The Almond Branch

 

Everything is shifting. It is the last full week of the term and in less than two weeks, half of the interns graduate and will be heading back to the U.S. to move forward with the next step in their lives. We’ve all been trying to push it out of our thoughts, but the impending change is still hanging in the air, weighing on us as we begin all of our “lasts.” Last weekend together, last time at the beach, last class with this group of ten, last house dinner together… They are all coming and soon after, everything will change.

What is even harder is that the change has already begun. This weekend I took a two-day trip to Granada with Allison, Brook, and Grant, some of my fellow interns. While we were there, Grant got news on his iPhone that his mom had a stroke – her fourth one in the last nine months. He left early the next day, a couple hours before us, to head back home to Mijas where he could more easily get into contact with his family. When we walked in the door a few hours after him that evening, we found out that his mom was in ICU and was probably not going to make it, so he was being Skyped into ICU.

My heart broke.

This is one of our interns… one of our friends, our family members… and things haven’t exactly been easy in his life. To hear about such a distressing, heart-wrenching thing sent our whole group into tears and prayers. The leaders of G42 stopped by our house periodically throughout the night to encourage and support Grant while everything was going on. It was a tough night, but Grant is a really strong man and demonstrated peace and hope in the midst of that horrible situation we never want to imagine ourselves in.

Right now, Grant is on his way to Madrid to catch a flight back to L.A. where he can meet up with his relatives and brothers and see his mom one more time before the machine is turned off and she goes home to the Lord.

Graduation is one week away. Our hearts are broken for Grant. And we’re so sad to see him go, only days before getting a chance to celebrate his graduation from the last six months of hard work here at G42.

The house feels extra empty tonight, and I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in a couple weeks when every leaves permanently.

However, I know that although the change and transition will be sad for all of us, it is an occasion of celebration and an event to rejoice in. The interns who are graduating – AnnieRose, Allison, Lynsey, Jenny and Christ Telfer, and Grant – have been poured into for six months here and have grown, changed, been challenged, and been filled up to the brim. They are bursting at the seams, ready to embrace their life-passion and the dream that God has put into their hearts. They are prepared, they are passion-filled, and they are ready – and they are about to go and do incredible things in this world! As sad as my heart is to see them go, I can’t help but also rejoice, knowing that they are fully equipped to do the work God has set out for them to do.

Andrew, the director here, taught us a story from Jeremiah 1 this week. It’s when God speaks to Jeremiah and calls him to be a prophet. After telling Jeremiah that, even in his youth, he is still qualified and capable of leading God’s people, simply because God has chosen him, God then asks Jeremiah what he sees. Jeremiah gives a simple answer – an almond branch, which God affirms is correct.

So what’s so important about an almond branch? Andrew has one in his garden and he told us something unique about it: the almond tree is the first tree to bloom in the winter. He walked out onto his terrace one grey January morning and saw the tree with blossoms budding on the branches.

Jeremiah was living in the midst of a winter. His country and his people had hardships whirling down all around them – economically, politically, spiritually, and socially. Yet when Jeremiah looked around him and described what he saw, he didn’t say he saw winter. In the midst of the coldest, darkest time, Jeremiah saw the one tiny thing that wasn’t winter: a fresh new bud on the almond tree – the symbol of hope, the promise of spring, the reminder of new life ahead.

In the midst of change, in the midst of goodbyes and departures, in the midst of our friends’ winters and our own winters, I hope we can always remember to look for the almond branch. There is always a spring ahead. And there will always be a sprig of hope in the middle of the winter.

New Realities

The G42 House on Calle San Sebastian is always bustling and teeming with interns and guests who are running around the house, laughing, cooking, working, and talking. It's rare that the house is ever empty or left alone to one person, but right now that's where I've found myself. The whole group, including some of the G42 staff members, has gone to hang out at a local pub, something I would normally love to do. All the G42 interns here are well aware of my enthusiasm for social events and have quickly learned how keen I am on getting out of the house, going new places, and meeting new people. However, tonight I had to decline the invitation to go be a social butterfly and be a part of all the excitement and interaction. Instead I decided to stay home and have some alone time.

So the house is quiet. And I'm enjoying sitting here and having the chance to reflect.

A lot has gone on in the last couple weeks. I think I've experienced a little bit of every emotion possible. After I got back from London, we had an incredible and intense week with a teacher from the U.S. named Ted Hanson. Ted is from Bellingham, Washington where he has founded House of Bread Ministry and a training school called the School of Eagles, both ministries in which he is currently involved. In addition, Ted is an apostle and a prophet and does much international travel and public speaking in order to train, activate, and release people into the future God has planned for them.

