P.S. These are the bees that fly around out here.

Yup. It's a monster.

Malaga

My kitchen

Living Room

My room!

I'm at camp! You probably could have figured that, though. I'm having a lot of fun. There's a lot to get used to, but it's good. Sue and Glenn are really nice and they have been very good to me. I am reminded constantly of Nebraska and the Matz's, making me miss them even more. It's so funny that these missionaries I have found in SPAIN know the families of my adoptive family in NEBRASKA! I just can't get over that.

My house and the view from my front window.

So today is Thursday and I got here on Sunday morning. Let me just give you a low down of what I have been up to since then. Sunday there was a group here that was just leaving after lunch. I help set up for lunch, ate, and had the rest of the day free to settle in to my little double wide. Monday there was a little British woman here named Rowina. She does some gardening for the camp. I hung out with her and did a lot of weeding and pruning. Perhaps I'll learn more about gardening this summer :)  Tuesday was a day of painting. I hung out with the guys all day, stripping the paint off the outside of the house and the office then repainting it.

Surprise Cake

Whipped cream and wine cake.

Tuesday afternoon I went to a little town about twenty minutes away with Sue and Cristina (the maintenance man's wife who is absolutely hilarious) to attend the birthday party of another missionary. She is German and apparently birthdays are a pretty big deal in Germany. She made 3 cakes. AND her husband special ordered her one as a surprise. Whew that was a lot of cake. One of the cakes she made was a mixture of whipped cream and wine and it was super interesting. Another was apple and walnut, which would have been AMAZING if it had just a bit more sugar in it, and the other was a sort of cheesecake but made with yogurt instead of cream cheese.

More faceta.

Faceta we painted

Wednesday we made a day trip to Malaga (since the camp is actually in a little pueblo called Antequera). They showed me around a bit, we got some churros, did some grocery shopping, and went to see the fourth Pirates movie. There was a theater that was showing it in English and 3D, so it was super nice to be able to understand everything and not have to turn and ask the person next to me to clarify. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm in Spain here because it's kind of like we are in our own little world here! That might change once camps start coming, though. Anyway, today I cleaned all the dorms and bathrooms because there is a camp coming tomorrow afternoon from Gibraltar. I'm excited.

Rebeka

I have a follower, many of you will be pleased to know. The maintenance man, Fernando, has a four year old daughter named Rebeka. For some odd reason she has fallen in love with me and refuses to leave my side. She doesn't even want to go to school in the morning. She just wants to help me work at the camp. It's funny because her dad has been working here for years and she never helps him. Hahaha!

The language is very different here. I can still understand the majority, but sometimes I get confused because they tend to just drop off the ends of words, especially when a word ends with a vowel and an s. Instead of "nos vamos a Malaga" they say "no vamo a Malaga." That's not terribly difficult to understand, but let me tell ya, it gets difficult at times, especially when they get talking really fast and there are more conversations going on. My brain just checks out.

The hat the guys gifted to me today to
 "protect me from going crazy in the hot sun".
They were really worried about me being out
there without a hat on...

This post is turning out to be insanely long There's just so much to tell you about my new place! The other girls arrive here on June 10th, so that will be super fun. My internet access is a bit limited here. My house is about a 3 minute walk from camp, so I don't have internet there. I have to bring my laptop down to use internet which is kind of a pain, but it's ok. I just don't have a ton of free time in the first place. I'm here to work, right? The biggest thing, though, is that I don't really know when I'm going to have internet access, so it's hard to plan Skype dates and such because I really have no control. I can honestly tell you that I have no clue what I'm doing tomorrow or any day for the rest of the summer for that matter. It's so nice and freeing, but puts a bit of a damper on knowing when I'll be free. Right now I generally have free time from 12:30-2:30pm your time, maybe a little later. That could all change when camps start coming, though. Actually I'm pretty sure it will. So if you want to chat, you'll just have to send me an email or leave your Skype up so I can chat you when I'm on! Ok? Ok. It will be great.

P.S. Sue is a great cook! Praise the Lord for good food!

Camp Info!

Ok, so praise God, I just got a handbook for summer staff from the people who run the camp. It gives me a WAY better idea of what my summer is going to look like and what I'm going to be doing. Makes me way less worried and nervous about what I have gotten myself into. I don't feel like I'm blindly going into the summer, which is a relief since I catch the bus to Malaga in 4 days! So, I will share a little bit of the information I have received with all of you :)

First, my address.

Glenn Ashcraft

Kimberly Zander

Finca Los Chorrillos

29312 Vva. del Rosario

(Malaga) SPAIN

I'm not really sure yet, but I think you have to put Glenn's name on it for purposes of the post office being able to find me. He's the guy who runs the camp, so no worries. I'm sure he's really nice. You can send packages or letters at any time because I will arrive there in four days and it will take around two weeks for anything you send to arrive at the camp.

