Banana Boat Blog

December Update

2011-12-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

Camping in the hills of southern Spain

This summer we had the opportunity to attend the Spanish Baptist Children’s camp in southern Spain. It was a great experience; sleeping in tents or cabins with bunk beds, worshipping together outdoors, swimming, seeing wild hogs and other animals in the hills. It was a great opportunity to be at a church camp where half of the children came from un-churched homes. One evening our pastor asked me to talk with the group about how I first became “friends with Christ” as a child at a church camp in the states. Please pray for the children who come from un-churched homes; that they will continue to have opportunities to hear the gospel.

Babies, Babies, Babies!

This summer we have had lots of new babies arriving in Roquetas. Ndeye’s daughter, Fatu, traveled from Tenerife, to bring her new baby daughter to see her grandmother. The baby’s name is Ndeye! Beatrice had a beautiful baby boy named Michele. Maimouna had twin babies and named them Adam and Awa. Rougi now has a new baby girl named Maimouna. Umi’s baby should be arriving soon. We have had a great time delivering beds, strollers, food, milk, diapers, and baby clothes. We have been able to attend two baby naming ceremonies, where the daddy whispers the baby’s name into his/her ear on the 8^th day after their birth and then they shave the baby’s head. Then for the rest of the day the women cook African food, which we all enjoy eating together. The most fun has been holding these precious little ones! Please pray for baby Ndeye; that her hips will grow correctly, so that she will not have to continue wearing a brace and that she will be able to walk correctly in the years to come.

A Little Bit of Heaven

One of our greatest joys in our work over the years has been having the opportunity to experience a little bit of what we believe heaven will be like in worshipping with people from different cultures in different languages. In San Francisco, we worshipped with the Church of the Nations Christmas service in which the Bible was read in 10 different languages. In Marseille, France we attended a choir concert where choirs worshipped together from Romania, Madagascar, Philippines, and Isreal. In Roquetas we attend the immigrant prayer meetings where folks from Africa, Spain, Romania, North and South America worship and pray together. During our August and September kids club, we sang “God is so Good” in English, Spanish, French, Romanian, Mandinka, Wolof, and Sereer! The kids also enjoyed eating cinnamon toast for the first time.

Daniel 7:14a: “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.”

Please pray for us as we work with people from many different countries and languages that they might see Jesus in us.

Backpacks and Birthday parties!

In August we gave backpacks to the children of families from our ladies class that meets every Friday. We filled the backpacks with pens, pencils, erasers, notebooks, folders, crayons, glue, sharpeners, markers, colored pencils, and a few other school supplies. After we gave out the back packs we had a birthday party for Sidou. We had a cake and sang happy birthday and then gave her a gift with clothes and a small toy. Sidou is ten years old. When she opened her gift her face was glowing with the smile and she gave us a big hug and said thank you many times. On the way home I was talking to Megan and saying that I thought the best part of the day was Sidou’s face when she opened her present. Megan said, “Mommy she had to ask me how to open it.” Sidou had never received a wrapped gift before, yet she is a happy child because she is well fed and has clothes to wear each day to attend school. We learn many things about contentment from our precious African friends. Please pray for the children in our community, that they would take advantage of the many opportunities that they are given and not be drawn in by negative peer pressure.

Association of Sereer in Spain

Years ago I served in Senegal with the Sereer people group. I lived in a small village called Fissel and learned the language and customs of this people group. I grew to love the people. I was sad to leave Senegal and hoped that someday soon I would be able to work with the Sereer people again. Several years later when we arrived in southern Spain to work with African immigrants, I was so excited and a bit surprised to meet Sereer people living in Roquetas. Now, once again, I am greeting folks in the Sereer language and enjoying their customs of baby naming ceremonies, African wrestling, and lots of fellowship together while eating poulet yassa, thieb o gin, mafe, and drinking attaya. Recently, Joel and I were able to join the Sereer Association here in southern Spain. After we officially joined this group of Sereer people, one of their officials said to us, “You are now a part of the Sereer family for always.”

Please pray for our Sereer family.

To read an inspirational story about the recent earthquake in Lorca, Spain, please click on “Thoughts Along the Way.”

Thank you for your continued support through prayer and giving.

Blessings,

Joel, Tiffne, Megan, Cade, & Dylan.

We're back!

2011-05-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

We have not updated our blog in “forever” because the banana boat has been in the water and on the move again. We spent 6 months in Texas for our off field assignment (used to be known as furlough.) We enjoyed being back in the states. We enjoyed Mexican food, and chocolate chip cookies! We enjoyed seeing our families for the holidays for the first time in several years. We also enjoyed riding horses, going to the rodeo and riding wave runners! Also during the summer we had the opportunity to do the missions camp in Lueders, TX. This is the same camp where Tiffne went as a child and asked Jesus into her heart – so it was a real joy to get to be at this camp as the camp missionaries.

We enjoyed visiting churches and talking about the work that God is doing around the world to reach the people who have not heard about him. We visited our church in San Francisco, California. It was so great to be back in this really cool city and to reconnect with our good friends there. We had the opportunity to visit the homeless soup kitchen. Megan, Cade, and Dylan helped prepare the silver ware and napkins while Tiffne stirred the huge pot of soup. Every year 19^th Ave. Baptist Church has a “church of the nations” picnic where each of the different language congregations get together to share food and fun. It is such a great experience to try foods from China, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Japan, along with hamburgers and hotdogs. This year the biggest attraction was the Mongolian wrestling!! Wow!

After off field assignment, the banana boat headed back to Spain! And we hit the ground running. Our church in Almeria, Spain did a great job ministering to the African immigrants in our absence and their work continues… be sure to click on “Thoughts Along the Way” to read about Norma’s story and ministry.

Orange Hands

One Sunday this month was the Senegalese festival of Touba. It is a Muslim religious festival. We went over to Ndeye’s house that morning to help with the cooking. The ladies were making cheb o gin, rice with fish. I peeled so many carrots that my hands turned orange. Then later when we were eating this delicious dish, I ate with my hand, just like all of the Senegalese women around me, and again my hands were orange from the yummy sauce. Then the ladies began cooking the next dish in huge pots over the fire in Ndeye’s garage. It was an amazing day, helping them cook, taking the huge dishes of food to the festival, listening to the men sing, visiting with the women while we cooked, speaking to folks in 6 different languages. I just know the greetings in most of them, but I enjoy seeing their faces light up when they are greeted in their home language.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently read a book about a missionary who took “pineapple chutney” and the gospel to Japan. This gave me the idea – for my favorite thing – to “bring” chocolate chip cookies and the gospel to our friends here in Spain. So we have served chocolate chip cookies at “ladies class” and “kids’ club” as well as shared them with Ndeye and her family. It is fun to tell our immigrant friends from Africa of the customs that we have in America in my family. When my family gets together we almost always have chocolate chip cookies as a part of the celebration. So we have enjoyed sharing that with our friends here in Southern Spain who are also away from their families. In the past I have had to have chocolate chips mailed to me because they didn’t have them here in Spain – but just recently I found some – that are very similar to the ones we use in Texas – not exactly the same but they will do in a pinch. The flour here is also a little different – so sometimes I use my flour that I brought from the states. The girls from kid’s club and the women from “ladies class” want to learn how to make “chocolate chip cookies” from America. J

The Pancake Gang

Recently we had a great team come from Blue Springs, MO. God did amazing things through this team. One door that God blasted open was the door to Megan, Cade, and Dylan’s school. We have wanted to do something in their school for 4 years and God opened the door for us to serve American pancakes while this team was in Spain. We served pancakes to about 250 students; including entertainment, with “the pancake song,” flipping pancakes across the room and catching them on a plate! This team helped fit the ladies from the “ladies class” and a few others with reading glasses. They also provided hair cuts and manicures for the “ladies in waiting.” We also shared the gospel and gave out MP3 players in Romanian. During “ladies class” and “kids club” the ladies taught each group how to make American chocolate chip cookies, with chocolate chips and flour from the states. The children at “kids club” also enjoyed the Easter story, along with Easter crafts, dying Easter eggs, and an Easter egg hunt. This team also had the opportunity to assist Segunda in paying a house tax. Segunda also prayed and asked Jesus into her heart during this time.

Banana Boat Prayer Requests

· Please continue to pray that the people who received glasses will have open eyes and hearts to the truth of a personal God.

· Pray for the ladies from the ladies class who received glasses and heard the gospel. Pray for Beatrice and her husband as we hope to begin discipleship with them.

· Please pray for the “ladies in waiting” who heard the gospel and who received the Bible in Romanian on MP3 players. Pray that they would want to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Pray for Laura, Victoria, and Miheala. Pray for Janette as she returns to Romania; that she might find a different type of work. Pray for Maria who is interested in Bible study. Pray for Miheala (from our church) who will lead a Bible study.

