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!

Orange Tree Very Pretty

View from Richo's Kitchen
Recipe for Seville Oranges

One of the distinct features of Cabra is the rows of Seville Orange trees that line the streets. At the moment there are many trees with Orange blossom blooms. They point people to Semana Santa (Easter) and Spring. Some are bearing fruit. But the fruit on the trees is not edible, too sour (Orange Tree very pretty, but the taste of the oranges is impossible to eat…) It seemed a shame to let such a lot of Oranges go to waste. So the best thing to do with sour Oranges? Make marmalade! Here is a recipe which worked a treat. It set, the first jam that I’ve ever made that set without jam setter.

Seville Marmalade (From Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion)

5 Seville Oranges (For best results pick them fresh off the trees in the Street. Don't let the neighbours see you!)
Water
Salt
Sugar

Method:

Quarter the fruit, remove all the pips and central stringy membrane. Thinly slice fruit. For every 500 grams of prepared fruit add 1.8 litres of water and ¼ of a teaspoon of salt. Simmer fruit, water and salt until peel is soft and easily squashed. Allow to rest in a stainless steel bowl for 24 hours. Next day, bring to boil in a stock pot a measured amount of the mixture. For every cup of fruit mixture, allow a cup of sugar. Roughly for 500 grams of prepared fruit and 1.8 litres of water, you will need 1 ½ kilos of sugar. Bring the fruit mixture with the added sugar to the boil and cook for 25-30 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon from time to time. Test after 25 minutes to see if jam is at setting stage. Take a small amount in a teaspoon and place on a cold saucer. Allow to cool. If once cool, you slide your finger through the blob and it separates and remains separate, it is ready to bottle. Place marmalade in sterilized bottles which are still hot. Put lids straight on.

To eat:
The next day, spread on toast with thickly spread butter and for a treat lashings of bacon. (From Cooking with Fat)

Bible Verse: 16 … all fat is the Lord’s. 17 ‘It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat …Leviticus 3:16, 17

Personal Update

Picture: Staff Meeting (l-r) Brett, Ruth, Abel, Jim, Rachel, Rafi

Personal Update

The last few days in England were quite stressful. Joanne Benson who was teaching the Phonetics Foundation Course, and whose house I was staying in, took ill. She made a phone call to her local doctor to enquire about coming down for an appointment. The doctor that she usually sees was not there. A locum took the call. He insisted on calling an ambulance. The ambulance was called and arrived at the house on Friday afternoon, blue light flashing. It appears as the locum doctor didn’t want to deal with the situation on a Friday afternoon so thought this the best way forward for all. Joanna was rushed to Chichester hospital. After a week she is still there. Please pray that she will quickly recover. She has a chest infection and they are keeping her in hospital to run further tests.

I had to tidy up her affairs, like cancel local and overseas candidates for the course and then get ready to fly to Spain.

Flew out of Gatwick last Tuesday, the 28th of March. Brett Richardson met me at Malaga airport. The day was glorious and it has been great being back in Spain. The first week has been settling in. Today we had a staff meeting and discussed, among other things plans for me stay in Spain.

Tentatively we decided that I would go to Córdoba for Spanish lessons. This will be down in two, two week blocks (Monday 17th – Friday 21st April & 2nd to 5th of May). I hope to stay either in Córdoba or 20 minutes bus ride away with people in the Montilla Church, in Montemayor. Then go back each week for one day a week Spanish lesson.

The next few weeks will be busy with Easter, Semana Santa and the ECM Biannual conference (23rd - 29th of April). After the Spanish lessons in Córdoba we will plan to get me into the English Acedemy in Lucena to teach conversational English and hopefully build up a contact base for the church.

For those who Pray:

Thanks:

{ for provision of places to stay, especially thank God for The Powell’s and James and Patricia in London.
{ safe arrival in Spain.
{ for the Richardson’s who are putting me up or putting up with me (how careful one has to be with prepositions)
{ for time to think, pray and read and recoup

Requests:

{ for Joanna’s diagnosis and speedy recovery
{ for the gift of tongues to speak and hear clearly in Spanish
{ for tiredness and time to recoup and read and think and pray
{ for the church in Spain, especially in Cabra, for Brett & Ruth, Abel and Rafi and Rachel