Migration Crisis & Relief Project Update

Our ministry has started in two areas: Yegua Verde (the Green Mare – a rural type neighborhood surrounded by the green houses that are used here in Spain for much of the agriculture) and 200 Viviendas (200 houses – similar to neighborhoods know as the projects in the United States). Pictured below is the sculptured “green mare” that stands in the roundabout marking the center of the Yegua Verde community. Also below, is a picture of the playground in 200 Viviendas.

Ester is from Equatorial Guinea and now lives in Yegua Verde. She is interested in going to church and by the time we get this posted we will have had the opportunity to take her to a local Evangelical church in Vícar near her home.

Mamadou is from Senegal and lives in 200 Viviendas. He has become a friend and guide to knowing and understanding the culture and lives of those Africans living in 200 Viviendas. Pray that as we work with him we might meet other families from Africa who are also in need and that we might be able to be the presence of Christ to them.

One of the ways we are being able to meet people like Ester and Mamadou is through our weekly food distribution. Each Wednesday morning we work with a partnering missionary family and a Christian worker from Granada to collect the weekly excess vegetables from a nearby produce factory. We then sort and bag up sacks of vegetables for distribution to families and individuals who have little resources to purchase such items. Pictured below is our crew sorting and bagging the vegetables one Wednesday morning. This small scale food distribution has been a very meaningful and beneficial way for us to meet individuals, start friendships and nourish hungry stomachs. We hope that in time we will be able to share the “food of the gospel” and nourish hungry and hurting hearts.

Recently Tiffne visited a children’s program for North Africans. Some of our coworkers here have recently started this program. While we were doing crafts with the children some men from the local mosque came in and they were very unfriendly. Also, one of their wives told a little girl in the group that if she continued to attend the program she would hit her. This little girl is beautiful and she belongs to the family that is friends with our missionary partners. This same North African family has such a close relationship with our ministry partner family, that when their oldest boy got into some trouble at his school, our partners and Joel had the opportunity to talk with the school about a problem he was having and was able to work out a solution for his return to his classes. During that time, Tiffne held their new baby daughter and later visited in their home and had wonderful Moroccan tea and pastries. Please pray for our ministry partners and this precious family as they face some persecution.

Banana Boat Prayer Update:

• Pray for our “Migration Crisis and Relief Project.” Pray that we will be the presence of Christ to those we serve.
• Pray for the migrants and refugees that are making the dangerous journey to Europe. We have meet people from Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, the Gambia, Mauritania, and Somalia.
• Please pray for the two teams that are making preparations to come this summer and join us in our ministry here in southern Spain.
• Please pray for our family as we continue to assimilate to the cultures and languages that we experience here each day. (Please pray specifically for Megan’s dance recital in June – that things would work out for the ballet performance as well as the flamenco dance.)

• We have recently finished up the full-time language learning phase of our assignment here in Southern Spain. Please pray for us as we begin to research and explore ministry opportunities. We are excited about this phase of our work here.

• Our visas are finally in! Hooray! So we will be traveling in March to pick them up. Please pray that traveling with our three little munchkins will go as smoothly as possible. Please pray for us as we deal with jet lag and for Megan as she will miss some days of school, that she will settle back in well.

• Thank you for praying for Megan’s school situation. She loves her school. Recently Tiffne had the rare opportunity to volunteer at the school. Several mothers made bocadillos for all of the children. Bocadillos are a Spanish type sandwich made out of fresh baked bread (similar to French bread) with fresh tomato sauce mixed with olive oil and salt spooned into the middle. Some of the sandwiches just had olive oil mixed with either salt or sugar. The children loved them. Megan ate two!

• We have two different volunteer groups coming in the next few months. Please pray for us as we work together with them to begin our ministries here in southern Spain. A large part of what both parties will be doing will involve the work of our ministry project: “Migration Crisis and Relief Project”. The main goal of this project is to meet the physical needs of those internationals in despair, then through service build relationships that might lead to an opportunity to share the gospel. For more information about this project and how you might be able to become involved through prayer, giving, or service; follow the links on the right of our blog page for the previous post titled “August.” The project description is about half way down on the August 17, 2007 post.

We enjoy eating churros at the street market near our home. We have met several immigrants from Africa at this market. We greet them in Spanish, French, English, and Sereer.

On the way to Madrid to get our passports renewed, we stopped for a little sledding. It was a “little” because there was only one little patch of ice to sled down the day we were there.

In Granada before we meet with our landlady to sign another lease for our apartment, we stopped to see the Alhambra. It is an old fortress/castle from 1238.

Megan and her class enjoying the Carnival day at school.

