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8.8.07  A group of young leaders from Oasis Madrid hits the streets every Friday to spend time with their homeless friends and get a sense of where their city is hurting. To learn more, download your copy of our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter. 8.7.07  Watch Oasis Madrid's newest promotional video, which highlights three areas of growth from this past year: Shani's baptism, discipleship and our weekly sandwich route. Click here to watch the video. 8.4.07 April finishes the first draft of her Masters thesis, which she will be submitting to her advisor for edits. 7.27.07  Our teammate Kelly Wills visited Betel, a well-known Christian rehab center in Spain for people struggling with drug addictions. We look forward as a church to supporting Betel's work as well as learning from them about addiction, which is the main challenge we see in the lives of our homeless friends in Madrid. 7.22.07 A fall retreat (Sept. 7-9) is in the works for the seven young leaders who will be heading up Oasis Madrid's ministry to the homeless this coming year. 7.20.07  Oasis Madrid has a new website. Take a look at www.oasismadrid.org. 7.17.07 After two years in process, Oasis Madrid has finally been legalized as a church by the Spanish government. 7.17.07  Kelly and his friend Jonathan visit Misión Urbana, a Christian homeless shelter in Madrid, to learn how Oasis Madrid can support their work, and also to learn more about the social services available in Madrid for the homeless people we work with every week. 6.4.07  We would like to introduce you to some promising young leaders in our church and how they want to serve Europe. Download your copy of our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter. 6.1.07 A homeless friend of ours named José (although everyone called him "Portu") died today from overdrinking. Please keep the community of homeless people who lived with Portu in your prayers as well as freedom from addictions to alcohol and drugs which many of our homeless friends deal with everyday. 5.29.07 Every other Saturday our church has a Gathering event. Kelly recently put together a team of people from our church who will be planning these events. This coming weekend we will be getting together for a Pub Quiz at Triskels Irish Pub in our neighborhood. Should be fun! 5.24.07 Chris, a young leader in our church, is a musician in Madrid. Kelly had the privilege of playing guitar with Chris at one of his concerts at a club called iLatina. You can look at photos of the concert or listen to Chris' music here (but you need a myspace account). 5.17.07  April and I were part of a small research group from Christian Associates who visited Seville (in Southern Spain) to make some suggestions about whether Christian Associates should plant a church in Seville in the near future. If you are interested in learning more about our trip, visit our colleague Rogier Bos' blog for photos and a few thoughts. If you read Spanish, you may find this particular photo interesting. 5.7.07  Kelly attended a Support Raising Seminar by Myles Wilson in The Hague with 24 other staff from Christian Associates. Our hope was that Kelly would learn a thing or two about how to serve you (our supporters) better as you give so generously to our ministry. Thanks for your partnership in our work in Spain. We could not work in Spain without you! 5.2.07 Oasis Madrid's Wednesday night Community Group (bible study) began meeting at our house tonight. It's a joy to have so many people in our home again. 4.17.07 Happy 27th birthday April! 4.16.07  Read up on our transition to Madrid in this month's UnplowedGround Newsletter. Click here to download your copy. 4.13.07 Oasis Madrid brings sandwiches to the people who are homeless in our neighborhood every Friday and every other Monday. Kelly had the opportunity to join the group for the first time on Friday and begin building some relationships. 4.12.07 Kelly began the process of applying for his third residency card today. Please pray that his card will be processed smoothly and that April's (which is already in process) will arrive soon. 4.8.07  Our church, Oasis Madrid, had an Easter Retreat in the mountains this weekend. See photos here. We spent time studying Scripture using a technique called lectio divina, shared a Seder meal together, and watched The Passion movie. Some of us prayed in our 24-7 prayer room. We also played games and went hiking. One of our best friends, Shani, who April mentored when we last lived in Madrid, was baptized on Easter morning. We love Shani, she’s a part of our family, and we’re excited to be a part of her life as she grows in Christ. 11.20.07 We moved into our new apartment. We don't have any furniture yet, except a futon, but it's a start. At least we have a place to sleep! 11.20.07  We found an apartment today. We took the first place we looked at. See photos on Kelly's blog. We're feeling incredibly loved by God because the apartment is almost everything we were looking for. Most of the apartments in this particular neighborhood were out of our price range, including this one, but when we arrived to look at the place, the landlords told us they were going to reduce the rent by 200€ a month because the place wasn't furnished, but it said it was in the classifieds. We had been trying to figure out how to bargain with them about lowering the rent by 200€ (that exact amount), then they came right out and told us the rent had been lowered. 3.18.07  We arrived safely in Madrid. We had been praying for months that Alleke would travel well, and she did. Despite being in three airplanes and three airports, she kept to her usual sleep schedule, and nearly got a full night of sleep (unlike her parents). 3.5.07 Immanuel Christian Reformed Church of Orange City invited us to speak at the Worldwide Day of Prayer. We were able to share about our work in Spain and highlight some prayer requests for Europe. 11.21.06  In this month's UnplowedGround Newsletter our goal is answer one question: What is furlough? Download your copy here. 11.20.06 Furlough officially begins today. If everything goes well, we'll be in NW Iowa until March 18th, 2007 at which point we will be moving back to Madrid to continue our work with the church plants there. We will be making trips to Minneapolis / St. Paul and the Chicago area in late February. 11.17.06 We flew from Madrid to Omaha. Alleke did very well. We had to run to catch two of our flights, but we made it to Omaha on time. 11.16.06 Alleke received her passport today from the U.S. embassy in Madrid. She is officially an American citizen. 