Ministry part 1

I’m slowly but surely learning about the ministry that’s done here in Alcala. Alex and Maribel are getting ready to go on furlough to the United States, so in helping Maribel put together her PowerPoint presentation for her supporting churches and people she will meet with I learned a bit more. They have such a unique ministry that feeds a very specific need in Spain! I asked her if there were other Christian ministries in Spain that serve the immigrants in this way and she was pretty sure there weren’t. Que cosa!!

Through conversations with long term missionaries I am learning that society in Spain is very dark and difficult. It’s a world where Catholicism is dying. It’s a religion of the older generation only observed at baptism, weddings, funerals, and holidays. The younger generation rejects it and fills their lives with drugs and alcohol, materialism, sexual immorality, and gambling instead. To top it all off, they are a very closed people (xenophobic, if you prefer). They treat the immigrants very poorly. Don’t like them, take advantage of them, mistreat them in regard to charging rent, work wages, etc. However, this means that Spain is a very strategic place to present the gospel. They desperately need the message of Jesus and are a gateway into northern Africa, the rest of Europe, and Latin America.

So this ministry is in the heart of Spain and ministers to a very critical need: The immigrant population that has grown from around 500,000 in 1996 to almost 4 million in 2006. It’s a three part ministry so I’ll post about them separately.

First are the immigrant residences; two homes that can house up to 20 people. I’m currently one of 25 people housed here (notice the discrepancy in capacity…). One house has 11 people (an older couple from Brazil, Juan and Lina, a young single Cuban woman who arrived just a couple of months ago Yamile, a mother and daughter from Cuba, Niurka and Massiel, a young Argentinean couple Hector and Noelia, and a young Brazilian couple Ademir and Miriam with her sister Beatriz also.) I know these are just names to you all, but these are the people that I live with! Share the kitchen with. Greet at the door when the come home from long hard work days. Do chores with. It’s great! They’ve had one house for only a year and the turnover has been quite extensive, but it’s a starting out place for some people as they first arrive in Spain from their home countries. Niurka, Hector, and Noelia are in Seminary here in Spain. Miriam is a college educated woman who left Brazil because she couldn’t get a job and could pay off her school loans a lot faster if she works cleaning houses in Spain for euros. (I am learning but I still don’t understand international economy…) Yamile…I’m not quite sure why she came to Spain but from another Cuban gentleman I learned that it’s just better to be anywhere than Cuba.

Because of the growth of the ministry and the help of the landlord, they acquired another house just this past summer. It’s right across the street and now has a whopping 14 people. Two extended families from Brazil and a colorful assortment of Cuban men. (Valdeir and Celiamar, their son Valcimar, her brother Leudimar and his wife Rosana, Agnaldo, his children Edna and Alessandro, a masters student from the Dominican Republic Norberto, and Guillermo, Juan Enrique, Victor, Marcos, and Fidel) Several of these men are married with children…have left their homes and families to come and try to make money to support their families because it’s next to impossible in Cuba. It’s difficult for me to understand how this could be so because I’ve grown up in America, the place where no one wants to leave and everyone wants to come!

So Alex and Maribel act as the landlords. They collect rent, take care of household repairs, spend hours making sure our internet works, and decide who moves in. There’s cleaning schedules and we each have a dedicated day we can use the washer (la lavadora). It’s my week to clean the kitchen but because Noelia is my kitchen cleaning partner and I did it alone last time, she’s doing it this week. Alex and Maribel also help the new immigrants get settled. Encourage them in finding good (legal) jobs and/or getting into a class to learn Spanish as much as possible (Most of the Brazilians only speak Portuguese). Help them get bank accounts and anything else they need to set up. When immigrants first arrive, it’s a good idea to get registered with the local government. Once you register, it starts counting your three years. After being here three years they can get papers as legal residents, and then that opens up much more opportunities for employment and such. So the ministry helps keep track of them while being good honest people the immigrants can trust. For three years they struggle immensely because they can’t legally work and make very low wage at the places that will hire them. Typically women can only find jobs in domestic work or care-giving.

I love hearing their stories and talking to all of them and I’ve had small triumphs in being accepted by them. I’m learning about the different cultures. If you hang out with the Argentineans, you’d better be prepared to not have dinner until midnight and if they say let’s go!! (Vamos!!)…that really means you’re not going to leave for another 20 minutes or so! The Brazilians are a warm people who smile often and love to have fun and party and their cooking always smells amazing! Cuban Spanish is very difficult for me to understand. One thing they all seem to have in common is they want to learn English!! Some of them love Spain and are grateful to be here; others don’t like it here at all and only see it as doing time until they can return to their true homes.

I’m learning a lot about how I respond to them. I’m definitely more grateful than ever to be an American. I’m learning that I can live on a lot less than I’ve been blessed with in America because most of these men and women arrived here with nothing and they are happy and grateful. I struggle with the motivation to clean the bathroom after 10 people have been using it all week. I really want to go into a rant about how beautiful it is when all these people gather together on Sunday morning to worship God, but I’ll save that for another post.