While he was here, he taught on New Covenant Realities - basically the differences between the old covenant God made with the Israelites and the new covenant that has been established through Jesus Christ. The way he taught was innovative and offered a brand new interpretation on things that I had never considered before. As a result, I found myself mentally and spiritually challenged every moment we were in class. Most of the interns left class every day overwhelmed by the amount of new information that we heard and exhausted by trying to keep up with Ted and understand it all, yet we still felt full and satisfied because we knew that we were retaining and understanding exactly what we needed to for the time being. Throughout that week, I frequently heard phrases along these things: "I have no idea what's going on, but my spirit is getting it and I'm feeling really good about what I am catching onto!"

Basically, we knew we were hearing truth and being changed, but our minds were being blown beyond our comprehension. All that to say, I can't really explain yet what I learned that week. I'm still processing it all, still trying to make sense of it, and still recognizing places that it has hit me in my life and seeing the changes it has caused in my mindset and actions. The good thing is, Ted is coming back next semester and we get another chance to soak up the wisdom and passion that are dripping off of him. That's gonna be another intense, but insanely good week.

The whole week that Ted was here, we had a group of seven people from England visiting to check out G42. I was also cooking dinner that week, so my afternoons were spent cooking and my evenings were spent making new friends :) 

cooking dinner

While cooking, I realized these important things:

              1. I like cooking (even when it's for 22 people!)

              2. I'm not that bad at cooking

              3. Cooking can actually be kind of fun

I know... not all that novel of thoughts, but they were quite revolutionary for me! I always hated cooking and thought I was never capable of doing it, but I actually found last week that not only can I do it, but I can do it without anxiety and stress and can actually have a decent result! Of course, it helps a whole bunch having AnnieRose, my cooking partner, working alongside me in the kitchen with her easygoing and peaceful demeanor, because we always figured out a way to deal with whatever went wrong... and it was never a big deal! 

setting out the yummy food!

I also had a ton of fun with all the English folks visiting, and spent lots of time discussing different English dialects, accents, and odd phrases. It was also really nice having some extra people to hang out with throughout the week. On Friday night after tapas, we all headed down to the local pub (the one where everyone is at now) and hung out there for a bit. When they kicked us out at closing time, we then relocated to the terrace at home where we could sit in the cool night air and look up at the stars. It was brilliant.

dinner with our English friends

Dave Hearn

In the midst of all the fun and excitement with visitors and the thought provoking times with Ted, we were assigned a vision project. I've known about this project since before I even arrived at G42, and I knew that it was going to be a lot of work and a big deal, but I was really looking forward to the day when I actually created it and completed it.

Basically, our vision projects are an opportunity for us to communicate to others what our passion is and what we want to do about it. As I've explained before, this can be anything from a business to a non-profit organization to a ministry - essentially something that we want to start and put into effect in order to share God's love with people around the world. 

Bec Hearn

We haven't presented our projects to each other yet, so I haven't seen or heard about everyone's vision specifics yet, although I know that there are some really cool ideas that have been thought up. During the moments when I wasn't racking my brain to make sense of Ted's life-changing wisdom, cooking dinner, or hanging out with new friends, I was spending time with Andrew or his daughter Bec and son-in-law Dave to try to refine and sharpen my vision. I had a general idea of where I wanted my focus to be, but I had a lot of options and wasn't sure how to narrow it down. A nice conversation with Bec over lunch helped open my eyes to where my heart and passion truly lie and almost instantly provided me with more direction and plans for the future. After recognizing where my heart is and what I want to do, I had a much easier time sitting down to complete my project.

The project itself is simply a five page magazine article that explains our vision and includes the problem, existing solutions, and what our solution to the problem is. Sounds simple, but there's a lot of heart and passion that go into this article, so I definitely took my time with it. I wrote several pages about the problem and how it needs to be fixed, and then I got to the end and suddenly realized I didn't have a concrete solution. Another visit over to Dave and Bec's house, and I walked away with a crystal clear idea for how to materialize my plan. 

the awesome Hearn family

Of course, the plan is flexible and subject to change over time as I grow in my vision and define it more specifically, but for now I have a good lead that will take me where I need to start, and then I can proceed from there. I am quite anxious and excited to share this project with you, as it expresses my heart and is the beginning of what might be something really big in my life. I have a few changes to make still, but be looking for my article to be posted in the next week or two so that you will be able to read it and hear about my vision!

In the meantime, I am going to get some rest and relax and enjoy the last few weeks of the semester!

