From Spain

Hello!

First off I would like to apologize for my awful use of the english language in my last entry. Forgive me please! I was reading over it to see where I had finished and I was very dissapointed in myself, haha!

So, I have been in Spain since the 23rd of February. I am staying with Lance Mckinney, a missionary, who is very active in evangalistic outreach and motivation of the Church. I am in the city of Malaga, which is on the south-eastern coast of the Mediteranean. This is where I spent the first week of my stay here. Teusday, Wednesday and Thursday I helped out with a youth camp in one of the city Churches. It was a really good time and I was amazed at what God did there!

Before going further, let me say that when I first arrived in Spain I was almost immediately aware of a spiritual atmosphere that was much shallower than that of the Philippines. This is not to say that the Spanish Christians are shallow, but rather that the country itself is not as open to Christ. There are various reasons for this which I can't discuss now because it would just take too long :) In short, I was coming from a Bibleschool in the Philippines (a deeply intense spiritual environment) to a Youth Camp (less intense spiritual environment). This was quite a switch, but I was prepared for it. What I wasn't expecting though, was for God to come in an even more powerful way here in Spain than back in Asia! The truth is, He did.

On Wednesday night as we were worshipping and listening to the message, there was a definate moving of God and at the end when we prayed for the youth. He touched many of them in a very real way. His presence was so close and precious! A closeness I had not felt in a very long time. You see, for about two years I have been somewhat frustrated at not being able to feel His presence. So often I have watched Christians who displayed all of the outward signs of emotion during tmes of worship and prayer, but I could not do that because I would have had to act it out. I have wanted it so bad, but knew that unless it was really God moving me, than it would just be me. Just a human, stirring up his emotions and pretending to experience something supernatural. Even the idea of such a fake spiritual facad makes me cringe! But throughout this period of time God has shown me how I cannot allow my senses, or emotions to decide how close or far away from Him I am. I mean, we all know how decieving our human emotions can be. So there I am, in this place where I have already made up my mind that the people around me are not as spiritual as the ones I was previously interacting with. But then God came! I felt His presence like I had'nt in so long, and I saw Him moving in the hearts of the people; it wasn't plastic, it was real! And how can I explain the feeling of Gods presence except to say that when He's there you never want to leave! When He's there you are completely emersed in peace and joy; you are perfectly content; there is nothing else!

So to sum up my first week... God moved in a place where I had not expected Him to, and it changed me.

I've made some great friends here by the way! The Spanish people are so wonderful and I really do love them!

This week I drove up to Madrid with a friend and he is showing me around the city and the YWAM base here! I will be taking a bus back to Malaga tomorrow and leaving with Lance and Itiel (a friend) for Gibralter on Thusday morning. They have to meet with some Pastors to plan a huge outreach event where, by Gods grace, thousands will come to know Jesus!!! I'll tell you more about this in my next post, because right now I really don't know enough about it!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your prayers!

God bless you, Emmanuel

P.S. If you have any questions just comment, or get a hold of me on facebook!