· Please pray for the children who heard the Easter story at kids club. Pray that they would understand about a living Savior.

· Pray for the young men in Mojonera. Pray for Nguy that he would understand more about who Jesus really is and how to know him personally. Pray for Ruben as he visits the guys in Mojonera.

· Please continue to pray for Ndeye and her family. Pray for her younger son. Pray that the Holy Spirit would call her to a personal relationship with God.

· Thank you for praying for Segunda: she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior! Please continue to pray for her as we follow up with discipleship.

2010-05-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Woman’s Day with the Senegalese

We attended a Woman’s Day celebration at the Senegalese Association in Yegua Verda, Spain. Yegua Verde is a small town in the middle of many green houses about ten minutes from where we live. Yegua Verde means “green mare,” and there is a statue of the green mare made out of metal parts in the middle of the round about in the town. We went to the Senegalese Association’s center to deliver some clothes and attend the Woman’s Day celebration. We enjoyed eating delicious poulet yassa, a spicy African dish made with chicken and onions. This time it was served on tiny pasta instead of rice. Nernah Todop! (Wolof for “very good.”) We also enjoyed listening to the introductions, especially the one from a funny lady from Senegal. She was thanking the Spanish lady officials for coming. She said, “Thank you for coming.” And a few other pleasantries, and then she said, “We need work! We have homes we are renting and children we are feeding, and we need work!” Everyone laughed, but they also knew the seriousness behind her words. Then she danced and other ladies joined in to dance the Senegalese type of dance.

Maria’s Journey

Several years ago Maria came from her home country of Romania to southern Spain. She was looking for work and a better way of life. While in Spain she had a beautiful baby girl and named her Rosa Maria. We met Maria through our “ladies in waiting” ministry. Now she and her baby girl and her husband are traveling back to Romania and then on to Germany to again look for work and a better way of life. Please pray for Maria and her husband as they look for work in Germany. Pray that the Lord will lead them to another line of work and to a personal relationship with Jesus.

The Women’s Class

Norma is from Ecuador and is a member of our Spanish church in Almeria. Every Friday she takes the bus from Almeria to “mi casa” in Roquetas to teach a women’s class. She is teaching ladies from Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, and Mauritania to read, write, speak Spanish, and sew. Norma also loves to talk with her new friends about many things including what she calls “the Word of the Lord.” We are thankful for Norman and her great ministry to these ladies from Africa. Please pray for the women’s class as they meet on Friday mornings.

International Easter Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter we had an Easter party with our kids club at “mi casa.” We started with baking a cake in the shape of a bunny and the children decorated the cake with frosting, candy, and sprinkles. The children learned the American traditions of dying Easter eggs and an Easter egg hunt. The children loved the Easter egg hunt – once they got the hang of it. Our friend, Michiela, from Romania helped the children paint wooden Easter eggs based on a tradition from Romania. Then our pastor talked with the children about different Easter customs in Spain and asked the children about the religious experiences from their home countries, then went on to tell the Easter story which some of them were hearing for the first time. Please continue to pray for our Spanish Baptist Church as they continue to reach out to these children from Africa.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

We were about ready to kill Clara, the sheep, to feed her to our African friends, but as we took a close look at her, I said, “I think she might be pregnant.” So we waited and in about a week we had a beautiful brown lamb, named Clarita. So we decided to kill Randa instead. So today Joel and John came over to Malle’s house early in the morning to kill and cut up the sheep. After the guys chopped it all up in the kitchen we delivered meat to four different African households. Now we are having a bar-b-que at the first house. We are cooking the meat out on a grill near the sheep pen, while the children are picking grass and flowers from the pasture to feed to the sheep in the pen: an interesting African day. Cade just walked by and said, “I want to eat some sheep!”

Banana Boat Prayer Update:

Please continue to pray for Segunda and her 5 children ages 7,6,4,2, and 4 months. They are from Guinea Bissau.
Please pray for Christians in the country south of us that are being persecuted. Please pray for the orphans who have been again left without caretakers whom they know and love.
Thank you for praying for Maria. She is in Germany and is finding work there. Please continue to pray that God would lead her to a better line of work and to a personal relationship with Him.
Please pray for the African young men in our area as they look for work. Also pray for John as he spends time with them and seeks to be the presence of Christ in their lives. Pray that these young men might begin to understand about a personal relationship with God.
Please pray for us as we begin to prepare for our time of off-field assignment in the United States. Pray for our Spanish church and other folks who will be carrying on with the ministries while we are not here. Pray that God would use them in a special way and that He would encourage them in this ministry to African immigrants in southern Spain. Please continue to pray for our children’s education adjustments as they study in the states and then return to school in Spain.
Please pray for Anna. She will be coming to Spain at the end of May to work with us through CBF’s student.go program. She will be working with the African churches to help them begin some children’s ministries. She will also be visiting the African young ladies. Please pray for her as she seeks to be the presence of Christ in their lives

Prayer Request

2010-03-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Please pray for us as we begin the process to enroll the boys in school here in Spain. We are hoping that they will be able to start kindergarden here next year (and not be put into first grade.) Please pray for the administrators here in Spain as we speak with them about placing the boys in school. We are also hoping that Megan and the boys can go to the school that Megan has been attending. Please pray that God's will will be done.

Malle had a little lamb...

2010-03-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Malle had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow

And everywhere that Malle went the lamb was sure to go.

The sheep ministry is growing. Soon after the guys set up the new secure sheep pen, we bought a couple new sheep. Then just a few weeks later, Malle, our friend from Senegal who takes care of the sheep (I guess that makes him the shepherd) called to say that one of the sheep had given birth to a little lamb. What a cutie! We learned how to dock the tail, to take good care of our sheep. A few weeks later, our friend from Mauritania who sells the sheep called to say that he had another sheep with a baby. So off we went in the “veggie vehicle” to buy them. The children named the mother, Gordita, (“little fatty” in Spanish) and the lamb, Amossa, (“beautiful” in Sereer.) Later when we docked the tail of the new lamb, Megan said that she was not Amossa, she was feisty! I think I might be a bit feisty too if someone was cutting off my tail!

Soon we will be ready to kill one of the flock to feed the men in Malle’s house and two other families from Africa. We are thankful for this culturally relevant way to help our friends from Africa. In Africa, anytime there is a celebration, whether a wedding, baby naming ceremony, or religious festival, the host family kills a sheep and provides food for many people who come to visit their home. Thus, providing sheep for African families here in southern Spain, offers them the chance to remember a custom from their own country.

Meet John – the African Amigo

John Williamson is from Manchester, Ga. He will be serving with us for at least three months in Spain through the student.go program with CBF. He will be working with the sheep ministry as well as other agricultural ministries. He will be spending time with many of the immigrant young men here in southern Spain. Please pray for him as he builds relationships with our friends and seeks to be the presence of Christ as well as an “amigo” to many who are looking for friendship in a foreign country where they feel very alone.

Banana Boat Prayer Update

Please pray for Segunda and her new baby Immaculada who was born a few weeks early and spent some time in the hospital in Almeria. Please pray for the other children and adults who are a part of this family.
Please pray for Aaron and Anta as he looks for a new job to provide for his family. Anta is expecting a new baby and they would like to move to an apartment of their own. Right now they are sharing an apartment with another family with three children.
Please pray for us as we travel to team meeting.
Please continue to pray for the distribution and updating of the scripture on the MP3 players. We will be beginning to update the players with the Easter story. Please pray that those who listen to this story will begin to understand about a living Savior.
Please pray for Greg who will begin language school in Madrid.
Please pray for the new ministries starting at “mi casa.” Our Spanish church in Almeria has started a kids’ club and will start classes for women in sewing, cooking, and Spanish.

The following prayer requests will be in the CBF annual prayer calendar…

Psalms 2:8

“Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

Psalms 22:27

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,”

Please pray with us for the nations.

We, Joel and Tiffne Whitley, serve among immigrants in southern Spain. Many people from Africa, eastern European countries and South American countries migrate to Spain in order to provide for their families, or to flee from bad circumstances in their own countries. Please pray that we, along with churches and other Christians, will continue to meet the needs of the nations along their spiritual and perilous migratory journey.

Faith by Hearing

Please pray that as field personnel, Joel and Tiffne Whitley, along with other Christians talk with immigrants from Africa about their faith in a personal God, and as these immigrants listen to scripture passages on MP3 players donated by FBC, Blue Springs, MO; that faith will come by hearing, and that these immigrants who often come from countries that are closed to the Gospel might understand for the first time about a God who is loving, concerned about them personally, and has a plan for their salvation.

Romans 10:17-18

Thank you for your prayers, for giving to our projects, and for supporting the CBF Global Missions’ “Offering for Global Missions.” Here are some of the ministries that you are supporting with your prayers and giving…

Kilos of Care project…

-Purchasing kilos of rice, kilos of potatoes, kilos of onions,

sheep, and chickens to give to hungry families.