Tiffne making bocadillos at Megan’s school.

Megan eating bocadillos at school during her snack time.

Jamón, as it is called here in Spain, is a cultural norm for fiestas. Basically, it is a hog leg that has been salted and hung to cure dry. To serve, just cut the outside off and slice the meat really thin and serve; no cooking or refrigeration needed. And, though it may not look enticing, it tastes great!

Christmas in Spain

Here in Spain there are some neat traditions at Christmas time. On Christmas Eve families get together and have dinner (around 9:30 pm, the normal Spanish time for dinner), then they celebrate together on Christmas day as well, but they don’t usually have a visit from Santa Clause (Papa Noel.) They have a different tradition that begins on January 5, but before that they celebrate New Years Eve by eating 12 grapes on each stroke of the clock at midnight (hopefully they are small and seedless, and actually you can buy small cans of 12 seedless, peeled grapes for this occasion.) Then on Jan. 5 there is a parade in which the three kings; the black king is named Baltasar, the brown bearded king is named Melchor, and then the white haired and bearded king is named Gaspar. The parade travels through town with candy for the children. In the homes that evening the children leave out three bowls of water for the kings’ camels and traditional Spanish Christmas foods and goodies for the three kings. The children also place a pair of shoes out near the food so that the kings will know how many children are in the home. The next morning, the children wake up to find gifts left for them from the three kings. This custom helps people remember that this season is about the birth of Jesus and the visit the three kings made to bring gifts to the King of Kings.

Immanuel – God with us

I love Christmas time. I love seeing the lights on the houses, the smells in the air, the tastes of all of the special dishes and sweets, the sounds of Christmas carols, the feel of snow crunching beneath my feet. I love Christmas. One year I was living in Africa just before Christmas. Christmas was very different in Africa. Most of the people did not celebrate Christmas, so you didn’t see Christmas everywhere like you do in America. The weather was very hot so it didn’t feel like Christmas. One thing I will never forget is singing Christmas carols to the beat of an African drum. That year, right before Christmas day I returned to America. One of the first places that I ended up going after I got off of the plane was a Wal-Mart store. I remember being so excited and just turning around in circles in the middle of the store looking at all of the Christmas decorations and just stuff because I love Christmas. My favorite thing about Christmas is that it is the time of year that is meant to remind us of Immanuel – God with us; the fact that God came to earth to be with us.

That day in the Wal-Mart store, Christmas just seemed so huge to me since I had just come from a country that didn’t celebrate Christmas, but the real enormity of Christmas is really stated in those four words: Immanuel – God with us.

Matthew 1:23 “’The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’”—which means, “God with us.” NIV

Thank you for praying for us during this holiday season when we are away from loved ones.

Merry Christmas from the Whitley’s in Spain!

Banana Boat Adventures to Tangier, Morocco and Valencia, Spain...

(Read from the bottom up, if you want sequential order. The newest posts are always at the top.)

Prayer Update

Thank you for praying for us:

• Thank you for praying for Megan’s school situation. She has been in school for 7 weeks now and she loves it. Her teacher is very nice, and Megan is learning Spanish very fast. She was invited to a classmates’ birthday party this week and she had a great time.
• Thank you for continuing to pray for our visa situation. Joel’s came in, but we are still waiting for Tiff’s and the children’s. When they come in we will travel to pick them up as well.
• Please continue to pray for our language and cultural acquisition here in Spain. We are involved with three different Spanish schools. Please pray for continued open doors to discuss spiritual things with our classmates.
• As we begin to prepare for ministry here in Spain we are looking in several directions. Please pray for God’s leadership in this area and for His open doors. We are researching the human trafficking crisis and how we can help here in Europe as well as how we can help with other migrant and refugee situations.

It has been a while since we have written an update. Life is busy and time always seems to be short. In spite of our lack of communication, we hope you have not forgotten us. Much has happened since our last update and I will try to share some of it with you through pictures.

From the 6^th to the 8^th of October we had to make a trip to Tangier, Morocco for a few days. This was a great experience for Megan. She knows we do a lot of work to help those who are poor, hurting, or devastated (like when Joel went to help with Katrina), but until now she has never been able to put a face to what it looks like to be poor, or what is looks like to need help. While in Tangier she saw a glimpse of what those lives are like. In order to be polite and culturally appropriate I was not able to capture in photos the people we saw, but I did have a few opportunities to take photos in and around the Medina area of old Tangier.

Here is a picture of the large Mosque in the center of the old Tangier Medina.

In the Medina, narrow, dark allies snake their way up and down the hill top. Shops line each side and you can buy everything from paintings to cloths to house ware to live animals (the boys really liked the street with all the chickens). While in the meat and vegetable area, I had the opportunity to ask a butcher if I could take his photo. He said I could, so here is a picture of an open air meat market.