11.12.06 A group from Oasis Madrid went to Morocco to help with orphanage there. Some of the group also visited Rabat for the first time to begin building relationships with some workers there. 11.11.06 We've moved our things from Castellón to Madrid and put them in storage while we're on furlough in the U.S. 10.30.06  www.xrds.fr is online. Kelly has been working with Crossroads International Church on the Cote d'Azur, France to develop their church website. 10.03.06  Alleke Grace Crull was born Tuesday, October 3rd at 9:12 PM (Spain time). She was 3.03 kilos (or 6 lbs, 11 oz) and 49 cm (19 inches) long. Click here for baby news and baby photos. 9.10.06 Shani Kilasi and Karen and Warren Batt, friends from the UK who were originally part of Mountainview Church in Madrid have moved back to Madrid and are actively involved in the new church plant. We're honored that our friends actually wanted to come back to help! 9.18.06  Free poetry is ripe for reading in our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter. Download your copy here. 9.16.06 Happy 27th Birthday Kelly! You can take a look at some photos of our day at the Albufera Nature Preserve for Kelly's birthday. 8.16.06 Download a copy of our Financial Update to find out more about our current needs and our financial plan for the coming ministry season. 8.15.06 A new financial support form has been added to UnplowedGround.com. If you would like to start a conversation with us about how you can get involved in our ministry or update your existing details, click here to fill out our online form. (No financial information is required to fill out the form.) 8.15.06  deeperdevotion.net is online. Kelly teamed up with Jeff Plowman, a graphic designer in Paris, to design this website for an Amsterdam-based ministry called Deeper Devotion, which is dedicated to equipping in the areas of worship arts and spiritual formation. 8.11.06  Join in the fun at Christian Associates Staff Conference 2006 by reading our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter. Photos from the conference are also available online here. 8.5.06  Welcome to Shmuel and Robyn Bowles and their little guy Josiah who will be staying with us for two weeks. Shmuel and Robyn work with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and a project called Triburbana in Seville, Spain. 8.2.06  Today we had the opportunity to lead two workshops at the Christian Associates Staff Conference 2006. April led a workshop on Godly Play, a children's curriculum. Kelly led a workshop on Creative Worship. You can read more about these workshops in our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter. 8.10.06  We had our August doctor's appointment today, and mom and baby are both in good health. You can see out latest ultrasound here. 8.8.06 Kelly begins working on two more websites. A new website for Christian Associates and a new website for Oasis Madrid church. The new websites will hopefully launch by the end of August. 7.21.06  April's Masters thesis outline is approved by her advisor. Let the writing begin! (In case you're interested, her topic is narrative methods of intercultural mediation for conflict transformation. You'll have to ask her what that means.) 7.13.06 Today we began our childbirth classes. The classes are twice a week, and they include exercise and discussion on how to care for your baby. You can read about our classes on our baby blog. 7.11.06 Kelly's parents were here for three weeks in June and early July. They got to see April pregnant, and we spent one week in the Bavarian Alps in Germany for our summer vacation. 7.10.06 Kelly begins work with a team from Christian Associates to develop new communications strategies for the organization. These strategies will be implemented this coming January. 7.1.06 Kelly has been working with a company called Constant Contact to improve Christian Associates monthly newsletter called Inside CA. Today the first newsletter under the new system was send out to CA staff and board members. 6.27.06  Download your copy of the Latest UnplowedGround Newsletter here. Before we launch into the coming year and all the excitement to come, we wanted to give you an update and an overview of what Kelly's been doing in Communications for CA this year. Take a look. 6.05.06 April starts her last class for her Master's degree today - the time has gone so quickly. Pray for us as we begin to say goodbye to her classmates and our friends. 6.04.06 April's classmates threw us a semi-surprise baby shower today. It was great fun - praise God for providing support and community from all over the world! You can check out a video of the event here. 6.01.06  Our friend Shani visited this weekend - an English friend who we mentored and worshipped with in Madrid. She will be moving back to Madrid this fall, so we look forward to living near her again. 5.29.06 Another doctor's appointment. All is well - correct numbers of fingers, toes, heart ventricles, and spinal columns. We also found out we'll be having a girl, so our imaginations are a little more clear now. Continue to pray for the baby's development. 5.24.06 Our team leaders, Troy and Heather Cady, and their kids Meg and Nic, along with Madrid friend Victoria, arrive today for a few days rest on the beach before they begin a month of moving to the city and leaving for the States on furlough. 5.18.06  Sharla and Andy leave today - we had a great time - and friends/cousins Angela and Ryan Visser arrive for a few days. 5.10.06  Friends/cousins Sharla and Andy Van Roekel arrived today for a week-long visit and celebration of the end of vet school! We'll enjoy getting to show them Spain, including Madrid for a weekend and the beach near our house. 5.05.06  We had another party for April's classmates at our house tonight. More great food from around the world and a fun atmosphere for people to spend time together. 4.28.06  Back to Madrid again - good thing we'll be moving there! This was another work trip since Kelly will be building the new Oasis Madrid website. He spent the weekend with the team making plans while I spent the weekend holed up in the basement writing papers. It was good to be hard at work and play with our team. 4.25.06 Our third doctor's appointment was today. All is going well - praise God! Kelly has been writing about the pregnancy and our experiences here. 4.13.06 We went to Madrid this weekend for the Oasis Madrid Easter Retreat. It was a wonderful time to reconnect with the church there, enjoy the mountains, and also help out when some of the staff got sick at the last minute. You can find pictures here and a summary of the retreat here. 4.7.06  Trust us. We think you'll want to read this month's UnplowedGround Newsletter. We have very good news. Yes, that kind! Click here to confirm your suspicions. 