“mi casa es tu casa” project…

-Hosting a Thanksgiving meal for an African Sereer family.

-Hosting a Christmas meal for an African Wolof family.

-Hosting the immigrant pastors’ meeting.

-Hosting a reception for Spanish church members after the

immigrant churches’ joint prayer meeting.

-Hosting a training and cultural learning meal for Spanish

church members.

-Conducting a monthly “kids club” at “mi casa.”

Migration Crisis and Relief project…

-Veggie vehicle upkeep and repairs.

-Picking up and delivering vegetables.

-Delivering clothes.

-Purchasing and delivering blankets.

-Purchasing and delivering baby supplies.

-Providing funding for immigrants to make phone calls to

families in Africa.

-Providing funding for immigrant’s residence and work

permits.

-Funding to start up sheep micro enterprise.

We appreciate you for reaching out around the world through your prayers!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Whitleys in southern Spain!

During this holiday season we are so thankful for your support through prayers and giving to our projects and the CBF Offering for Global Missions. Your support makes it possible for the stories below to take place. We appreciate your ministry to immigrants and the most neglected here in Spain.

A Sereer Thanksgiving: Afella Lol!

This year for Thanksgiving we invited a Sereer family to “mi casa” for a traditional Thanksgiving celebration. It is hard to find whole turkeys here in Spain, so we had turkey legs, and turkey breast slices, along with mashed potatoes, corn, bread, green bean casserole made with fried onions from the states, dressing balls made with spices from the states, apple cobbler, and banana bread. We enjoyed sharing this American traditional meal and celebration with our friends from Senegal; and hearing in their language, Sereer, that it was afella lol!

The Sheep Saga Continues…

Recently we bought and delivered the supplies for the more secure sheep pen to Malle and the guys from Senegal. They soon had the new improved pen up and ready to go; so we found the small warehouse/barn where the man from Mauritania sells the sheep and we bought Clara and Randa. We loaded them in the “veggie vehicle” along with a bale of hay on the top and took them to their new home. The children scattered fresh hay on the floor of the pen to make a cozy home for our new sheep. This reminded me of the hay in the manger where Jesus was born that was used to make his bed and keep him warm and cozy.

The Gift of Christmas: Emmanuel; God with us…

This year we will be delivering Christmas gifts to many of the immigrants from Africa. We will be delivering blankets, vegetables, pasta, and rice from the kilos of care project. We will also be giving MP3 players donated by First Baptist Church, Blue Springs, Mo. The MP3 player will have the story of Jesus’ birth from the gospels loaded onto it in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, or Wolof. Please pray with us for each of the immigrants that will be receiving this gift; that they will begin to understand about Emmanuel; God with us.

Ladies in Waiting

The International Cluster of CBF has been focusing some of their efforts to help stop human trafficking. Many of the people that are hurt by human trafficking find themselves trapped in a life of prostitution. In hopes to help in a small way to alleviate the problem of human trafficking, we are reaching out to a few prostitutes in our area in Roquetas and Almeria, Spain. We hope to give them a MP3 player with the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke.

Please pray for us as we begin this new ministry to “ladies in waiting.”

Celebrating the Holidays

We attended a joint prayer service with the immigrant churches in Roquetas. It was awesome to worship and pray in English and Spanish with people from Spain, Germany, Romania, Argentina, America, Ghana, and Nigeria. Joel was asked to speak about reaching out to Muslims in our area, then the entire group prayed for missionaries who minister to Muslims and we prayed for our Muslim neighbors. Please pray that each Christian living here in Roquetas and Almeria will be sensitive to their neighbors and will look for opportunities to share the gospel with them. Also, please pray for Emmanuel, a Christian man from Nigeria, who is going to be working with Joel to reach out to the Muslim men in our neighborhoods.

During the month of December we will be doing a presentation in our church, Iglesia Evangelica Bautista, in Almeria. They have voted officially to take part in the ministry to African immigrants in Roquetas, and they have asked us to give a presentation about ministry that they can provide for these immigrants and how they can reach out to the lost in their area. On the day of our presentation, Megan is also going to announce to the church that she has asked Jesus into her heart to be her Savior. She is planning to be baptized this summer/fall when we are in Texas. Please pray for us as we give the presentation in Spanish and pray for Megan as she grows in her faith in the Lord.

Megan, Cade and Dylan will be doing two Christmas programs this year. The will do one in our church in Almeria in Spanish, and then they will do one in the Nigerian church in Roquetas in English. Megan will wear a shepherd girl’s costume and the boys will dress as two of the three kings. These are all very popular costumes in Spain during Christmas and Three King’s Day celebrations. Joel will also be speaking and our family will lead in singing a Christmas hymn as well. We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with churches from Spain and Africa in both Spanish and English.

November happenings...

2009-11-23T11:10:00.001-08:00

The Boomerang Express comes to

Spain

This summer the Boomerang Express traveled all across Texas for Vacation Bible Schools in many different churches. Our three year old niece told her mother when they were talking about Jesus being in heaven, “No, mommy, Jesus comes on the Boomerang Express!” Two churches in Texas donated their VBS materials to a Nigerian church here in southern Spain, making it possible for us to team up with other volunteers and have a Vacation Bible School for African immigrants in Spain. Songs, games, snacks, crafts, and Bible stories, traveled from Texas to Spain, and could be heard coming from the First Baptist Church of Roquetas de Mar, where folks from Nigeria, Spain, Romania, and America worked together to bring about a fun and informative experience for children from these countries as well. We learned about worshipping, following, serving, and obeying Jesus. Jesus is in heaven, and this year he came to Spain on the Boomerang Express.

Matilda’s story

We bought Matilda the sheep and put her and a friend in the sheep pen that we helped set up at one of our African friend’s houses. When we came back to Spain after being in the states for our operations, we went by to check on our friends and Matilda. She was nowhere to be seen and our friends had moved out of the house. We began calling to try to find them, but we could not get in touch with any of them. Then one night Malle called to say that they had moved because there was no work near the old house so they had to find a place where there was work. We were surprised to learn that they still had Matilda! The children were so excited when we went to their new house in the midst of still more green houses and saw Matilda living in her new pen. Joel bought some feed and took it by on another day for the guys to feed to Matilda, and they discussed getting new sheep as well. A few nights later Malle called to tell us something about the sheep, but Joel couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell us, so we went by the house and pen the next day, but Matilda was not there. We found out that she had been stolen during the night. We were all disappointed, especially the kids. Our sheep had been lost, then found, then lost again. The guys were already figuring out how they could fix the pen so that it would be more secure and any new sheep we buy will hopefully not be so easily stolen. On the way home Megan said, “Mom, Pawpaw has goats in a pen; and they never got stolen.” We talked about how that was one of the many reasons we lived in southern Spain, because people were sometimes so hungry or desperate that they would even steal a mangy old sheep like our beloved Matilda.

Conversations: Reincarnation, Religion, and Relationship

I have found in about 16 years of ministry that the key is a personal relationship with the Lord and not religion. As I have had various conversations here in southern Spain with people from different countries around the world, I am still finding the key to be the same. In recent conversations with a friend from Argentina who believes in reincarnation, and another man from Argentina, and a man from Sierra Leon, I realized that each individual was disenchanted with religion; therefore, we talked about the possibility and joy of having a personal relationship with God through His son, Jesus.

Please pray for the people we encounter here, that the Holy Spirit will open their hearts to a personal relationship with God.

Conversations… (cont.)

Here in southern Spain we have friends from many different religions: Evangelical, Pentecostal, Catholic, Muslim, Reincarnation, and Atheism. Our conversations with our friends are often interesting, but it all comes down to a personal relationship with Christ. Please pray for our friends; that the Holy Spirit will open their hearts to be interested in a personal relationship with Jesus. Please pray for us as we look for open opportunities to talk about faith issues; that we might “make the most of each opportunity.” ( I wrote this recently and before I could even get it posted to our blog, God gave us a great opportunity to plant seeds…)

Planting Seeds in Open Doorways

“Bienvenida a mi casa; mi casa es tu casa.” (Welcome to my house; my house is your house.) Thank you for praying for the location of our new project, “mi casa es tu casa.” We now have a great little house and the door is open! One volunteer has already stayed in the upstairs guest house and we have another team coming next week. We have also hosted an African lunch and ministry discussion in the lower floor ministry center. This Saturday night we will host the African and other immigrant pastors’ meeting. We will make chocolate chip cookies for them to try for the first time.

The most exciting thing that has happened through new “open doors,” was the wonderful opportunity that God gave us to plant seeds. Recently in our Spanish Baptist Union conference, Billy Hanks with the International Evangelism Association out of Salado, Texas spoke about how we need to “be good dirt,” based on the parable of the sower and the seed. He reminded us that “we never lead anyone to Christ, we just plant the seeds.” Tiffne was able to talk with two different friends from Africa about our belief that Jesus is God’s Son and that we can have a personal relationship with God through faith in Him. Joel had the opportunity to lead a prayer after an end of Ramadan festival asking for God’s blessing on the upcoming year and acknowledging His desire to have a personal relationship with us.