While in Tangier were able to use our rusty French a little and remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be learning Spanish now and not Arabic. In this picture Tiff is enjoying a cold drink. Can you guess what she is drinking?

You never know what you might see in Africa. While driving around Tangier looking for a restaurant that was open we saw this caravan of camels walking right down a main road.

Between our trip to Tangier and October 25^th, Megan was in school and Tiff and Joel attended Spanish language classes. On October 25^th we loaded up again and drove to the annual UEBE convention in Gandia (Valencia). The UEBE is the organization that has invited us to work in Spain. The convention was a great way for us to meet like minded Baptist here in Spain. The work they are doing here in Spain and around the world is great and inspiring. We did not understand everything that went on in the actual sessions but made some friends and got ideas for a few more ministries we will be looking into.

Here is a picture of our family at the convention in one of the main worship sessions.

Below are two pictures from the convention. Both are taken during a worship session and it is humbling to know that even though we are different in culture, language, location….we worship the same God!

Halloween in Spain is a little different that what we are accustomed to in the U.S. For one, there is not really the tradition of trick-or-treating. Instead, families with children gathered in a park, bought candy, and enjoyed talking and watching the children playing in their Halloween costumes. We knew nothing of these Halloween activities until that night when we were invited to come to the park by some Argentinean friends who have a daughter 1 year younger than Megan at the same school. Here is a picture of our children with Megan’s new friend.

Finally, the morning after Halloween we let took the kids to another park near our house and snapped this picture of all three on the slide.

Thank you so much for keeping up with us through our blog newsletter. We are truly blessed by your friendship and support.

Thank you also for your continued support through giving. If it is your desire to give to the continuing efforts of missions around the world, please consider giving to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Offering for Global Missions by sending a check to: “Offering for Global Missions,” CBF Resource Center, P.O. Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329, or by going online to www.thefellowship.info and give with a credit card by following the links. The Offering for Global Missions helps support CBF field personnel and ministries world wide.

Or perhaps it is your desire to give directly to our project; you can do that by sending a check to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship – Project, at CBF Resource Center, P.O. Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329. Be certain to note our particular project by writing Migration Crisis and Relief, account # 89832 in the memo line.

Thank you again for keeping up with us, and for your continued prayers. You can continue to e-mail us at twhitley@thefellowship.info . We love hearing from you.

Migration Crisis & Relief Project...Helping Humanity

(Read from the bottom up, if you want sequential order. The newest posts are always at the top.)

Prayer Update

Thank you for praying for us:

• Megan is enjoying summer school and her Spanish language classes. On the first day of summer school she cried in the car saying that she didn’t even know how to ask for a Kleenex, but when we got to her school the teacher and a little girl who spoke a tiny bit of English were waiting at the gate to welcome Megan and they became fast friends.
• Our trip to meetings went really well and we adjusted as well as possible to the jet lag. Here is a picture of Megan, Cade and Dylan with their luggage.
• Please continue to pray for our language learning. It is going to be a real challenge to learn Spanish and then be able to minister to people in French and Sereer. Please pray that God will help us to differentiate between the languages and be able to communicate His love in various languages. One night this week as we were walking along the beach we met 5 ladies from Africa. They spoke a little Spanish, and French. One of the ladies was Sereer, so I (Tiffne) sat down next to her and spoke to her in Sereer. It was awesome! (For those of you who haven’t heard me go on and on about it – Sereer is the language that I learned in Africa while living there and serving among the Sereer people.)
  
• Joel's visa has come in and we are expecting the rest of the family's soon, so he will be making a trip to Houston, Texas the first part of September to pick up the visas. Please pray that his trip will go smoothly and that Tiffne and the children's time alone in Spain for 5-6 days will go smootly as well.
  
• Megan starts school in September. Please pray for her new teacher and for a smooth transition for Megan. Please pray that she will have an encouraging first day of school.

Thank you again for keeping up with us, and for your continued prayers. You can continue to e-mail us at twhitley@thefellowship.info .

__________

As we continue with language study we are beginning to look to the future. Our work here in Spain, as you know, is primarily with refugees and migrants coming from Africa. Spain and many European Union countries call this people “irregular immigrants.” In The Almería Messenger, a local English newspaper we receive, we read articles in each issue that tell of the number of immigrants reaching the Almería coastline. In the July 6^th to 19^th issue we read this:

“Another 96…immigrants were escorted into the port in
Almería City this weekend, arriving on two small boats
carrying 33 and 63 people…Reports indicate that at
least 36 of the passengers on the two boats are underage.”

