Day 9 (night 7) lost sheep & orange Wednesdays

 Wednesday is 'orange Wednesday' in the world of Ibiza 24-7 so I worked out where the nearest multiplex was and booked two tickets to see  'guardians of the galaxy' the new marvel film epic. No I didn't really... Orange Wednesday for Ibiza 24-7 is an opportunity to go down to the beach and give out free oranges to the sun bathers and provide an opportunity to talk if they what and collect any prayer requests they may have. Last week one team went to the tourist beach the other went to the workers beach. (Basically the full time workers are a bit more knowledgable about Ibiza and know where the best beaches are). Having visited the tourist beach last week we got to go to the workers beach. Me and wbcs own Michelle teamed up and we had quickly got through our bags of oranges (the workers are also more clued up about orange Wednesday ...). Some good conversations were had and I also told a couple of groups about the workers centre that Ibiza 24-7 run however my directions I described were rubbish (I got my Scottish pubs confused) so gods hand will be needed to ensure that they actually get there.... Michelle did very well talking to the groups and collected 2 prayer cards.

Our time in Ibiza however hasn't all been about working however and before heading on to the street for the 2nd to last time, we went to a gig at 'Ibiza rocks' to see rudimental . They were certainly better as a full live act than their DJ set when I last saw them, and I think a good time was had by the team. I was struck however by a line the frontman of the band said, he yelled "do you want to be set free by rudimental?" which considering how much freedom is needed in Ibiza was pertinent however the Ibiza 24-7 team through Gods help are more likely to achieve this than rudimental me thinks...

My night on the street was predominantly about one individual who was sitting on the step of the 24-7 centre after being brought there by one of the PRs. He had arrived that day in Ibiza, dropped of his bags at his hotel, fallen a sleep on the beach, woken up without his friends, couldn't remember where his hotel was, but had a perfect memory of what the hotel looked like. For the next three hours we tried every hotel we could possibly think of. Walking to the ones that were close, driving to the ones a bit further away (one of these hotels which we were sure matched the description perfectly, when we arrived the sign was falling off, the pool was locked up with a massive pad lock, the reception abandoned & trashed, the hotel shop was empty, windows were boarded up, it was obviously that it had been abandoned for a longtime...) and then doing some more walking. Around 3:30ish in the morning we felt defeated, and we decided to give another team a shot at getting him home, they would provide a fresh set of eyes & they had access to the van, which would be needed as we had covered all the hotels in acceptable walking distance. Through this whole time however I was praying very heavily and I really did get a sense that he was going to get back to his hotel. About 10 to 4 in the morning the other team who had been tasked to return the guy to his hotel returned to the prayer room, yep they had found it and he was back (to his temporary holiday) home... A massively relief and a certain answer to prayer.

With that this is Paul signing off.... One more night to go....

Bible verses 

Luke 15 1-7

The parable of the lost sheep

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.

Alex’s personal musings: unconditional

Our last night.

Mixed emotions for me. In some respects I am pleased that we have reached the end – we have survived and given it our best shot. On the other hand, as Michelle said last night, it seems that we are going home just as we are getting half decent at this!

I jumped at the chance of getting out on the West End during the first hour. I had the pleasure of pairing up with Jess – a recently joined long termer from Northern Ireland.She is a beautiful, multi-lingual prayer machine!

We were walking down near Gatecrasher on the beach and noticed a chap sitting on his own who didn't look as he was enjoying himself. We decided to quickly check on him before moving on.

90 minutes later we left him overwhelmed by our God moment with James (not his real name).

James was pretty wasted and not forthcoming with any helpful information! All we got was his name and that was it. He was not going to tell us whether he was here with mates, where his hotel was and was certainly not going to accept help from us to walk him back to his room.

After about 30 minutes, he started to open up a little. We had explained that we were Christians and out here to show God’s love to everyone. He couldn't understand why we would want to help – not just help people in general but help him.

He went on to tell us that he was not worth bothering with, that there were more needy people out there, and that he had done too many awful things to deserve our kindness.

Man alive – we really felt for him. We gently explained to him that Jesus loved him, that he had a place in this life and that God had a plan for him to be whole and fulfilled.

