GCC Mission's Trip

Before being sent out by Grace Community Church as a full-time, long-term missionary, I had the privilege of going on several short-term missions trips, both as a single person and with Gus after we were married. Those short term trips were life-changing for me, every one of them in many ways. It's always so eye-opening to visit another country and see how believers live and operate outside of the United States. Short-term missions trips can be a huge benefit for the person going. But what I learned, after being on the receiving end of them, is how they can be an even bigger benefit for the missionary!!

We were so blessed to receive a team of 5 people from Grace Community Church (GCC of Sun Valley, CA) who came to minister in Spain. This group was a huge blessing to the church, Toral, and definitely our family.

The team leader, Jonathan, was a missionary kid who grew up in Uruguay. He spoke perfect Spanish and was such a great example of servant leadership. The church was blessed to hear him preach both on Thursday at the prayer meeting, as well as the Sunday morning service. Forgive the blurrish picture, but it was taken with Gus' iPhone while he was preaching Thursday night.

Their primary reason for coming to Spain was to work in Toral, helping to get the facility ready for the summer. Every summer, Toral hosts camps for almost 4 straight months. Hundreds of men, woman and children fill the facility for back to back camps of various types. Child, teen, soccer/English, various music and family camps occur every summer for people who come from all over Spain and even other European countries. Staff get flown in from Canada, America, and even Brazil. So preparing Toral for the summer is a huge job and very needed. This team worked SO hard with a servant's heart, which blessed everyone around them. We couldn't believe how much they accomplished while they were here!!

Our family was so encouraged by this team! Since there were only 5 of them, we were able to host them at our house and we really enjoyed spending time with them. On Sunday, we hosted a lunch with the team and a few other leaders from our church. It was a fun day and we had such a great time with them. After dinner, we walked around the block, stopping to take a picture at San Marcos, the hotel right across from our house.

For their last days of the trip, they decided to stay in León and hang out with us! Most teams will spend a few days at the end of their trip in Madrid for some sightseeing, but we were so excited that they chose to do that in León! Our boys enjoyed the team members as much as Gus and I did. The team loved on our kids and it was so precious to see them investing in our children's lives. More than once, Cael asked why they were here and it was so cool to explain how they took their own vacation time and money to come here to serve the Lord. Words can't really express how grateful we were for the example they set for our children.

We enjoyed showing them the sights of our city. I am always reminded of how beautiful León is, especially as I see it anew in the eyes of a visitor.

And of course (!) no visit is complete without a trip to the Bodega. Loida and I enjoyed spending quality time talking with the girls that night over dinner. Oh and I know I've always talked about the ox meat and how yummy it is, but can I just add how delish their coffee is too?!

Sadly, their trip was over with so soon. Gus and I were beyond blessed and encouraged by this team. We had so many awesome spiritual conversations and enjoyed every minute with the team. By the time they left, our boys were so attached to them and sad to see them go! Their return bus to Madrid left at 3 am, so they spent their last evening in our home, since we are a 2 minute car ride to the bus depot. It was such a blessed evening hosting the 5 of them for that night. We will never forget our time with this team and hope they can come back next summer!!

This, by the way, is a picture that Jonathan took of Coen wearing his sunglasses. So cute!!