4.5.06  We also have another UnplowedGround Video for you. Kelly was in Münster, Germany at the beginning of April helping our German friends Stefan and Andrea Lingott (who started Epic Church in Münster) develop a logo for their church as well as design posters and flyers for an upcoming church-planting conference for German-speaking Europe in Switzerland. Stefan and Andrea say this conference is the first of its kind and they hope to recruit new church planters for CAI Germany at the conference. Click here to watch the video. 3.10.06 We spent the weekend in Madrid exploring ways for April to get involved in intercultural mediation in Madrid. We visited one government mediation school and a group of intercultural mediators called SEMSI or El Servicio de Mediación Social Intercultural. These opportunities seem like they will be a promising way for April to get involved in Madrid and serve the community. 3.20.06 We spent a few days visiting friends at a CAI church in Lisbon, Portugal while April had a school break. We had the opportunity to lead a small group Bible study one evening. Kelly helped the team think through designing a new website and also did some teaching for the staff on how to create newsletters to send to their supporters. We also had the chance to lead a chapel for the junior high and high school at the local international school (which is currently looking for new teachers if anyone is interested). 3.9.06  Pick up a copy of our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter here. This month we highlight the team Kelly is working in Brussels and their initiative called Serve the City. They've been asking the simple question: what if for one day we set aside our own agendas and thought about the needs of others? 3.1.06 March is the month of websites. Kelly is busy constructing a website for a CAI church near Nice, France. He's nearing the end of the design phase with the CAI church in Brussels and with DeeperDevotion ministries in Amsterdam. He'll also be working with teams in Madrid and Dublin in the next few months. 2.27.06 This month all the Christian Associates International team leaders met for a week at the CAI Leaders' Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. The week is an opportunity for our leaders to encourage each other, relax a bit, and set the course for the coming year. 2.23.06  One of our Madrid team mates, Kelly Wills, came to Castellón for a visit. 2.21.06  We met with a local intercultural mediator named Nicoleta to learn more about intercultural mediation here in Castellón and her work with a Red Cross mediation group called Medi Mundi. 2.17.06 Kelly recently started meeting weekly to pray with one of our friends, Jitu, a fellow Christian from India. Thanks, Jitu, for listening to all my ramblings! 2.15.06  Kelly added two new sections to the Christian Associates International website for Russia and Romania. CAI is expanding its reach beyond Western Europe to Eastern Europe and Russia. We have new projects underway in Bucharest, Moscow and Ryazan. 2.2.06  A new video is available from Kelly's week in Geneva, Switzerland at Christian Associate's first annual Worship Arts Conference. Click here to see the video. 1.30.06  Read our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter to learn "the rest of the story" about some of the ministries we were involved in in Madrid and where those ministries are at now. Click here to download your copy. 1.30.06 We have exams in our Spanish classes this week at the Official School of Languages. Pray that we will be able to demonstrate the language skills we've learned this fall to the best of our abilities. 1.28.06 Kelly went to Valencia on Saturday to join with local church leaders to learn about building websites for evangelical churches in Spain. The day was a good opportunity to meet other people and learn more about this group from Barcelona who is using the web to build relationships between churches in Spain. 1.24.06  This month Christian Associates held its first annual Worship Arts Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. You can click through some photos here. For our first year doing the conference, we were happy to have thirty people from our staff and our churches across Europe attend. Kelly is a part of CAI's Worship Leadership Team, so he was involved in the administrative side of the conference as well as teaching a few of the large-group gatherings and two hands-on sessions on the topic of alternative worship forms (particularly for those church plants that don't have musicians). 12.23.05 Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad! April and I are spending Christmas this year in Madrid celebrating the birth of Jesus and also the birth of a new church in Madrid. As of last weekend, Mountainview has expanded to two churches, the new church called Oasis will be located in the center of the city where April and I had been working before moving to Castellón. 12.23.05  Click here to see a video of April and I at the Christmas Market at Plaza Mayor in Madrid. We just added a new video section to our website. In the future, you will be able to find a complete listing our videos at the "Videos" link at the top of the page. 11.29.05  We've been able to get involved locally in a campaign to help the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan and the hurricane in Guatemala. A Indian Christian friend of ours is heading up the campaign, collecting money and food and clothing donations. Our church was willing to participate in the campaign when we asked, which was encouraging since we're still new to the community, and Kelly was able to design the posters and flyers we've been hanging up around town. 11.26.05 We had Thanksgiving at our apartment on Saturday. Once again, it was an international event. 50 + friends showed up to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Only 15 of them were Americans! Our friend Laurie who is a history teacher gave the rest of our friends the 2-minute history lesson on why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Click here for our Thanksgiving photos. 11.20.05 We're excited to announce that Mountainview, the church we were working with in Madrid, will be expanding into two churches as of this December. Mountainview had been holding services in two locations, one in the city center and another in the NW suburbs, and now they are going to be two churches with twice the potential of reaching Madrid. Praise God for growth and for all the people willing to do the work it's going to take to be two churches. 11.17.05 Kelly is working on updating the Christian Associates website. It still has a way to go, but hopefully the website will continue to improve as an easy resource for people who are looking for jobs or short and long-term internships with Christian Associates. 