'excuse me, I left my Methadone tablets in the trash'

    That's what 'Scott*' said after he had left the soup kitchen twice already.  He had convinced his girlfriend and her inheritance to leave mother England and move with him to the Costa de Sol to start a business and enjoy life in the sun.
   So came they did, started a business, enjoyed life and got hooked on heroin and they lost everything. Sarah* got a family member or friend to finally buy her a one way ticket out of paradise and into prison. Back in England an unpaid ticket landed her in a rehab center, she said she couldn't be happier, 3 meals a day, someone to talk to about her troubles  and getting clean.

    Scott showed up late for dinner and later than he should have for a shower.  He wanted to shave also, probably hadn't in 2 or 3 weeks, had a cut above his right eye and looked like a bum; ragged and needy.
He took some clean clothes, which would need to last him till at least next week and went for a shave.  When he came back we were cleaning up and the soup and bread were gone..all of it.  He ended up with 2 small chocolate bars and a cafe con leche...extra sugar.

It was seriously hard to recognize him cleaned up and shaved.

    Jenny has been doing this a long time, almost 16 years, it is hard line tough love to look at someone and tell them they know the rules, "come on time next time if you want a warm meal with your shower and shave"... the other 22 people did, (not all came for a shower but they knew they needed food.)

    They also heard Peter's story before their meal.  Peter first came to "The Ark" 17 years ago, when it was still up where we live in Mijas.  He was an alcoholic and had been for a long time.  Peter met good people there, including Jesus his Savior,  He has been clean since then and was in town visiting his sister and brother-in-law who go to church at The Ark .  The Ark also has a thrift store and the first English speaking Christian school in all of Southern Spain, with 47 students.  They have had to cut back their soup kitchen services since so many English church members have had to go back to England because of economic hardships.

Jenny,who works at the church and school who ran the soup kitchen for 10 years is really just a 'visiting' chef tonight,  She handed over the reins last fall, but came to help with her good friend Sandra, who was visiting from England, they told us how they both had woken up in the morning just feeling sick and knowing they had to come serve Tuesday night, they prayed together that God would send helpers for them to serve that night and help clean up.

    Another intern at G42LA, Maryanne (http://www.maryanneyeary.theworldrace.org/)  and I had been seperately thinking of going to serve and called our contact, Archangel.  Archangel and his wife Elsa are missionaries here from Brazil.  They primarily work with the church our family attends Palabras de Poder, 'Words of Power".  He tries to help each week with the soup kitchen,  before working with the food pantry on Wednesday, which really starts Tuesday night.  He drives 45 minutes Tuesday night so he can sleep in his car and wait in queue so when the food distribution starts at 4-5 am the next morning he can be first or second in line and get the choice of best foods for the Palabras food pantry,  which is now feeding almost 300 people a week.

I'll tell much more of Archangel and Elsa another time... They are awesome!
Please pray for them,  they are depending on God to meet their needs each day, their church in Brazil is helping them, but they need to make an unscheduled trip to Brazil for a family funeral and for their daughter Ana's wedding,(she is here, teaches Lia Ballet and the intern Spanish classes and also graduated G42LA and is engaged to a another graduate who is from USA.)


So Scott came back in again, after Jenny talked with Sarah who said she would wire money to Jenny to buy Scott a plane ticket back to England.  He needed to look through the bags of dirty clothes and find his pants he had left 4 methadone tabs in a pocket.

*names have been changed


I left knowing that I need more humility in my life if I truly want to be more like Christ.  I alone am held responsible for choosing each day to walk with God, to be in a Right relationship with our Lord and Creator.

ALSO... PRAISE THE LORD !!
Our friends Holly and Eric have a beautiful, healthy baby boy :
Bowen Thomas  on March 27th
and he has an awesome older sister!