On a couple of days I have to leave Spain and go to Israel… wife and kids will stay at a vacation home on the mountains near Malaga, owned by a good friend’s parents.

We needed to make a stop, and checking the TLR map we found some disciples in Valencia. We had no appointment, but we tried to reach them and see if we could pass by, but unfortunately we couldn’t reach them by phone or email. Thus while driving farther down the coast we received an suggestion through Facebook to go to a picturesque little town called Calpe, or Calp in the local dialect, that was just 120km south.

The person inviting us turned out to be a pastor we didn’t know. He figured out we were around through Facebook. When I traveled with Torben and team to Spain for a kickstart in Barcelona in May this year, this pastor sent some of his church members to be trained there. Funny enough, that very night they were having a “worship service”, a concept I am honestly not very familiar with, and many of those who went to the kickstart would be there too.

At nine o’clock we arrived to a camper parking lot, and 5 minutes later this brother was there to pick me up. He was a very friendly man, who recognized my voice from
videos I had dubbed from the Pioneer School into Spanish. I went to their meeting, which basically was a night of singing worship songs. They let me share some words that night, to the surprise of many (at least so it seemed on their faces), and it was a nice moment.

I could encourage them to live a holy life, and to work out their salvation doing the Father’s will and not just hearing it or learning about it. They were curious, I hope not shocked about my messy hair, tired face, untidy T-shirt and leather flops. One of them asked me how to stop sinning, because he was struggling, and that gave me a door to share something about the power of water baptism.

To be honest, I have no idea if what happened that night helped or encouraged anyone. There were no deep conversations, no healings, no demons casted out, no baptisms. But I could share something that I believe might have helped someone. I felt God sent me there, and it was nice to see some people I had met at the kickstart last May that continue the good work. Then we said good bye and the pastor took me back to the camper.

Next morning we figured out this place was a beautiful holiday beach… so we finally had a day to relax as a family. We went to the beach, and swam at the Mediterranean sea for the first time on this journey, lots of fun for the kids.

Then Felipe, our fourth boy, fell on the wooden path that leads to the beach and hurt himself a bit, which of course was clearly announced with a loud cry. An elderly couple, in their seventies to be precise, was standing nearby and went to help him as I started walking closer. His curly blond hair turned into a good excuse to start chitchatting, only to figure out they were also disciples of Jesus and missionaries. We had such a nice click, that they came to my wife later, and we could pray for each other in the middle of the tourists at the beach. Before they left us and gave us words of encouragement, the lady gave my wife 10 euros to buy something for the kids. Meeting them in such a way felt as a little present from God, and I don’t mean the money at all, but the feeling of finding “family” randomly as we work for our Lord.

So no big YouTube-worthy testimonies here, but just some small Spirit-led surprises that make me think about that text of John 3: “The wind blows wherever it wants to. You hear it, but you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going. It is the same with everyone who is born from the Spirit.” You end up in places you didn’t plan to be, and you meet people you didn’t expect, and you minister sometimes without seeing the fruit of it, and you are encouraged in places and occasions you didn’t foresee.