11.14.05 April is currently researching conflict transformation for her Masters. Recently a leading politician in Spain praised the evangelical Spanish church for its social justice work in Spain. We're excited about the potential her studies will give her to make a difference as a Christian in Europe through multicultural mediation work. 11.13.05 Kelly joined the Christmas choir at church. We've definitely been stepping up our Spanish intake by joining Vida Nueva, our Spanish church here in Castellón. Kelly joined the Christmas choir to learn some of the local carols and also to try to get to know more people in our church community. Our new friend, José María ("Joseph Mary"), seems particularly qualified (with a name like that!) to be in the Christmas choir. 11.3.05 Kelly flew to northern Europe to work with some friends from Christian Associates to help them develop websites. He worked with close friend, Elizabeth de Smaele, who is starting a ministry called Deeper Devotion as well as spending a few days in Brussels working with the church-planting team there. Kelly also got to spent some time with his boss, Al, in The Hague and a couple days in Rotterdam with a web designer friend, Rogier Bos, getting some web development training. 10.15.05  Pick up the latest edition of the UnplowedGround Newsletter titled, "Everything NEW." Find out about our new church, new friends, and new job responsibilities. If you've missed a newsletter along the way, you can find all of them here for download. 10.14.05  We also have two more photo albums online--one of our new friends in Castellón and the other from Kelly's trip to the Cote d'Azur, France to help the new CAI church there develop their website. You can take a look at all our photo albums here. 10.5.05 We started Spanish classes again this week. We'll be in class two to three times a week at the Official School of Languages here in Castellón. Kelly also meets with two Spanish university students every week to practice Spanish-English conversation. 10.2.05  We've found a Spanish church in Castellón. It's called Vida Nueva ("New Life"). We must have church planting on our minds because it's a church plant, only about two years old. We're excited about the potential to learn more about Spanish Christianity and provide support to this young church community in any way we can. 9.27.05 Speaking of classes, please be praying for some of my fellow classmates. About 10 people have not yet arrived due to visa problems. They are all from countries that would be a very important contribution to our learning experience, so all us Americans and Norwegians are hoping they can all make it. Please pray that their visas will be cleared. 9.27.05 Classes begin! I had my first official class today. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to learning a lot about an entirely new field. 9.27.05  Kelly left for the Cote d'Azur (The "Blue Coast") in France today to visit a new church with Christian Associates there. He will be spending two days with the team gathering ideas and content for the website he is designing for them. 9.5.05 Troy and Heather Cady and family are arriving tomorrow for a few days of vacation by the beach before the busy-ness of church and school begin again. We are looking forward to our first guests! 9.4.05 An uneventful week of unpacking and trying to feel "at home." Today we tried out one of the churches in town. Very welcoming and there are some people our age. We are hoping to check out a few different churches before deciding which one God would like us to be at. Please pray for guidance and wisdom in this decision. 8.27.05 All went as planned. Kelly and friend arrived around 1pm, our landlord helps us unpack. We sign the contract, the landlord leaves, and we stand staring at our boxes in our new apartment. Yeah God! 8.26.05 Kelly is taking the overnight bus to Madrid tonight. Tomorrow morning, he and a friend with a moving van will be leaving Madrid with all our stuff by 7am to arrive here around noon at our new apartment so we can move in. Praise God - we have keys in hand! Amazing how fast this has all happened. 8.25.05 We should sign a contract for an apartment tomorrow. The story is amazing, but I'll keep it short. Basically we are getting an enormous apartment at a 300 euro/month discount. The location is great and the apartment is beautiful. The previous renters were also a young American couple that had an excellent relationship with our landlords, so I think we are reaping the benefits. The series of coincidences surrounding us getting this apartment are so strong, we are anxious to see what God wants to do with this amazing blessing. 8.24.05 We went to a going away party tonight for some former students from the Master's progam. Most fo the group at the party will be leaving over the next month, but a few will stick around. We talked with people from Syria, Indonesia, Peru, Venezuela, Moldova, and Italy to name a few. We are already starting to feel the challenge and blessing of so many cultures that are unknown to us. Please pray that we will find a few good friends and also a much-needed Christian community. 8.23.05 The hunt continues. Our Spanish is going well - especially Kelly's during the phone calls. We have a few apartment options, but nothing "perfect" yet, we are hoping to find something soon. It's hard to believe we have only been here 3 days as each day feels like a week. In between the apartment searching, we've been wandering around the city and also spending sometime at the beach. Transitions like this are always a strong reminder of God's goodness, faithfulness, and love. 8.20.05 We arrived in Castellón today and the apartment hunt begins! Starting on a Saturday isn't the best, but a student who did the Master's last year will be helping us get started. Pray that our Spanish holds up after not being around it for 2 months. 8.19.05 Heidi flies home today :( We'll miss having her around. It was a great chance to get to know each other better (as traveling always teaches you a lot about each other!) and to share some of our life here with her. Thanks for coming Heidi!!! and happy 18th birthday. 8.18.05 We fly to London today for 1 day. Heidi flies out from there tomorrow and we fly "home" to Castellón to start looking for an apartment. We will be staying tonight at the London Mennonite Center with some fellow Iowans who are currently working there. I got to know them because of their work in Conflict Transformation particularly in church settings. We're looking forward to spending a little more time there. 