Note to self – never turn down an opportunity to pray for someone.

Right there on the beach in the middle of the crazy West End world, James had a moment with God. As we said a short prayer for him to know God’s unconditional love,  that he could be forgiven, that he was deserving of kindness and that he was accepted just as he was, he stepped back overwhelmed by what he was hearing and was welling up.

What a privilege to speak directly into someone’s heart and see God move. 

As we parted company, we had a big hug (initiated by James) and left him walking off with a bible in his pocket and details of how he could contact us if he wanted to talk more.

Jess and I headed back to the 24/7 centre praying for James whilst walking on cloud 9.

Please pray that James would have more moments with God in the coming days. Also please continue to pray for the work out here in Ibiza. As the WBC team were decommissioned at 4am the long term team were helping a petrified young woman who had been assaulted. This is a world is serious highs and devastating lows. 

Tonight we have a meal with the whole 24/7 team – an opportunity to reflect on the last few weeks and say our goodbyes.

We will be back in the UK at 0525 tomorrow!

Thanks to all who have been following this blog.

We look forward sharing more stories on our return.

Adios.

Day 8 (night 6) watchtowers and waiting ...

The photo above is a picture of one of the many watchtowers or pirate towers as the locals call them that have been built along the coast between the 16th and 18th centuries which were built to alert the locals of potential pirate attack. When the alert was sounded the locals would run and hide in the local parish churches which were built like small forts. The towers would be armed normally by two watchmen who had at least a small canon as well as such lovely protective measures like boiling oil (how very medieval). The photo was taking during a prayer walk we took in the mid afternoon and if you squint you can see Sant Antonio on the horizon. Like the watchmen who once occupied the towers we took to attempting to protect San Antonio but instead of canons we used prayers asking for gods protection on the town and it's residents. Hearing peoples prayers proved quite difficult as the wind was really up battering the waves on to the cliffs however it just help to remind me of the power of the ocean and the marvel of gods creation.  (Also I have managed to take some rather excellent (in my option obviously) of waves breaking on the cliffs).

The evening was very strange for me in the sense that whilst the rest of the team seemed busy beyond all belief I spend (what felt like) most of my time within the walls of the prayer room, which for someone who is 'doer' should have been really very difficult. However I actually found it a very rewarding time being able to spend time in prayer and reflecting on what has been or was going on. Each hour do prayer actually passes by very quickly and it is great to prayer in a group, at times it did just become me and my partner for the evening but it is good that the team on the streets have that prayer support back at the centre. If worst comes to the worst there is an ample supply of red bull which one of the bars donated...
We did also spend sometime on the streets and had a one very positive conversation with one PR who stopped to tell us about a conversation he had with one of the 24-7 prayer team last week who had provided him some useful life advice and that he had realised that somethings in his life needed to change. We spoke for at least 20 mins, and whilst we were standing in a very rowdy west end we managed to talk to the guy easily almost as if we were with some sort of invisible bubble.This was very positive for me (and the others obviously) as it shows the conversations that the team are having are having some positive impacts even if the results are not instant.
We finished at 4:30ish which at this point it is worth pointing out that the rest of the team (not me as I am a good boy ....) grabbed some BBQ ribs from the local rib place which apparently were wonderful... I may well have missed out there...

Time to get ready for another night on the streets .... Paul out..

Bible verse

Isaiah 62:6 (NIV)

6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
    they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the Lord,
    give yourselves no rest,

Alex’s personal musings: Heffalumps and Woozles

Those old enough will remember the rather weird and wonderful Heffalumps and Woozles song from Winnie the Pooh (check it out on youtube). I am pretty sure that many of the people we helped last night were experiencing something rather similar!

You may also recall from my previous blog the choppy and bloody adventure I had with a chap from the North East the night before last. Rather unnervingly we bumped into him at the Rudimental gig at Ibiza Rocks before we were on duty last night. As he approached us, Becky (the long termer who helped out too) and I were not sure what he was going to do. The last time we met he was getting quite aggressive and not at all happy with us.

I was ready for a mouthful.

