world. Becky and I don't attend this group, but instead provide child care, which helps some couples come who wouldn't normally be able to. Tonight, we might be watching Wall-E, so that would be fun.

Well, if you made it this far in one go around, kudos to you. Thanks for being a part of our lives, and for caring what we do. This of course is only a brief outline and many weeks include twice as many elements, but these things don't change.