Fitbits and Mullets

A Week in the Life: Day Three

It's currently 6:21 am, and I'm about to finally head to bed. It's been a pretty amazing day

via GIPHY
First of all I finally broke out my Fitbit, and as of right now I've walked close to 18,000 steps today. Excuse me while I pat myself on the back!

I had a meeting this morning (when I say morning, I really mean Ibiza morning which isn't actually until 1:00pm). It's a check in for some of the work I do here on the island. It was great to get prayed for and encouraged. Definitely left that meeting feeling good!

On a side note, I just want to mention that today it was super hot in Ibiza! According to my phone, it was just as hot here today as it was in Las Vegas. The big difference is that the humidity level in Vegas was 6%. Ibiza was 67%!

After the meeting a few of the girls I work with and I headed to the Hippy Market in Es Canar.

 

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon off. Lots of funky jewelry and flowy skirts. I will definitely be back!

Tonight I was on the streets. It was my first night out with the current 2 week team that's here. My first hour out started when we got a call from a local restaurant owner about a drunk guy who'd fallen asleep at one of their tables. Wanting to make sure he got back to his hotel, they called us. When we got to him the first thing I noticed was he was wearing a wristband with the name of his hotel on it. (can I get an amen!) This was exciting because we knew exactly where to take him. Sometimes when we find people, we have to sit with them for a bit before we can get the correct hotel name out of them. But not tonight! Within 10 minutes we managed to walk him back to his hotel and get him safely to bed.

Not all of my interactions worked out so well. We later met a group of girls who needed some help. One of them was not doing well. The girls were a little suspicious when we approached to offer help, so we had to send them off with a prayer that they would make it back to their hotel. As we were headed back to our center we ran in to a worker named Phil. Everyone in the west end loves a bit of fancy dress, so of course he had on a mullet wig! When we're out on the streets, we love to help people get home safe, but we also love chatting and praying with people. We asked Phil if he wanted prayer, and he decided to pray for us! It was great to stand and listen to him pray, as he asked God to bless 24-7 for all the work they do in the west end.

I had one other event to attend before finally heading back home at 6:00 AM. And now...it's time for bed!

See ya tomorrow!

Let them Eat CAKE!

A Week in the Life: Day Two

Today started with a few meetings. The work I do in San An is part of a larger work that's happening here on the island of Ibiza. That work includes the planting of a church, as well as some amazing stuff that's happening in Ibiza Town, and other places on the island. I have this meeting every other week, and it includes people who have moved here to participate in the work that's happening. We get together to catch up, and to pray and worship.

That meeting was followed by another meeting with everyone who's here to work specifically in San Antonio in the west end. After the rush of meetings I got ready to do a shift in our 24-7 Ibiza Center. Our workers center is open from 4:00 - 8:00 PM. We have wifi, computers, FIFA, table tennis, and most importantly for all the Irish and English, we've got free tea!

The center is a great place to connect with workers. They can come use our stuff for free, and we're there if they need help, or want to chat or pray. 

An added bonus today was that I got to work my center shift alongside Jeff and Suzy! They're an amazing couple from the UK who've given up one year of their lives to come serve in Ibiza. Sadly today was there last center shift, as they're headed back to England next week. (boo!)

Today was Jeff's birthday, which meant lots and lots of cake! 

via GIPHY

Today's center shift was full of not only cake, but also lots of coffee, table tennis and a few tears. Once we'd closed up for the day, we headed out for a little goodbye celebration for Jeff and Suzy. I'm off again tonight, so it's early to bed for me! 

Definitely gonna miss these two! 

A Week in the Life...

In wanting to share more about my time here in Ibiza, I've decided to do a week in the life blog series. I'll be blogging every day this week. The goal is to give you more of a glimpse of the work I do here in Ibiza... 

A Week in the Life: Day One

It's the beginning of a new week which for us here in Ibiza means a new 2-week missions team has joined us! This team is from Ireland, and I'm excited to get to know them as they join in with the work we do here in the west end.

The first thing every team that joins us gets to do is go through orientation. There they get to learn a little history about 24-7 Ibiza and about what God's been doing here on the island. 

Here's one of the videos we share during orientation. It's a brief glimpse into the prayer and work that's been going on in this place for over 15 years! 

Straight after that they got to do a prayer walk around San Antonio led by yours truly. It's one of my favorite prayer walks to do. I love getting to introduce the teams to San An, and to lead them in joining their prayers with the hundreds of others that have been prayed over this place. 

After a little afternoon siesta the team was invited around to my apartment (that I share with two other awesome ladies that are serving here). We had an awesome meal, and it was another chance to get to know this new group of people I'll be spending some quality time with for the next two weeks. 