Everyday hundreds of thousands of people leave their home in search of safety, food, or simply the opportunity for a peaceful happy life. Our work here in Spain is just one point were groups of people intersect with immigrants along common migration pathways. Our work is two fold: simply meet human needs and present the gospel. In order to facilitate our work we have developed a project titled “Migration Crisis and Relief Project…Helping Humanity.” Below is a brief description of our project, project goals, and how you might be able to partner with us in ministry here in Spain:

• Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
  Joel & Tiffne Whitley
  Internationals Cluster, Europe Team
  International Refugee/Migrant Coordinators, Spain
  Contact Info:
  twhitley@thefellowship.info
  blog: http://www.nabcsf.org/
  click “Banana Boat Blog”
  
  Project Info:
  Migration Crises & Relief Project
  Account #: 89832
  
  Project Description:
  The Migration Crisis and Relief Project is designed to meet two fundamental needs of internationals who either have migrated to or are migrating through southern Spain. The first fundamental need is to aid in the crisis stage of migration. These are those beginning days and weeks after first landing in southern Spain. The second fundamental aspect of this project is to assist those internationals we meet by providing relief for the situations in their lives through humanitarian programs and spiritual outreach.
  
  Project Goals:
  1) Meet the physical needs of the people who migrate into and through southern Spain and be the presence of Christ to them amidst their situation.
  2) Collaborate with the local Red Cross and other organizations that minister to the immigrant populations in the Almería region.
  3) Create ways to incorporate hands on ministry experiences through mission trips or projects for churches in the U.S. to participate in meeting the human and spiritual needs of the international peoples here in southern Spain.
  4) Establish this ministry then encourage and enable local churches to participate. Eventually the goal will be to hand over parts of this ministry to local church congregations.
  
  Project Involvement:
  
• Pray…Pray for the peoples who make dangerous journeys along the migration routes from Africa to Southern Spain.
  
• Give…Support the work of CBF field personnel by giving to the Offering for Global Missions or specifically to this project. Send donations to: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Resource Center, P.O. Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329. If giving specifically to this project, be certain to include this project’s account number in the memo line. (project # 89832)
  
• Serve…Join this ministry by sharing it with others and by participating in mission service.

Blessings,

Joel & Tiffne Whitley

Pictures for Fun:

The boys….Megan taught them to make these faces!

Megan, Cade and Dylan at the McDonald’s play place sporting their new D.C. shirts.

Good news!

(from June 23rd)

Megan got into summer school. We are excited. Thanks for praying for her. Please continue to pray for us as we begin our trip tomorrow. Please pray that we will adjust well to jet lag and that our visas will arrive in God's timing.

Your prayers are so important to us.

Love,

Tiffne

Blog from June 5th, 2007

(Read from the bottom up, if you want sequential order. The newest posts are always at the top.)

Prayer Requests:

1. We enrolled Megan in a summer school program at her new school; they are not sure that there will be an available spot for her. Please pray for God’s will in this matter and that this would help her feel more comfortable with starting kindergarten this fall.
2. Please pray for language and cultural acquisition for our entire family.
3. Please pray for us as we travel in June and July to meetings. Pray that our children will adjust well to jet lag.
4. Please pray that we will receive our long awaited visas soon.

Thank you for keeping up with us, and for praying for us. You can continue to e-mail us at twhitley@thefellowship.info.

In the Almería region there is only one Unión Evangélica Bautista Española (UEBE) church. The UEBE is the entity that has invited us to work in Spain and underwrites our visa. This is a picture of that church and it also happens to be the church we are attending. Our friends Pastors Eliezer and Virginia serve in this church.

These are our international friends from Romania. One of them volunteers with the Red Cross and works with immigrants. She offered to introduce us to the Red Cross staff to help us begin our ministry after language school.

Many of you have been praying for Megan’s school situation. Well, about two weeks ago we found out she has been placed in Torrequebrada. We are very happy and Megan is excited. Here is a picture of Megan outside of her school about to go in and register for classes.

Near our home and all through the region there are green house type structures. They are made of plastic and inside is grown everything from peppers to oranges. This is a picture across the top of a bunch of these green houses. At some places there seems to be so many that is looks like a sea of plastic.

This is a picture of the inside of one of the green houses. The workers (almost exclusively from Africa) were cleaning this one out and preparing the soil for the next crop. It looks like tomatoes were grown here previously.

Most of our life right now revolves around language learning. So, we thought we would show you our language school. It is just one of many shops on the ground floor of an apartment building and has three classrooms. We are enjoying the process of learning Spanish and the Spanish culture.