Last Days in Spain

Spent the last few days in Spain with Tanja. On Thursday we meet in a highway town which everyone passes through but no one stops at. We decided to meet there after Tanja finished Kid’s Club in Marbella. Had a wander around and now no why not many people stop at Encina Reales. Nothing bad about the place, you just wonder how same places come to be. Went into Lucena, the Furniture town with the Big Chair for pizza.

Got up early on Friday and drove to Iznajar, a pueblo blanco (white village) set high on a hill. A beautiful spot which seemed to have had a lot of English contact. It seems that this part of Andulcia is attracting more and more English tourists who are venturing inland from the Costa del Sol. Iznajar has a dam surrounding it.

Later we traveled to Priego de Cordoba along the back rounds through the olive groves. The type of place you could imagine buying an old farm house and renovating. I think it would be cheap… had a sticky beak at the famous Fountains and Balconies of Priego. This city also has an evangelical church.

Friday night and Saturday was the Cabra Evangelical Churches Men’s Retreat in the country house of Rafealti. Its call Bernabe – the encourager. It was a good weekend with Brett opening up 2 Timothy 2 verses 1 to 8. Good fellowship, food and fun.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to the wonderful people at Cabra and head to Portugal to catch up with the ECM missionaries there.

Humour & Social Status in Spain

Rafaelte Tocando la Guitarra

People are funny in Spain. I mean that in the comedy sense of the word. To be funny is to be interesting and seems to be important for social standing. One of the people at the Cabra Church who is funny is Rafaelte. He is married to Toya and they have a son Isai. Rafaelte is a gypsy.

He tells of the first gypsy church gathers in the 1970’s in Andalucia, in Carcabuey, near Cabra. The first conversions were in a Pentecostal context. The gypsies are generally are poor people. Not really having much of a social standing in Spain. The Gypsies in Carcabuey had been trying to get a place to meet as a church. They eventually found a run down old house. At there first meeting they were in a time of praise and prayer, thanking God for their new premises. One fellow shot his hands up in the air and was waving them around asking God that they might be able to feel His presence, inadvertently he touched a live electrical wire and got a massive shock and screamed out "That's enough Father, that's enough!"

Rafaelte is full of stories. He is also a fantastic flamenco guitarist (see photo). He was over in Mexico at a church over there playing. During the meeting a women who was a new Christian was asked to give her testimony. She was rather large and as she was getting up on stage, having the microphone given to her, she did a big bottom burp. As quick as a flash she said, “Satan, are you going to talk or me?!”

Which reminds me of the story of St Teresa of Avila, of which there is a new movie coming coming out. Apparently she was in the habit of praying and eating breakfast on the toilet. This is not so unusual, at least the praying bit and reading the Bible. Supposedly Luther had his great break through whilst reading Romans on the toilet. Eating on the toilet is a bit strange. Although I remember when I was in year 10, going into the toilets at Merrylands High, which didn’t have any doors and seeing a younger boy, rather large, sitting on the toilet with a cream bun in one hand and a can of coke in the other. I couldn’t see how he was going to finish the job without finishing either the coke or the cream bun! But I digress.

St. Teresa is enjoying a time of fellowship on the toilet and the devil starts speaking to here, saying what a gross sinful person she was for praying to God in such an ignoble place. She quickly replied, “The food is for me, the prayer is for God and the rest is for you!”

Abels Drawers

Abels Drawers

It has been so long since I sat down to add anything to this web blog. So on the brink of leaving Spain thought I’d put down a few things.

First, the Spanish language; after 6 months I feel on the verge of understanding another level but sadly I will not get there. I’m left with still a frustration of not being able to understand all that is being said and a problem with my vowels.

However, I can also say that I have been able to understand a few jokes and also have been able to make people laugh. One very funny incident has to do with drawers. I was helping Abel lacquer two sets of drawers, getting ready for a two week stay of his parents from Villnova. He wanted the sets of drawers sanded, stained and lacquered, and asked me to help. Which I was happy and willing do.

However, when I was asked what I have been up to by people and I told them it inevitably ended up with them shocked and then in fits of laughter. The problem seems to be my vowel pronunciation. There is only one letter difference, a vowel, between drawers and testicles in Spanish. And for the life of me I can’t seem to get it right. So when I say that I have been lacquering Abel’s drawers to get ready to show them to his parents, apparently this is hilariously funny. I get confused between my “o” and “a” and also “e” and “i”.

