Busy December

As has been the case for as long as I can remember, December is a busy month! This year was definitely not an exception to the rule. I've included a hodge-podge of shots to show some of what was keeping me busy this past month... in the church, we had an intense weekend of focusing on inner healing, and then the following weekend had an incredible prayer retreat with the group above. In this group, Antonio is the only Spaniard (if you don't count the kids of foreigners who were born in Spain). God had much to show us in terms of vision and direction as a church during that weekend.

These two pictures show some of my choir activities in December. Between a recording session for a radio station (the picture isn't that great, but I still wanted to give you an idea), various Christmas concerts, and an amazing performance of Handel's Messiah in the National Auditorium with five Spanish choirs and a professional British orchestra and choir, it was a packed schedule!

Mary and I have discovered that we are a good team when it comes to planning things. This Christmas, we coordinated the Christmas service at both the Madrid and Hoyo locales as well as the New Years all night prayer vigil. The picture you see here captures part of our "interactive Nativity". Everybody had a good laugh with that part of the service, but it was also very meaningful.

Our extremely generous neighbor once again spoiled us... this time with a traditional Spanish sweet bread that is eaten the day that the Three Kings bring all of the children presents (Jan. 6). In this pastry (roscon), there are two surprises baked in... if your piece has the nice surprise, you are supposed to get a wish, but if you get the bad surprise, you have to treat everyone to the roscon! My neighbor wanted to make sure Asel and I had the full experience, so she bought a roscon from one of the most famous bakeries for this pastry in Madrid and made us the special Spanish hot chocolate for dipping. (Spanish hot chocolate is similar in richness and texture to chocolate pudding before it solidifies). After this experience, I was even ready to stay away from sweets for awhile!
This is the group of those of us who stuck it out all night long for our New Years prayer vigil. This was an awesome way to bring in a new year as we celebrated what God did in 2006 and looked ahead in active prayer for what God might have for us in 2007. I'm excited to see what is in store!