A team from Dallas and Mexico visited during Easter week. A couple of artists from Mexico did some evangelism in the park. Using their painting talents, they attracted lots of kids. Several kids knew the Bible stories, and they all got to take home some comic books with stories in them. The adults showed some curiosity over the art works, but remained cold to any discussion or presentation of a religious nature.











We took a short trip to GUADIX during Easter week. Apparently, when the Spanish re-conquered the area, they allowed the Moors to stay, but they preferred to move out of town into the nearby hills. There, they carved out houses in the hillside (caves), and put “house facades” on the fronts. So, they lived underground with beautifully finished facades.

People still live there. no need for heat in winter or air conditioning in the summer. It sure is strange to see smoke stacks poking out of hill-tops!










We’re always amazed at how religious people seem to get around Easter! And Baeza’s no different! There were processions all week long, at all different hours. Some even involved little children at 10:30 or 11:00 at night. The “floats” are fairly heavy, as noted by the number of people carrying them. I guess that’s not the only heavy load they’re carrying!

Different floats were carried by different groups and cofradias. Even the civil guard got in the act, and carried a float!

There were several bands that accompanied the processions, even some little kids got in the act. There was some similarity with holy week in Guatemala, but some distinct activities, too. We didn’t see any of the floral carpets, but they tell us that’ll happen on Corpus Cristi – next week.

We always love to visit our good friends in Decatur, Alabama, where the First Bible church is. While in the US during March, I had a chance to attend FBC’s missions conference. Along with that great experience I got to spend a couple days with Jim and Lynne Burleson and do a little “work.” They’re re-modeling their log house, and agreed to an extra hand in putting up the last of the logs for the roof, and a few of the columns. The first day we worked in the drizzle all day, and the second under a snowflake-filled sky. Sure was cold! But it was great to be back in the construction business. And having that handy “heavy-log-lifter” was a boon, too!









I (John) spent a few days in Dallas, helping with some family matters, and would you believe it snowed! That’s the first snow we’ve seen for almost 20 years. Didn’t last long, and I was glad to let it go! Our three boys are living there with my sister Barbara, and really enjoying it. Tim and Ben are still in college, and Andy is working in the film industry, traveling in the Dallas area. At present, you can look for his name under the “gaffer” in the credits. He’s hoping to do some actual shooting, and maybe work into direction some day. Tim has a couple of semesters left, having transferred from John Brown to the UTD. Ben just spent three months with us here in Spain, and will be returning to Dallas in early June. He’ll be working at a local Christian camp during the summer, and probably pursue studies in journalism in the fall.

There’s always a warm welcome at FBC, and I had a great opportunity to give a report about what’s happening here, and just renew good friendships in general. Time in a Sunday school class allowed us to challenge folks’ thinking again, and get us out of our comfortable ruts.

The music at the conference was outstanding, as usual. I came home recharged, and challenged again. We’d like to see some young folks from that church do an internship here, when we get all settled in.

We talked to someone recently who had visited Spain in the past. Their impression of Spanish food was summed up in four things: bread, tomatoes, ham and olive oil. Although that’s not all they eat, it was certainly an interesting observation. There’s always a big rack of hams at the grocery store. There are also shelves and shelves of olive oil. One of the favorite ways to use tomatoes is to peel them, grate them, and spread the “sauce” on toasted “French” bread covered in oil. And bread – well, when we walk into the bakery, the girl there almost automatically reaches for a “bar” of bread. And everyone heads for the bakery right before lunch every day. There are, of course, all kinds of other foods, but if you don’t like one of the above-mentioned ones, you might have a hard time when you visit.

Olive harvest is almost over. John went out one Saturday to help a friend “harvest” black – ripe - olives. (And did you know that green olives are really black olives that haven’t ripened yet? And that the little red thing inside isn’t really part of the olive? You can buy olives with anchovies, pimento, cheese or even jalapeño in them – yum!) anyway, big canvas-like nets are spread under the trees, and then the workers either beat the tree with light rods, or use some kind of vibrator to shake the olives loose. After about 15 trees, the olives are all scooped into a light utility trailer (if you aren’t a big-time producer) and taken off to the “Co-op” where they are cleaned, washed, weighed, analyzed for oil content, and processed right then. The farmer then gets credit for so many pounds (kilos) of oil. After a whole day of beating olives, the neck and shoulders can sure hurt!

Over Thanksgiving we went to an “English camp,” put on by a different mission. The greatest part was the one-on-one conversation time. John learned all about the political structure of Spain (not ALL ABOUT, just enough to understand the elections coming up this March, 2008)

Jan had a chance to learn about all the great vacation spots in and around Spain. (not ALL, just enough to wish we were going somewhere!) We hope to offer some kind of English camp like this in Baeza in the future.

