JAMIE'S STORY

Jamie Crane

Spain

Jamie is working in Spain with Rainbows of Hope, doing youth and childrens work. He will return this summer after spending a year overseas

WEC International, Bulstrode, Oxford Road, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, SL9 8SZ

MADRID MADNESS

Hi my name is Jamie.

I’m a student at Kingston University and I am currently in Madrid doing a WEC Trek within the children’s ministry ‘Rainbows of Hope’.

I decided to take this opportunity to develop my Spanish, experience what it’s like to live in a different culture, develop as an individual and grow spiritually. I emailed WEC at Bulstrode and they put me in contact with WEC Spain and they told me that they were looking for male volunteers within the children’s ministry and that English is in popular demand in Spain. I figured that I won’t have this opportunity again to spend a year doing mission work whilst receiving a grant from Erasmus and I can always do a placement in the U.K after my studies.

Since September, I’ve been working in two churches locally. In one I am teaching English to mainly Muslim children whilst their mothers have a women’s group and in the other church I volunteer at a homework club twice a week with children from difficult backgrounds.

I found it’s pretty difficult to discipline in another language especially

when they speak really quickly!

I’ve also been leading English classes in a youth centre in a town called

Santa Eugenia with some other WEC volunteers. At the youth centre

we prepare games and fun activities for the teenagers to do.

After this English class, we hold a chat session in a bar within walking

distance with locals and we prepare a topic to talk about.

Sometimes I go with my flatmate who also works for WEC to evangelise

in squares in different parts of Madrid and we’ve had some really good

experiences.

One day I went with two friends (one of whom is a teen who comes to

our chat sessions at La Bodeguita) to a few museums in the centre of

Madrid but the main one we wanted to see was closed so we ended up going to chat and have something to eat in a cafe. We we're there for nearly 2 hours as my two friends were debating away for an hour in Spanish whilst I sat there trying to keep up. Then my flatmate spoke about how God's been using me in healing and we asked the other friend if he had anything to pray for. He said he had problems with his neck and his upper back and so I prayed the first time and not a lot happened but the second time after I prayed he looked up and paused in disbelief and said the pain had dropped dramatically. He was looking at me as if I was the chosen one! We prayed one more time and he said it was so much better. So it's amazing how God is moving powerfully through power evangelism over here and we pray for God's wisdom to know what to do with our friend.

I’ve really enjoyed my time in Madrid as I’ve been part of a great multicultural team who are passionate about God and serving people. I’ve learnt so much about the Spanish culture, about myself and I’ve come a lot closer to God at the same time.

WEC TREK