Chocolate and Churros

For those of you who know me it will not surprise you to find out that my first breakfast in Spain included chocolate.  I went to a Ladies Bible study this morning and was served chocolate and churros (the rest of the family went to a restaurant for the same menu).  Spain has a hot chocolate drink that is very thick - almost the texture of a runny chocolate pudding.  It is served hot and you dip your churros (basically long sticks of fried funnel cake type dough sprinkled with sugar) in your drink.  When you have eaten your fill of churros you then use a spoon to finish off the chocolate drink (way too thick to drink).  I knew I was home for sure.

As for the Bible study - it was an interesting experience to sit with a group of women who are studying the Purpose Driven Life in a small group setting in women's homes.  I understood next to nothing they said (I did not have a translator), yet their passion was evident without understanding language.  In a country where you hear so much about how much Jesus has been rejected, it was like a light in the darkness to meet a group of women who were studying how to make their light shine even brighter.

We then took the train to Vicalvero, about a 40 minute train ride from here. This setting was much more of a big city environment.  We walked around the city as well as took the city bus.  On the way to the McDuffee home (a SEND family), where we were visiting we stopped at the bread store for bread to go with our lunch.  The restaurant could be smelled before we arrived and the bread we got was hot.  As we left, both kids said "I can live here."  (I am sensing a theme of accepting Spain as our homeland based on food choices).

It was exciting to hear how a church the McDuffees have worked with for years (pictured to the left) is nearing the ability to functioning as a stand alone church without the help of an outsider.  Prayers are beginning for how this church will now multiply.  Again, you hear so much about how hard the land of Spain is, so it is quite refreshing to hear that the Holy Spirit is moving and working here.





Mormon headquarters for Spain, Portugal, and France is located in Vicalvaro.




Mail Box (the kind on the street for anyone to put mail in)



Older Apartments in Vicalvaro



Kitchen in the Nordgren's Apartment



View from Nordgren Apartment