Trip to Malaga, Day 7

Saturday, January 28, 2012


I ate breakfast and took a shower, and then Irina's friend Dayneris came over to meet me. I went with her to the bus station to get my bus ticket for the way home, and then we went looking for the cafeteria Cafe de Babel, which I LOVED from my previous time in Spain. We found it, but it was closed. Then we went to the Boutique del Té and I bought 3 different types of yummy tea. Mmmmm...

We went back to Irina's apartment, but no one was there, so we went to a corner café and ordered a cup of coffee (me) and a cup of tea (Dayne) and talked. it was really great to get to know her a little bit better.

After about 45 minutes, we figured Irina might be back, so we went up to her apartment, but still no on was there. We were just going back out when we ran in to Irina, so we went up with her.

She made a kind of Ukrainian food for lunch, with shredded potato, zucchini, 1 egg, salt, and a little flour. You drop spoonfuls into hot oil and fry them. Then you dip them in yogurt mixed with whipping cream to eat them.

We practiced some music and a skit together and then went to the church for choir practice and youth group.

Irina led the choir and I played the piano. Oh, but you should have seen the gaggle of Spanish women that crowded around me, hugging and kissing and crying. It was priceless. Pepi and Maricarmen and Maruja and Maria Jesus and several others were all clustered around me, waiting their turn to kiss and hug me, chattering and laughing, when Irina's voice broke through the din.

"Rebekah! There's someone who wants to see you!" I broke free and there was Anita. "Mi madre," I said, as I greeted her and she received me tenderly. She just gave me a look that spoke more than words. There is a link forged between us that hasn't disappeared despite the passage of four years since I last saw her.

Anita was the one who came up to me after I had spent 8 months in Malaga, learning Spanish and attending the church. She had always showed me much love and kindness, but the day I left, she said to me, "Rebekah, I always wanted to have a daughter. I had a couple of sons, but I always wanted to know a daughter's love, to share feminine things with her, to have that female companionship. The Lord did give me a daughter, a baby, but when she was 8 months old, she died. I never knew what it would be like to have an adult daughter. Now, God given you to me--for 8 months." It moved me to tears and we hugged each other and wrote off and on, but all our communication had gradually died off. Now, here she was again, and it was a special treat to see her.

The choir practice went well and then we had youth group, which started about 45 minutes late because people took forever to show up. Our skit went well and the message was good, brought by Manolo. Then they had a sort of business meeting where they voted for the leadership. This disintegrated into a big mess where everyone was arguing and people were all voicing opposing points of view. For me it was a lesson in the difficulty of doing any kind of church leadership. There is always opposition and threats from within and without, and the need is great for wise, tactful authorities who can put things straight.

We went back to Irina's apartment pretty late and ate magdalenas (lemon muffins) with sweetened condensed milk on top of them.

We talked for a while. I asked Irina if I could borrow a skirt, and she took me to her closet and told me to pick anything I wanted. I pulled out a skirt and tried it on, but it was too small, and then Irina pulled out a dress. "Try this on," she said. It was gorgeous, and it fit me perfectly. She pulled out a coat to wear with it, and added a necklace and earrings. I thought I was borrowing all this stuff, but then the next day she insisted that I keep it, along with some black tights and black shoes that her mom gave me. Ah! She is just way too generous.

Next Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 8
First Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1

Trip to Malaga, Day 6

Friday, January 27, 2012


After breakfast I went with the girls to church, where we had devotions. Each person shared what she had learned at the cumbre.

Then I went to work in the rastro with P. We talked more than usual and she gave me some flower earrings.

I went back to church for lunch and said goodbye to the girls. Then I went to the front door and waited for Pastor horacio to pick me up. He came at 2:30 and took me back to his house. (I had attended his church, Iglesia Evangelica La Luz for the year that I lived in Malaga studying Spanish.)

His wife, Ana Maria, fixed lunch and we ate. Nilda (my old apartment-mate) was there too! It was so wonderful to catch up.

After lunch, I asked Ana Maria if I could take a nap, and she put me in a bedroom where I slept for about 2 hours.