8.13.05 We fly to Prague, Czech Republic today for a few days vacation with Heidi before we return to Spain and she goes to the United States. We will be staying with a friend of a friend, Mark Fishel, who does student ministry with Impact Ministries International. You can check out our fun times there here. 8.12.05 Staff Conference has also been a helpful time for Kelly's new role with the organization. He was able to make additional contacts with new church plants about his new job offering websites. Many new and existing churches are anxious to enlist his services as well as pick his brain for information. It was a great encouragement to realize how much of a service and blessing his role will be for the organization. We were also able to meet with our new supervisor, Al Dyck, and establish that relationship. Al lives in the Hague and is CA's Director of European Operations. He will be in biweekly contact with Kelly as a guide for his new job. Kelly is anxious to get started once we move. 8.11.05 Staff Conference is going well. Check out the pictures here. It is always refreshing to be with a group of people who have the same passions and calling as us - not to mention just catching up with friends. We are having good speakers, excellent worship, and important times of prayer for the work happening all over Europe. 8.7.05 We leave for the CA Staff Conference today at De Bron - about 2 hours from Amsterdam. Heidi left yesterday to help set up the camp that will be happening there for the teenagers. 8.5.05 We are again staying with our wonderful Dutch "family" and Heidi and I are getting a chance to see a little of Amsterdam while Kelly is hard at work. You can check out our pictures of it here. 8.4.05 Arrived in Madrid safetly. We had one day to visit with friends, particularly Shmuel and Robyn and their new baby Josiah. Today we fly to Amsterdam for a few days before the Staff Conference begins. Kelly will be leading worship at the conference again this year and the bands practice for a few days before it starts. 8.2.05 We fly from Omaha to Madrid today. Heidi is coming with us to work at a camp for teenagers during Christian Associates annual Staff Conference. We are looking forward to getting back to Europe and seeing our many collegues at the Staff Conference. 7.31.05 Our time in Iowa draws to a close. We speak at our last church this morning, Calvary CRC in Orange City, and then tonight get to see our sister Heidi make her profession of faith. Our time this summer has been busy but a great chance to renew relationships with family, friends, and supporters. Now we look ahead to a busy month of travels and moving. 7.01.05 Our furlough continues...lots of talking with people about the work we have been doing in Madrid, working on materials to keep our supporters up-to-date, making some plans for our next step, and speaking at churches. For a schedule of when we are at different churches, you can check here. 6.26.05 We spoke at Immanuel CRC in Orange City this morning and had lunch with our Care group. 6.15.05 Flying to Minneapolis today. We will be meeting with supporters and Faith CRC in New Brighton for the next few days. 6.12.05 The Camino went well. We survived with a few blisters and very sore muscles. You can find pictures of the beauty we got to experience here. 6.1.05 Today we got on a bus at 8 am to leave Madrid for Oveido and Salas. For the next 11 days, we will be hiking 170 miles through the mountains of northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago, a thousand-year old pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James. Our friends Julie and Dan Oudman-Perkins from the U.S. will be joining us along with friends Matt and Marianna from Madrid. 5.28.05  A baby shower for Robyn and Shmuel Bowles and their soon coming baby boy. 5.26.05 Today we loaded up a friend of a friend's delivery van and brought all our stuff out to be stored in our friend's garage until we find a place to live in our new town in August. 5.11.05 It is 21 days until we leave Madrid. We will be in the United States on June 15. Please pray for us as we plan our furlough, finish handing off our responsibilities here, pack-up our home, and say difficult good-byes. 5.7.05  April left today for Den Haag. She will be at a gathering called the Thinklings for three days. This is a group within Christian Associates that meets to present on and discuss different theological concerns, believing that "fruitful mission is generated by good theology." Go here to read the paper April wrote for the gathering. To read other papers presented, go here. 5.5.05 Kelly left today for Geneva. He will be meeting for three days with some other Christian Associates worship leaders to discuss ideas for worship development within Christian Associates as well as to plan for worship at our agency-wide Staff Conference in August. 4.30.05 Oasis vision meeting at our house. The Oasis refers to the Community Groups, services, and relationships that happen in the city center (downtown) of Madrid and is where Kelly and I have spent most of our time/energy. Next fall, our friend and now collegue Kelly Wills will be taking over this ministry. She and our team leader, Troy, led this meeting to give those who are a part of this ministry a vision for the fall. To see this vision for yourselves, click here. 4.22.05 Mountainview is hosting its 3rd annual Leader's Retreat intended to encourage and equip those involved in our Leader's Community. The topic for the weekend is "God in the Workplace." 4.17.05 Happy Birthday April! She turned 25 today. 4.13.05 Our colleague, Kelly Wills, and close friend, Shani Kilasi, attended Christian Associate's Staff Candidate Orientation in The Hague. Both are currently considering joining the Mountainview team. We ask for your prayers through this decision-making process. 4.8.05  Mountainview hosted its first trip to Morocco. April and I had the privilege of leading the group of 7 down to Morocco to bring clothes, medical supplies, and diapers to an orphanage we have a relationship with there. Photos available in the Photo Album. 4.7.05 Kelly's Spanish residency card is renewed. 3.27.05  Mountainview celebrated Easter together with a brunch followed by some singing, a sermon by Troy Cady, a drama, even an egg hunt. Here's some photos. 3.22.05  April's family visited for 9 days in March. April's dad triumphantly poses above with his feet in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Way to go Dad! You made it! 3.19.05 Open Mic Night at J&J's Bookstore. Kelly read an essay called M*A*S*H. 3.5.05 Heather Cady, one of Mountainview's up-and-coming worship leaders, lead worship for the first time at Mountainview's Oasis gathering in the city. Congrats Heather on a job well done. She's a natural! 