Blast to the past: The first few days...

Hola from Brooke!

Since we were quite slack in setting up our blog before we arrived, here's a little entry to give some perspective on our first few days in Palma, taken from a few emails I managed to send off. Also some pictures...

Day One thoughts:

9. Sept. 2009

Hello dear friends and family,

Just a very quick note to let you know that we arrived safely in Palma yesterday night. Andrew and Vivienne Birch were waiting for us at the airport, all of our bags arrived in good order, and we went for a little tapas before falling into bed for about 12 hours of sleep.

The flat is wonderful. Nothing fancy, but it has a big kitchen and 4 bedrooms and a terrace, too! We spent today wandering around the downtown area of Palma, and Vivienne and Andrew took us to meet the members of an English speaking Bible study group. Most of the members were British, with the exception of one German woman. They were all very welcoming and should be some good friends during our three months in Palma.

In case you haven´t received it, our address is

Sres. de Santamaria
C/. Ortega y Gasset, 15 - 2.º
07008 Palma de Mallorca
(Illes Balears)
SPAIN

And our phone number is (34) 971 471 401. 39 is the country code, so from the States you´d dial 011 34 971 471 401. Also, Nathan´s new cell is (34) 672 746 723.

We are about to sit down for a dinner at the Birch´s home at 10pm!! :) It really is a different pace of life!

Much love to you all, and we´ll be in touch soon!

Brooke and Nathan

P.S. Bequi, you´re famous in Palma! The Birches knew your father. Made me miss you much!



13 Sept.

Hi there!

Finally got back online today. It has been such an interesting experience so far, meeting lots of Brits and Latin Americans. We've been hosted for dinner EVERY night we've been here -- 5 nights in a row. The church is just incredibly welcoming and alive. It's inspiring to see people loving and serving one another (and guests!) so well.

We already have a busy week planned next week, including helping out at the second-hand clothing shop they have at the church and meeting up with loads of people from the church. Nathan will be meeting up with two teenage boys who want to be discipled, so they are going to read a book together. I am hoping to get started on some Spanish lessons with a lovely Argentinian gal who just got married to a British guy about 4 months ago. And all that is really just the tip of the iceberg.

...

So that's it for now. I'll let Nathan do an update on this week... Please keep us and the church in your prayers (http://www.iglesiapalma.com/). (As you can see from the picture, we meet in a very old building.)

Love to you all!

Brooke (+ Nathan)