When I woke up, I went back to the living room and visited. Irina came shortly thereafter, and it was a joy to meet her after so long a time of writing emails.


Then Nilda cut my hair! Wow, what a difference...it was fun.

Nilda took Irina and me over to Irina's apartment, and we talked until at least midnight. Then she had to go to bed because she had to get up at 6 the next morning. I slept wonderfully and woke up about 8:15.

Next Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 7
First Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1

Trip to Malaga, Day 5

Thursday, January 26, 2012


My alarm rang at 6 and I got up! I woke Marieta and we had a good time together reading the Word and praying.

Breakfast was at 6:45 and devotions were at 7:45. My speech went pretty well and several of the girls said they appreciated it.

We left for church at 8:30. today my job was to work in the despensa (food pantry). There wasn't much work in the morning, so Marieta and I had some chances to talk about the Lord. In the afternoon there was a ton of work -- boxes and boxes of food to unload and organize. I loved it. I also spent ALL DAY eating stuff that was BAD for me. :-(

In the evening, we ate supper, I showered, and I wrote in the Bibles of several of the girls who asked me to.

Oh!

In the morning, S asked me to give her a verse. She said she had never asked anyone to give her a verse before. I said no one has ever asked me for one, either, but that I would pray to ask God to show me one by this afternoon.

In the afternoon, the Lord led me to Deut. 30:11-20, especially verses 19 and 20. I told S the verse and let her read it.

"This is an answered prayer," she said to me after she had read it. "I had cried out to God, 'What do you want from me?' And now I know."

I was surprised and blessed at how it had impacted her. Then after my shower, we stayed in the salon sharing for a long time. I was explaining my struggle to live after the Spirit and not the flesh. It was a very blessed and God-ordained conversation.

Next Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 6
First Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1

Trip to Malaga, Day 4

Wednesday, January 25, 2012


I got up this morning at 6:00 and shook Marieta to wake her. she murmured something and made no move to get up. I went to the salon with my Bible and started reading, and a few minutes later, Marieta appeared. We prayed together, I shared a few Scriptures, and asked her about herself, probing for what or where I could help her or teach her something. We settled on a plan to study living in the Spirit vs. the flesh tomorrow morning.

We ate breakfast at 6:45. Breakfast here is coffee and toast (white sliced bread). Yesterday they also had shredded pork and some thick orange lard that they were spreading with gusto. I ate a banana and had a cup of tea.

At 7:30 we left for the church for a devotional there. Then we went to our various jobs.

My job was calendars, but first I had to go with the girls (M and L) to a doctor's appointment for M. We got to the hospital about 9:50 and didn't leave until about 12:30, so it didn't leave enough time to do calendars. We went and had a cup of coffee and a pitufo (whoa, the best sandwich EVER! The best, tenderest baguette, with Manchego cheese, tomato sauce, and olive oil. YUM!).

Then we walked back to the church. I got talking to M. She was telling me about her boyfriend (a Betelito) and her upcoming marriage, her love of children, and how Judith (a baby of one of the other girls in the house) is the joy of her life. It was very sweet.

We got back to the church, ate lunch, and went back to the house for the siesta. The thing is, no one takes a nap. I was tired, so I laid down, but everyone else in the house was talking so loud that it was impossible to sleep.

I got talking with A (one of my other roommates) and she asked me how I decided to be a missionary. I told her the story of the New Tribes video I had seen at a CEF function, and she was overcome. "Oh my goodness," she said. "That's so powerful. I've always had a heart for people like that, ever since I was little..." And she started to cry. That opened up the door to talk about how God surely had a plan for her, and who knew how it would end up, but perhaps she would find herself working with some jungle tribe one day.

We went back to the church at 4:00, and M and I went out on the calendar campaign. We got 24 euros. It was so exciting and wonderful to be able to walk through the center of Malaga again and have a chance to see some of the places I used to go. Ah!

When we got done selling calendars, we went walking to the rastro, where Juani picked us up.