2.16.05 Our close friend Kelly Wills has stepped into leadership of the Oasis Team, the group that plans Mountainview's Oasis gathering each month. 3.11.05 Today is the year anniversary of 11-M, the day of the train bombings in Madrid. It will be commemorated with a memorial in Retiro Park and an International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security. 3.9.05 A New UnplowedGround Newsletter is available for pick-up. The latest edition is about Godly Play, our new children's ministry. We implemented it in our services for the first time in February. Click here to download your copy, or take a look at our complete list of UnplowedGround Newsletters. 3.1.05 Our team mates Richard and Riekje Wallace and their 3 boys returned from their furlough safe, sound, and rested! 2.22.05  As our team leaders, Troy and Heather, were off to the annual Christian Associates Leader Summit in Lisbon, Portugal this week, we stayed with their kids and dog. This was our third year and we could tell the difference in their ages - and probably ours too! The best part of it was the 5 inches of snow we received. We decided to teach Meg and Nic how to make a snowman! 2.20.05 Our friend, Paul Jenneman, who lived here last year, was back for a visit this week. We enjoyed having him stay with us and getting to catch-up. 2.5.05  Today a couple from Mountainview who are involved in a sexual and relational healing ministry called Living Waters (or Desert Streams in the U.S.) is holding a conference on having a healthy relationship with your parents. April and many others from Mountainview are attending the conference today. 2.4.05 April sent off her grad school application today. Only one more to go. 2.1.05 Our team mates Richard and Riekje Wallace and their 3 boys left on furlough for the month of February. 1.19.05 Mountainview begins another Alpha Marriage Course. 1.14.05 Kelly Wills, a friend at Mountainview, recently started holding "Studio Time" at her apartment every Friday afternoon for local artists to get together and paint, draw, sculpt--whatever they want to do. Here's more on Studio Time. 1.31.05 The new Mountainview interns, Scott and Kris Heron, arrived safely from Washington, D.C. Scott is Australian. Kris is Canadian. They will be with us until June 17, 2005. Welcome to Madrid, guys! 1.27.05 April's residency card renewal is complete. 1.21.05  April's brother Tim and his fiancé Sherri visited us for 9 days. 1.26.05 It snowed in Madrid today! 1.10.05 Our small group began a new study this week based on Neil Anderson's book, Victory over the Darkness. 1.30.05 Mountainview held its 1st Annual General Meeting (AGM or Congregational Meeting) today. My how we're growing up! Click here to download "Mountainview: Past, Present, Future" (1.1MB), the handout passed out at the meeting. 1.21.05  We can gladly say our two Godly Play training days were a success. April's been working towards these training days for a couple months. As a result, we now have roughly 15 members of our church who are trained and ready to guide our children in this high-quality children's ministry curriculum. Photos here. 12.19.04 We have two wonderful weeks in Iowa to celebrate Christmas with family. 12.13.04 Tonight in our Community Group we are finishing up our study and reflection on Advent. We have been using a Bible study that April wrote. You can download a .pdf copy here. 12.13.04 A New UnplowedGround Newsletter is available for pick-up. The latest edition is about how we can see some of the themes of advent, such as hope, peace, joy, and love in our lives and work here. Click here to download your copy, or take a look at our complete list of UnplowedGround Newsletters. 12.12.04 Today we had our Christmas Brunch and Program. We filled the time with good food, fellowship, drama and Christmas carols. The theme was "A Rough Guide to Christmas" based on travel books, so we also had Mountainview Passports and visa stickers for the kids. Overall the day was lots of fun and we praise God for the all the people who came and pray that a little of Him left with them. You can check out all the pictures here. 12.10.04 Tonight we are having a meeting with the people who are involved in Mountainview in the city. We decided it would be good as a church to explore the successes we have had and figure out how to build on the good things that are happening for the future. Please pray for wisdom, insight, and direction during this meeting. 12.06.04 December 12 is our big Christmas service. This year most of it is a drama and Kelly was designated as "set designer." Here we are painting his work and making creative use of the space in our friend Kelly Wills' apartment. 12.03.04 Since we arrived in Madrid, Kelly has been consistently working on creating a new, creative, and easily-updated web site for our church. It finally launched this week with art from one of our former members Karen Batt and lots of help from web designer and current member Shmuel Bowles. Check out the new site at mountainview-church.com. 11.20.04 Thanksgiving a few days early! Because we don't have the holiday off her, we decided to celebrate a little early by helping our friends Troy and Heather Cady host a big Thanksgiving celebration at their house. After hours of cooking, we treated over 40 people to a traditional Thanksgiving meal. About half who came were American and the other half were Europeans who quite enjoyed some of our American foods - turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and especially the sweet potatoes! You can check out some pictures here. 11.16.04 Today we will be starting a team re-launch, with our new members Jay and Carolyn included. A few different people from Christian Associates will be joining us as we spend a two day retreat learning how to work together and developing a strategy for Mountainview for the next few years. 11.05.04  Special guest, Elizabeth de Smaele, will be flying in from Amsterdam to facilitate a Worship Day for us. Elizabeth has been a friend of Mountainview from the beginning, providing behind-the-scenes support for our worship ministry among other things. Elizabeth works for Christian Associates International as a consultant and trainer in worship and spiritual development. She is looking forward to discussing with us how we can promote a healthy worship environment within a small group context as well as challenging us as leaders to discover what it means to live a life of worship. Elizabeth will stay several days with us, being available to meet with individuals and groups. 