However, he actually came over to apologise for “being a t1t” (his words). I must say that this phrase sounds brilliant when spoken with a Sunderland accent. He kindly offered to buy us a drink to make amends. We were relieved and also thrilled to be thanked for the time we spent with him just 18 hours before. Apparently this is a rare and treasured encounter. There are not many times in a season when people who have been helped come back and thank us.

Last week, I blogged about the carnage we experienced on the streets on a Wednesday night. One week later it was carnage squared. There were bodies lying everywhere. People had crashed in doorways, on their bar chairs and on the floor. There was so much activity that we had to begin prioritising who we helped. We decided to leave one man who was completely out of it with his mate while we attended to a girl who was asleep on her own. Falling asleep is not a great idea – people are often robbed (and worse). We encouraged her to come to the medical tent but half way up we bumped into her friends who were delighted to find her. We advised her friends to take her to the medical tent and left them with water. Job done.

Much of the night was a blur. It was a collection of little moments of help, prayer, kindness and encouragement. To be honest and perhaps it was down to a bit of fatigue I was getting a little frustrated inside with those who clearly needed some help but were resistant to it. Ask Jon about the chap that gave him a mouthful for daring to suggest that he needed medical attention. It’s in these moments when I tell myself to put my game face on and focus on the fact that God’s patience is eternally greater than mine!

This was the latest finish to date. After a necessary chocolate bar and packet of crisps I went to bed just after 0530.

My blog posts have only given you a small sample of what’s been happening over here. Please take time to chat with the rest of the team when they get back. We have all had our ups and downs, prayers answered, moments of joy, times of frustration, comfort zones obliterated, personal spaces invaded, faith challenged, and glorious moments of seeing God at work in San Antonio.

Tonight is our last night on the streets. Please pray for the whole 24/7 Ibiza team as we continue to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the West End.

By the way here’s a pic of the breakfast we had this morning……

Alex's personal musings: fish hooks!

Earlier in the day yesterday we met as a WBC team to pray, share our experiences from the night before and focus on the evening ahead. We spent some time looking at the story when Jesus called his first disciples in Luke 5. We used the images from this passage to help us pray for our work here in Ibiza; particularly the idea of being fishers of men and women.

I prayed that as we cast our fishing rods on the streets of San Antonio, God would determine where the line lands and help us to be ready for whatever we found on the end of the hook - whether that be a conversation, a prayer, or physical assistance.

I hit the streets at 1am after spending an hour praying.

Becky and I made it no more than 5 minutes before we came across a chap who was staggering around and making a bit of a scene. On (slightly) closer inspection we saw that he was bleeding from his lip and had blood all down his top. There was a bit of a commotion but we managed to encourage Jim (not his real name) to walk with us to the medical centre. He was pretty drunk, difficult to understand (not least that he was from the North East) and not particularly co-operative. However, he was a little happier when he relieved himself on the street (joy).

Around 45 minutes later after a slow, two steps forward one step back, walk we arrived at the main medical centre. Then began the process of persuading Jim to get some stitches for his top lip which was gaping wide open.

I didn't realise how difficult it would be.

First, he didn't think he needed treatment. Then once we got beyond that he couldn't find his E111 medical card so would have to pay. He had no money. However, his friend offered to pay the 186 Euros to sort his face out. Result! Ah, no. He was not happy with that.

Becky and I used all sorts of tactics to get him in the operating theatre - could someone from home take a photo of the E111 card and email it? What would your sister say to you if she were here? Would she tell you to get the stitches? Mate, if you want to make the rest of your holiday let's just get this done.

On and on it went.

Finally, I took him into theatre and held his hand while he was patched up. Despite his less than cooperative behaviour the doctor did a cracking job!

Done......or so I thought.

Jim decided that he was not going to let his mate pay, blamed us for bringing him here and insisted that we should sort the bill. It was the first time I felt threatened and thought that I might be on the end of a punch!

He was one stubborn chap and to defuse the situation the medical staff decided to let him go without paying.

It was now 3:15am. We walked back to the 24/7 centre and finished the night in prayer for Jim, his friend and others who were helped that night.