Please continue to pray for our friends that the Holy Spirit will continue to open the doors of their hearts that they might desire this personal relationship with a loving and merciful God.

Also, please pray this month as we hope to host some of our African friends for an American Thanksgiving dinner at “mi casa,” that this might open doors of opportunity to discuss our thankfulness to the Lord.

Baby Naming Ceremony

Thank you for praying for the three babies that were born the last few months. We were invited to attend a baby naming ceremony. One week after a Senegalese baby is born the family has the ceremony. Early in the morning, the father takes the baby in his arms and whispers in his ear his new name. Then the family kills a sheep and the women begin the preparations for the meal of rice, vegetables, and sheep – theb yappa. As the women prepared the meal on this day, we ate beñes – fried dough, and we drank tha cre – milk, corn meal, apples, and chocolate all mixed together. After eating and visiting, an experienced person shaves the baby’s head so that he can grow new hair. We also drink a very strong tea called attaya together.

Please pray for baby Usman who has a broken collar bone. He is doing well. Please pray that the collar bone will heal correctly.

September '09 Update

2009-09-03T14:57:00.001-07:00

Meet Matilda…

Matilda is a sheep. We went on a wild “sheep” chase to find her. We followed a group of our African friends through the town of Roquetas, then through tons of green houses, down a really bumpy road, around and around a round about, back down the same bumpy road, until we came to a sort of warehouse/barn that was filled with sheep and goats. We bought two from a man from Mauritania. The kids decided to name them Crazy Ann and Matilda. The sheep were none to happy to be tied up and riding in the back of our “veggie vehicle.” We had prepared a pen for them at the home of some of our new African friends who live amongst the green houses located just behind Megan’s school. When we released the sheep into their new pen, the children thought they were so happy to be in their new home, but maybe they were just relieved to be untied and out of the “veggie-vehicle.” These sheep are a part of a new project to help to feed the immigrant families in our area. Megan, Cade and Dylan understand this concept as we once visited a family who had a sheep in their yard and later when we were eating some barbeque, Cade asked, “Where is the sheep that was here in the yard?”
“You’re eating it.” No problem.

Kadi’s Bags

Kadi is from Senegal. She has two little boys. Mohammed is 3 and Papi is 2. She is expecting another little boy in September. She and her husband have lived in Spain for several years. He fell from a construction job site and seriously hurt his leg, so he is unable to work at this time. Kadi has been looking for work for as long as I have known her. She sells bags from Senegal and other trinkets on the beach to make ends meet. We decided to try to sell some of Kadi’s bags at the mission marketplace this summer in the United States. When the folks who are in charge of the marketplace saw the bags, they asked us to send more to sell at another market in November. When we arrived at the mission marketplace this summer we brought the extra bags. The next day as I turned the corner to visit the spot where the bags were being sold, I couldn’t believe it – they were nearly gone – even the ones for November! When I visited Kadi, I said to her, “Remember that we were praying that God would help you find work, He has answered our prayer. We need to buy all of the bags that you have left.” Kadi is going to call her mother in Senegal and request more bags as well.

Prayer Update:

Thank you for praying for our family during all of our surgeries. Everything went relatively well and we are glad to be back in Spain.

This month Megan will go back to school. She will have a new teacher. Please pray for Megan and her new teacher as they begin the school year.

We are involved in a couple of new projects. Please pray for the “mi casa es tu casa” project as we begin to find a location for ministry use. Please pray for our new sheep project as we are looking for culturally relevant ways to help feed the immigrant community here in southern Spain.

Please pray for the three new African babies that will be born this month. We (and their families) are anxiously awaiting their precious arrival.

Please pray for Maria del Mar, she was born 5 weeks early and is in the hospital in El Ejido. Please pray for her family as well. Her father is still looking for work and a good place for his family to live.

Thank you for “standing in the gap” through your prayers and giving. We really appreciate your involvement in ministering to these people who do not have a personal God who is their “refuge, strength, and ever present help in times of trouble.” (Check out the new posting, “standing in the gap,” at the “thoughts along the way” link above.)

June 2009

2009-06-04T13:08:00.001-07:00

Sin Dios, ni Patria, ni Amo

These words of graffiti are written on the apartment building where some of our immigrant friends and families from Africa are living in a neighborhood near our home in southern Spain. These words mean, “Without God, or Home Country, or Love.” Many immigrants come to Spain from Africa in search of a better life, survival, peace, or just to find a way to feed their families. When they arrive in Europe they often find these dreams very hard to attain; and they become lonely, hungry, and sad. We hope to become friends with many immigrants in order to offer them friendship, hope, and a sense of “home.” We are hoping to start a center for immigrants called “mi casa es tu casa:” (my home is your home.) This center will serve immigrants from Africa and provide a place they can come to receive food, clothes, friendship, learn Spanish, share meals from their home countries together, and discuss spiritual questions in a home setting. (For the full project description see below, towards the end of this post.)

Please pray that we will be able to help our immigrant friends “experience God, a sense of their home country, and love” here in southern Spain.

African Experience in Yegua Verde

Yegua Verde (Spanish for “the Green Mare”) is a small community in the middle of many greenhouses. Many immigrants live here and work in the greenhouses. Recently we were invited to a new friend’s home in this area for a meal. It was an incredible day. We arrived with vegetables and drinks, and Tiffne began helping the women prepare the meal of cheb-o-gin (Wolof for “rice and fish.”) While the meal was cooking we watched a video and looked at pictures of a beautiful Senegalese wedding. The children also enjoyed seeing the sheep that was tied up in the yard. During the day there were about 15 people from Mali and Senegal visiting together. The men ate from one large platter, while the women and children ate from another large platter. In Africa, each person just eats a pie shaped portion in front of them. The platters are placed on a mat on the floor and everyone gathers around to enjoy the delicious meal. After lunch, which we ate about 3:30 p.m. we drank ataya – delicious, very strong African tea with mint leaves from their garden – while we watched the men cut up the sheep that they had killed, and Megan had her hair braided into cornrows. For the rest of the evening we visited outside while everyone cooked the sheep seasoned with salt, pepper, and magi (an African version of beef bullion) on the grill and enjoyed tasting the “barbeque.”

Prayer Update:

Please pray for Megan as she finishes first grade – her second year in school here in Spain. She will have a dance recital at the end of school also. Please begin to pray for her new teacher next year.
Please pray for us as we prepare to travel to the states this summer for medical stuff. It is possible that Cade, Dylan, and Tiffne might each need small surgeries. We will also all have various medical appointments and check ups. Please pray that our medical situations will be able to wait for care in the United States and not need sooner treatment here in Spain. Pray that the follow up after our surgeries will be straight forward and easy to accomplish.
Please pray for our friends from Africa, that during the lean months of summer they will have enough to eat and would also begin to understand the “Bread of Life” that will satisfy the hunger of their souls.

mi casa es tu casa project description:

Project Info:

mi casa es tu casa

Account #: 89834

Contact Info:

twhitley@thefellowship.info

blog: http://www.nabcsf.org/

click “Banana Boat Blog”

Being an immigrant, migrant worker, or refugee in a new land can be lonely, depressing, and often times just plain scary. Through our work in the Almería province of southern Spain we have seen hundreds of internationals live through this type of despair just hoping beyond hope that they can find a job, a friend, or a meal. This project “mi casa es tu casa” is aimed at providing a place of rest and help for those internationals struggling to find a way. We hope that this ‘casa’ will provide hope and a sense of ‘home’ to those that have left their homeland and families in Africa. We also hope that this ‘casa’ will be a place of rest and spiritual growth for missional church team groups who come to work alongside our ministry. It will be their ‘home away from home’ in a sense too.

Project Goals:

Provide a safe, immigrant friendly site for groups to meet, study, and fellowship together.
Create an easily accessible food and clothing distribution site that will allow us to track and follow-up with those that we minister.
Establish a place that would facilitate congregational mission involvement by providing a readily available place to house volunteer teams who will work in the ministries of this center and with our other projects through the missional church programs.

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 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. If giving specifically to this project, be certain to include this project’s account number in the memo line. (project # 89834)
Serve…Join this ministry by sharing it with others and by participating in mission service.

Love from the Whitleys in southern Spain

twhitley@thefellowship.info

April 2009

2009-04-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

Through your prayers and support you are reaching out to people from Ghana, Mali, Cameroon, Romania, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, the Gambia, Morocco, Western Sahara, Nigeria and Ecuador. Deuteronomy 10:18 and 19 “He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” Thank you.

