El Retiro de Guadarrama

Oh my gosh I just had an amazing weekend! On Friday, (which is part of the weekend because I don´t have class! HOORAY!!) I woke up late and did some homework, read lots of Spanish, and mailed my sister a birthday present...it´s gonna be a little late but I did mail it before her actual birthday so that´s gotta count for something right? Anyway, then I went and saw the Spanish movie Volver with Penelope Cruz...it was interesting...enough said...but I liked it and understood a good majority of it...minus a few details...

Then on Saturday, Lauren and I left the house at 6:30 AM...you know how bad I am at mornings...But we left to go on a retreat in town about 45 minutes outside of Madrid. It was with Amistad Cristiana, an evangelical church here in Madrid that actually has a ton of international people who attend. Lauren went to the church last weekend and signed up for the retreat and then I got signed up through her. Anyway, it was amazing and such a relaxing time although my brain kind of hurts because I´ve spoken more Spanish this weekend then all the past weekends put together. But I learned so much! The church actually has a really large group of young people just around my age and that was such a blessing! Making friends that are my age that aren´t American is an amazing thing because you really see more culture that way. I learned so many colloquialisms this weekend that I never would have learned if I didn´t know any young people. I am excited to get to know all these people and hopefully be friends with them...HOORAY!!!

The retreat was also an amazing time of rejuvination for me! I got to worship God with song which I have been missing a lot and listen to a wonderful pastor from Mexico who spoke alot about how Jesus is the only one who saves and the only way to be saved is through Him. I learned alot and was reminded of many things I already knew. For example, the fact that GOD is so GOOD!!! All the time, God is good! Just as I was beginning to get discouraged and frusterated with the secular world here because I had no refuge (save my quiet time...) He provides exactly what I needed and was desiring! I forget how necessary and filling Christian fellowship is and it is wonderful to have that here! Praise the Lord! It was also an interesting weekend because I have never been to an Evangelical church. While I worked at an inner city camp this summer with a very African American culture feel to everything including the worship, this was even a bit different. Thanks to camp, I wasn´t in complete shock but it is definitely alot different than my traditional Presbyterian upbringing (which I love and miss dearly...) So it was interesting to see the many different ways we praise the same God. Always a learning experience for me!

And then tonight I went to the church service which is at 6 in the evenings which is perfect in case we are traveling for the weekend. It was good though went about 2 hours long. I think that´s pretty typical for church services here...only in the States to we have only a 1 hour worship. Sometimes we need to stop and realize what is really going on, I think...but that´s another story.

So, good weekend, hopefully a beginning to a great upcoming week! I start teaching English tomorrow...keep your fingers crossed! Hugs and besos to all!