Community of Christ Madrid

During our time in Spain, we have been meeting with other members or potential members of my church, the Community of Christ. It has been a challenge coordinating the group, not only due to schedules but communication barriers. While English is the most common language spoken in our group, we also speak Spanish and a few speak a Philippine dialect common to one of the islands. It has actually been a lot of fun for me working around these challenges and finding ways for us to worship together. Keith McMillan (our friend in London!) and Richard James have done a tremendous job at helping us get the resources and materials we need to make the group run smoothly. They visit us nearly every month to check in and help answer questions that arise from our discussions and to provide the opportunity to provide further ministry to the group. During the weekend of March 18 we had the pleasure to meet some new church leaders that came along with Keith and Richard. Jim Slaughter, the President of the Apostles (a very high leadership position in my church), and his wife, Jan, visited the group and we had the opportunity to show them around Madrid. We met first with Jim, Keith and Richard Friday night for a dinner out by the airport, close their hotel. Before meeting for dinner, I had called back home and spoke with my dad to find out that he had gone to college with Jim and thought Jim might remember him. Well, as it turns out Jim not only knew my dad but even had some stories about his college days! It never ceases to amaze me at how small the world seems to be. Madrid has become the place for us to meet and make connections with people back home. So back to dinner, we found a restaurant that didn’t serve too much grass (that is what Richard calls salad) and decided on a place where they had BBQ ribs on the menu. You might think ribs are not a very typical Spanish food and I think that I would assume the same thing. But as I have seen more restaurants than not with BBQ ribs on the menu I am confident to say it is a very common food now in Spain, as well as hamburgers. Three of the five of us ordered the ribs and the other two ordered burgers. I told Jim we’d have to try some more “typical” Spanish food when his wife arrived the next day. We all enjoyed our food and the conversation.

The following day Jan flew in around 11 and we met up with them about noon in the Plaza del Sol to begin the tour of the city. It is a fitting place to meet because Sol (which means sun) is the center of the city as well as the country! The bear and strawberry tree is the most common meeting place in the plaza and this is where we would meet as well. As we waited, we were asked if we were meeting there for the tour, I said I was but I was going to be giving my own walking tour. The man who asked me made a comment about me being his competition with a friendly tone, but I assured him I was merely showing around friends. As I spoke with him, I recognized him as the free walking tour guide that showed me around the city 3 years ago! Pretty wild. He even offered me his number to inquire about a position with the company. They were in need of bilingual speakers to lead tours. Maybe next year.

We finally found my tour group, Richard, Jim and Jan wandering around the plaza snapping pictures (Jim is quite the photographer). After introductions we began telling them about Sol and our plan for the rest of tour. We showed them around Plaza Mayor, where a political rally was in action. We needed to find some good food, especially for Jan who hadn’t had much rest in the last two days and was fighting jet lag. Blake mentioned finding some tapas bars, and when Jan thought she heard “topless bars,” she hesitantly said she wasn’t quite up for that questioning the values of the new Madrid group. We clarified our intentions jokingly.
We took them to the place we knew to have the best tapas we’d ever had, San Miguel market. It is an all glass indoor fresh food market that has obviously had quite a bit of renovation recently. It was very busy there and although we could not sit down, we proved that it was worth it to try this food. They were kind enough to give us a little money and let us fight the crowds to get the freshest tapas imaginable.
Caitlin picked up a plate of 12 Spanish cheeses, and another of an array of olives. I found a plate of pulpo (octopus) smothered in garlic butter and mini bocadillos with jamon iberico and chorizo. It was simply exquisite. We enjoyed the street artists and performers as we passed through and headed towards Plaza de Espana, where we topped off our full bellies with a café. We then walked by the Royal Palace. By the time we made those rounds it was high time for a siesta and we agreed to part ways and then meet up again later for a dinner with the entire group.

Caitlin and I had plans to then meet some friends at the park, but after our decision to walk across the entire city to Retiro Park (it was a beautiful day!) we were exhausted and out of time. So we just went home.

That night we went on a wild search for the location of this restaurant one of the other group members knew of that was in the north part of the city. With Metro closures and plenty of miscommunication we found the place an hour later than our predetermined time. So in Spanish time, we were punctual. The restaurant we ate at was a buffet and was quite delicious and expensive. We had a nice time then retired for the night.

The following day (Sunday) we decided to meet at Retiro Park for an outdoor service I was putting together. It turned out to be a lovely day and equal as lovely service. We found a nice place to sit in the grass and I led the service with my guitar. Janice (one of Philippine members) and her sisters also provided some beautiful music singing a song from their hymnbook from back home. Jan gave a wonderful message and the entire worship service fit together perfectly. It was a great success. Afterwards we had a nice discussion about the church and its history and as the day moved on we all had to part ways once again. As we departed we had forgotten to say goodbye to Keith while he was visiting the loo. He called us promptly to see if we were still in the park and since we’d only made it as far as the small lake with the boats we decided to meet there. While we waited a huge parade of ambulances, police cars and moto cops all rolled up with screaming alarms.
We thought something terrible had happened. As Keith, Richard, Jim and Jan came up just after the brigade they questioned us about what was going on. We told them we had no idea, so Keith and Jim (with his large carmea) went off to find out what was going on. They came back with info and pictures about the situation. A young boy had stuck his head through the marble bars that overlooked the lake and got his head stuck. Apparently half of the police of force of Madrid was needed for the situation but as they freed the boy there was a standing ovation from all of the onlookers. It was an exciting end to the day. We said our goodbyes and agreed that there would soon be a sermon using the story of that small boy.
Blake