Last Sunday I went to the UPC church here in Madrid. I took a taxi there (my first time in a taxi) by myself. I went to the 10am service and then stayed for the 12:30 service as well. They have a 10, 12:30, 5, and 6pm English service. It was so much fun!! I loved the music and there was a great move of God. The AYC choir sang "Our God" - one of my favorite songs at the moment. The AYC was a group of about 50 young people from around the US, here on a missions trip for about 10 days. The Next Steps group is a different group that my friend Kyla is in, and they are here for two months, living at the Bible school here. They have about 12 people. It was nice that there were other young people from the states here! Both services on Sunday had an English translator.
Let me just say that it's a good thing that I bought a fan the day before, because I sure needed it! It was SO HOT in there. It reminded me of camp meetings at Watson Homestead (can I get an amen?!). AC or no AC, God was still there! The 12:30 service especially was really lively and I felt like I was at camp. It was great! The pastor - who reminded me a lot of my pastor - introduced me to one of the Next Steps girls, Natalie, who showed me around the Bible school and took me around the area. I got to practice my Spanish a lot at church with a bunch of the women there, everyone was so nice. They also cook for everyone after each service, and I got a 'helado,' which was more like a fruit icee thing than ice cream. Very tasty! Natalie took me down in the metro and showed me how to get home. I took the metro home and actually met a lady from the church on the metro going the same way as me, so I wasn't alone for long :) She practiced her English with me, and made sure to tell me about her son who is a doctor in Argentina...
Tuesday and Wednesday the church was having special services with the Hernandez family from San Diego. Yes, the same Kathy Hernandez that just spoke at our NY Ladies Conference in Buffalo! I was able to make it on Wednesday night and got to talk with her afterward (love her). She played a song on her sax, her daughter sang a song (so cute) and her husband preached. The service was great. He talked about the fear of the Lord. Even though there wasn't an English translator near me, I could understand most of what he was saying (yay!). Afterwards I was finally able to meet up with Kyla, and her, Natalie, and myself grabbed some food nearby and then took it up to their Bible school dorms and hung out with the rest of the group. I really enjoyed spending time with them. (Side note: I was the 4th Rachel in a group of 12...) When it came time for me to leave, some of the girls went with me to the metro and rode with me until I had to switch trains since it was about 12am. Ironically we ran into two boys from the church who were headed to the same stop I was, so again I didn't have to be alone at all. Isn't it amazing how God protects his children? :)
No comments:
Post a Comment