first day of english camp

we had our first day of english camp today, and it went really well. there are 125 kids there! we each have a small group that we hang out with and each lunch with. there are 3 boys in my group that are each 9 or 10, including miguel, my host family's son. thats all for now i guess, ill post more later!

First post 3rd day

Hey everyone this is first chance I gotten to get on the internet so its the third day already. Today was the first day of camp and it was a lot of fun and very looooooooong. I have a group of four 5-7 year olds and they speak very little english. It doesn´t help that I speak very little Spanish, but I do my best. The son of the family that I am staying with his name is Isaac he is 7 years old we jsut got back from swimming in the pool. I am helping with the crafts at camp and it isn´t very hard to do because its mostly hands-on and I don´t have to try and get the kids to understand me, instead I just show them what to do. Please pray for the camp to continue to go smoothly and for all of the leaders to have energy because the camp is long and tiring.
Thanks for all your support!
T.J.

Day 2

Today was a beautiful day. I woke up and played Sequence with Tomas but he beat me... His father, Mic, brought us all Churros from a Churriguera across the street. They were heavenly!!! Mic and Tomas also walked me to the church where I stayed and prepared for camp. I will be an assistant to the teachers in one of the classrooms. I will also have my own group of 4 or 5 girls that I will look after during camp for the next too weeks. I am very excited to get started and to meet all the kids. Everything seems to be going very smoothly so far and I pray that it continues. I have not gotten over the jet lag quite yet though. I almost dozed off in church this morning during the service but I looked around and I was happy to find I wasn't the only one. Please pray that the camp goes well tomorrow and that I have enough energy to control the little squeaks. Thank you for all your support and love!

Lauren

We have arrived safely in Spain. For several days, I will be staying with Klaus and Carmen. They are also hosting Mike and Lindsey Hemington, and last night they had TJ here, too. Yesterday we had lunch with our hosts and their teen daugter Andrea at around 4 in the afternoon. The timing of meals, along with many other daily activities is very different here. As soon as we were done eating, we walked downtown to watch the German soccer team win their match against Argentina. We went to a pub/restaurant to watch the match because it wasn't available to watch on tv. Then we came home, went swimming at the community pool, and walked downtown again. This time, we ordered tapas and drinks to enjoy while we watched Spain defeat Paraguay in soccer. Soccer is the favorite sport in Spain. Every time something went well for Spain, you could hear the cheers ring through the town, and if a call was made that the Spaniards didn't like you could hear the jeers. Even though I don't understand much about soccer or the World Cup, I have really enjoyed watching the matches.

Today we attended church at the Tres Cantos community center, followed by a prayer walk and some training. Tomorrow camp will start. Please pray that we will fulfill the different roles we have been assigned with excellence. Some of us are craft teachers, some of us are on the sports team, and some of us are on the teaching team. Please pray that we will have energy despite jet lag, and that we will be able to connect with the children at camp. The first day is critical as it sets the tone for the rest of camp. Pray that it goes smoothly. For me personally, please pray that my voice will return. Although most of my cold symptoms are gone, my voice has not returned. Also pray the same for Martha, as she is also recovering from a cold. We are the lead teachers for the English language portion of camp, and we need our voices.

Thank you for partnering with us through your prayer and support.
Gratefully,
Nancy

Our First Day

We arrived in Spain yesterday and spent time getting to know our host family. We experienced a lot on our first day. We rode bikes to the local grocery store and helped Andrea (one of the daughters) pick up some things for lunch. Our first lunch was wonderful; we had sushi, a salad, stuff mushrooms and some sort of quiche dish. After lunch we headed over to a Cafeteria where we watched Germany win their match. Carmen (the host mom) treated us to a Limon & Nada (lemon & nothing). When the game ended the Cafeteria quickly emptied out and it was just us. We left soon after and headed to the community pool. It was nice to lay out and relax in the shade.

After we finished up at the pool we headed back home and got ready to go out to another Cafeteria. We went to a place called Pantagruel where we watched Spain play. We also enjoyed some dinner and drinks.

I also experienced Spanish coffee for the first time. Carmen ordered it "American" for me but it was still quite strong compared to the coffee I am used to in the states.

We enjoyed our first day in Spain and look forward to all that we are going to experience during our time here.
Michael & Lindsey

Day 1

Today felt like three days clumped into one. The team and I got together around 3:30 am this morning, packed up, got coffee, and left for our flight. I was upset to find that Kendra was not joining us because she had lost her passport!!! I hear she has gotten a new one and will be arriving in Spain on Sunday! I'll let her fill you in on the details.
The flight went very smoothly and we arrived in Huston with time to spare. Unfortunately, when we got on the plane a thunder storm rolled in. We saw lighting hit the ground right outside our plane window! We didn't take off again for about an hour. Our next stop was Newark, New Jersey, and then a straight shot to Madrid. It was a long flight, but I was able to pass the time with some good movies, books, and friends.
When we arrived in Madrid we unloaded our things and my host family picked me up. The mother's name is Susana and she has two boys, Tomas, age 6, and David, age 9. There father is away on business and will not be around for the majority of my stay. They are the sweetest family and have made me feel at home here. I went for a swim with the boys and had a delicious lunch. They took me around Tres Cantos to show me around, and then went to watch the Spain v. Paraguay game. We watched it in a large gym with a big screen and screaming fans. Spain won! Everyone was honking, yelling, and running down the streets. So you see. it is not so much different here than little El Dorado Hills ;) Miss you all back at home very much! Keep me in your prayers. It's getting late, more tomorrow.
Lauren

Landed In Madrid

Hi Everyone. Wanted to catch you all up to speed on our trip so far. The flight over was more or less uneventful. We were stuck on the tarmac waiting to take off for about an hour in Houston as the front edge of Tropical Storm Alex made its way into the area. Fortunately we were able to take off because we were told that the airport was closed down shortly after we left. We arrived in Madrid at around 10:30 this morning (Saturday the 3rd) and were greeted by Tim Wendel and Tim Westegren. We were then taken to the Global Ventures Community Center where we spent 30 minutes unpacking and sorting all 12 of our checked suitcases and dividing up all of the supplies that we brought to Tres Cantos. By the time we finished sorting, all of our host families had come to get us and take us home.

I spent the rest of the day with Javier, Ana, Adrian and Javier Jr. A wonderful family in Tres Cantos. The whole family is learning English and is doing a great job. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other. We also had a lot of fun watching the Spain vs. Paraguay world cup match. Spain won and the fireworks began to go off and continued for an hour, accompanied by horn blowing, shouts and cars honking. It was pretty exciting.
I haven't heard from anyone else on the team yet, but we will all meet up again tomorrow for Church then an afternoon of training for English Camp.

Camp starts Monday, and we can't wait. Pray that Jet lag is gone by then. Until next Time.
Dillon.