Meeting New People, Making New Friends, The Ministry Grows

This past month we have been involved in a couple of different activities that have allowed us to meet new people. We attended a Senegalese Muslim conference and meet several new families that we now visit and deliver vegetables to their homes. One family is a Sereer family with four children. We enjoy watching Megan and their small girls greet each other in Sereer.

We have also started volunteering with the Red Cross immigrant center in Almeria, where we have the opportunity to give out food, clothes, and other services. We have met people from France, Bulgaria, Morocco, Ghana, Mali, and other countries as well. Last week, as I served food, I prayed silently that God would fill their hungry souls as well.

We also had the opportunity to visit an African church called Christ Movement Ministries. The church members are mostly from Nigeria and Ghana. During the service they prayed for our family and our ministry to African immigrants. We enjoyed the Sunday school; Joel specifically enjoyed the African rendition of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” told as “The Boy Who Cried Lion!” The sermon was inspiring as the pastor spoke about how many of them from Africa had experienced rejection from family and friends because of their belief in Christ. We have posted quotes from the sermon and a worship song on “Thoughts Along the Way.” (You can click on the link at the top of this blog page to read the devotional based on the sermon by Pastor Nathaneil Ikeh from Nigeria. – good stuff. Also there are two other new devotional entries.)

Finding Ami

About a year ago, when we first visited 200 Viviendas, we were hanging out at the plaza and I met a young girl named Ami. She was one of the first people that I met that spoke Sereer. I was so excited to learn that there were Sereer people living in Spain. She was a bit shy so I did not learn where she lived and was afraid that I would not get to see her again. Then recently, when we visited the new home of a family that we had met at the Senegalese conference, we were greeting the younger children in Sereer, and in walked Ami. She is their oldest daughter. Again I was reminded of the joy in “hiding and watching” God at work. Now we will be able to visit this family regularly.

Languages

One Friday we visited several new families and delivered pictures and vegetables. At the end of this day I realized that we had greeted or spoken to people in English, French, Spanish, Sereer, Wolof, and Mandinka. Please pray for us as we continue in our language learning that we would be able to keep our languages separate, and remember which is the most effective language with each person, and as we try to communicate in the best way possible in order to one day share with each of them about a personal relationship with Christ.

Nguy’s story

Recently while we were visiting the house in Mojonera, Nguy told us his story. He is the oldest male of his father’s family. His father passed away and left behind three wives and more than 14 children. As the oldest male, Nguy is now responsible for his father’s entire family as well as his own wife. He said that he began to feel the pressure that is felt by many African young men to make the journey to Europe to try to find work and send money home to their families. He told of how many villages put pressure on the young African men and boys to travel to Europe to fulfill their dreams. He spoke of how they would see on television the lives of people in Europe; people who had homes, cars, and plenty to eat; people who seemed to have no problems, and they believed that this was what life in Europe was like. When Nguy’s wife became pregnant, there was even more reason to make the dangerous journey to try to support his family. His family is from Dakar, Senegal, and even though he has a higher education there was no work to be had in Dakar for a long time. Thus he made the decision to go to Europe. He left on a colorful canoe-like boat filled with 98 other young men hoping to make the journey. The motor died out in the ocean. They ran out of food and water and the young men began to perish. Before it was over 25 men had died. Nguy said he lost friends and loved ones. They eventually made some sort of sail and the wind carried them to Mauritania. Nguy knew that he must try again if he wanted to feed the families that he was now responsible for. He got on another boat that traveled for 7 days at sea. He eventually was picked up by Spanish police and taken to a detention center where he was held for some time before being released and flown to Madrid with the instructions that he could remain in Spain and wait for about three years before he could receive his legal papers. Soon he traveled to Mojonera to the house where he lives with many other Senegalese guys who are basically on the same journey. He is sad to have found that the dream he saw on the television and that the members of his village hold is not the reality in Europe. He lives in a small rundown 4 bedroom house with as many as 20 other guys. He gets up every morning at 4 a.m. to try to find work. On the days that he is chosen, he gladly works 8 hours in the large, hot greenhouses. He pays the rent, buys very basic food supplies; rice, pasta, onions, sometimes chicken or fish, and sends the rest of the money back home to Africa, where his wife and year old baby boy, that he has never held, live. His dream is different now; he hopes to wait and work in Spain for two more years until he gets his legal papers and he can travel to Senegal to see his beautiful family.

February Banana Boat update

2009-03-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

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

We wanted to say thank you for your support through prayers and giving. Here are some of the ministries that you have been a part of along the way…

• Making repairs and general upkeep for the “veggie” vehicle – we use this cargo type vehicle for delivering vegetables, furniture, rice, pasta, clothes, and blankets.
• Purchasing rice and pasta for our African immigrant families.
• Purchasing blankets for folks who don’t have one for the cold nights.
• Purchasing a few inexpensive small presents (play dough) for the African immigrant children for Christmas or Three Kings Day.
• Purchasing rice to send on the truck to the refugee camps in Algeria. Many women and children living in the tents in these camps will benefit greatly from your ministry.
• Your prayers and support are reaching out to people from the Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ecuador, Romania, Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon.

Hide and Watch

Each week Joel goes with Dan to pick up free vegetables in our white project vehicle. They sometimes get enough vegetables to fill nearly 70 bags to give out to families and homes filled with young men from North and West Africa. Recently we were disappointed to hear that the warehouse that gives away their excess vegetables for this ministry would no longer be able do so. Just before we got this news, we were so happy to receive a donation to our Kilos of Care project that is set up to buy food for the hungry. We were already thinking that God was finding other ways to provide for these African immigrants who have so little. The following Wednesday, the regular day that we use to pick up the vegetables, we had made plans to do some other work, when Dan called to say that there was another warehouse that was going to give out the free excess vegetables. The new warehouse is in Mojonera – we were so excited to find this out because we had wanted to involve our guys from Senegal in this ministry. We had often thought in the past that it would be great if our guys who lived in Mojonera could be involved with picking up the vegetables and distributing them, but the previous warehouse was just too far away from them. The new warehouse is just two roundabouts down from their house in Mojonera. It is fun to watch God work. I often think we need to get out of His way and let Him do His will. We just need to “hide and watch!”

Please continue to pray that God will do His exact will in His ministry to the African immigrants here in southern Spain. Then, with us, hide and watch! (or maybe better said – pray and watch.)

Conversations with Momodou

Momodou (or Mohammed) is from Senegal. His father is Sereer. He went to school in the Gambia, so he speaks English, Wolof, French, Sereer, and some Spanish. He has been living in Spain for a year, but has been unable to find work. He lives in Mojonera in the house with 20 other guys from Senegal. We have had several conversations. He is an interesting and friendly young man. He has told me some of his story. His father is a Muslim; his mother is a Christian. He has chosen to be a Muslim. When I asked why he made this choice, he just shrugged his shoulders and said that when he was very young his father put him in a school to learn the Koran, so he simply continued on with what he had learned at such an early age. (When I lived in Senegal there was a little 3 year old boy named Usman who came to my kids club each day. He could already quote the Koran because he was already enrolled in the Koranic school in our neighborhood – thus emphasizing the need for children’s ministry to teach the Gospel as well.)
In another conversation Momodou spoke about his belief in amulets. Amulets are from African Traditional Religion. They are usually made from leather and have some kind of stone or something attached. They can be worn around the neck, arm, wrist, waist, or even hung in the home. Many African people put them on their babies to keep them safe. Momodou was telling me that he believed that they really worked to keep people safe from all kinds of harm. He said that when his mother wore hers she was kept safe from accidents or other problems unlike when she did not wear it.
In Africa, where many are simply trying to survive, there is a certain type of “layering” of religion. If a “witch doctor” of African Traditional Religion can solve a person’s problems, then that is what the person will cling to. Then, if the Imam (Muslim holy man) is able to help, the person will believe in Islam as well. Sometimes when a person is healed or maybe helped by a Christian, they will also follow the “Jesus Way;” therefore, part of the challenge is helping these people who are just trying to survive to understand about a personal relationship with Jesus, who says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Please continue to pray for our friends that the Holy Spirit might begin to help them come to know Jesus as the only way, that they might commit their lives to God through Him.

Prayer Update:

For three weeks now Nguy and Momodou have been helping us pick up, bag, and deliver the vegetables. This week as they were working in Dan’s garage to bag the vegetables, Joel and Dan showed them Bibles and the Jesus film in Wolof. As they seemed interested, Joel asked them if they would like to have one of each and they said yes. So please pray with us again, from Isaiah 55:11, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Thank you for praying in the past for Check, Maria Ellen, and baby Margarita. Margarita is doing well. She is growing and continues her doctor’s appointments each month here in Almeria. Maria Ellen is working on getting legal paperwork for Magarita. Check has gone to Madrid in search of work and legal papers, in order to support his family. Please pray for this family; that God’s will would be done in accordance with their legal paperwork, their future job, and life as a family.
Please pray for our coworkers as they deal with spiritual warfare in their ministry.
Please pray for our family as we live and minister cross culturally. Pray for us as we adapt to Megan’s school. Pray for us as we begin to look into schooling for the boys. Pray for us as we seek to find ways to follow up with speech and medical issues for the boys and our family.
Please pray for Joel’s cousin Scott, a young man in his late twenties. His cancer seems to be progressing.