Over Christmas we had a visitor – a future colleague! Krista spent about two weeks with us, got to know the church folks, and got a better idea what to expect. She’ll be back in the summer for a one-year internship. As it turns out, she’s also going to have a companion here for the whole year! We’re also expecting a short-term intern this summer. Jan and Krista posed in front of our favorite sidewalk café where we’ve spent many a summer evening watching the town go by. We see the hosting of interns as a key ministry – whether from North America, or Central America. Christmas dinner lasted two days (we prepared two different dinners for two consecutive days), and had people from Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Spain, and the USA, of course. Good thing we found two small turkeys!

We’re also beginning to branch out a bit, as time permits. We visited Tomelloso one Sunday to help in a church, with Angel and
Raquel, missionaries from Mexico and Spain who met at the Rio Grande Bible Institute. Issac and Lidia are also missionaries who will be moving to a town about 10 miles from Ubeda (Sabiote). We hope to be an encouragement for them, too. Our friends who commented on the dietary practices also commented on the spiritual conditions they found. Their observation? This is a very Godless country. By the way, who has a higher per cent of believers – Japan, Thailand or Spain?

Thank you, Krista, for the photos!

As the olive season approaches harvest, we’re seeing new activities: as the olives turn black, the farmers are spraying their orchards with some kind of insecticide. The big fan-thing blows away the fine mist coming out of the tubes around the perimeter of the fan. They tell us that harvest should start around mid-December here. It’s interesting to see big tractors circulating about town, bouncing over speed bumps, and pulling up in front of the pedestrian crosswalks.

If it doesn’t rain these days, harvest will be on time. The tractors have a big set of jaws on the front, that grabs the tree and shakes it. Everything falls off onto a sheet under the tree, and that’s it. Doesn’t sound all that romantic: you know, Mediterranean, olive groves, harvest festivals, etc. oh well…

I’ve got a few photos of the September campaign. We were waiting for someone to send us a CD of photos he took, but it didn’t happen. We took advantage of market day to set up on a street corner with a sound system and a board with an interesting presentation of the gospel. Unfortunately, the police ran us off before we could get to the end of the presentation – left a lot of people lost! Turns out, we were wrong to use the sound system, but DID have the right to preach on the corner. I imagine the officer’s mother-in-law or mom called him up on the phone, and said to “Git down here, and get rid of these heretics!”

I had a chance to preach in the park – felt a little like Paul in Athens, except the Greeks here made no comments – not sure if they were even listening! But three of us talked a little bit each. I’ll confess, I didn’t feel all that comfortable standing out there, and talking to the wind. I wonder what guys like Jeremiah and Isaiah thought when they were out there preaching, and their countrymen didn’t pay any attention.

We handed out about 4000 pieces of literature – booklets, tracts, Bible portions, video tapes, and even bibles in some cases. Every single thing got a sticker that gave our phone number and names, in case of questions. Everyone joined in the work of sticking them in.

One thing that really drew crowds was the “evangelistic bike.” Felisa, a lady from church, was a fearless bike rider, stopping to talk to crowds, offering them the gospel in plain language. Lots of kids were drawn by the bike, and wanted a try. The answer? Turn in your cell phone, and you can take a spin around the park! A lot got a ride, everyone got his phone back, and we had quite a bit of exposure.

We had a church outing before the weather turned cold, and went to a national park for a day of fun. Climbing rocky crags and mountains took me back to the “good old days” in Nigeria as a kid! We will definitely have to do that again!!! We played games (John and Jan being the official game preparers), shared lunch, and sat around and told stories for hours. Got home about 10:30 at night – as usual!

Just yesterday we had a visit from a church in Milwaukee, looking for opportunities to partner with a local church. We shared the church’s vision for ministry and expansion, ate good food, and walked around Baeza, to give them a feel for the town. For a Euro, we got to climb the bell tower of the cathedral. Sorry –no bells – no bats, either - just lots of pigeon poop! We had a great panoramic view of town and the surrounding countryside. They headed off to the Czech Republic to check out a work there, before flying on home to the USA.

I'll add a shot of our church in Ubeda. The church (the people part) is about 100 years old - although the building itself was bought in 1963 0r so. We'd like to expand into a newer attractive facility that would give us room both in the sanctuary and classrooms for Sunday school, etc.

Next issue should have a photo of my driver’s license. I take my written test the 8^th of November, then the driving part. I can’t believe I’ve been driving for thirty years, and am finally taking drivers education. No comments, please!

August 2007 long week!

We attended our first CAM missionary conference in Barcelona last week. Of the 32 attendees, a little over half were CAMers from Spain. We invited some Latin missionaries who were by themselves, some CAMers from Albania, and some other expatriate missionaries who were by themselves, too. With Jan are Miriam Ramirez from Santander, and Karen Jaworski from Toledo (Spain, of course!) Check out the Mediterranean in the background.