Second, it looks like we will be doing a little bit of sightseeing while we are there, which I'm excited about. I haven't been to southern Spain yet, because I was hoping to get a chance to go a few places while in Malaga. Good news, I will! I'm sure it will include places like Granada, Cordoba, and Sevilla. And it will be great.

It also looks like there will be a bit of discipling going on during the summer. YES. I was sooo hoping for that. I want to be able to make connections with these people, grow so much deeper in my relationship with God, and be challenged in areas of service and humility. I guess you could say those are my goals for the summer then, huh? Feel free to ask me about them and hold me accountable on them throughout the summer!

The handbook also has an example of a typical schedule, waking up at 8am to get to work around 9:30am and ending with supper at 9pm (normal dinner time in Spain). After that we have free time, which I will most likely use for sleep :) I am hoping to maybe be able to jump in on some worship nights with the camps if there are any and it looks like I might have a bit of opportunity for that.

Lastly, what you all REALLY want to know... I booked my flight home today. Let me just say that this is subject to change and I haven't exactly talked with the camp about it yet, but they are pretty flexible. Right now it's looking like I will arrive in Chicago the night of Thursday, August 18th. A little earlier than I was thinking, but no big. The next available flight was August 25th, which is way too late for me. I want to be able to go to Battle Ready (the planning retreat for Navigators) which starts on August 24th. More than that, I want to have a bit of time at home to visit with all my dear friends before heading off to school!

Ok, ok. I'll stop talking now. Let me know if you have any questions!

Summer

Let me preface this post first with my emotions about what I am about to say. It is TOUGH for me. I really want to come home right now. As if I haven't already missed out on enough, this summer, I am going to be missing out on even more: weddings, graduation parties, a family reunion, a job, birthdays, road trips, spending my 21st birthday with my friends and family, reconnecting with everyone, and summer plans that many of us were looking forward to when I came home. It doesn't help either that everyone in my program is going home in a week and they all keep talking about how excited they are to go home and what their amazing plans are with their friends. I understand that I have consciously chosen to stay in Spain this summer, but it has it's ups and downs for me. Right now, I wouldn't like anything more than to be looking forward to flying back to the United States in a week. It's just not happening.
With that said I know that many of you miss me, but remember that I miss you just as much or even more. So, friends, please don't yell at me about how much you miss me and want me to come home because you want to show that you miss me and care about me. I know that about you. What I need right now is your support, because otherwise it is just that much harder for me. Thank you so much to those of you who have already given me your support.

So. Summer. My program here in Valladolid ends on Friday the 20th. Friday night I am flying to Latvia to visit a friend who lived next door to me last year. Another friend of mine who is here in Valladolid with me has family in Latvia that we are going to visit with. We will stay there for about a week and then I will come back to Spain. See below.

An opportunity has presented itself for me to work at a camp all summer in Malaga, Spain called Manantiales de la Vida (Springs of Life Camp). It is a Christian camp near the southern coast of Spain run through Avant Ministries. This camp is a bit different than what you may be thinking, knowing the typical American summer camp. It's more of a conference center. The camp is run by Glenn and Sue Ashcraft, who have been missionaries in Spain for the last 25 years. It is open for most, if not all of the year. What happens is different organizations sign up for certain time slots and have their conference or "camp" at Manantiales de la Vida. They bring all of their people, teachings, equipment, etc. So, I am not going to be a camp counselor.
I will be more of what we know as support staff, working in the kitchen from time to time, washing dishes, doing set up and tear down, cleaning bathrooms, fun things like that. It is a volunteer position, but they are able to cover my room and board, with it being a camp and everything. I will have internet access, so I will def still be able to keep in touch, and I'm pretty sure I am able to receive mail/packages. I think I have Saturdays off, so that might be the best day for me to do Skype dates and keep in touch. Let's see here... what else? There will be two other girls working there with the same position as me. They are both from Nebraska and I don't know their names or anything about them, but it will be fun. Otherwise, there is Glenn and Sue and I think two other Spanish families.
Right now I plan on coming home around the 20th of August, but that depends on a few things. I can let you know more once I book my flight.

If you want to look up the camp or Avant Ministries, here are the links:
Manantiales de la Vida / Springs of Life Camp

Avant Ministries

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me.

Monografico

Hi everyone! I'm back from traveling through Italy and Greece and my do I have some great stories for you! BUT they will have to wait. We have a ten page paper (all in Spanish, worth two credits) due on Thursday night and I have about seven pages done right now. Then I have to put on the finishing touches and do all the extra stuff (bibliography, cover page, table of contents, etc), SO updates will have to wait.
Also, I will try to update you all on what my plans are for the summer and when I am coming back or if I will be staying in Spain.

Missing you all! Love to hear from you!