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

The Tabaski Holiday Arrives after Mayhem in Mohonera

2009-01-20T07:40:00.001-08:00

December 8, was the Muslim holiday of Tabaski, in which each family who is financially able kills a lamb. Then the men spend much of the day cutting it up, and the women spend much of the day cooking the meat with onions and potatoes and spices of mustard, pepper, hot pepper, and Maggie cubes, then they eat off and on all day. They also find time to pray. The women cover their heads in respect, place their prayer mat on the floor, face towards Mekkah, Saudi Arabia, because that is where Mohammed the prophet was born. Then they begin to pray while kneeling and placing their head on the floor and then standing and then repeating the process several times during the prayer. This holiday is to commemorate the time of Abraham’s sacrifice. Our friend Kadi told me the Islamic version of this story one day before Tabaski. (I have written out the story that she related to me below.)

While we were celebrating Tabaski with Kadi and her family, Joel saw on the Spanish news that there had been rioting in La Mojonera. He actually saw the house of our friends who live there and Nguy was talking with the police on the news. The report went on to tell of the riots that had resulted from our friend’s neighbor who is from Mali being robbed and stabbed by a man from Morocco, he later died as a result of the stab wounds. In retaliation many sub-Saharan Africans proceeded to burn cars and trash containers, and break windows of various North African shops on the street next to Demba and Nguy’s house. After Joel saw the news and we had dinner and African tea with Kadi’s family, we left to go to Mojonera to check on our friends there. As we drove into the town of Mojonera, we noticed riot police and television crews on many corners. At the corner of Demba and Nguy’s house there were two riot police; one carrying a large gun. We talked with the guys and they said that everyone in their house, where about 20 guys from Senegal all live, were fine. They said that the tension seemed to be dying down and they thought all of the negative activities would stop. They were cutting up their lamb and preparing to eat the Tabaski dinner as well. We were relieved to find that they were all okay and that things seemed to be calming down.

Please pray for them and their neighbors from Mali, Equatorial Guinea, and Morocco. Pray that even through these violent times God might reveal Jesus to them. Pray that during the Christmas season they will have more opportunities to understand about Jesus.

Abraham, Ishmael, and Mohammed – told to me by Kadi

Abraham did not have any children and he really wanted children, so he asked God to give him children and he promised that in return he would sacrifice one of his children to God. God answered his prayer and gave him many children. After much time, Abraham had a dream in which God said to him, “You told me that if I would give you children you would sacrifice one of them to me. I have given you many children and you have not kept your promise.” Abraham decided to keep his promise. He talked with Ishmael’s mother and she said, “If God wants it, I want it.” He talked with his son, Ishmael, and Ishmael said, “If God wants it, I want it.” So Abraham and Ishmael went out to the country and Ishmael told his father to sharpen the knife, he told his father not to give his clothes to his mother after he was dead because she would weep. He told his father not to look at his face because then he would not be able to kill him, then he told his father that if God wanted this, then he must kill him. Abraham was weeping and placed the knife on his son’s neck, then an angel appeared with a ram and said, “Do not kill him,” because God knew that Abraham believed in only Him and had provided a ram for the sacrifice. Mohammed was Ishmael’s son (descendent?). (Mohammed is the prophet of Islam.)

Our Friends, His Future…

Acuzena and Jose are members of our church in Almeria . They are from Spain . On our first Sunday in Spain she gave me her phone number and said if I needed any help in finding Megan a school or just needed anything at all, I could call her. Thus began our friendship. They have also become involved in the ministry to African immigrants; therefore, I was very sad when they said they might be moving up the coast three hours away. On a night before their move we had them in our home for a going away dinner. That is when God reminded me that he had a plan. They were not just moving away; they were taking the ministry with them to share with others. God can use them to encourage the church in Alicante to begin a ministry to the African immigrants in their area. Please pray for Jose, Azucena, Rebekah, and Rut, as they move, and that God would continue to encourage them to reach out to the African immigrants around them. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

“Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die,

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth,

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,

Hail the incarnate Deity,

Pleased as man with men to dwell,

Jesus our Immanuel.”

(Words I remember from Hark the Herald Angles Sing, in English, this rearrangement is from Amy Grant’s rendition on her Christmas Album. I love how she has put parts of the last two verses together that totally focus on Deity coming to be with us.)

This Christmas season I am filled with thoughts of Jesus coming to earth as a human baby in order to be with us as Immanuel, “God with us.” The reason for this is that many of our friends are Muslims and they do not believe in Jesus’ deity. Mina Nevisa writes in her book, Miracle of Miracles, that before she became a Christian she found herself wishing that her Muslim religion was more of a “two-way relationship” with a God who could answer her prayers.

Please pray that our Muslim friends will begin to seek this two-way relationship with the God who can answer their prayers and who came as Immanuel.

--------------------------

This year we delivered Christmas gifts to our friends from Africa. We gave very large bags of rice and African tea along with small toys for the children. Also we gave each group a printed copy of the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke in 5 different languages; English, French, Spanish, Wolof, and Sereer. Please pray along with us from Isaiah 55:11 "It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it." Please pray that our friends might begin to take steps toward understanding about a personal relationship with God.

The Gift at Christmastime

2008-12-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

As I look at this view from our terrace, I often think of Psalm 125:2 “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.”

The Gift at Christmastime

As we live in a place where we often encounter many different religions including African Traditional Religion, and Islam, I often find myself considering the difference between religion and relationship, and I am thankful that we have the awesome privilege of knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him through the precious gift of His Son our Savior. Christmastime is a wonderful time of year to be reminded of this gift and to be encouraged to strive each day to get to know Him better by spending time with Him. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Isaiah 9:6a.

In the book Keep a Quiet Heart, Elizabeth Elliot says, “For it is He --not His gifts, not His power, not what He can do for us, but He Himself --who comes and makes Himself know to us.” (p. 77)

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.’”

-Please pray that our friends will understand about a personal relationship with Jesus.

-Pray as Mina Nevisa instructs in her book, Miracle of Miracles, “Ask God the Father to reveal Jesus to [them] through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (p. 220)

-Please pray for our coworkers who are experiencing spiritual warfare.

-Please pray for Joel’s cousin, Scott, a young man who is battling cancer.

-Please pray for Joel’s parents as they travel to visit us here in Spain for the beginning of the new year and Three Kings Day.

-Please pray for Megan, Cade, and Dylan as they prepare to participate in Spanish in our Christmas program at our church in Almeria.

Megan is the angel and the boys are shepherds this year in the Christmas program.

Merry Christmas, Love,

the Whitleys

Kilos of Care...

2008-12-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

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

For this update we thought we would share some stories from the field, a new project, and “Thoughts along the Way” which is a new link with devotional entries for November and December. To visit “Thoughts along the Way” click here, whitleythoughts.blogspot.com

American Football in Mojonera…

For the First Time Ever!

Many of our friends from Africa have never seen an American football, let alone touched one, or played the game. Recently they got the chance to do all of this. A couple of guys from America and Joel, along with several of our African friends met on a Sunday afternoon. Within about 5-10 minutes, Joel had them playing a “pretty close to the real thing” game. They loved it and were laughing and joking about whether it was 3^rd or 4^th down. It was great fun and a good release for these guys who work very hard in the extremely hot green houses about 6 days a week. It was fun to watch them make touchdowns and have a great time – mostly it is just so great to see them smile – which they actually do almost all of the time even when life is really tough.

Please pray for the sports evangelism ministry.

Living Water and Pineapple Juice…

Texans in Almeria!

Recently Sagemont Baptist Church from Houston, Texas sent a mission team to our area. We enjoyed hanging out with them and enjoying some meals together. They did an evangelism conference at our Spanish Baptist Church in Almeria. One part of this conference was called “Servant Evangelism” where the mission team and members of our church went into poorer areas of Almeria to hand out pineapple juice and sometimes a tract if the person was interested in learning why we were serving others at no cost.

This Texas team was such an encouragement to us.

Stealing from the Poor…

In a small three bedroom house in Mojonera, live 20 young men from Africa. When some of them are fortunate enough to find work, they buy food – usually rice, onions, and pasta and share with everyone in their house. They also send as much money as they possibly can back to feed their families in Africa. When we visit them to deliver vegetables, and sometimes clothes for them or their families in Africa they always invite us in for a meal. They often run to the store to buy juice or bottled water for us and our children to drink. They are poor, but they are always thinking of others and giving the little food they have away. Recently when we visited them, they told us of how their house was robbed. There was nothing of value in their home except the food; someone took all of the rice, onions, vegetables and chicken that they had. Please pray for these precious guys as they continue to meet the challenges that face immigrants from Africa, and pray for the people who robbed them – they must be in dire need as well.

