And Sevilla followed us here!

This past weekend, Meredith and I (one of the other En Vivo exchange students), traveled to Andalusia. Andalusia is a province in the southern part of Spain. We went to Sevilla and Granada, two cities in the province. The whole province used to be occupied by Muslims until they were evicted by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. This makes for a really interesting mix of Moorish architecture and Christian symbolism along with symbols of the Catholic Kings (Isabel and Ferdinand). (I really love the geometric Muslim tilework that was in all of the palaces and churches that we visited).

The weather was beautiful and sunny and warm (like 22 degrees celsius!!), and there were orange trees everywhere. And there were old buildings, but they weren't all made of stone—a lot of them were painted bright colors, even! Now I understand why they say that people in the south of spain are much more cariñoso (that translates to carismatic, or open and kind-hearted) than those in the northern parts—because there's sun and warmth, and color in their world, and not just stone and cold wind. Don't get me wrong, I love Salamanca, but it's just a very different culture in the two different parts of the country.

It's great because this past week has been much sunnier and warmer than it has been the whole time we've been in Salamanca-- Sevilla came back with us!


This has also been a really good week to see the full circle of En Vivo! Last night at Bible Study, we were overflowing the space. What a great problem to have! Also, there were at least 5 students that came for the first time that we met through our English outreach events. This is exactally how En Vivo was designed to work, and it's beautiful to see it work right! Please keep praying over these students, that they will continue to learn from us and feel welcomed in this community!