The People you see on the other side of the World

I have been staying with Abel and Rafi Nuño, and their children Estephania and Samuel. It has been really good to live in a house with only Spanish being spoken. I’m sure it has helped. I have access to a computer network, internet, printers and scanner down in Abel’s office which is sort of like the cellar. A great, cool place to work.

I had the most bizarre experience on Sunday night. I come back to Abel and Rafi's really late. Went down to the office to shoot off an urgent email and lo and behold there was a picture of Lee and Grace Cook on the table! Wasn't expecting to see them here! But a pleasant surprise none the less.

Paranoia, Paintings and People

Lourdes, Neria, Yo, Aurora & Antonia (one of Antonia's paintings is on the wall)

Sorry for the silence. It has been a long time since I sat down and wrote in the weblog. I have had many other things on my mind. But hopefully they have begun to clear.

Spanish learning is going well poco a poco as they say here little by little. I’m hearing much more distinctly and learning heaps of verbs which seems to be at the heart of the Spanish language.

I had a dream the other night that had some Spanish in it! They say that when you start dreaming in another language you really have a feel for it. I can’t claim that! But I did have a nightmare, and it had three Spanish words in it "alto y seco".

I’ve been staying at Montemayer while language learning at Córdoba (about 20 minutes in the bus) with Antonio and Lourdes Soto and their two little girls Aurora and Neria. Antonio was born in Montemayer, a small rural village. Renowned for its wine. He is a bit of a locally celebrated artist. He and his wife work for GBU which is equivalent to AFES in Australia. He is a rolly polly Pavarotti look a like, who has a song for just about every word said. He has a great voice, good sense of humor and speaks slowly and clearly which is good for me.

He used to be a baker but became allergic to flour! Fatál! as they say over here. (It is a “false friend” like many Spanish words that sound similar to the English word but have a different, at least slightly different meaning – we’d say tragic in the way fanatical rugby supporters are know - “football tragics”.) Now he’s an artist! And the house smells of oil paint which I’m a bit allergic to. Fatál!

Anyway…we go for a walk up to the local park with the girls in the afternoons, about 8.00PM! All the kids are out and there is a kiosk where you can buy drinks and ice creams and pipa'a (Sun flower seeds! I joke with Antonio that only the galahs in Australia eat sunflower seeds).

In this small Spanish village where everyone is related and everyone knows everyone else and they work out who you are by finding out who you are related to and when they know that you are so and so’s brother or sister in law it’s OK, they don’t feel panicky or something...

Anyway I’m with this short, round man.

So one evening after we came home from the park at 9.00PM to get ready for dinner at 9.30! That is early, I’m staying with Abel and Rafi Nuño, their supper is 10.30 at the earliest. This is taking a bit of getting used to for me who likes to go to bed at 10.30 PM and read and get up at 6.00 AM. Anyway, José (not the other Spanish fireman! Did you hear about the two Spanish firemen who were brothers? Hosa & Hose B) spoke to Antonio later and asked who is the “alto y seco chiquito”. I wasn’t sure what it meant but Antonio tried to explain that alto is tall and seco literally means dry, but the people in the country use “seco” as a way to say skinny. I need watering it seems! I got the impression that they were a bit suspicious of me, I didn’t know at the time that chiquito (“o” for a bloke “a” for a girl) was a friendly term.

Well a few nights later I had this nightmare. I was down the south coast surfing with some friends. We camped at a spot that had some local aborigines near. During the night all the aboriginal women came over to where our camp site was and started pointing at me and saying “We don’t like that alto y seco one, he has to go!” They looked like the island women off the new King Kong movie which I watched with the Richardson’s a few Friday nights before. They kept shouting “alto y seco!” And they took all my things.

That’s all I remember. But I have dreamt in Spanish or at least a nightmare, that’s something hey!

I actually tried explaining a piece of art to one of the blokes from the Cabra church in Spanish. I don’t know what I’m talking about either way! The art or the language!

It was at the opening night of the art exhibition. We got access to the Cultural Centre from the local council. Claudia Guevra de Vásquez is a missionary from El Salvador who lives about 3 hours away in a place called Pozoblanco. Here husband, Raul, is the director of the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre there. Great family! Anyway Claudia is an artist. We held an exhibition of her work in the Cultural Centre at Cabra. About 70 outsiders came through. Her work is all Christian, and at the opening she went around to a few works and gave a Christian explanation, along the way explaining the gospel.