On reflection, it didn't surprise me that Jim was so hard. He was a serving soldier recently returned from Afghanistan. I am not making excuses for him but I can see how he thought his injury was not worth bothering with after he had seen his colleague's arm blown off in combat. I can sort of understand his tendency to get into physical confrontations when he is trained to kill.

I wonder how difficult it is to go from the theatre of war to a medical theatre on the holiday island of Ibiza.

One thing did make me smile and confirmed to me that God used me to specifically help Jim. The vivid image of casting my fishing rod and catching people whilst walking around the streets was a helpful picture for me in preparation for the night' work.

It was like God was winking at me when I saw the shape of the needle that stitched up Jim's lip.

God is a genius. 

Day 7 (night 5) communion communication & (relative) calm

One of the daily traditions on the island of Ibiza as mentioned in other posts is the 'clapping of the sun' which happens during sunset, where people staying on the island alongside a many local residents from Ibiza meet to listen to 'chilled beats' from the famous cafe mambo and cafe del mar and clap the setting of the sun to signal the end of the day & the start of the night. Whilst it is said that this is an ancient tradition, it was certainly revived (if not started by) the hippies who moved to the island in search of a more peaceful existent or to escape the Vietnam draft for whom sun worship was important*. However we decided that instead of clapping the sun we'd hold our own form of worship by having communion as the sun set on the rocks next to the sunset strip (the name of the promenade next to the sea where you get the best view of the sunset).I found this personally a very powerful reflective tool and a perfect way of focusing on the night ahead, however within this time I did receive my first insect bite of the trip which was a little annoying but this couldn't distract from overall significance.

The nights in Ibiza have been muggy at the best of times and with the first cloud cover we'd seen whilst we had been here this very much continued. I was personally worried that the muggyness would effect the atmosphere of the west end. However I needed not to have worried as the night itself was reasonably quiet affair from a helping perspective, (I was once again out with Becky, who is calmness personified & we did end up helping one couple to the taxi rank who we had found right at the end of the night (morning ??)from a supermarket in the west end), this however left loads of space for conversation, which I have enjoyed equally to actually helping people. Conversations range from the very simple of how are you, how are you enjoying you trip here, to deep discussion covering all sorts of issues which I don't think it is fair to the people involved that I go into too much about here. The Ibiza team also have prayer cards and encourage people they meet whilst about in the west end to fill these in to take back to the 24-7 Ibiza centre to pray for. I love how the team refer to these filled in prayer cards as 'treasure', and it certainly has moved me some of the things people have written while we have been out, showing that people really do have healthy understanding of the world in which we live. 

Until tomorrow Paul signing off

Bible verse 

James 1:19Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Hearing and Obeying

19 My dear friends, you should be quick to listen and slow to speak or to get angry.

*for more information regarding the history of Ibiza I'd recommend the book The White Island by Stephen Armstrong. It is available from amazon and other good books stores (as well as some bad ones as well I imagine).

Alex's personal musings: prayer IS the work

After a wonderful, relaxing weekend we were ready to get back into the street work. Last night (and for the rest of the week) we were given the choice of who we pair up with. So instead of relying on the experience and guidance of a long term-er we were encouraged to fly on our own!



During the day I was praying and preparing for the evening ahead and wanted to have to hand some verses I could share with people we met. One of the more obvious and well known verses came to mind:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Mtt 11:28-30 (Msg)

I prayed for an opportunity to share these with someone who needed to hear those words.

When we met up with Danny last Friday in Ibiza Town (see Jon's previous blog for more details) I was struck by the fact that prayer is his work and not something that supports the work. Much of last night was focused on prayer - not just in the prayer room but also on our lips out and about on the strip. 

And I am fine with that!

For me there was no vomit, no pushing wheelchairs, no sitting with a drugged up person for an hour until they came down - just conversations with people about their lives and God. Wonderful.

To be honest though, there is always a niggling doubt that unless I am being sprayed by stomach contents I am not doing my job properly. It was great to realise that these conversations were just as, and maybe more, important than the messy stuff. 