We went back to the house and ate dinner (macaroni noodles with tomato sauce and cooked, cheesy cauliflower). After dinner, Juani came up to me. "You're sharing in devotions tomorrow," she said.

"Oh cool!" I said. So I started getting stuff ready to give my "Don't be just an empty shell" speech.

I also had an excellent talk with V. She is such a dynamic, amazing woman.

Also, S started to open up to me--which surprised me, because I wouldn't have expected it...but it must be Is. 60:1-2 coming true.

I went to bed very late.

Next Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 5
First Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1

Trip to Malaga, Day 3

Tuesday, January 24, 2012


My alarm rang at 6:00 and I didn't get up. I used the excuse that Emilia's bed was in the way and I couldn't get out. It wasn't until later in the day that the thought came: "You didn't have any trouble getting out when they called to wake everyone up." I was smitten and asked the Lord's forgiveness.

We ate breakfast at 6:30, a little earlier than normal, because we had to leave the house at 7:20. One of the girls had a doctor's appointment early, so we had to do everything a little earlier. Those of use who weren't going to the doctor went to the church auditorium and joined some guys who were having devotions there.

After devotions, it seemed like we were standing around for a long time doing nothing. I thought I was going to go to recuperación (food donations) with Juani, but then they changed me and sent me back to the rastro with P.

I had started praying in the morning for ideas on how I could be a blessing to the girls. While we were waiting around in the hallway, Marieta pulled me aside.

"I would like you to teach me to sing," she said. I protested that she already sang quite well and that I hadn't had voice lessons, so I didn't know how to teach singing.

"Well, or teach me from the Bible," Marieta said. "I want to learn from you. I see you have more knowledge of these things, but there's never time."

"Ok!" I responded, moved by her sincerity and passion. "I will do whatever I can for you."

"It's just that we hardly ever get missionaries here," she said, "and when they come, I always want to take advantage of the opportunity." So we agreed to talk later and make a plan of what we could do together.

I worked in the rastro again, did a lot more cleaning throughout the whole rastro, mopping and dusting. I also spent a good deal of time scrubbing a whole set of kitchen cabinets someone had donated. Oh! And I made bleach tea. Oops!

We returned back to church at 2:00 again for lunch, and in the van I asked P and her husband how they met.

"Is she asking me because you wouldn't tell her?" her husband, M, said.

"No, she's just now asking," P said.

"Oh. She can tell you later," M said.

"Ok," I said. Hmmmm...did I bring up an uncomfortable topic? Or is this a culturally inappropriate question? Who would have thought? I never worked up the courage to ask P later.


After lunch I talked to Lola, the wife of Luis Pino, the head pastor of Betel of Malaga. She was very friendly and interested in me, and I felt very welcomed.

After lunch, I went back to the house with the girls for the siesta. No one took a nap--we just stood around talking, eating yogurts, and doing nothing much. I did take the opportunity to go up on the roof of the house and take some photos of the view.

When we went back to the church, I sat in the entrance with my knitting, waiting for P. this time I would be alert and not get left behind. However, at 4:15, Juani came up. "They've already left," she said. (What??) She explained that P wasn't going to the Rastro from here and I should have been looking for the driver of the van...some guy who I was supposed to have gone with. Oops again. But how was I to know if no one told me? So Juani had to drive me again.

Towards the end of the evening, I went to a store nearby to buy some CDs. The only size they had was a pack of 50 for 20 euros. I didn't know if that was a good deal or not, but I bought it to give the girls some of the Spanish music from my computer. (Later I found out that a pack of 50 should have cost 12 euros.)

We went back to the house and I spent the evening recording CDs with the music I had, waiting for my turn for the shower. When I finally put my computer away, Marieta and I started to talk.

"I'm sorry I've been so glued to my computer all evening," I said to her. "I want to be a blessing to you all, although my time here is so short."

Marieta started sharing with me about the difficulties of living here, about how everything just ends up being day-to-day struggles, and how you end up focusing on things that are not really the most important. It becomes hard to see what is eternal when you're wrapped up in the everyday things of life. We determined to get up early in the morning the next day to pray together.