10.30.04  We were very excited to spend a few days in Morocco on Mountainview's first missions trip. After gathering a few car loads of donations for an orphanage, a group of 10 of us brought them down to an orphanage in Tangier. You can find some pictures here. For a more in-depth explanation of the things we did there and the people we met, check out our friend Robyn's web site. 10.29.04 For some of you in Northwest Iowa, we thought you might like to know that our high school classmate Dave Kramer and fiancé Crystal Brown stopped by for a visit. 10.29.04  YEAH! After a year-long process, our new teammates Jay and Carolyn Sensenig have arrived and are busy settling in. They have loads of experience working in missions in various places in Latin America. Most recently, they served in Mexico City, helping establish an innovative faith community reaching the urban professionals there. In addition to that, Jay has served as a professor at Columbia International University/Seminary, and he has a doctorate in curriculum design. Carolyn holds a doctorate also and she did her dissertation in "Team Leader Management Styles", so both Jay and Carolyn have a lot to offer the team in Madrid and Christian Associates at large. 10.23.04  We had a Mountainview Introduction Day for Godly Play, the new children's ministry we will be using. April attended an Introduction Day last spring and we have been working at implementing it at Mountainview. This was an important first step (you can find pictures here). We will be following it by gathering the necessary supplies/props and further training with David Pritchard, a local trainer from the Bible Union. If you would like to help with gathering supplies, click here to see our wish list. 10.18.04 Kelly and I head to Lisbon today for a brief vacation that will be a visit with our Christian Associates "connectors" (a.k.a., supervisors) Byron and Lisa Borden. Kelly wrote an article about the visit on his blog. 10.18.04  As a part of our month of prayer. We set up a 24-7 Prayer room partnering with Principe de Paz, a local Spanish church. Basically, it was an opportunity to provide 24 hours of prayer, 7 days a week for our community, city, country, and world. People sign-up for hour slots and the prayer all occurs in one room that provides opportunities to pray in a variety of artistic ways. You can find pictures here. 10.17.04  Praise the Lord! After months of prayer, God dropped a new location for Frontier, our suburban service, in our lap. As of today, we are meeting in a school cafeteria that is wonderfully bright, provides lots of room for growth, a positive relationship with the owners, is close to a train station, and has great places for kids to play after the services. Find some pictures here. 10.16.04 Kelly again had the opportunity to read an essay at Open Mic night at J&J's Bookstore, a local English used-book store in our neighborhood. The article German Sweet Chocolate Cake is an essay on maintaining traditions in a new place. The article is available on his blog. Click here to read it. 10.10.04 April headed to the Coventry Cathedral in England today to attend a Skills Training for Mediation and Facilitation within the Church with Bridge Builders from the London Mennonite Center. She was taught and had lots of opportunities to practice conflict transformation and interpersonal mediation. Overall the training was really incredible. 10.9.04 October is going to be a month of prayer at Mountainview. We started with Oasis, our service in the city being focused around prayer. The next weekend, we had a Leader's Day with some great sessions based on Richard's Foster's book Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. 9.16.04 Mark and Rosana, our original Spanish intercambio and good friends from Amsterdam arrived for a 4 day visit. They were pleasant and willing visitors at all our social events that weekend, and we had opportunities for some good chats. 9.16.04 It's Kelly's 25th birthday today! We celebrated with a Crull family tradition, German Sweet Chocolate Cake. 9.15.04 A friend of ours, Lammert Vrieling, who also works for Christian Associates, visited us in Madrid for two days this week to help our team begin the process of refining our vision for the future of Mountainview. Prayers as we begin the process of redefining our vision for the church, specifically for unity within our team and that we may listen to God's leading as we re-discover what He is calling us to be as a church community. 9.8.04  A New UnplowedGround Newsletter is available for pick-up. The latest edition is about our recent Christian Associates Staff Conference in Holland. Click here to download your copy, or take a look at our complete list of UnplowedGround Newsletters. 9.6.04 Mountainview has finally been legalized by the Spanish government, which has been a 2 year process in total. 9.5.04  Our first trip to Morocco with Operación SOS has been confirmed. A group of 7 of us who studied the Hunger No More curriculum (by Bread for the World) over the summer will be making the trip to the city of Tangier with Mary Beth and Alejandro from Operación SOS at the end of October. 9.1.04 Kelly was able to buy 6 used microphones from an individual seller in Madrid to use with the sound system we recently purchased. 8.20.04 We've recently launched the Mountainview Library Project. There are no Christian book stores with resources in English in Madrid. Even as far as Spanish-speaking Christian bookstores go, I only know of one. We are in the process of collecting resources, mainly books, for our small group leaders. A big thanks to the Deacons at Covenant Christian Reformed Church in Sioux Center who have already donated a giant box full of books to Mountainview. 9.1.04 It's the beginning of a new school year, and we want to welcome many of the new faces at Mountainview. A special welcome to Brianna, Victoria, Louis, Martha, Bryson, and others who are new to Madrid. 8.28.04 Our new team members, Jay and Carolyn Sensenig, are in Europe. They are currently doing some training with Christian Associates. We look forward to having them in Madrid to stay in October. 8.26.04 We're beginning the fall season at Mountainview. At the Frontier service in the suburbs we will be looking at "The Rough Guide to the Christian Faith" using the Apostle's Creed as our guide. At the Oasis service in the city, we will working through the book of Colossians. 8.24.04 Kelly finally found a guitar shop in Madrid where he can bring his guitar to be fixed. The sound input jack and a number of the frets need to be replaced. Thanks to those of you who gave financially to help us cover the costs of these repairs. 8.23.04 We have our own sound system! It couldn't have come at a better time! Our service in the suburbs will be moving into a facility without a sound system, and the number of people in our worship ministry is about 20 now, so we were very willing to buy this system from a jazz musician in Barcelona who attends the International Church of Barcelona. 