Michelle and I went out between 2 and 3am. We came across two girls from Leeds who were working out here for the first time. It was lovely to chat and share something of what we are doing out here. They were really keen for us to pray for them and we encouraged them to write their prayers down so we could stick them on the prayer wall. Michelle gave one of them a bible and I shared my story of how God helped me through my parent's divorce and gave me hope. This hope, I said, was there for them too.

We left them hoping that we had shown some of God's love to them and I pray that believers would be put around them back in their UK lives so that the seeds we sowed that night would grow.

Not long before our hour was up we took a call from Abby who asked us to go to Gatecrasher and help a young woman. My heart rate rose a bit. What do we do? What do we say? This was the first call out on our own!

The bouncer pointed us in the direction of a very tired girl. She was at the end of a shift working at the club and had drunk something that left her really lethargic and drawn. Once we started to talk to her, she perked up a bit and we offered to walk her home. Slightly reluctantly, she agreed.

We walked for 20 minutes back to one of the workers' apartments and again were able to share about our work and listen to how she is getting on. We got the impression that home life was not good and life out here was not as straight forward as she had hoped.

When we parted I gave her a bible and, in my scribbles on the first page, encouraged her to read the highlighted text to page 26. Guess what it said?

I hit the sack at 5am and knew nothing until Midday!

Today we go prayer walking around Cala Conta (see below) and then back on the streets tonight. 

Alex's personal musings: contrasts

Saturday was a rest day. The night before we tried to stay up late (3am) to keep our night time rhythm going. Needless to say that none of us made it! I awoke around 9am, went for a walk, came back and then finished a book (reading to the end of books is a rare event for me!). My body decided that I had not had sufficient sleep so I drifted off for another hour. Magnificent! When was the last time I felt tired, could go to sleep and wake up when I was ready to! That is a gift.

We all gently drifted through the day and then prepared ourselves to go out to Ushuaia (a beach club on the other side of the Island). We all piled onto a bus filled with other party goers and were tipped out 30 minutes later. I'll be honest - I have not been to a club since 1995 when, as a student, I experienced the highs and lows of Roxy's in Sheffield. Man alive this was an impressive place (see pic). Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful people (both male and female) moving to the pulse of what I would call tribal music. It felt like a primitive people were gathering to worship the sun! We found a good spot on a second level and bobbed (not sure this is the technical term for minimal dancing) and watched the throng as the sun went down. The music was not really my taste (a bit monotonous) but I could see well how the DJ worked the crowd. It was an impressive sight.

Warning! For those who would rather not know about my urinal experience please skip to the next paragraph. I have always struggled with stage fright and despite being desperate for a wee I was not looking forward to walking into a packed toilet and attempting to relieve the pain in my bladder! I can't tell you the times I have stood at a public urinal, attempted to wee, couldn't, and then pretended that I had (including "shake") and walked out knowing that my fellow wee-ers knew that I hadn't! Shame! My first tactic is usually to wait for a cubicle to come free so I can wee in private. This was not going to happen. The two cubicles were in use and a fellow punter pointed out that there were a few urinals free. He was Spanish and I thought it would be easier to accept his invitation rather than explaining my condition in his native language. It was time to begin "Operation Nixon". Not sure when this technique began but it has served me well over the years. This is weird but it works. I close my eyes and visualise the resignation speech of Richard Nixon. I don't know why this particular moment in history releases my sphincter but it does. Perhaps I have developed a particular neural network that connects these two experiences. After 30 seconds of repeating the word "Nixon" in my mind, I wee-d and walked out like I had a achieved something special! For some of you reading this, it will be first time you have heard of stage fright. Some of you will be all too familiar with this affliction and will relate to parts of this story. Perhaps we should start a support group!

Moving on.

On the way back from the toilet, Bernard and I wanted to explore the whole site. We walked through a door and found ourselves on the beach. Lovely moment - warm sand, lapping sea and the club music washing over us. We tried to get back into the club via the door we came in and were greeted (I use that term loosely) by a bouncer who informed us that we could not go back in. Despite Bernard's death stare (truly frightening - both in terms of how he looked but also what might happen to us if he didn't stop doing it) we were not welcome back in. We tried a few other entrances to no avail. Our club experience was over.