Tonight's my night off, but I can't wait to hear all about how their first night on the streets went. 

Now it's 1:15 am, and I'm headed to bed early tonight since I have a full day tomorrow...

Hello

via GIPHY

This is the part of the blog post where I apologize for not actually blogging! Let's just pretend I did that and move on... 😀

(on a side note, we definitely need to start using more gifs!)


Teams
Things here are in full swing. I can hardly believe we're quickly approaching the end of June. July will be here before you know it and we'll be headed into the peak time of the season. We've just had our second missions team with us, and they were brilliant. They were here for 2 weeks, and during that time they got a real taste for the work we do here. The teams do everything from participating in our night time street work, to giving out free popsicles on the beach!

The heart of what we do happens out on the streets of the west end at night. When you go out at night wearing our 24-7 Ibiza t-shirt it doesn't matter if you've been here 2 days or 2 years. People will approach you for prayer or for help. It's always amazing to watch these teams quickly get over their shock, and dive right in!

Church
We have a church service we offer the working community on Sunday evenings in our center at 7pm. It's a super simple service, meant to connect with people who don't normally go to church.The goal is to keep around 30 minutes long. We're doing a series on the attributes of Jesus that's been going great. I got to speak a few weeks ago, and some of the talks have been real conversation starters.

Streets
I spend three nights a week out on the streets of the west end. It's a crazy place full of bars and clubs, and I love it.

Since our first night in May, we've seen some amazing things happening. There have been so many opportunities to help vulnerable people. My favorite thing out on the streets is to get to pray with people and to offer them the hope that Christ brings. We're never pushy about sharing faith. Everyone knows that we're "The Christians", so they often will come to us with their questions about faith. Or they just want prayer. One of my favorite encounters happened one night when I was walking by a club in the west end. I was going to give a wave to the guy who works on the door when he approached me, and grabbed both my hands. "I really need you to pray right now, because I'm having a shit night." he said to me. I grasped his hands, and we prayed. So many people have been responding to prayer because they say it makes them feel better. We know that's the Holy Spirit at work! Every night I see the proof that God is alive and working on the streets of the west end. A place so many people have given up on. God is moving. He hasn't given up on this place, or the people in it!

Here We Go...

Since I arrived in January, I've had a growing feeling of excitement. I'm excited to finally be here, and excited for the summer season to begin.

Monday night was our first night back out on the streets of the west end, and it did not disappoint. I'm gonna be honest, the first night kind of snuck up on me. Even though I had the date down in my calendar, I found myself a little shocked as I sat in the prayer room at 10:30 for orientation. After all the years of praying and working to get my Spanish visa, it hit me that I was finally here.

For about 30 seconds I let the pressure get to me.

"What if I let people down?"
"What if I came all this way for nothing?"
"What if I go out there and nothing happens?"

Of course that's all in my head. None of what happens here depends on me. It all depends on God. The truth is that going out into the streets of the west end isn't about me being prepared, or having some sort of amazing master plan. It's simply about me following God's leading.  With him everything is possible (Philippians 4:13).

In the end my first night was great. I met a lot of people that I'll get to know over the summer, and I had a great conversation with one of the long term workers. I even got to pray with someone out on the streets!

I walked home that night with a smile on my face, and a heart full of anticipation. This is just the beginning. I can't wait to see what God's going to do next!

Bring it On...

As of today, there are only 8 more days until the season begins. Our first night on the streets is April 30th, and I must admit that I'm excited.

We're not alone, as the whole island is getting ready for the influx of people that will be coming to visit this summer. A lot of businesses in Ibiza are closed in the winter. Now all those places are cleaning, painting, and getting ready to open.

The true sign that things are getting ready to kick off, is that the Burger King inside the Ibiza airport has re-opened. It's an unofficial sign that it's time to get to work!

The last few months have been good. I've had a chance to settle in, and I've been able to be a part of the winter rhythm of prayer. I've gotten to experience a little of the quiet before the storm, but now it's time to get to work!

Easter in Ibiza 2018

Happy Easter everyone!

Today we gathered as a community to have Easter service on the beach. 

Today was also baptism Sunday. 

In baptism we are publicly confessing our belief in Christ. As we go down in the water, we are letting go of our past, and as we break through the surface we are raised to new life in him!(Romans 6:4) 

After church we had a barbecue, and it was just a great time to relax and get to know people better.

I can hardly believe that I've already been in Ibiza almost 3 months. The time is flying by. Our first missions team will be arriving within a few weeks, and the excitement is building as we get closer to the beginning of the season.