Update

hello all! we are t minus 11 days from departure, and the nerves are definitely kicking in. Denise and Katie, two of my best friends who are also going on this adventure, have been feeling them too.
what do we have to be afraid of? yes, this is a drastic new change, and uncertainty, loneliness, and discomfort are sure to arise, but it seems the Lord has been in this from the very beginning, making this process go as smoothly as possible and directing our steps at every moment. thank You.

i have some very interesting information to share in light of a conversation that crossed numerous time zones yesterday. my new friend Tep (Stephanie) has lived in Madrid for the past few years and is the director of SyncroNations, a culture and language exchange that focuses on building relationships between Spanish university students and young Americans studying or traveling abroad in Spain.
through sports, intercambios (language exchange), attending classes together, and hanging out on campus and around the city, SyncroNations hopes to build authentic, agenda-less relationships through which the love and beauty of Christ can be communicated in a genuine way. i am incredibly excited to find out more about what the Lord is doing with this group and look forward to being a part of it very soon.

here are some things i learned from my convo with Tep:

• less than 1/2 of 1% of Spaniards are evangelical Christians
• Spain is traditionally Catholic, but most Spaniards will clarify their beliefs by saying "I'm Catholic but I don't believe in God."
• realistically, most Spaniards are either agnostic or atheist
• spirituality is an incredibly personal and taboo subject in Spain: asking someone about their beliefs is similar to approaching a stranger in the States and inquiring about their sex life
• Spaniards have a general apathy toward God; there is no perceived need for Him and they do not see how Jesus Christ could possibly be relevant to them
• many view evangelicals as a cult
• there is a general distrust of organizations, particularly of the Church, which has had a very dark and twisted history in Spain

Tep said, however, that as spiritually dead as Spain might be, the fingerprints of the Lord are not easily ignored: in their passion and joy for life, in their very deep and loyal friendships, the people of Spain unknowingly give evidence of the very Creator they feel has no relevance to them.

listening to Tep describe the spiritual state of Spain and the desperate hearts that have been numbed by apathy was an eye-opening experience that gave me a new perspective on this trip. my friends and i might be the first Gospel-believing Christians our host families and university friends have ever met. what a heavy, blessed thing- to be gifted with the responsibility of introducing people to the embodiment of grace and beauty and love and justice.

after living in the Bible-Belt for the past 22 years where church is a hobby and most subscribe to a watered-down Gospel and wimpy Jesus this is not an idea that is easy to wrap my mind around.

with a new understanding of the weight of this responsibility i am going to be on my knees much, much more. i beg that you do the same. thank you.