I had finished my shower and was putting my things away in my suitcase under the bed. E was already in bed and apologized for the lack of space. There really is barely room to pass from the door to my bed with her bed in the room. But I said, "That doesn't matter. You know what? We want you to feel welcome here. We are happy you are here, because it means you are returning to the right path."

"Yes, the path that I left a long time ago," she said.

"And that is much more important than lack of space on the floor of the bedroom," I continued.

I had heard her talking to one of the other girls earlier, and she said that her family had kicked her out of the house, which is why she came to Betel. She had been in betel 10 or 12 years ago, but she said she left the right path. She said she knows the Lord and has been disobedient to Him for many years, but that He has never left her. And now, she said she is too old to be homeless, experiencing cold and hunger, begging and trying to survive. She seems very humbled by the consequences that God has brought into her life, and I pray that she will return wholeheartedly to the right path, sowing to the spirit instead of to the flesh.

I went to bed about 11:30 and again slept absolutely marvelously.

Next Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 4
First Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1

Trip to Malaga, Day 2

Monday, January 23, 2012

We got up at 6:45...well, I got up at 6:15 to read the Bible--Yay! At 6:45 when they knocked on the doors to wake everyone up, I went to my room and started making my bed. I was halfway done when Marieta called me. "We're waiting for you," she said. "It's time to ask the blessing." Oh! oops. They eat breakfast first here. So I went to the table and we had breakfast. I just had some hot water because I was fasting.

After breakfast, our room had the chore of cleaning the salon grande (living/dining room), so we swept and dusted. then we had a few minutes to get dressed and ready before devotions. Devotions were from 7:45 to 8:30 and Juani (the house leader) shared her notes from the cumbre (conference in Madrid that had taken place that weekend).

At 8:30, we got in the vans to go to the church. My job was to work in the Rastro (furniture shop), so I waited at the church until it was time to leave and went with P, who is in charge of the rastro.

At the rastro, I cleaned the bathrooms, mopped a bit, folded clothes, and went through some bags of donations in the back room.

We went back to the church for lunch at 2:00, but I didn't eat anything, and the girls manifested curiosity at my fasting.

At 2:30 on Mondays, they have a prayer meeting, which I stayed for. They sang a bit, had a sharing time of testimonies from the cumbre, and prayed. I was struggling to fight off sleep, but finally succumbed and woke up about 3:15, added a prayer of my own, and it was over at 3:30.

We went downstairs and no one seemed to be around, so I went back upstairs, lay down on some chairs, and fell asleep. I woke up at 4:15 and my ride had already left to go back to the rastro. I had assumed they would call me when it was time to go. Oops again.

Juani took me to the Rastro and didn't say anything. I worked the rest of the afternoon and Juani came to pick me up about 7:30.

We went back to the house and were eating dinner. Towards the end of the meal, Juani came in with a very serious expression on her face, holding up my pocketknife.

"Whose is this?" she said.

"Mine," I said.

Juani gave me a look and walked out. A dead silence fell over the table.

Really big oops.

(It was found between the cushions of the couch, so it must have fallen out of my pocket in the morning when I did my devotions.)

After dinner I apologized to Juani and she gave me back my knife. But she talked to me very seriously about how I needed to be careful and if one of the new girls had found it, it would have been very bad...she could have kept it...who knows what could have happened. Ah!

I thought that after 2 months in Madrid, where I had mostly figured out how things worked, I was over the "oops" moments. Guess not.

Marieta asked me to wake her up in the morning when I got up to pray. She is full of hunger and thirst for God. I love it! It's so rare to find a person like that. From the first day I saw her, I noticed a glow about her, an energy and thirst for life. I wanted to make friends with her right from the start, so when they made me her roommate, I was very happy.

We had a new girl in the house when we got back from work, a 57-year-old woman named E. They set up a cot in my bedroom between the bunk beds for E to sleep on. That left scarcely any space to walk in the room.

I went to bed early without showering because I was so tired. I fell asleep right away.