Loaves and Fishes…

So many times we notice that the lives of our African friends are similar to stories in the Bible. In Africa, many of the small boys are shepherds, the women sift out the chafe in the millet after they pound it, and they walk to the well to get water for themselves and their animals. Here in southern Spain we are continually noticing and enjoying the multiplying of “loaves and fishes.” Each time we are invited to eat with our friends from Africa, they take what little they have and make a feast for many people. One evening, Joel ate with the guys in Mojonera. Twenty three young men ate a large platter of pasta, onions, and two pieces of chicken (that’s right - two pieces – not two chickens.) Recently, we had cheb-o-gin with our friends. This is a dish of rice, vegetables, and fish. Delicious! Thirty three people enjoyed this meal together. We got very full and there were just 4 fish for everyone to share. Good stuff. We are continually amazed at how these friends with so little always share and it becomes enough for all.

Please pray our new project that is directed at feeding those who are hungry.

1st Annual Kilos of Care Holiday Food Drive

This holiday season we are kicking off a new project titled, Kilos of Care. This project will be our annual food drive beginning in November and lasting through January. The idea behind this project is to provide a way for individuals, Sunday school classes, or churches to be directly involved in purchasing food for struggling immigrants in Southern Spain and for refugees living in camps in the Western Sahara.

You will buy and give many gifts this holiday season, please prayerfully consider how you might participate in this food drive and give the gift of food to those who may be struggling to feed themselves or their families. “…I was hungry and you gave me something to eat…” -Matthew 25: 31-46.

Kilos of Care Project details:

Estimated cost of specific items:

22 kilo bag of rice: $37 or (1 kilo - $1.68)

22 kilo bag of couscous: $39 or (1 kilo - $1.77)

22 kilo sack of onions: $19 or (1 kilo - .86)

5 kilo block of frozen chicken pieces: $14 or (1 kilo - $2.80)

5 kilo sack of potatoes: $7 or (1 kilo - $1.40)

1 kilo can of powdered baby formula: $14

How to give:

Make checks payable to: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Send gift to: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

P.O. Box 101699

Atlanta, GA 30392

Special instructions: Write Kilos of Care #89833 in the memo line

Also, please remember that your tithes and offerings to CBF’s Offering for Global Missions helps to support field personnel serving all over the world. For more information about this general offering please visit: http://thefellowship.info/OGM

During this Thanksgiving season we are very grateful for your prayers and support and wish you and your family a happy holiday season.

Merry Christmas from the Whitleys in southern Spain!

Ministry among many...

2008-10-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

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

Over the past few months our family has been busy serving those immigrants here in Southern Spain for whom we are called. Your prayers and support continue to allow us to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those around us. Since our last update we have continued to meet more people, hear more stories, and see once again how our presence is of great need. For example, we have participated in a United Nations human rights conference in Paris, France, in which we learned of many needs of marginalized people. In one session, a woman from Senegal said, “What can mothers do about their children dying on clandestine boats headed for Spain.” We have also visited the ministry site of a co-worker, shared our ministry and vision with CBF constituents, and continued to work to develop ties with local NGOs. There is much more we would like to share and even more to be accomplished but for now, we would like to highlight three stories…

Our family in Paris during the UN conference.

Demba’s Story:

We have known Demba for about 5 months. He is always smiling, laughing, and joking. When we met him, he was also dancing. Today he told me (Tiffne) part of his story. He came to Spain two years ago from Senegal. He said that his parents are elderly and that they had not had work in Senegal for many years. He has a sister with children. He has a wife, and a four year old son. When he left Senegal his wife was pregnant with their second child, so now he also has a one year and 4 month old baby whom he has never seen. He came to Spain to find work so that he could send money home to provide for his extended family because there was no work in Senegal. As Demba told me about his family back home and his baby boy that he had never seen, for the first time in the five months that I have known him the smile disappeared from his face and the light went out of his eyes. Demba was sad, and I felt a tiny bit of the suffering of these precious people.

Demba took our children to the store and with his hard earned money bought each of them a bag of cookies. It was hard for me to let him do it, but he insisted. Now I wonder if maybe he was buying my children a bag of cookies, because he couldn’t do so with his own children who live in Africa.

Here is Cade sitting with Demba the first time we met him.

Riots in Roquetas:

This past month proved to be a difficult month for our friends living in “200 viviendas”. What started as a small fight being broken up by a friend; ended up in a full-scale riot that lasted for a couple nights complete with riot police, helicopter support, burning dumpsters and apartments, flying bottles and rocks, and many disrupted lives including one Senegalese man being fatally stabbed. A few days after the incident, we had the opportunity to visit the area where there still was a strong police presence and a feeling of uncertainty even though much had returned to normal. Since then we have had numerous opportunities to minister in this area where we already knew various families and young men, including a Nigerian Independence Day party, and delivering vegetables to our friends who live in an apartment above one that was burned.

This is one of the apartment units that was set ablaze during the rioting.

One of our newest contacts in the area is a family with a newborn premature baby. Fortunately the baby was still in the hospital at the time of the incident but the father said he was still concerned to bring his baby home even a week after. The place where this family is staying it a mere 30 yards from one of the burned out apartment buildings. Tiffne has sent previous prayer updates about this family and their new baby and we are thankful for all the prayers. Many churches and individuals have come together to provide formula, clothing, and blankets for the new baby and we were able to provide them with one of our boys pack-n-plays as a crib.

Proud father, Check from Cameroon, holding his daughter (Margarita) at home just a week after the riots.

VBS at FBC Roquetas de Mar:

FBC Roquetas de Mar is a Nigerian church near where we live. In August we had a VBS for the children of their church. Our VBS “team” was made up of wonderful volunteers from two Mennonite churches from the United States, missionary volunteers from various Baptist backgrounds, another volunteer from a Methodist background, and volunteers from our Spanish Baptist Church. Along with our friends from Nigerian, we had many different cultures working together, and we had a wonderful time and a great VBS. One highlight of the first day was the Mennonite song, “Apple Red Happiness” that the children learned in music class.

“Apple Red Happiness,

Popcorn Cheerfulness,

Cinnamon singing inside,

Peppermint energy,

Gumdrop holiday,

When you give Christ your life!”

Then we served red apples and popcorn for snack along with lemonade! What fun!

Here is one VBS class at the Nigerian Church in Roquetas de Mar.

Craft time during VBS.

Thank you….

Thank you for your continued support and prayer for our family, ministries, and for those whom we serve.

Please continue to pray for Megan’s new teacher. For the first week of school she didn’t have a teacher and things became disorganized. Now she has a teacher. He is right out of Institute (college.) Megan says he is nice.

Please continue to pray diligently for our Muslim friends here, that they would become more and more open to a personal relationship with Christ.

Love,

the Whitleys

Banana Boat Blog Update

2008-07-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

We are continually amazed at how God is leading us to meet those in need around us here in southern Spain. Over the past few months we have met many West Africans from Senegal and The Gambia and in short order have become friends. Each time we visit taking only a small bag of vegetables, they invite us in, offer us African tea, cook a meal, buy juice or water and won’t let us leave until we have partaken of all they offer. One day while at the home of some of our Gambian friends, Tiffne was helping cook a traditional African meal when Dabou shared this piece of African philosophy about why Africans eat together all out of one very large plate. He explained that “when everyone eats together we are all the same. If a man with money is eating with a man who has no money and they eat from the same bowl, no one knows which man has the money. We all share together and then we are the same.”

We have a lot to learn from our African friends. In fact, Dabou has been very instrumental in my understanding of why so many sub-Saharan Africans are making the dangerous trip from their country to Europe by sharing his story with us.

The story of Dabou:

Dabou is from a small fishing village in The Gambia. His father was a fisherman and all the boys in his family fished to support the family. Dabou is the second born son in his family and when his father died his oldest brother was obligated to provide for the entire family as is the culture in Africa. Over the years the ocean around the The Gambia has suffered a decline in fish production due to over-fishing, and Dabou’s family was barely scrapping by, going hungry more days than not each month. As head of his late father’s family, about twenty-five mouths to feed, Dabou’s oldest brother told Dabou that he would have to make the journey to Europe, find work and send money back to his family so that they could survive.

