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The End.

Posted in By Alec Miller 1 comments

Camp is over and I am back at Jonathan Benagas' house. It has been a crazy couple of weeks and a lot of hard work. I am well worn and ready for some rest for a day or two before I come back to the U.S.
It was great to see all the campers meeting back up with their families today and to see how much most of them had changed. I will be praying for them all, but a few campers who I got to know I will be praying for especially.
One of the things I like best about what Jonathan is doing here is that while I will be going home the other staff will stay and be keeping up with the campers. There is a weekly club night that they will start to get the kids involved with and even if they do not live in Banyoles, where Jonathan is, there are groups now in Barcelona and Madrid.

As tiered as I am, I do not want to leave. I love Spain so much and feel more and more that God is calling me here. I keep coming back to Spain every year and every year I feel the same way. One day I might just miss my flight and stay. I have been talking to Jonathan about this and there are a few possibilities we are looking into. I will keep you all posted (of course).

I will try to get at least one more post in before I leave and will let everyone know when I am back in the states.
Thank you all again for your love and support.


Final Hours

Posted in By Alec Miller 0 comments

This is the last full day of camp. Right now everyone is running around getting ready for a special dinner all the staff are putting on for the campers. Everyone gets dressed up as nice as they can and we serve the campers like they are in a fancy restaurant. It is a good time to show the campers how much we love them and how to serve.
It has been an amazing couple of weeks and while it was hard work, I loved it. It was good to see just how much work I can do in one day. I have already told you that I was filming and editing each day's videos, but what I didn't tell you is that everyday in my "free time" I cleaned the bathrooms after lunch and the kitchen after dinner. As I said hard work but I loved it, even the dishes and bathrooms were fun in their own way, I got to know the other staff that aren't in the multi media team.
It has been a great week of growing spiritually for me and God has been showing me so much.

Thank you all for your prayers and support, I look forward to seeing all of you after I get back on the 17th.

-Alexander Benjamin Miller
"Helper of men and son of his father's strength." (the meaning of my full name.)

Day 9-?

Posted in By Alec Miller 4 comments

Day 9-?
It's been awhile since my last update, this is because of two reasons:
1. Internet has been out of reach for a while.
2. I have been ridiculously busy.

The year Alex (the head of the multi media team here) told me that this might be his last year working at camp. Because of this he wants to make sure that I can do everything without him so I have been doing almost all the filming and all of the editing of the daily videos thus far. I am uploading one of the videos to you tube so that you all can see it.
Camp has been going well and I have been learning a lot. It seems I end up doing a lot of thinking when I am in Spain, perhaps because I can't talk so much and just need to listen to others and think about things.
Thank you all for your support this whole time and please continue to pray for me.

Battle Scars!

Posted in By Alec Miller 2 comments


So I told you I would get some pics of my injuries, so I did. But not right away, they has had a day or so to dry up and heal a bit. It still hurts to every time I move of touch those parts but it is not so bad now.
Camp Starts today and I will begin shooting and editing the daily videos as well as helping with setting up tables, cleaning bathrooms, and other small needs around camp. Please pray that I would be a show the campers and other staff love and peace through all I do.

Day 8

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Day 8
The day started out well. I helped set up game and decorations. I made water tubes, tied ropes, and set up decor. After we had finished with a hard days work the staff all went to a near by field to play some futbol (soccer). So we got into teams and started to play. I played striker, aka the guy who runs...a lot...over the whole field...many times. A little while into the game and after a lot of running, I saw an opportunity to truly show my potential. I had been playing so-so the whole game and this was my chance to score. The ball had been kicked way down field and only me and one player form the other team were going for the ball. He was ahead of me and fast but I knew that I could be faster if I pushed myself. If you don't know, I'm a pretty darn fast guy when I want to be. I'm light and quick, two of my only useful attributes when it comes to sports. I was able to push and pass him up I felt pretty happy to see the look of shock when I passed him. After getting the ball I was able get it to a team mate who had gotten close to the goal. He shot but missed and the ball was kicked to the middle of the field, I was once again racing to get their but this time I had the lead. Still I pushed myself to go as fast as I could and that's about the time when my vision blurred and I lost control of my legs. Remember how I said I was fast and light? Well when you are booking it and your legs stop working you normally just fall over like a bag of potatoes... unless you are light, then you fall like cardboard box off the back of a truck and tumble before skidding to a stop. Oh, something I forgot to tell you is that this field is covered with thorn bushes...yeah. Ouch. After falling I sprung to my feet with as fast as I could and was sure to tell everyone who asked that I was fine. I was scraped up, and bleeding, and had road rash on my arm, hip, and back. But I decided to stay on the field. I ended up pushing myself one more time a little bit later and that ended it. I threw up and my vision blurred again, so I hit the showers and there found out just how bad of a fall I had. The rest of the night I felt pretty bad but have been able to still function just fine. Right now I have a small amount of time before lunch to type this and am still sore but what fun is a camp without some scars. I might have pictures later so stay tuned!