As the newcomers to this field, we were drafted to plan some games (call them activities, they’ll be more acceptable). We played reindeer cootie with a bull instead of a reindeer – and don’t even ask! One team kept losing on purpose so they wouldn’t have to move, until we discovered they were sitting right under the air conditioner! Barcelona weather was a little overpowering at times – humidity and higher temperatures than here in Andalusia. We also played a take-off on what’s my line. We learned a lot of well-kept secrets about our colleagues! Blackmail anyone?

Bill Lawrence came from Dallas to work with us during the conference, and we were really challenged in our Christian lives and walk. Even after being here for just a few months, we enjoyed hearing a sermon in English again. Speaking of English, we went into downtown Barcelona to look for an English-speaking bookstore. Well, we found it, but the cheapest thin paperback was about $10.00! We’re going to have to get something in motion to keep us in books. We planned on taking the train to Barcelona – a nine-hour ride – but when we went to buy our tickets, they were all out! Apparently, everyone in Spain goes on vacation in August, and everyone returns home the last week of the month. Well, the road was pretty long going, so we decided to change routes going home – it was longer still! But we sure saw some pretty country: rolling hills, orange orchards by the mile, wheat fields from horizon to horizon, more rolling hills, grapevines loaded with grapes, pine-tree forests, winding river beds and canyon, lots and lots of traffic – tractors pulling trailer loads of grapes home from the vineyards, and finally the olive groves of home. We pulled in about 10:30 or so Friday night.

We had lunch Sunday with a lady from church, and heard a lot of the history of the area. The church itself has grown and shrunk over the years, depending on who was persecuting them at the time, and how the local economy and agricultural fortunes were doing. We are about 50 right now. Things are a lot simpler here in the church. Very few people attend who aren’t serious about their faith. As little as 20 years ago believers were being persecuted right here in Ubeda! Prayer meeting on Thursday evenings is well attended, and we have a special prayer meeting at our place the second and last Tuesday of the month, to pray for Baeza specifically. Lucia plays the guitar for our services, and different members take turns leading the service. Communion is celebrated every Sunday, and the preaching is rotated between the two elders, a couple others, and myself. Imagine my surprise when I found that neck ties and suit coats were persona non grata here! Sounded fine with me.

A couple weeks ago we went for a Sunday afternoon ride in the country, a picnic, and a long afternoon out. We took a picnic and went with a family from church – Jose and Encarne, with daughters Eunice and María José. When they talk picnic, they really talk food! We had shrimp, a “pressed meat/ham” thingy, chicken salad, bread, watermelon, other fruit, and a lot of other stuff. We were stuffed by the end of the day!

The ride up into the hills reminded us of Guatemala – pine trees, winding roads, hairpins: just take a look.

We also went by a dam and hydro-electric plant built in the 1940’s, on the Guadalquivir river – a large drainage basin in southern Spain. Lack of water in the last few years has left a lower water level. If you want to find it on Google earth, look for “El Tranco.” Up on the highway there’s a town called Villanueva del Arzobispo. They told me there are three untruths in that name: No villa, nothing new, and there never was an archbishop in these parts. I guess it was a real estate scam to get settlers in here. Lots of strange names around, giving witness to the different ethnic groups that have controlled southern Spain over the years. The Arabic impact is seen in the music, architecture, language, and agriculture.

Here in Baeza there’s a heritage of long history. We saw a building with a stone in it that said, “1412, site of old municipal butcher shop.” There are a lot of old buildings, including several cathedrals. We were also shown where the grand inquisitor used to stand on his balcony and watch the “heretics” walk off to the stakes to burn. Makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?

Saturday afternoon there was an interesting parade. We really couldn’t figure it out until we asked one of the many observers. They told us it was a “romería.” Turns out, that’s a Roman Catholic tradition – hence the name “romería.” In this case, they were returning the statue of the local “virgin” to its normal resting place until next year’s fair.

There was a lot of dancing and drinking – not all of it alcoholic, but it sure looked like the folks were have a merry time! I imagine there were blessings for those who participated.

Everyone got dressed up, from little kids to adults. And when the different “wagons” slowed down to wait for traffic, everyone would get down and begin the typical dance of this region.




The parade took hours to pass, we finally got tired and went on home
We have a couple of routes we take for our evening walks. One goes north and west around the edge of town – out into the olive groves. Beautiful sunsets out that way! And we can see the olive trees beginning to show their loads of olives. Apparently December is harvest month.
The other route is the eastern and southern edge of town. We end up going home through the central park, and often stop for a coke or a lemonade icee, sit, and watch the folks go by. I guess it’ll be getting too cool soon to do that, so we’d better take advantage while we can!
You'll have to take the olives on faith - small picture, smaller chance of seeing them.