And Into Castellón We Go…

So, today we travelled into Castellón, where we will be doing our mission work. We started off with a quick breakfast then it was time to get packed and ready to go. Teo arrived a little bit afterwards with Manuel, a member from the church, and Christina, another member from the church and a translator for Teo.

We loaded up our stuff into Manuel’s car (who is also letting us stay at his amazing house while we are here) and went to the train station. Since Manuel’s car didn’t have enough room for both the luggage and us, he took the luggage to the house for us and we took the train into Castellón, This gave me a chance to not only get some great shots of Valencia, the trip to Castellón and Castellón itself, but also to get to know Christina a little bit more. The church we are working with is a Romanian church, so a lot of the members are Romanian. Its always great here the stories of the people here and how they came to live in Spain.

So, after we got into Castellón, we were taken to the house we are staying at and shown around. Needless to say, I wouldn’t mind a place like this for myself. : ) The place it pretty nice, to say the least. 4 bedrooms, 1 pretty nice bathroom, spacious living room, downstairs area (converted from a garage), big kitchen, enclosed veranda and a view from the roof that is amazing, especially at night. And yes, I’ll be posting pics to my Facebook account soon.

After being shown around, we went back into town, where two families had prepared lunch for us. We split into two groups and each stayed with one of the families as they shared lunch with us. I think it is pretty safe to say that Spain hasn’t changed the quality or the quantity of the food they make. Vergie, Helen and myself stayed with one of the members, whose brother-in-law leads the church band. And did she every feed us! First, we started with a meat-and-cheese plate, then came the chorba (chowder), then came the white-wine chicken and potatoes made in olive oil, followed by some fruit and a nice nap! :) Between the food in Romania and here, I’m going to need to walk an awful lot just to keep the weight off. lol

So, after the wonderful lunch, we were picked up and went to the beach, where the youth ministry had already started. We joined them for a couple songs, then Pastor Rich gave a message on the armor of God and what it is for. Seeing the attentiveness and the interaction of everyone was a very welcome sight to see. But, of course, being on the beach, we had to have some fun. So, afterwards, we all went out to the beach for some volleyball. And, yes, I jumped in and tried not to make a fool of myself while playing (which was a task in-and-of-itself lol). But, most everyone there welcomed me into the games (inviting me even) and we all had a pretty good time.

Now, there is one other thing to note about the beach. This is where, after accepting Christ into my life over 10 years ago, I will be baptized. As such, I had to at least feel what the Mediterranean was like. The best way to describe it was that it felt like a warm bath. The water was nice and warm and, coupled with the cool breeze off the ocean, made for a very relaxing evening. As much as I miss Romania already, this is definitely nice.

With nightfall fast approaching, we caught a ride back to the house to settle in for the evening…and for a nice hot shower! As much as I loved the beach, sweat and sand are just not a good mixture. And, with already being hot from the day (about 86 deg. with very high humidity), I was ready for a nice shower to “re-humanize”. It was still pretty warm afterwards, but it was nice to feel “normal” again and not grimy.

Now, with the rooftop access, I just had to grab the camera and take some pics. I managed to get some great shots of the sky and of the city. I’ll be posting those soon. Since we don’t have internet access at the house we are staying at, we will be posting in spurts and I will be uploading pics to Facebook whenever I can.

After a good night’s sleep, Joanne made us bacon and eggs for breakfast (thanks again!!) and we all ate under the veranda. Apparently, it had rained last night so it is pretty nice this morning. So, that means it is time to get some pics to upload. Have a great day everyone and I’ll post again soon.