I didn't mind as I had a good chat with Bernard. The rest of the gang caught up with us and we headed back to San Antonio.

Again we tried to stay up to 3am but crashed at 1am!

Lightweights.

Day 2 & 3 The calm in the maelstrom

The bible has many examples of sea based metaphors and I thought we use one here. The normal dictionary definition of a maelstrom* is very powerful whirlpool but it also has a secondary definition of a 'A situation or state of confused movement or turmoil' which at times defines perfectly the west end at night. However before I dive into my musings on days 2 & 3 (Tuesday and Wednesday), I thought I'd try and explain where we are located and about the west end. 

We are based in San Antonio (de Portmany) on the west cost of Ibiza. In our posts we have mentioned the west end quite regularly.  The name west end refers to a night time minibus trip from hotels in other resorts in the 1970s that would come to San Antonio's bars and the name of this tour package was "The West End Experience". Since then the area has become known simply as "The West End". The main street in the west end is called Carrer de Santa Agnès.  (Thanks Wikipedia)This west end area has become our night time home. 

Days two and three for me at least (as in Paul) were markedly different from the first evening, whilst some conversation was had & people prayed for, it was more about helping getting people home and getting safe. I even received a 'lovely' (I use this term in the most liberal of sense) lick/kiss on the cheek from one very overzealous (male) party goer. I have also had my first trip to the medical centre which my first comment when we arrived was to complement the architectural design of the building, worryingly my first thoughts are always planning based.

I have also learned that the hour we are out is not over until it's over (and quite frequently well beyond a hour) . Case in point would be Wednesday where at 01:59 (and 59.9999999 seconds (maybe)) walking back to the 247 centre Becky spotted a guy sitting on the kerb with his head in his hands. This lead to a trip in the van and eventually to his hotel, God however is a god of amazing coincidences and sitting in the van was one of the guys friends who another team had picked up... My knowledge of northern football teams was tested to the max however as I tried to keep our passenger awake. 

I used the term maelstrom to introduce this post however the calm in the middle of all this are the Ibiza long term team members who all seem to have the gift of amazing calm and focus, and at times I have been massively in awe of this, I hope by the time we have finished our two weeks some of this calm and focus will have rubbed off on me! 

Also I realise more and more that pray in the prayer room at the centre is so important to both allow personal reflection about our time out in the west end but also for those who are out while we are in the prayer room. When prayer is missed due to an extended call, trip to the medical tent/centre etc, I certainly do miss it. 

Thanks for reading, Paul signing off.... Until next time etc etc 

Matthew 8:23-26 (CEV)

A Storm

23 After Jesus left in a boat with his disciples, 24 a terrible storm suddenly struck the lake, and waves started splashing into their boat.

Jesus was sound asleep, 25 so the disciples went over to him and woke him up. They said, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 But Jesus replied, “Why are you so afraid? You surely don’t have much faith.” Then he got up and ordered the wind and the waves to calm down. And everything was calm.

*yes I acknowledge that maelstrom is a Dutch word so obviously not found in the bible...

Jon's ramblings: Ibiza Town

After four nights on the spin we were ready for a break.

Today’s schedule included our usual team meeting in the prayer room. After a worship song we shared our feelings on the night before. Some had encouraging encounters, others a quieter night which had actually given us the opportunity to get to know our long term team buddies better. Some of us reflected on how we felt a little flat after the exciting start to the week. We resolved to enjoy today’s trip to Ibiza Town and keep encouraging one another.

Our guide for the day was Danny. He, Lydie and their daughter Asha moved to the island in January as part of a new work in Ibiza town alongside some of the most marginalised people groups on the island.

We climbed the steps of the old fortified town gulping down water as we went and taking in the impressive vistas over the harbour, the main beaches , the salt flats that provide grit for the roads of Scotland, and the island airport. Danny shared how God had clearly called them to the island with a series of clear confirmations, some of which totally blew us away in terms of the generosity of God’s people and the wonderful way that God provides for those who are obedient to His call. The work is still evolving and Danny spoke of how his family are waiting on God to direct their strategies when the time is right.

