Below is a news letters from last February to help everyone catch up with our mission in Spain.
February 10,2009
“Thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many peddlers of God’s work; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ; proclaiming to all people of good will in the power of peace and love that whoever encounters the Lord comes to know the Truth, discovers the Life, and finds the Way leading to it…(2Cor.2: 14-17;Jn. 14:6; Ps 15:11)
Dear Family and Friends,
All peace and joy in Jesus Christ our gracious Redeemer and King. I hope and pray this letter finds you well, and that you are filled with many blessings. Well, the New Year has begun and with it a renewed mission to Córdoba, Spain, the place I have come to call my home this past year. I must admit this letter is reaching you much later than I was hopping. I have never had so much trouble trying to decide what to write about and how to organize my thoughts coherently. I have spent many nights in prayer, asking the Lord to shower me with His Spirit of Wisdom, to help me, and to give me the words I can’t seem to find on my own – the words to explain this very crazy mission that the Lord has called us to!
When we first arrived here in January of 2008, we knew little of what a mission in the First World would be like, but we felt ready for anything. With our hearts filled with the joy of Jesus and a yearning to share Him and His wonderful deeds, our mission began immediately after our arrival, literally. Our first week here we were up everyday by 7am and back in bed by around 2am, and before the end of our first month we had a place to stay, personal keys to the Youth House, where we had ministry every night from 5pm – 12am. The Youth House served as a way for us to get to know the people and make friends – a huge opportunity to minister to the youth already involved in the church. We were involved in everything the Diocese had to offer: from bible studies and theology classes, to praise and worship prayer groups; from daily mass and adoration, to going out in small groups to bring food and blankets to the homeless. During the day we went to every college campus in Córdoba (there are 8)trying to get to know the students and invite them to the activities at the Youth House, while at the same time passing out a bi-monthly magazine made especially for the youth and put out by the Diocese. Weekends were just as busy, with many retreats and pilgrimages, our FMC team Desert Day, and on Sundays Mass in Alcolea (the parish of Padre Gama, the priest who invited us to Spain) located just outside of Cordoba, where we taught confirmation and catechism. When we weren’t doing any of these things we were trying to make friends with the many Romanian beggars on the streets of Córdoba. Our mission of re-evangelization had begun and at a running pace.
During the summer months things slowed down a bit, due to the summer vacation, but our ministry did not stop. At the begging we had a visit from Frank and Genie Summers to evaluate the mission, and some of us were able to visit home. We were all invited to make a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal with the parishioners of Alcolea. During these five days the Lord used us to give testimony to His work in our lives, and help our friendships grow with the parishioners. Later in the summer we were asked to help out and teach catechism at a summer camp for the youth of the Alcolea parish. Maria and I were invited to go on a mission trip to Calcutta, India, with a group from the Diocese to work with the Missionaries of Charity, while Bridget and Sheila attended a youth retreat here in Spain that coincided with World Youth Day. They gave a workshop dedicated to foreign missions, and the call that we, and many others, have received to evangelize and share Jesus to the ends of the earth. The summer months were also a time of building friendships, and a time of change and parting as Sarah and her 3 children returned to the states to prepare for her marriage, which was celebrated this past January. Their new family will continue missions in Mexico.
As the second semester was about to begin we took a 4-day team retreat to evaluate our first semester, talk about what the Lord had done, what needed to change ministry wise, and to prepare ourselves for the semester ahead. We felt the Lord calling us to start new groups, and to also change the way we were approaching the students on the campuses. So, along with all the ministries we were already involved in we started a girls group, leading evening prayer every night in the chapel at the Youth House, hosting an open Lord’s Day diner once a month in our apartment, Bridget and I started teaching an English class at the request of one of the priests, and at the request of a different priest we began a youth group/confirmation class at a nearby parish. For the campus ministry we began handing out small flyers with catchy phrases on them to not only make them stop and think about what this life is all about, but also to invite them to a group where they can find themselves with community, ask questions, share any doubts or complaints they may have. Which brings me to the very reason for our mission here in Spain. We have passed out thousands of these flyers over a six-week period, and still no one comes to the group. We began attaching a small piece of candy to each flyer, which never fails at attract the students – FREE CANDY. They take the flyers eagerly, but each week we wait for them to come to the group to no avail. But whether or not they come to the group doesn’t really matter, because we are getting the message into their hands – they have to read it to get the candy off – and our hope and prayer is that they will start to ask themselves questions that they have not yet allowed to even enter into their minds, let alone their hearts.
We have learned a lot in this past year through all our experiences and first-hand encounters with the youth of Spain, and are now more convicted than ever of the urgent need for the re-evangelization of Europe; many, who were once faithful Christians, have lost their faith and in that the very meaning of their lives. They are lost in a world that they don’t understand and are searching for a sense of meaning and freedom, looking in all the wrong places while out-right refusing to look to the only One that can give them true freedom. All their notions of who Jesus really is and what the Church really teaches have been twisted by the lies of Satan that they have bought into. They are struggling for life and suffering from one of the biggest poverties of our time; many believe that God is only for the poor and no longer necessary in today’s way of life; some like to tell us they are god, or that Jesus was just a man and God doesn’t really exist; others who say they believe in God, live and make decisions as if Christ did not exist. Some because they just don’t really care and some because they are too ashamed to practice their faith for fear of being rejected. Many University aged students are afraid to show too much interest in the church, driven by the fear of their professors finding out and grading them harshly, or fear of their parents throwing them out of the house for their faith. It is a process that has already happened in most of Europe, and is now rapidly taking over Spain. We are told that Córdoba has the best programs for the youth and all the churches look to this diocese as a center of hope for the Church in Europe. However, the rapid decrease of faith and increase of atheism is still a huge problem and concern, even now, with all the programs for the youth and hard work of the priests in this Diocese, guiding the once faithful back, encouraging them to love, serve, and experience the works of God in everyday life.
“Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake, For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of the darkness’, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, because there is no darkness so dark that GOD’S light cannot illuminate it.”(2Cor.1-2.6)
It has been a year of learning and a gift in disguise from the Lord just for me. It was a year filled with many challenges and obstacles, a year of change and growth, a year in-which the Lord stretched me, knocked me down, and taught me hard lessons while bringing me almost to the point of breaking. I am daily amazed by His mystery and beauty. I have come to see, feel, and understand in a whole new way His overflowing love and unending mercy; to love God my Father, Jesus my Savior, and the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, in a more profound and deeper way. I feel stronger in who I am as a person and daughter of God, even though many times this year I have felt like a child just learning how to be a true Christian in today’s society, while at the same time learning who Jesus is to me, how to really put my trust in God, and renewing my call as a lay Catholic Missionary; a calling that with each new day I thank my God for having blessed me with. It has been a year and mission unlike any other, filled with a mixture of laugher and joy, tears and hardships, a sense of misunderstanding and being misunderstood, a struggle to learn the language, understand the culture, earn the trust of the people, and find our mission and place amidst daily trials and persecutions, all the while being filled the Lord’s surpassing peace that this is where he has brought us and where he wants us to stay and continue in our mission. So, here we are again ready to serve the Lord in his beloved children of Spain to give them one thing, everything…JESUS!
I can’ t even begin to thank you enough for your continued participation with me in this mission. Your constant prayers and support are an essential part to every facet of our mission. I remembered each one of you in my daily prayers, especially during this trying time of our country’s economic crisis, and for those of you who have suffered greatly from the destruction of this past hurricane season, know that I receive all of you prayer requests and keep them always with me in my heart.
All For His Glory,
Kristen Leigha