Trip to London

For the past few months, I've had a burning desire to go to England and see the English countryside. I've seen it in all the movies... from the older settings like in Pride and Prejudice to newer ones like Harry Potter... and have since had an increasing urge to go and see all its beauty for myself. I took a trip to London in 2005 with my family, but through all the media, I have realized there is much more to England than just the big city.

All that being said, I took a short trip to England last weekend, Thursday through Sunday, and was finally able to encounter the incredible English countryside I've been longing to see. I actually flew into London Thursday evening and spent the night with my sister's old roommate from college (Andrea), her husband (Dave), and their adorable ten month old baby (Georgia). We spent the evening chatting and catching up after not seeing each other for what we worked out to be possibly four whole years.

The next morning I got to sleep in (first time in awhile to do that!!) before Dave, Andrea, Georgia and I headed out to eat lunch/afternoon tea at the Orangery. The Orangery is a place my family visited on our first trip to London and has remained one of my top favorite places to eat ever since, so you can imagine my excitement to finally be able to return after six years. It's a gorgeous restaurant on the grounds of Kensington Palace, with a beautiful view of the gardens from the sunny and elegant tea room. We ordered the traditional orange tea with a three-tiered platter of tea sandwiches, scones, and bite sized desserts. It was really filling and really delicious. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal together, but I definitely learned a thing or two about taking ten month old out to eat when Georgia started picking up everything on the table and throwing it on the tile floor and then squealing through the echoing room (mind you this is English tea where everything is proper). Needless to say, Dave and Andrea took turns outside with Georgia while the other finished eating.

After eating our delicious meal, we wandered around the gardens a bit before Andrea and Dave headed back to the house for Georgia's nap. And then began my walking tour of London.

Since I'd already toured London before, I didn't really feel the need to go in anything again, but I most certainly wanted some good pictures of the city. So I figured I'd walk. I got off the tube stop around Oxford Circus around 2 pm, and didn't get back on the tube until 11:30 that evening. In the meantime, I saw Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery (which I walked around in for about an hour), the Thames River and the bridges going over it, the London Eye (twice), Parliament and Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, and then everything again for a second time so that I could take some pictures at sunset. I ended my foot tour around 9:00 at a yummy sandwich shop in Trafalfar Square called Pret. As I sat on the curb eating my sandwich and completely exhausted from all the walking, I noticed a bunch of young people my age hanging out outside a pub across the street. Naturally I had to go over and join them :)

I actually ended up meeting a group of graduates from Cambridge who were all meeting up that night as a sort of "reunion" and had some really great conversations with them. I got to know a lot more about English people, although they ensured me that talking to a group of Cambridge graduates would not give me an accurate impression of true English people...

My night ended swiftly when I realized I only had ten minutes to figure out where the tube station was so that I could get it before it stopped running for the night and still make the train back to Dave and Andrea's. For once in my life, I made it... right on time :)

The next morning Andrea and Dave and I set out to Portobello Market in Notting Hill to check out a different side of London. The market was absolutely packed... barely any room to walk or breathe... but there was a ton of cool antique stuff for sale as well as newer creations of local artisans. The best part was the location, right in the heart of one of the trendiest and most picturesque areas of London, complete with pastel colored houses and posh ritzy dwellings.

I had to make another run for it to catch my train again, so unfortunately my last few moments with Andrea and Dave and cute little Georgia were cut short. At least we had time to get some frozen yogurt before I left though... something I have dearly missed! We said some quick goodbyes as we ran through the train station and then I hopped on my train right as the doors were closing.

I'll never learn ;-)

I enjoyed the relaxing next two hours as I alternated between sleeping and staring out the window at that amazing countryside. I was on my way to Nottingham... that's right - Robin Hood's territory. Nottingham was my original destination when I was coming to England, but London was just a nice little side stop along the way. Before planning the trip, I contacted Steve Holmes and his wife Lynn to see if I could stay with them for a night and see a bit more of their country. If you remember, Steve Holmes was the entrepreneur that came to teach us about business a few weeks ago, and he and Lynn were more than happy to have me over.

They picked me up from the train station in the afternoon. I didn't have a clue what the plan was for the day, but I figured I'd just go with whatever and enjoy being where I was. We spent the next three hours or so just driving. And it was perfect. :) They took me all over Derbyshire where we were and pointed out all their favorite places and towns, even stopping to let me get out and take pictures every now and then. Oh and did I mention we were driving in a BMW convertible with the top down? It was pretty much awesome.

One of the places we visited was a very famous estate called the Chatsworth. The Chatsworth House has served as the setting for multiple movies including Pride and Prejudice and The Duchess, both starring Keira Knightley. It was pretty thrilling to get to actually be in one of the places I've seen in so many amazing movies! We didn't go inside or anything, but just seeing it from the outside was spectacular. It is massive and beautiful, and I can only hope to be able to take a trip back someday to see a little more.

