6 Months In

As we write this we are excitedly looking forward to some dear friends joining us this weekend. John & Carol Peel are coming over from Plymouth, sent by Waterfront City Church to bless us with their hugs, laughs, cheesecakes and words of encouragement! John, our friend and pastor for over 10 years, and Carol, like a 2^nd mum to us both, will hopefully get a good taste of our lives here and be able to share it with our friends in Waterfront who have sent us out on this adventure. We have such deep affection for that motley crew, with whom we have shared so much over the years, and who are an example of what we want to play our part in establishing here in Madrid – a diverse family, amazed and transformed by God’s grace, on a mission together… exciting stuff!


John & Carol



some of the motley crew

THANK YOU for praying for us and supporting us by your calls and messages. I’m pleased to say we’re really encouraged by progress, especially in our team:

Guy Miller, who many of you will know serves our team’s sending-churches and the Madrid church-plant in apostolic oversight, was with us at the beginning of this month. We were thrilled he could come and were not disappointed in how God spoke into our situations prophetically, envisioned us and in our hearts marked a sense of ‘going up a gear’ in the task. (Feel free to ask me if you don’t understand some of this – I’ll happily explain!)

Added to this is the news that another family from the UK has made the decision to join us and strengthen the team, and is now working out the logistics of their move! And it’s been so good to become friends with two superb people out here who love God and are crazy enough to join us, further boosting our team and adding links to the community.

Thank you for CONTINUING to pray for us!! (We value it, need it and would love you to share in the results of it.) Pray for:

-          Friends. The weather is becoming lovely and warm now (sorry Brits & Irish!) and this is helping so much in being able to hang out with people more. The parks fill up with new faces (were people hibernating?) and last weekend we loved having a picnic in a park with a great family who we get on really well with. We’d love that friendship and others to flourish…



Caterpillar trail at the picnic



-          Lingo. Sal has improved massively in these 6 months but, as anyone who has learned a language knows, it’s a long road. The kids happily try to sing along to Spanish kids’ songs and do play a bit with kids in the park but their speaking is still near zero. Pray for desire for friendship to provoke language attempts!

-          Work. We are both considering our options for September. Joseph starts school then and Sal is flirting with the idea of some kind of ‘English childcare / playgroup’ that could help pay the bills. And I need to make wise decisions, after a settling-in year, of what my work situation will look like…

-          Team. The Capes family is still trying to sell their home so they can move and join the team. It’s a frustrating time for them but they and we trust that God knows what He’s up to and we keep praying!

At Easter we will all be heading to the 2^nd annual newfrontiers

conference: ‘Juntos’ (‘Together’) - Iberian Peninsula. People from

churches and plants in Spain, Portugal & Gibraltar will be meeting

to be shoulder to shoulder and hear God together for the way

forward…

We’ve been here 6 months, can you believe it?

Christmas is a distant but happy memory. Sal’s parents and brother stayed with us and we had a fun mesh of a Spanish and English Christmas.

New Year brought our first experience of the tradition of popping a grape in your mouth for every chime of the clock at midnight – successfully, though messily, accomplished!

And the 6th of January (the proper Spanish Christmas), when the 3 Kings deliver the presents, was marked by their impressive parade through the streets of the city. The kids (& dad) were transfixed!

Finally, last month brought a couple of big events for Ellie:

Her 4^th birthday – she’s quite the big girl these days! – and with it a tea party and a bike.

 

And her 1^st school carnival, in which she paraded around the playground with her classmates, all dressed up as little mice and assorted animals! Proud parent moment J

 

Should probably stop here until next time. Just to give you a heads up that we are planning a trip to the UK in August and look forward to catching up with many of you.

Lots of love,

Al, Sal, Ellie & Joe x