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”.