I didn’t know to much of what was going on. Although I went around with the drinks and bickies. One group of ladies asked me to explain one of the works. I couldn’t really so went and got Claudia. She spent a long time with them, going around the paintings and explaining what they meant. I’m sure she was able to share the gospel with them in an appropriate way.

One of my favourites was the 10 Virgins waiting for the return of the bride groom. That was the one I was trying to explain to Manolo, one of the blokes from Cabra church.

Manolo and Sensi are a young couple at the church in Cabra. They have 4 children. Sensi used to walk passed the church building and read the Daily Scripture notes in the shop front window. At the same time Manolo was working with one of the fellows from the church. They were both being challenged about Jesus and both became Christians. I really like them. They are very sincere and humble, godly people.

Sensi now does the window displays in the shop front of the church in the hope that there will be more like her who read and are challenged. Manolo is one of the regular lay preachers at the church.

Bullfights in Cabra

"There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games." Ernest Hemingway.

Whether the Spanish like it or not bullfighting is part of their culture. Most missionaries wouldn’t go to see a fight, understandable it is extremely barbaric, but… I went, for mixed reasons sharing Ernest Hemingway’s interest in another blood sport, boxing, I wondered whether I would be attracted to bullfighting also you couldn’t really go to Spain and not see a bullfight and it is a window of sorts into the Spanish culture, well that's what I kept telling myself.

There is a Plaza de Toro’s in Cabra and recently a Corridas de Toros (Bullfight) was being run. I took the Sol seats (in the sun) rather than the Sombra (shade). The Sol seats are equivalent to the old Hill at the Sydney Cricket Ground. It is where all the characters sit providing entertainment by shouting out funny things. I’m pretty sure the bloke up the back kept yelling out ‘scaredy cat’ to one of the toreros, which is a little bit funny.

And entertainment is really what this event is all about. Despite what Hemingway says about bullfighting it really is World Championship Wrestling with slightly higher stakes for the bullfighter, extremely high for the bull! It most definitely will die in a brutal way. One Spanish person I talked with about the bull fight told me that the bull either way is going to be slaughtered, either at the abattoirs or in the ring, at least in the ring it has a chance for a moment of glory in front of the crowd. An interesting perspective…

The fight starts with everyone in the ring, except the bull that is. They present themselves to the officials and the public. The toreros walks into the centre of the ring and throws in his black hat down (hence the expression). Next the bull comes changing out of the puerta do los toriles looking like Gordon Tallis after seeing a sign in the crowd about his mum. The fight is in three rounds with three toreros fighting two bulls a piece. The first round has a number of assistants who come out and get the bull riled. Then the second round begins with two picadors on horses jabbing the bull with a short lance. Followed by three banderilleros who come out and try to stab two coloured daggers into the bulls back (see picture). Last comes the toreros who us a muleta, a short red cape draped over sword. The idea is for the toreros to work the bull closer and closer to him with finesse and skill, almost mesmerizing the bull into submission. The moves are named after women, ‘the Veronica’, ‘the Christina’ etc. and there is some sexual thing happening with the toreros and the bull, a deadly dance that will eventually end with the toreros sticking the sword through the bulls back into his heart. The end comes when the bull falls down dead. If the bull goes down quickly and the fight has been a spectacle, the bulls ears are cut off and given to the toreros.

It’s a brutal end for the bull, remembering that the origins of the bullfight go back to Iberian cults sacrificing the bull to placate the gods. It is interesting to reflect on the phenomena today, no longer explicitly a bloody sacrifice, but still many people come to see the blood of the bull, what does it say about the culture which delights in this type of brutality, whether it’s bullfighting or cock fighting or boxing…

Another thought I had during the event, which was less profound, was has there ever been a streaker at the bullfight? Mark Roberts, an Englishman has streaked over 380 times in the last ten years at almost every major sporting event. I would like him to take the challenge and to do it at a Bull Fight! The bullfight would have to be the high point of his career, especially if he got caught on more than just the horns of a dilemma!

Spanish and other Atrocities & Delights

Have just finished my first week of Spanish Lessons! But more on that soon. Off to Pepsi Cola (Pensicola) early tomorrow for the ECM Bi Annual Conference. Should be a gas! Should be plenty of it on the 7 or so hour drive to the Catalan Country, near Barcelona. Viva Barca for the UEFA Cup! Thought I'd give a run down on one of the great books I've read. Hopefully more to come.