Next post: Trip to Malaga, Day 3
First post: Trip to Malaga, Day 1

Trip to Malaga, Day 1

I'm going to back up in time here and post my journal entries from the week I spent at Betel of Malaga.

Sunday, January 22, 2012
After church, I left in the van for Malaga with my small suitcase (amazing, considering I am capable of packing the whole trunk of my car full just to leave for the weekend, and I packed for a week in the carry-on suitcase!).

We saw a gorgeous sunset that lasted for far longer than I would have expected possible. We also passed through a spectacular mountain gorge, with layers of rock in vertical and diagonal bands jutting out of the earth.

As we got closer to Malaga, it was already dark, but my heart started beating faster with anticipation. Here I was in my city! "It's amazing how you can have love--for a city," I thought.

First we stopped at the church and unloaded our suitcases. Then we got into a different van and Juani (our house leader) drove us back to the house.

It was dark as we pulled in, but in the light of our headlights I could see that the driveway was lined with orange trees laden with bright fruit.

I walked into the house and was greeted by a warm welcome from each of the girls. It was amazing how much they made me feel at home right away. We ate a delicious dinner of homemade pizza. Yum!

After dinner, I got talking to V, who is from Ireland and has spent 10 months in Betel. She was phenomenal to talk to!

She came to Betel straight from the hospital 10 months ago in very bad health. She had wanted to die. In Betel, she came to know Christ, was baptized, and grew rapidly in the Lord. She talked about themes like surrender with such a light in her eyes and a passion for Christ, you would think she was a pastor's wife or a missionary or someone who had been saved all her life. It was so inspiring to talk to her.

I went to bed and slept soundly and comfortably. The mattress was very comfortable and the covers were very warm. Yay!

This is the first post in this series.
Next Post: Trip to Malaga, Day 2

Trunk of finery

Once upon a time, a young man went up into his attic and found a chest. 

"Hmmm, I wonder what's in this chest," he thought. 

The chest had been in the attic for a very long time.

It had been in his relatives' attics for a very long time before that.

Everyone knew the chest was there, but no one had ever opened it.

On a day when two of his cousins were in town, he opened the chest. 

What wonders would it contain? Perhaps it was empty.

The top layer of the chest was a box filled with embroidered silk shawls, leather gloves, and pieces of lace.

One of the pieces of lace was like a shirt. Perhaps you would wear it over a gown.

Other pieces were handmade lace trims, made of the most delicate thread and intricate techniques.

The leather gloves would reach almost to your shoulder, and the hands were tiny and slender. 

Three old fans were painted with charming old-fashioned scenes.

Some of the little scraps of lace had been cut off of other garments in order to recycle them for future use.

The techniques were many and varied, and the girls exclaimed over all of them, wondering at how they were made.

Some of the pieces they had no idea how they were done, they were so intricate and amazing.

The next layer of the chest contained a heavy velvet cape, edged with fur and lined with satin.

With its two layers, it felt like being wrapped in a large warm blanket. One could imagine coach rides on wintry days and keeping warm in the coldest of weather.

The layers kept on getting better--here below the cape was a wedding dress belonging to the cousins' grandmother's grandmother. Airy and almost dreamlike in its light layers, and adorned with many wonderful details in beadwork, satin, and handmade lace, the dress was a wonder to behold.

They even had a striking old photograph of the bride wearing this dress.

Next came a light summer dress with an allover pattern of handmade lace that had no repeats. The lace was made right to the dimensions of the neckline, side seams, and hem. Would this take someone like a year to make? And would the cost of it be like paying someone's yearly salary?

Next came a heavy black overcoat adorned with handmade black lace. All the seams in this as well as all of the pieces were hand stitched.

Finally, there was a lavender velvet dress that looked fit for a princess. It had beading, handmade net lace, a long train, and a very flattering cut. 

I missed out on the opening of this chest and my cousins' fun dressing themselves in the finery and parading themselves around, but two days later, I got to go with them, experience it for myself and take these photos. What a dreamlike opportunity! What a story that seems the stuff of fairytales!