Madrid visit update

My time in Madrid was, in a word, amazing. I had a chance to stay with two staff members, Stephanie and Marie. Interestingly enough they both have BFA connections as Marie's brother attended BFA (he was a senior during my first year here!) and Steph herself is a BFA alum. So, we had a lot to talk about over the course of my visit! These girls were both incredibly welcoming by opening up their home to me, showing me all around Madrid and the surrounding area, and sharing their own stories and advice with me.

Seeing Christmas lights in downtown Madrid with Steph

Since I arrived on a Saturday morning, the first two days of my trip involved lots of touristy things: shopping, sightseeing, etc. I also had a chance to attend a progressive dinner with the ECA middle schoolers on Saturday night, and went to an international church on Sunday morning. I met several ECA staff members during the weekend, too. The rest of Sunday was spent in Madrid with Tour Guide Steph, who helped me finish my Christmas shopping, guided me to the best churros place, and basically showed me a great time.

Oh you know, just a ton of meat at the grocery store...

The city center of Madrid was jam-packed

Churros. That is all.



Meeting Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

Monday morning arrived and even though I was on Christmas vacation, I found myself walking to school with Marie for staff devotions! The staff were also very welcoming and I enjoyed chatting and getting to know some of them more throughout the rest of my visit. I sat in on several classes, mostly middle school ones but also a few high school one, too. I was blown away by how similar the students at ECA were to my own students at BFA. Aside from the language differences, they were almost the same kids. If I were to close my eyes and just listen to the conversations, I would have thought I was just sitting in my classroom in Germany. It was really neat for me to see firsthand how another international Christian school operates.

As you might remember from this post, I have been entertaining the thought of teaching at ECA during my totalization year. I asked you to pray for God to guide my thoughts and conversations while in Madrid, and for wisdom in how to respond if a job offer was made. Well, I am excited to share with you that during my visit, I was offered an invitation to teach in the middle school next year! I've spent the weeks since my visit thinking and praying about whether to accept, and within the last week several things have fallen into place that have affirmed for me that I should accept.

So now I begin the process of seeking approval for this transition from my mission, TeachBeyond. There are a lot of bases to cover before I can truly announce anything officially, but it's important for you to know where things stand right now and where they are (hopefully) heading. In other words, I am taking intentional steps toward spending next year teaching in Madrid, but it is not a done deal yet. I am simply continuing to say "Yes" to God until he closes this door.

Right now I'd ask your prayers in these specific ways:
- Official approval from TeachBeyond
- Spanish visa application (must be approved four months in advance and is very detailed!)
- That I can still be fully present and focused on my current role at BFA
- That God would clearly and firmly close this door if he doesn't want me in Madrid

Serving at ECA would be very similar to being at BFA in that it is also not a paid position, and everyone on staff raises support to be there. I'll be sending out more details in the weeks and months to come, but for now I'd like to ask you all to consider how you might join me in this next chapter of serving the kids at ECA. I'll be looking for new monthly supporters to join the team and praying that many of my current supporters will choose to stay on for this next year.