Investigation

I went with Maribel and Alex into a neighborhood right outside the center of Madrid on a scouting mission. They have the vision of extending their ministry into Madrid and starting up a new immigrant residence and church there. There's this neighborhood called Usera that has a really high population of immigrants. Mostly Asian and Latin American. There were shops and hair dressers and restaurants with signs in all languages that indicated specialty for Ecuadorians, Chinese, Kurdish, latinos, Asian Pacificos, etc. Those all seem to be very open air, social cultures like the Spanish because the streets were full of people walking, hanging out on street corners and parks. There was the car with all the windows rolled down and the music blaring to provide a little entertainment. We sampled una bebida typica de Kurdistan (a typical drink from Kurdistan): a plain liquid yogurt with lemon and salt. It was...interesting. It tasted like sour milk smells. We stood outside a local Chinese evangelical church and watched as the people showed up for the service that was about to start. There were actually more evangelical churches in the area than I expected. What difficult work they have to do! The more exposure you have to the worldwide church the more beautiful the image of every tongue and nation and pueblo and tribe and people bowing down to the King becomes.





This is the front of the Chinese church in the middle of Usera:


People put these up when they are looking for a room to rent or sell something or find work.