La Matanza

This last weekend we as a family had the opportunity to experience a very traditional Spanish event, La Matanza. Years ago in the villages of Spain, long before refrigeration and grocery stores, the families in the villages would kill their pigs in the winter time. They would use almost every part for food (and they still do). Many of the Spanish delicacies that we have today come from this old tradition. Many still practice this here in the villages and it ussually brings the whole family together for this special event. A family from our church here invited us to come and to experience their family's "matanza". While we didn't get to see the whole event, which usually lasts the whole weekend, we did get to take part in some of it. When we arrived the pig was already dead and before they could begin the butchering process they needed to remove the hairs on the pig. In the picture below you can see them burning the pig with some type of dry plant.

Next the took the pig inside to begin removing all the wonderful things inside of the pig. Almost all of it was used later.

Then later Noelia was able to help prepare a very traditional sausage from our area called "morcilla" They take the intestines from the pig and fill them with a mixture of cooked rice, onions, peppers, seasonings, and most importantly pig's blood (like I said they use almost everything) The morcilla is then cooked in large pots for several hours. Then whenever you want to serve it you bake it in the oven a while longer.

This is morcilla! It is actually quite good. It is one of the most typical things you can find from our area of Spain. The next time any of you come to Spain will be sure to let you try some.

Mikaela is Two Years Old!!!!

Today is Mikaela's second birthday. It is so much funner this year because she is much more aware of the fact. She is growing so fast and is learning so many new things. We are so thankful to have her in our lives and pray God's best for her. Last Saturday we had a party for her with some of her friends from church, it was a lot fun!

This last weekend

This last weekend there were several big events for us. The first one was on Friday night when we had a special time of worship and prayer with the young adult group and the high school youth group. We set up several worship stations around the church where the youth could worship God in various forms. One room had a cross where the youth could write down something they are struggling with in their lives and then take it and nail it to the cross. We had another room for praise and thanksgiving where the youth could write or draw their praise and thanks to God. There was another room with the Third Day video "Communion" that has clips fromt The Passion movie and there the youth could partake in communion. There were many other rooms, but these are a few of my favorites.

Here are a few pictures from the event.

The other big event that happened over the weekend happened on Sunday morning. As we have mentioned over the last month or so we have been working hard on the youth center project and this last Sunday we had an opportunity to present it to the church. Several of the ones who are apart of the board for the youth center helped to present this project. We shared with the church what exactly it is a youth center, why we want to do this, and for who do we want to do this. We also asked for their participation in the project through their prayers and financial contributions. Please pray that God will help us to raise the money we need to start this project. We have building we would like to rent, but obviously need the finances in order to do so.

Mikaela and Elisa

Here are a few pictures for you viewing pleasure. There is also a link to a photo album we have in the upper right hand corner of our blog you can click on.