Sunday, January 29, 2006

Friends and Family

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much... " -Jesus the Christ

Being away from family is definitely the hardest thing about living on another continent. I remember shortly after Lori and I moved to Spain I came across this verse and was intrigued by it. God seems to understand on a deep level the difficulty in leaving those who are closest to us for his sake and so he gave us a promise to bless us with family, fields, etc when we have left it all behind for his sake. He does not say that he will replace family (I don´t think that would be possible or desirable), but he promises to give us even more family. During those first days in Spain I wondered how that was possible and how that would play out in our lives.

One way that we have seen this verse come to pass in our lives here in SdC is through our friendship with Father Sal. He is a retired Priest that our team met several years ago. He was born in thePhilippines but spent a significant amount of time working in San Francisco. When we celebrate holidays he celebrates with us. He loves our children and our children love him. He is like a surrogate father, grandfather and friend. Occasionally we have a meal together and it is like having a meal with the family when we are hanging out with him. Yesterday he invited took us to a local Philippine restaurant where we tried some typical Philippine dishes. We praise God for his blessings and the ways that he works that are beyond what we could think or imagine!

International Cuisine Day Yesterday was a day of foods around the world. In the evening Lori, I, Jacob and Tania met at our house with a Cuban-Gallego couple who are parents of one of Abiga's friends at school. We had a mix of traditional American, Gallego, and Cuban dishes. It was a blast hanging out and trying new foods. We look forward to our future with our new friends!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Around the World

Friends from Lancaster! Lori and I returned to Spain from our time in the States a week ago Friday and hit the ground running here in Spain. We were pleased to have Zack Altoff come last week to begin an internship here with us. We have known Zach for years as we both have the same home church in Lancaster, Ohio. Zach is living in Spanish student housing and will be giving us a hand in the cafe over the next couple of months. He also brought music recording equipment and some graphic design skills- that should be fun! Our good high-school friend Krista Rea also came last week. She too is from our home church of First Presbyterian, she is here for a visit and we praise God that we have this time to catch up with her.

Friend from Europe! This weekend (almost before recovering from jet-lag from my previous trip) I went with Troy, Scott, Jacob and Tania to Paris, France. We went to a conference that was hosted by IT workers in France for European Church leaders. The guest Speaker was Brian McLaren. While we were there not only were we challenged by Brian´s message to church leaders to work together. This is especially needed in Europe where so many Christian churches are deeply divided and fragmented across denominational borders. Some of the things he talked about reminded me of some of the positive experiences that I had in Lancaster, Ohio when all the youth Pastors would meet together and pray. I pray for and would love to see the Christian leaders here in SdC come together to bless and sharpen one another.

Todd Burkes is a an IT worker in France and he gave us a deep glimpse into the people and history of France. We got to see first hand the suburbs that surround Paris and were able to see France's racism play out before our eyes. Thankfully, Mark Soderquist who lives and works in inner city Chicago was there to keep us from becoming too self-righteous and to remind us that the United States has the same problems of of injustice and oppression of the poor in its inner cities that France has in its suburbs. I also got to meet Paul Voltmer who works in a counseling minstry in Strausburg and see old friends like Matt Glock who works in Grenoble, France and Al Feria who works in Paris.

I really had a great time with all of these guys. It is always so powerful to sit over a meal or a coffee and tell and hear stories about how God is working around the world. I really appreciated my time with these guys and the way that they challenged me to be a better disciple of Christ. I am sure that I will be processing our conversations together a lot over the next days, weeks and months to come.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

What is up with the Swains?

Well, we came home for Christmas and New Years and have had a good time with friends and family in Lancaster, Ohio. We have been very busy trying to see as many people as possible during our time here and so we have not had as much time to write about what is going on. This week we took a short trip up to Chicago to touch base with friends and coworkers at International Teams headquarters and talk to some potential future teammates. As always it was very good to catch up with people and being at IT always reminds me of the bigger picture of what God is doing around the world. Lori and I will be talking about Spain briefly this weekend at our home church First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster. We are heading back to Spain on Thursday and definitely appreciate your prayers for the twenty some hour trip that we will be taking with the girls.