What’s being read: “Heaven & Hell” by Edwand Donnelly Banner of Truth

Ouch! a touchy subject, at least the second part which Donnelly deals with first up. It is good that he begins with Hell because it leaves the reader with a very buoyant and utterly inspiring view of Heaven to finish on. He doesn’t hold back and presents the biblical view of hell in a stark yet sympathetic way.

The problem with Hell is that less and less, even evangelical Christians believe in it. He mentions and refers to John Stott’s views for anyone who may be interested. Donnelly exposes sin as the base problem in not wanting to acknowledge Hell, and also our lack of concern for our sin and the vast chasm it creates between us and the Holy God.

The book is practical and has suggestions, challenges, insights and compassion for the non-Christian reader, the Christian reader, those whose family have died and were not, as far as one could tell Christian, and for those who have lost Christian family. It answers many tough questions.

The overall practical impact was to enthuse and drive me to evangelize and pray for my non-Christian friends. The book also articulates many of the thoughts on the New Heaven and Earth that I have wondered and spoken about; in short a totally renovated Creation, where Heaven comes down to Earth, making all things new.

The book is very God centered and brings glory to God in the doctrines of both Hell and Heaven. The best book I’ve read so far this year, besides the Bible. It filled me with hope and inspired my devotion and thankfulness to Jesus for the salvation that he has won for God’ people.

One point I would love to raise with Professor Donnelly is the intermediate state of the believer between death and the resurrection. Donnelly is orthodox in his view of body & soul separation, yet uses the rich man and Lazarus in other parts of the book to speak of the chasm between Heaven and Hell failing to see that if this is to be taken literally, which Donnelly does then it implies that the rich man has a physical body. He asks that Lazarus dip his finger in water and come and cool his tongue (Luke 16 verse 24).

The Hebrew view of personhood as body and soul always together as well hints from the New Testament lead to a view of the resurrection which is not bound by linear time but means that the Christian on death goes to be with Jesus with a resurrected body, see especially Jesus’ argument with the Sadducees in Mark 12 verses 18 to 27 where the very point he is making is that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been resurrected. But this is just a very minor point of difference in a book that is rich in amazing insights.

Rating: ****/5

Christ is Risen

Photo: Zagrilla
Photo: Small Tomb Stone in the Garden Tomb Jerusalem.

The church in Cabra is part of a wider church IEMA which is large enough to be recognised as a church by the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Spain. It is made up of the evangelical mission churches in the region of Andalucia. They are all about the same size as Cabra 30 to 40 people. Five churches all up. We had a great weekend in the Serria Subbetica, the mountain range close to where we live. It is near a very pretty, old village called Zagrilla. See the photo of the village at sunset on Saturday arvo.

I didn't have much idea what was going on. I guess being Easter we were celebrating Jesus' death and resurrection, or at least that's what I was trying to do. It made it a long weekend in more ways than one! By the end I was exhausted. Trying so hard to listen to the conversations, knowing one or two words every now and then and with those trying to fill the gaps in between. It's amazing how much you can make out of one or two words. Fantastic things which you find out later are completely wrong!

Tomorrow I go to Cordoba to begin Spanish lessons. Looking forward to learning more so I'm able to communicate a little better. It is quite frustrating wanting to say things, having things to say and not being able to express them adequately. With time and patience you do get by. The universal language of gesture comes into play. It is a good experience to go through and gives you an idea what it is like for people from overseas who come as immigrants to a foreign country. It does give you more empathy for their circumstance.

One of the hard things about learning Spanish in Cabra is that the Andaluces speak slightly different Spanish. They aspirate the endings, so Buenas Dias becomes Buenah Diah or even less pronounced sounds like Buena Dia. It's the sort of thing we do in Australia also with G'day. Also the crew at Cabra are characters so they speak in phrases, like we would in Oz also. Little sayings like "Killing two birds with one stone" and your talking about going out for a coffee and wondering why they're talking about birds and stones!

I'm really enjoying hanging out with the Cabra church people, Paco and Manolo and Sensi and Fede and Fenando and Gabriella from the church at Cabra. They are very patient and have 'taken me in'.

Happy Easter from Spain.

Christ is Risen, he has risen indeed!