On June 29th, I got on a bus with about 50 strangers and headed towards ten days of adventure. On July 1st, I boarded a plane with a few new friends and again, quite a few strangers to a city known as Madrid.
3 days of basecamp.
7 days of Spain.
10 days of incredible adventure for this Divine Romance.
I remember being on the plane frequently looking out the window, having small talk with the man sitting next to me, and anxiously wondering what this next week held.
Half a day later, we found ourselves wandering the city of Madrid with our JSIs [Junior Student Intern], getting used to the metro system [subway], and walking off our jetlag. Sleep was very precious that night. haha
After a morning of worship and studying, the next afternoon each trek set out for their sight. My trek headed to a park in a neighborhood called Lavapíes. I don't believe it was by accident that our sight was named, "Wash Feet." Jesus threw little reminders of Himself like this at me all week.
We spent the afternoon and early evening saturating Lavapíes in prayer and observing the culture. Having the opportunity to constantly lift up Madrid and the people who called it home was so neat.
Each evening, all of the treks would meet back in the hostel for a time of celebration and worship. It was such a sweet sound hearing praise to our King echo off of the walls in the small meeting room and gently escaping through the open window into the darkening sky. One night, the guy leading worship quietly told us a lady in a building behind ours' had turned off her lights to be unnoticed and would stand listening to us on her balcony each time we sang. I remember him saying something like, "She probably doesn't speak English and can't understand us, but lift up Father's love anyways." I can't help but believe that Jesus was drawing that woman to Himself in some way.
The next afternoon, we began our time on sight prayer walking again. One question we were asked was, "Would you be okay if all you did this week was prayer walk?" Answering that question really put our focus on the importance of prayer.
"Prayer does not equip us for the greater work of God- prayer is the greater work of God." -Oswald Chambers
Our trek did get to witness some answered prayers on our sight. A few of my trek members walked by a small restaurant more than once and saw a woman working, but she had no customers. My trek members prayed for her and asked that she would have customers. Later that day, they walked by again seeing the woman serving quite a few people. The restaurant continued to be have people every time we passed it throughout the week. Seeing this each day was such a blessing.
Another blessing was getting to be taught each morning by a missionary [M] couple from the Middle East and one living in Madrid. I was amazed at how much I learned throughout the week from these people. One thing that stuck out more than most of the rest was when the M from Madrid challenged us towards the end of the week to, "Have enough faith for one person to be saved. Just one person."
Our trek talked about that during our Bible study time during the afternoon that day. My thoughts kept going back to his challenge all day. That night, before I went to sleep, I read Luke 15. [If you have a second, you should go read it.] This particular chapter contains three similar parables.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
The Parable of the Lost Coin
The Parable of the Lost Son [Prodigal Son]
To sum up the point of each story, verse 7 says,
"... there will be more rejoicing in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
And there I was listening to Jesus whisper, "Have enough faith for just one person to be saved." Such a sweet moment.
Fast forward to our last day on sight in Madrid. That morning, one of the Ms from the Middle East spoke about preparing to go home. He repeatedly said, "Think globally. Be obedient locally." He also said something I've heard Jesus say to me so much in the past year since I've moved towns.
"Bloom where you are planted."
I laugh at the fact that I had to fly to another country to not just hear but finally listen to these words. I jotted the common phrase down in my journal and repeated them in my head for the majority of the day.
"Bloom where you're planted, Sarah. Bloom where you're planted."
As I prayer walked with one of our JSIs and my AC [Adult Chaperone] that afternoon, we talked about our churches and communities and prayed for them. After sitting down for a quick break, we got back up and not knowing this had already been on my heart all day, my AC said to me with a smile on his face, "Bloom where you are planted, Sarah!"
Like I said earlier, Jesus threw little reminders of Himself at me all week and continues to do so since I've come home.
So here I am, a month and a half later, finally finishing this blog and continuing to learn to bloom where God has planted me. I'm continuing to have faith for that one person, and I'm constantly being reminded of the importance of prayer.
One exciting thing that has happened since I've come home was finding out two friends of mine will be heading to Madrid, Spain with iGo Global next Summer. I'd actually prayed to know someone going next Summer and hearing that news was such an incredible reminder that Jesus is faithful. I am beyond excited to hear how God's ancient work is continuing in Spain!
I'm learning that this Divine Romace is an exhilarating adventure; globally and locally. The harvest is plentiful and I'm honored to have the opportunity to share God's love and glory with His people here or there. I'd love to tell each of you every little detail, but I'll spare you unless you ask. Jesus has been so sweet to me and I am ever thankful.
"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages was kept hidden in God, who created all things." -Ephesians 3:7-9
My trek: Zane, Madison, Me, Kayla, 'Moose', Kora, & AC: Matt. Such wonderful people!
A walk to the park in Lavapíes. I really loved this diverse neighborhood!
"And the kingdom will be the Lord's." -Obadiah 1:21