8.14.04 Free music! That's right. Kelly has a few songs available in mp3 format from the worship band he led at the Christian Associates Staff Conference in August. Click here to browse the free music. 8.4.04 The Photo Album has been updated. Take a minute to browse through photos from our Leader's Retreat and Mountainview's first service project with Operación SOS. 8.3.04 April and I are in Amsterdam for a few days working at the Crossroads International Church Ministry Center and seeing friends. Next week we attend the annual Christian Associates staff conference near Zwolle, The Netherlands. 8.3.04 We have our own keyboard! Crossroads Church in The Hague had a keyboard they weren't using, so a youth group from Amsterdam brought the keyboard here to Madrid with them. 7.12.04 What began for April and me as a spontaneous conversation with a few people giving food to the homeless on a street near our house has turned into a full-out opportunity for members of Mountainview to join an organization called Solidarios which serves anyone who needs help in Madrid. Click here to learn more about Solidarios (and to practice your Spanish :) 7.9.04 Take a look at Operación SOS, one of our first opportunities as a church to help the poor. Read all about it in our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter. Click here to download your copy. 7.4.04 Happy 4th of July to all the Americans out there! April and I and two of our friends organized a party together. About 25 people showed up. We swam in the pool and had a barbecue. Unfortunately, no one could find fireworks. I'm not sure how American the party was in the end, though. We spent half our time watching the Euro Cup (soccer/football) Championship Game between Portugal and Greece on TV. 7.3.04 We want to welcome all the people who have joined Mountainview recently (Mary, Laura, Hazel, Kira, Tessa, Zoe, Martha, and Robin--to name some of you). We pray that you will find a home here at Mountainview and be challenged to grow in your faith. 6.26.04  Eight people from Mountainview helped an organization called Operación SOS pack and organize boxes of donated goods to go to Northern Africa in August. April and I are excited about this service opportunity because it's one of the first steps we've taken to develop our ministry at Mountainveiw to help the poor. We pray for a strong relationship with Operación SOS and more opportunities to serve them in their ministry. 6.17.04 The leaders of our churchplanting team, Troy and Heather Cady, left with their kids on furlough for 7 weeks. They will be in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, and Michigan during their stay. We're missing them already! 6.14.04 New Community Groups in the City! Due to a bit of rearranging at the end of another school year, we have a new community group meeting in our home. As part of developing Mountainview's ministry to the poor, our community group is piloting a study called Hunger No More, a project of Bread For the World. 6.8.04  Kelly has been asked to lead a worship team again at Christian Associates' annual staff conference in August. This opportunity is perfect for sharing ideas and resources as well as building relationships within the organization. 6.6.04 While Kelly's parents were in town, we took a week of vacation. We spent the first few days on the beach along the northern coast of Spain at San Sebastian. Then we headed over to Barcelona to do some sightseeing. 6.5.04 Kelly's acoustic guitar is broken. Apparently the internal microphone ("the pickup") is not responding the way it should. Please pray for guidance as Kelly is more busy than usual in the next two months leading worship, and he doesn't have a working guitar right now. 6.4.04 Kelly's parents, Steve and Pat Crull, were in town visiting for 3 weeks. Thanks Mom for doing the dishes every day, and thanks Dad for fixing our squeaky front door! 6.4.04 It's summer time, which is a major transition point for us. We want to say good-bye to many of the students we have been working with, our English teaching friends who are moving on to other places, and specifically our friends Karen and Warren who recently moved to Costa Rica to start a business there. God's blessings to you all! 5.28.04  The Second Annual Mountainview Leader's Retreat was held over the weekend in a conference center in the mountains outside of Madrid. Besides playing ultimate frisbee and hiking through the mountains, we focused our time on how small group leaders can develop community outside of their weekly or bi-weekly meetings. 5.24.04 Our latest UnplowedGround Newsletter is available for pick-up. In this issue, we'll introduce you to a friend of ours, Johanna, who was baptized this month at Mountainview. Click here to view a list of our current newsletters. 5.22.04  We had a royal wedding in our neighborhood this weekend! Don Felipe y Doña Letizia, Príncipes de Asturias, were married in Madrid at the Cathedral of Almudena only 5 minutes from our apartment. Felipe is the crowned Prince of Spain, so this was the only wedding of its kind in Spain in 98 years. We watched the ceremony on TV with the rest of the country, and then ran down to our street corner and watched the happy couple as they paraded through the city to celebrate. (Photo from abc.es) 5.22.04 Matt and Chloe Hilden, friends from college, are visiting us in Madrid for a week. Thanks Matt and Chloe for coming for a visit! Don't forget to tell everyone back in Minnesota how comfortable our extra bed is! 5.20.04 Troy and Heather Cady, our team leaders at Mountainview, are in Amsterdam for a weekend giving an update to Crossroads International Church, one of our Christian Associates church plants that is now able to support other churches, including Mountainview. 5.12.04  A group from the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Campus House came to Madrid for a week to pray for Madrid and for the ministries here, including Mountainview and the International Student Ministry that is starting here under Impact Ministries. Thanks to the Campus House for their prayers and their encouragement! 5.8.04  Our friend Johanna was baptized this weekend. Everything went very well. Click here to see photos. 5.7.04 April and our friend Robyn visited a ministry just outside of Madrid called Operación SOS. This ministry provides humanitarian relief and development to Third World countries in Africa. We hope to build a relationship with this ministry as a way of providing service opportunities to the members of Mountainview. June 26th a group from Mountainview will be sorting donations for Operación SOS to take to Mauritania in Au |
