The Mayer Family

Yesterday, March 8th, marked our one-year anniversary in Spain. Whew! It has been quite a year!

Last year at the Columbus airport getting ready for the long trip to Spain

While we wouldn’t trade our experiences, learning and growth of the past year, we certainly would never want to have to go back and relive it either. (not for a million bucks!). Honestly, this has most definitely been the hardest year of our lives. And from what we understand, many workers like us who have come to Spain never make it to the one-year mark. We understand the discouragement and disillusion they must have felt.
For those of you who have gone before us or those of you who are doing this now, you understand the stress and difficulty of transitioning into a whole new world. One year ago, we arrived here hardly knowing a single person in the entirety of Spain, and we feel so blessed with the relationships and friends we have been able to make over the last year. We are so thankful for God’s sustaining grace in our lives and our faith has been strengthened through the tough days and trials we have experienced. We have been challenged to be faithful to Him, no matter the circumstances. We have been reminded of the importance to seek for the better hope of God’s presence over the better life of His blessings.
I recently read a quote that I really liked:
“The single best way to develop leaders is to take people out of their safe environment and away from the people they know, and throw them into a new arena they know little about. Way over their head, preferably. In fact, the more demanding their challenges, the more pressure and risk they face, the more likely a dynamic leader will emerge.”
Wendy and I have jokingly said that if this statement is true, then maybe now we’re ready to take on Hillary and Bill in the primaries:) Well, we’re not sure about the dynamic leader part, but we resoundingly resonate with every other part of that statement.
I think maybe to sum this all up, is that while this past year has been extremely difficult and challenging, our relationship with Jesus and our faith and dependence upon Him has grown deeper than ever. For those of you faithfully praying for us—thank you! Please continue to do so—we could have never made it through this past year without you.
—Kevin