Rafael

We were so sad this week to learn that our very good friend Rafael from Spain lost his battle with cancer on Saturday. We met Rafael and Laura through an outreach cafe in our church in Edinburgh. Each August at the height of the tourist season our church opens its doors to the public. The music group play and sing some contemporary and praise and worship music. Free coffee is served and people are on hand to chat and give personal testimonies. Back in 2003 Andrew was singing and I was looking specifically for Spanish speakers. I met Rafa and Laura and instantly we hit it off. Over the years we have visited them several times in Madrid and they returned to Scotland to visit us. The last time we saw Rafa was when he visited us in Ireland a couple of years ago.

This was a friendship which was very strong despite being in different countries. We have so many happy memories of fun times. There was always lots of laughter when we were together. But Rafael was always eager to get into deeper things. Having been hurt and left rather disillusioned by previous experiences be was on a quest to know what the real truth was. It can't have been a co-incidence that one night in 2003 they happened to drop into a church (which they would never have done had they known it was), that we had been learning Spanish and introduced ourselves, that we hit it off and had many opportunities to share our simple faith. And our gracious God allowed us to enjoy a super friendship too.

Let us offer what we have and make the most of every opportunity.