Steve and Lynn also took me through their town and showed me some of the offices Steve had talked about in class while he was teaching us. It was really neat to get to see the actual organization that had once just been a dream on Steve's heart and a promise from God, right there built and functioning in Alfreton, England. They also stopped by the Hall that Steve owns which serves as a popular wedding venue. Since it was Saturday night, there was a wedding going on and I got to enjoy observing the bride and groom and wedding celebrations. And we just may have stolen a little ice cream on our way through ;-)

On our way home we stopped at a cute and inviting cottage-looking pub that was even cozier on the inside. I ordered an ale and couldn't have imagined a more perfect English experience.

After the pub, we went back home to get ready to go to a concert that evening. We dawdled a little too long and didn't leave ourselves quite enough time to eat dinner at the Fish and Chips place they wanted to take me to, so we settled on a chain fish and chips place called George's. As you probably know, I'm not much of a fish lover, but how can someone go to England and not have fish and chips? So I decided to try it anyways. And it was delicious. :) By the time we got to the concert, heaps of people were walking out, opposite from the direction of the concert venue. We had missed it, but no worries... there were plenty of pubs to offer a fun rest of the evening. We found one somewhere along the road (really not hard to do in England... they're kind of like Starbucks, on every corner) and went in for another drink. It was nice to stay inside out of the cold, but we relocated outside when we heard Elvis songs coming from a stage out there.

A man about seventy years old stood on stage performing all the Elvis classics, songs, dance moves, and everything. We couldn't believe it. We found him... the original Elvis. This whole time we had all thought he was dead, but really he was just hiding out in Derbyshire, England.

Before going to bed that night, we watched the movie The Duchess since it seemed relevant to our day. It was a beautiful movie and lots of fun seeing Chatsworth in a cinematic production.

The next morning Steve and Lynn's son Josh picked me up for church and we headed to the Arena Church where the Holmes attend. It was nice to attend a church service in English without any other language or translation, so I soaked up all the wisdom and worship I could while I was there. I also was really encouraged to see a movement going on in England, a place that has turned so dry, as the rest of Europe, over the past few decades.

After church, Steve and Lynn wanted to take me for a traditional Sunday English meal, which I should warn you really means tons and tons of food! We ate at a buffet that offered three different kinds of roast and meat, potatoes, carrots, beets, gravy, Yorkshire pudding, and loads of other foods I can't even remember. I pretty much felt like I was eating a Thanksgiving feast, and it was that delicious. Words cannot describe my fullness when I was done... but man is that English food tasty! Definitely not food you would want to eat in Phoenix or Spain though... much too heavy and filling for a hot summer's day!

Before heading to the airport, Steve and Lynn showed me around to a couple more places in the area so I could get a few more pictures. We took one more cruise with the convertible top down, and said goodbye when they dropped me off at the airport to hop on my plane back to Spain.

It was a short whirlwind of a trip, but it was just enough to let me see the beauty of England and make me want to go back again soon!

The Holmes' cute English house

The Prostitute's Story

Last week I went somewhere I had never been before. A few of the G42 girls met up in town with a woman named Betsy who lives Granada. We got in the car and drove for the better part of an hour. For a while, the view outside offered a shimmery Costa del Sol, bustling beach towns, and sunny ocean front properties. After a while though, everything seemed to turn grey. In place of bright and cheery houses, we saw square, dull buildings – rows of warehouses, distribution centers, and cheap Chinese shops.

This was where the girls called home.

For some reason I had envisioned in my mind that the girls would be standing in a line altogether on the street, waiting for their clients. But as we drove through the street blocks I realized that each girl had her own corner, her own “territory” you could say. Rounding the corner, I saw a row of bushes with two pristine high heels delicately sticking out from behind. There she was.

Waiting for business.

As we drove a little further down the quiet street, her dark, smooth skin came into sight, adorned only by lacy lingerie and sheer pants didn’t leave much mystery about what was underneath. She had long eyelashes and bright colors on her black eyes.

Most people would call this woman a whore. Most people would think of her as a slut.

We found out she had a story.

Her name was Favor. She’s 24 years old and has been in Spain for 2 years, 8 months, and 13 days. She’s working to pay off the €50,000 debt she owes to a man who promised to get her out of Nigeria and take her to Spain where she could find a good job and earn money.

Back at home in Nigeria, her family doesn’t talk about what she does, but they and all the other families boast about their daughters “working in Europe.”

We asked Favor if she wanted to get off the streets. She defeatedly, and quickly, huffed “Of course.”