Day 6-7

Posted in By Alec Miller 1 comments

Day 6-7
The first 2 days of camp has passed and all I can think is "Why didn't I study my Spanish more?" Sure I have reasons like it was my first semester of college and I had a full load plus honors. But mostly it just wasn't as much a priority as school and other things.
Being at the camp with everyone having a great time joking, talking praying, teaching...all in Spanish, well Catalan really, but Spanish too. I can understand a good bit but complex things like Bible studies fall outside of my grasp.
It really is hard for me to deal with, I want to partake in the jokes or voice my insights to the chapter we are studying but it either comes out as incredibly simple or borderline stupid. So I usually refrain and let others more fluent than I do the talking.
Some of the staff have been incredibly kind and translated for me and 2 other volunteers who only speak English when we are in Bible study and I am most grateful to them.
But even without knowing the language I am having a good time. I do get in the occasional visual gag or find the right words to get across my meaning and most of the staff are patient and put up with my attempts to speak Spanish when it would me easier for both of us if I just pointed and ask in English.
Please continue to pray for me and the rest of the staff that we could grow and prepare during this setup week, and that we would be witnesses and encouraging not only to the campers but
to each other as well.

Days 3-5

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Days 3-5
I have spent the last two days in Barcelona visiting Enoc BasBu he stayed with my family two years ago while I was in Spain. He was using my bed and left before I returned home so we never got to meet. He discovered that I would be in Spain and set up a time for me to visit him and his family in Barcelona. I had a great time and am very thankful to the BasBu family for everything they did.

Tomorrow the 1st week of camp starts. This is a week of preparation. We will be setting up the camp grounds, getting the dinning hall and kitchen ready, edit a short movie for the students and will have times of training and prayer plus much more. Please be praying for Jonathan, me, and the rest of the staff.




Day 2

Posted in By Alec Miller 2 comments


Day 2
After a good nights rest I think I feel just about right. I woke up at a normal time and am now on the Spanish clock. I spent some time with some new and old friends and found a mini-DV tape that Jonathan needed to finish this years movie. I helped Jonathan set up for camp and now have the evening free to spend some more time with my new friends.
Tomorrow I will be leaving for Barcelona for two days with Enoc Basbu. Enoc stayed with my family two years ago while visiting America.

I should be back Sunday night and will update my blog then. Camp starts on Monday and I will try to keep everyone informed of what happens then.

Photos

Posted in By Alec Miller 1 comments

These are some pictures of the students waiting in the airports.
Waiting for a flight.
Wendy's.
Ninja in the airport.

DAY 1

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DAY 1
I am now at my laptop, in the Banegas' house, in Spain. However, day one starts with all the Spanish students and I leaving Phoenix AZ.

In case you didn't know, these last few weeks multiple families in AZ have been hosting Spanish students at their respective houses, these students left Arizona for their own homes in Spain on the 27th. I left with them.
After getting our boarding passes and hugging everyone goodbye we started for the security check. Evidently Spanish security is not as strict as U.S. security, almost all the Spanish boys lost there spay deodorant to the security team, Jonathan lost his maple syrup and a container of peanut butter. I knowing how tight U.S. security has become made it through relatively unscathed. (I did have to hold up my pants as I went through security after taking off my belt.)
The flight to Philadelphia was a short 3 hours and went smoothly. Once in Philly we found our next flight was delayed so we looked for a spot for lunch. All the Spanish kids decided to go to "Wendy's" I went somewhere a little more upscale, "Chick-fil-A". After ordering most of the food Jonathan realized that we were missing about 6 students. I told him to keep ordering while I wondered the maze like Philly airport. After some retracing of steps and tracking I found the group and got them back in time for lunch. After lunch we went back to our gate to find that the flight was delayed even longer. So the students played some games till it was time to leave.
The flight to Barcelona was 7 hours, I think all the students had a good time but I can't really say because they were all seated together in the middle of the plane while I was in the last seat on the plane (literally the farthest back window seat). After landing at around 10:00AM we got our bags and Jonathan had a quick talk about this trip only being the begging of the kids relationship with Young Life Spain. Jonathan's co-workers and volunteers are going to be keeping up and meeting with the kids to continue what all the host families started. After the talk all the student met their parents and started to talk about the great times they had and wonderful people they stayed with and met. After a sometime and many more hugs everyone started home.
On the plane I slept about 10-40 minutes, I wish I could have made myself sleep more because soon as we landed my fatigue set in. I had a very hard time fight my own eyelids so that I could sleep at night and get onto Spanish time. After a good day of meeting old friends and making some new one a very sleepy Alec went to bed for the night. I awoke at 7:00 sharp and instantly...went back to bed. I woke up again at 11:00 and then I got ready, had an extremely strong cup of Spanish coffee. I helped unload the food for the upcoming camp and got and now now at my laptop, in the Banegas' house, in Spain.

End Day 1.

1st things 1st

Posted in By Alec Miller 0 comments

1st, thank you for checking out my blog. There really isn't much point in writing all this if no one is going to read it. I am so glad to have people like you who care enough to spend time reading my ramblings.

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