Truly inspiring.

We finished the day with a lovely meal on the harbour side. 

Alex's personal musings - Lost Sheep

I was part of the team that began in the prayer room last night. During the day I was thinking about what verses I could highlight when giving out Bibles. One of the more obvious passages came to mind which I read out in the prayer room just after midnight:

“Then Jesus told them this story:

If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won’t you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbours and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found my lost sheep.”

Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to.” Luke 15:3-7.

Following this we prayed that we would have the same spirit and have the determination and grit to find those who were lost, lonely, fatherless and in pain.

Just after 1am one of the long term team, Lucy and I paired up and walked down towards Ibiza Rocks bar (armed with brownies which we give to the bar workers). She noticed one young man, Carl (not his real name) who was part of a group of friends but looked a little wobbly. To be honest, I thought that he was OK and safe with his friends.

I am so glad that Lucy got involved.

He had obviously consumed more than alcohol (see how much of an expert I am now ;-)! and was struggling to focus. Lucy gave him some water while I had a chat with his friend about what 24/7 Ibiza is about.

After 10 minutes we decided that we would walk him back to his hotel with one of his friends to sleep it off. However, Carl started to deteriorate pretty quickly. He was finding it difficult to walk, he was overheating and his heartbeat was exceptionally fast.

Lucy decided that we should get him to the medical tent and we called for the 24/7 wheelchair. My now masterful driving skills came to the fore as I pushed Carl ¼ mile uphill whilst also trying to stop him from jumping out or trapping his feet underneath the chair (good prep for when Robert is older ;-)

I really felt for this guy who, through the teeth grinding, muscle spasms and outbursts, shared that he had lost his grandma that day. Perhaps Carl took the drugs not to party but to numb the pain.

The guys at the medical tent checked Carl’s vitals and we got stuck in by giving him water to drink, holding ice around his neck and also giggled at his reaction when he had cold water poured over him to reduce his temperature.

Lucy and I stayed with him for an hour while he slowly came down. At 3am I was swapped out with Jon so I could go back into the prayer room.

I was really surprised to see Carl still there and still struggling to come down when our team were sent home to rest at 4am.

As I write I don’t know what happened to Carl but I know that the long term team would have stayed with him for as long as it took and safety delivered him back to his hotel.

It would not surprise me if we had collectively spent over 20 hours with Carl.

Bearing in mind where this blog post started it was rewarding to finish the night realising that we had been used by God to find, care for and bring home a lost sheep.

Father, I pray that Carl is safe and that through his experience you will plant a seed of faith so that when his friends recount what happened his spirit would realise that You came to find him last night.

Today we are off to Ibiza Town to do some prayer walking and eating. Yum.

Alex's personal musings - carnage!

Night 3 being Wednesday was always billed as a busy night. It is one of the mains days when people arrive on the island and they commonly hit the bars as soon as they land. With the excitement of a brilliant holiday in front of them people enthusiastically get into the party mood and take / drink too much. I have very limited experience of either taking or seeing the effects of drugs but after last night I have a bit more (not the taking you understand).

We began the night in the prayer room worshipping God which is a great way to get focused on the job at hand. I then joined Abby (bonus) on our first walk about. We didn’t even make it 10 metres before we got a call to take someone home. So Abby and I got into the vomit van and drove to meet up with Michelle and Robb who were helping a young chap and his two friends. Michelle is absolutely brilliant. She was so natural and calm even when the young fella was affectionately cuddling and kissing her shortly after he had vomited!

Once we had dropped those guys back we arrived back on the strip to find an Irish chap without his shoes and shirt wondering around without a clue of what was going on. Fortunately, he was just outside the medical tent so we helped him in where he was checked over (blood pressure, temperature, heart rate etc). We waiting with him for around 45 minutes as high heart rate settled and temperature dropped. During this time, in came Jon with a young man who was all over the place. The same checks were carried out and then, for me, I saw the most wonderful and heart-warming moment of our journey so far. Jon was given the role of giving the chap a drink. This was not easy. The fella was a big guy and less than cooperative but the father within Jon came to the fore as he gently, but persistently, encouraged the chap to drink. It was actually like trying to get a baby to finish their bedtime milk. “Well done”, “Just a bit more”, “nearly there”, “this is doing you good” were quietly spoken into the chap’s ear. 