But she has no education and no way out. She’s never been to school, and no other jobs offer enough money for her to pay off her debt.

 Someday, she dreams of being a hairdresser. She even wants to open her own salon, just like her mom.

She did have one job offer.

A man she met on the streets said she could work in his bar in the evenings, as long as he could have her whenever he wanted.

“When I leave the streets, I am leaving the streets.

I don’t want another job where I have to keep giving away my body.”

This is reality. 

There are 1 million other women just like Favor in Europe, smuggled in from Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Spain alone has 300,000 women forced into prostitution.

Women looking for jobs, yearning for a real future, and desperately seeking a life that doesn’t degrade their bodies… but they’re stuck. They see no way out.

We have to do something to stop this... 

to help them.

Betsy is planning to open a women's home in Granada for the women who get the courage to leave their lives on the street and fight for a better life for themselves. The home will offer opportunities for education, job training, a safe place to stay, provisions, community, and protection.

A few G42 interns and staff members work with an organization called MATTOO - Men Against the Trafficking of Others. MATTOO has traveled all over Europe and the U.S. this summer, recruiting men to join the movement against human trafficking and publicly display their decision not to participate in these girls' continued enslavement.

People are taking a stand.

Men are taking a stand. 

Will you? 

Summer Rain

One of our assignments in class last week was to write a short fictional story about anything. I sat down to write and this is what came out:

 Summer rain always caught me off guard. The mornin’s started out with an ugly heat, sweat billowin’ down the back of our necks onto the straw pilluhs Pa had made for us. Me and Luella would toss and turn, hidin’ our eyes from the bright streak of orange peering in through the cracked windows and fightin’ off the cruel fingers of sleeplessness against heavy eyelids. Gettin’ up was no better. The second our feet hit the floor Ma was yellin’. Her string of orders came at us faster than the rush of the river in April, “Wash yuh face… eat yuh breakfast… help yuh brother… This damn heat!” We all hated that heat, and no one was ever any good at forgettin’ about it. Ma complained all day, right through puttin’ the soup on the table for dinnuh. Us kids just got huffy with each other, always blamin’ and fightin’ and kickin’. Pa was different though. He never said a word, although every now and then we caught his hard eyes squintin’ to hold back the sting of sweat rollin’ in.

            The worst part was puttin’ on our boots. Air thick around us, skin sticky and wet, we sucked in our last breath of freedom before wiggly, airy toes were tucked away into the suffocatin’ stench of last week’s hard work. And we were out the door with a kick in the rear – bare-faced, bravin’ that dazzlin’, unforgivin’ sun. The fields offered no protection but distraction, so we put our hands to work and spent the days playin’ peek-a-boo around Pa’s plow. And we was never alone, never without the sun snickerin’ at our red-hot faces and shirts stickin’ to our backs.

But then came the rain – every afternoon, almost without fail, at the absolute hottest part of the day. Pa was back in the house, lost in his whiskey by that time, but me and Luella was still hard at work in the field, diggin’, plowin’, and cuttin’. The first sprinkle would come, drippin’ on my arm, and swirlin’ with the thick sweat and mud. It wasn’t long before the clouds rolled in, quicker than we was ever ready for, knockin’ the sun behind their menacin’ darkness and bringin’ with them the inevitable downpour. We had nothin’ to do but run, snatchin’ up the clothes we had shed and pummelin’ through the endless rows of the field. Our only hope was cover. Luella always beat me to the house, leavin’ me slippin’ and slidin’ in her mud trail as I dashed home. I could hear Ma goin’ off about boots and mud before I even got into the house, and most of the time I didn’t even make it halfway in before Luella came squealin’ back through the door, draggin’ me out to dry off under the front porch where Ma wouldn’t get mad.

That’s where I got lost. Luella was always yappin’ about somethin’, goin’ on about what a nuisance the rain was, always bootin’ us outta the field and takin’ away from our workin’ hours. But I never heard her. I just stood with my toes at the very tip of the deck, head just barely covered by the tin roof above. Rain would splash my cheeks as the downpour went on and on. The air was still thick, but it was fresh. That stale heat had been swallowed up in the refreshin’ gray mist. Cool winds blew across the plains, makin’ the fields gleam from the shiftin’ pillars of rain tumblin’ upon ‘em. Only a few more minutes and the sun would be back out, robbin’ us of our rain treasure and sendin’ us right back to work. But even in the face of its brevity, I loved those moments. Eventually Luella would dry off and go back inside with Ma. But I always stayed right there, standing on that ledge, soakin’ up and breathin’ in all I could get of that cool summer rain.