The journey for Dabou began in 2004. He left The Gambia heading north-east through Senegal to Mali. Over the next few months Dabou traveled through Mali to Niger then turned west and crossed Algeria and the Sahara desert to enter Morocco. From Morocco he and twenty something other sub-Saharan Africans boarded a small boat powered by a Yamaha 25 horsepower outboard motor to make the trip to the Canary Islands, which is a Spanish providence and thus Europe. Leaving the banks of Morocco under the cover of darkness at around 11 pm the boat began the dangerous open water ocean crossing. At about 8 am the second day their boat made landfall on the Canary Islands. After about 33 hours on the boat Dabou and the others were met on the beaches by the Spanish police and taken directly to a refugee camp holding area. Dabou lived in this camp for about four months. During his time there he was able to obtain documents that allowed him to remain in Spain. Dabou says that this time was very scary for him, “many are sent back to their own countries, but I was one of the lucky ones, I got my papers.”

Today finds Dabou living in southern Spain and when he can find work, working in the greenhouses that cover the landscape around his town. He says, “[the] greenhouse work is very, very hard for little money.” However, in spite of his struggle to find steady work, he is still able to make enough money to live on and send some back to his brother in The Gambia so that his family can live.

As we sit and talk with our friends, we are hearing their stories and discovering their needs. We are able to, in some instances either meet a critical need or help them to meet their needs themselves. One of the really neat conversations that have been developing is the conversation about what we do. It is exciting to tell these young men and families that we are here doing what we do because there are churches in the United States that care about them. On many occasions they have expressed their gratitude for what we do and have asked that we thank those churches with whom we work.

One team that has recently worked with us was the Cole family from First Baptist Church of Abilene, TX. Below is part of a longer email they sent to their supporters describing their experience:

“[As we] reach out to those who are the most neglected and marginalized people on the planet, let me explain who these people are and how they got to Spain… The largest groups of people… come from West Africa. The people… are to the point that they are absolutely dependent on someone from their family clan (usually the best and brightest) to make it to an industrialized country alive. If you look on a map you will see that there are two ways to get from West Africa to the nearest industrialized country, Spain. They can make the journey two ways. Both see what is approximated to be at least a 25% death rate for those who attempt the migration. They can attempt to travel over a thousand miles by sea hoping to reach the Spanish Canary Islands. Or they can go 2,500 miles overland through Mali, which is the beginning of the Sahara Desert, through Algeria to Morocco. If these folks who have spent their whole lives never much more than a few miles from home in a rainy equatorial climate make it through 2,000 miles of desert they bump into Morocco. In Morocco they are considered a pariah to Moorish society and can essentially be killed for going over or under the fences. If they make it to the coast of Morocco they still have to figure out how to get across 100 miles of the Mediterranean Sea. Oddly enough, due to the vessels we would not even call boats; it seems to be the last 100 miles that sees the most fatalities. Thousands attempt this journey every year. While many make it, many either perish due to dehydration, exposure, or drowning, or they are forced to turn around and attempt to make it back home. Once in Spanish territorial waters, or upon reaching the Spanish shore they are taken by the authorities to a holding camp to be processed, tested for diseases, given acute medical attention, and questioned about who they are and where they come from. They are typically held for up to three months and then literally turned loose to find their own way into Spanish society. They usually gravitate to their countrymen in public housing blocks where they are embraced by the group with a bond that we can probably never truly understand. They are released by the authorities stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. They can't work because they have no papers, but they can't get papers because they can't prove that they have the possibility to work. The small percentage who have gotten papers and work literally support a 3 to 4 room household with up to 15 or 20 people. Once here long enough many get jobs working in the massive vegetable industry where they can earn money to simply survive while sending the majority of the coveted euros they earn back home where it literally provides opportunity for their cherished family members to survive another month.

Their stories of unbelievably difficult journeys, struggles to navigate in and amalgamate into a completely foreign culture, and the sacrifices they make to make their family's lives better are inspiring. But it is something else that will strike deeply and profoundly. Joy prevails! Though they have been through horrific experiences, have very little, and have no real promise of a different future, they are the most joyful people we have ever seen. When you meet them the first thing you will notice is a smile that never seems to loose its beam. They embrace and invite you right into their living rooms where ten more will pour the same warmth all over you.”

Windows of Joy

Each summer refugee children come to Spain to visit for about 2 months. These children were born and raised in a refugee camp in the Sahara Desert. They live in tents and do not have running water. All of there basic needs are brought in to these camps to them. They attend school in these camps. Their lives are difficult. During their time here in Spain we want to work together with others to provide a window of joy in their lives. This summer we are planning to have an art camp for these children, and we are looking forward to seeing them smile.

We are also planning a Vacation Bible School with a Nigeria church here in southern Spain. These two activities are the kinds of mini-projects that you support through your prayers and giving to the Migration Crisis and Relief Project. Thank you for your ministry to these precious people from Africa.

To support the work of CBF field personnel around the world; you can give to the Offering for Global Missions at: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Resource Center, P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. Also, if you would like to give directly to our project, please send donations to the above address and be certain to include this project’s account number in the memo line. (project # 89832)

Prayer Update

Thank you so much for praying for our ministry here. God is really answering your prayers and we are having lots of opportunities to reach out.

Please continue to pray for God to lead us to those he wants us to minister to.
Pray that He will grow His church here in southern Spain.
Pray for our preparation and the team of volunteers who will be helping with the art camp and the VBS this August.
Pray for us as we travel to team meetings this summer. Pray that we will have good meetings and that travel will go smoothly.

Thank you for praying for our family. Our kids seem to be doing great and adjusting well. The boys are growing and are as wild as three year old boys can be. Megan has had a great kindergarten year, her Spanish is good, she learned to read in English at home, and she will have a dance recital with a ballet dance in a tutu and a flamenco dance as well!

Please begin to pray now for Megan’s new teacher next year. Her teacher this year was wonderful and that helped with her adjustment so much.

Thank you for keeping up with us, and for praying for us.

You can continue to e-mail us at twhitley@thefellowship.info .

Migration Crisis & Relief Project Update

2008-04-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

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.)

2008-03-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-12-13T11:26:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-11-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

(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,” Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392, or by going online to http://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 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. 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

2007-08-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

(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, P.O. Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. 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!

2007-08-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

(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

2007-08-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

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

Prayer Requests:

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.
Please pray for language and cultural acquisition for our entire family.
Please pray for us as we travel in June and July to meetings. Pray that our children will adjust well to jet lag.
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.

Welcome!

2007-06-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Whitley’s banana boat blog! For years our newsletter has been called the “banana boat update” because when Tiffne first became interested in doing missions it was the joke that she would catch the next banana boat out. Well, now the banana boat has brought us to southern Spain. We will spend the first several months to a year in language learning. After that we will work with African migrants and refugees many of whom have taken a boat to Spain. In fact, recently we heard of a group of Africans who came over from Africa to Spain on a boat, two of these people were pregnant women. Many times the conditions for these people are not good. We are looking forward to our ministry with them.

When you visit the banana boat blog you will find updates and pictures from the Whitley family as well as our prayer requests. Thank you for keeping up with us, and for praying for us. You can continue to e-mail us at twhitley@thefellowship.info .

Prayer Requests (5/16/07)

Please pray for language and cultural acquisition for our entire family.
Please pray for us as we travel in June and July to meetings. Pray that our children will adjust well to jet lag.

Many people have asked to see what we see when we look out our window. This picture is the view looking north-east off our “front yard” terrace. It over looks our town of Aguadulce with the mountains behind.

This picture is looking south-east off the same terrace. Mountains one direction and the Mediterranean the other! We are only a couple blocks from the beach, which the kids love!

Megan in her princess room on her new scooter.

Cade and Dylan enjoying Tiff’s new rocking chair. It had been almost 3 months since we had a rocking chair and everybody loves to sit in it.

Easter Sunday morning picture of the kids.

Megan playing in the snow. Yes, this is still southern Spain! Up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 2 hours from our house (3 if you get lost like we did) you can find snow and a nice ski resort. Megan liked playing in the snow and even made a little snow man. The boys were not sure what to think of the snow. It was about 10 in. deep which made it hard for them to walk.

One the way home from our trip up in the mountains we stopped at this old castle. Of course it was closed the day we were there, but we took some pictures and walked all the way around it. It was really neat from the outside, situated on a hilltop overlooking the village below with the snow topped mountains in the background.

Megan’s birthday party at church. The people at our new church are so great. People we had not even met yet came to Megan’s party and brought gifts. Megan had a really fun day. At home we had a birthday cake with just the family so we took a homemade big chocolate chip cookie to the church and everyone enjoyed their first “American chocolate chip cookie.”

Any idea what to do at this intersection? Intersections like this are all over Almería and I (Joel) just laugh every time I come to one. Do I stop or do I go????

Pastors Eliezer and Virginia at our house with the kids. We had them over for some Tex-Mex food. Eliezer lived in the U.S. for a while when he was a child and speaks English. He has been our crutch when we arrived, helping us with just about everything! Virginia ate her very first taco at our house that day.

This is our living room…nice and cozy! Also, the couch folds out to make a bed just waiting for guests.