Absolutely wonderful.

I am actually choking up as I write this (a bit embarrassing as I am in the hotel bar).

We actually had to leave our fella to go and collect a young lady who had collapsed on the floor. I was on wheelchair duty and determined to demonstrate that I could do actually do this well. This time the journey was smooth and she was safely deposited in the medical centre.

Back into the vomit van to take two boys back to their hotel. Funnily enough the second chap we picked up had the t-shirt of the first fella!

Abby was completely perfect. She had to juggle driving the van, taking calls from the police (in Spanish) and others and co-ordinate who goes where. This was an intense time and her clarity of thought and decision making was very impressive.

I should have been out for one hour but two and half hours later I made it back to the prayer room. Prayer and singing ensued – a welcome time to rest a little and thank God for his help.

Phew!

Alex's personal 24/7 Ibiza musings: orange Wednesdays

On Wednesday’s between 3 and 5 in the afternoon we take bags of oranges to the beaches offering free fruit and taking the opportunity to meet new people, offer prayer and have a casual chat. Kirstie, James, one of the long term team and I headed out to the beach where the workers usually go. This was great as many of those we met knew who 24/7 Ibiza were and were ready to receive their vitamin C injection!

We had a great time.

People on the whole are really chatty and happy to chew the cud about holidays, work and life. We spent 10 minutes talking with two women who were nervous about returning home as they were embarking on new academic adventures and leaving home. I was able to share a bit about my own experience of God being a support and a rock during times of change and how He could be that for them too.

I am learning that one of our main jobs is to sow seeds and it’s OK to have brief encounters with people, share a little about what we do, capture a prayer request or two and then move on. All done with a smile!

It was quite remarkable that when I approached the Spanish life guards one was happy to accept an orange, the other didn't want fruit but insisted that I gave her a bible!

Wallop....

Day 1 Sunsets and Ibiza nights ...

Sorry it's taken a few days to post this blog. Things have been rather busy!

We arrived at Ibiza airport at about 2am Spanish time and were met and made very welcome by the 24-7 Ibiza team leaders Charlie and Abby and swiftly transferred to our hotel in San Antonio.

The weather is unsurprisingly hot with the average temp being about 30 degrees in the day with it not dropping much below 20 at night!

We are here with a group of others who are here for most of the season. These guys really know what they are doing and we are grateful for their encouragement and support. Man, they are good at praying!

Day 1

The photo is the famous sunset over the sunset strip, which is the unofficial start of night time in Ibiza. We started at 12 with two teams of 6, one group going out into San Antonio the others staying at the centre and praying. We met with workers and revellers a like, who wholeheartedly welcomed our presence. People were prayed for, bibles given out and people helped.

So Alex, in his own style, managed to make a cracking rookie error! Given that he is an experienced wheelchair pusher with Robert he confidently stepped forward and helped a young fella up to the medical tent. He was a tricky customer but don't think he deserved to be thrown out of the chair when Alex hit a curb!

One of the local bar workers asked one of the teams to pray that they would get a flat mate very soon. The next day she said she'd got one!

As part of our initial training, stories were shared about how often prayers in the prayer room were answered as soon as the teams hit the streets. It was wonderful to witness this as for the first prayer hour between 12 and 1 we were praying about how God keeps his promises. Two of the team then went out and met up with on of the bar workers who opened up and, in tears, was sharing about how his life was full of broken promises. We were able to draw alongside a lonely young man, listen to him for 20 minutes and then offer words of encouragement and friendship to him. Please pray that the long term team have many more opportunities over the coming weeks to help this chap and show him that God loves him and keeps his promises.

Final thought
It's obvious from our first night that Jesus very much loves Ibiza and that very positive things are happening here. There still is a small sense of what are on earth are we doing here but instead of wanting to hide away we are excited to get back out into San Antonio and be involved in what is happening.

7 The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.

1 Corinthians 12 v 7 CEV version