Laura King is chasing her dreams

(Laura King, a 2020 Stockton High School graduate had the opportunity to serve on an international mission team and join other students and professors from Manhattan Christian College to travel to Barcelona, Spain this summer. To help fund this mission trip she received financial support as well as thoughts and prayers from the community.)

MCC partnered and served with the International Church of Barcelona (ICB) to work within the Church and community to aid those suffering from homelessness and trafficking. While King was there, she also completed her Intercultural Studies Practicum, a handson experience needed for her degree.)

Having big dreams is easy when you have people who support you, are right behind you, and encourage you. I had the best support system when chasing one of my most recent dreams of embarking on my first international mission trip. I had you, Stockton, Rooks County, and many others. There is something about the way a small-town community will come together to support each other, and I felt that support. I appreciate each and every person and business that supported my trip this summer. It made a great difference in my life and the lives of those in Barcelona. For those of you who supported me and helped me chase my dreams of going abroad on a mission for God, I want to share a little about the impact you helped make.

First, let me talk about taking a small-town Kansas girl to big-city life in another culture. It is a culture shock in itself to move from a small town like Stockton to a big city, but when you are also crossing into another culture, it can be overwhelming. I felt overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city and the late-night culture. It hit me hard the first few days, but I adjusted well, and before we knew it, I was walking the busy streets of Barcelona and engaging in the culture.

I thought Kansas summers were hot until I experienced summer in Barcelona! I learned to embrace the heat, the sweat, and the lukewarm drinks. I enjoyed being able to adventure and explore the diverse city that was sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and mountains.

Locationally in the city, we lived very central to the International Church of Barcelona, within a short walk to the church building and the ministry office. Serving with the International Church of Barcelona (ICB) was a unique experience for everyone on our team from Manhattan Christian College.

The Church allowed us to explore the different ministry areas with core ministry leaders as mentors. I served with the Children’s Ministry and the Cares Ministry.

Barcelona is a very international city, and ICB’s motto was to be “In the city, for the city,” and that was reflected weekly by how diverse the Church was, with over 90 different nationalities gathering together in one place on Sunday mornings. It was cool to see God work in that way to bring people worldwide to worship together. It was also cool to see how ICB thrived amid cultural differences.

ICB was very focused on relationships over tasks, which was something new to me, but I grew to love it. They value people over programs and would drop a task to be relationally connected to those around them.

As I mentioned earlier, I served with the Children’s Ministry, and just like any summer that brings the time for Vacation Bible School (VBS) or Casals, as we called it in Spain.

We had two back-to-back weeks of Kids Casals (or VBS), and God was evident that He was working on that.

During those two weeks, we taught the kids about God’s Creation of the world and how each of them is one of God’s masterpieces. During those two weeks, my heart naturally gravitated to the young ones who were a little on the wild side and needed someone with a little extra patience. I took on the challenge of loving and helping them experience God during the two weeks they attended. It was a challenge, but I saw the growth of the two little boys I had by the end of week two, and it was so worth it.

I also loved seeing the hearts change of many other young children who had never encountered God. Several children in those two weeks accepted Jesus into their lives for the first time, and many families who attended were not families that regularly attended ICB.

Many students returned to Church the following weeks after Casals (VBS) with their families to attend the normal Sunday morning gatherings.

Along with serving with ICB Kids, I had the opportunity to serve with ICB Cares, the Church’s team that specialized in serving the community of Barcelona. I spent every other Saturday morning serving in what they called their Food Packs Outreach. It was an event that allowed people who needed assistance with providing more food for their households.

It is similar to a local food pantry in the States but set up and run very differently. We would set up the food products as if they were in a store and allowed families to shop using a points system.

Allowing them to pick products they would use provided the space for a relational community among the families and the volunteers. Families would come early and then spend their whole time at the event, talking to each other and getting to know one other.

While serving with this ministry, I also got my feet wet on the administrative side. I took on the challenge of creating a bilingual evaluation for the ministry leads to gain input on how the families liked the event.

Another area I served in with this ministry was Street Outreaches, where we would go into the city's more impoverished areas and meet with people in homeless situations. The main goal of this outreach was to let the people know that they are loved, and that amid the hard situation they are in, there is a God who loves them as His children. We would pray for many of the individuals we encountered and build friendships with those we saw week after week. We also had the unique opportunity of being able to throw a picnic and invited them all to a nearby park where we had food and games.

In addition to the areas I served at ICB, I also served with a local organization called Agape Mas.

This organization directly served those in homeless situations in Barcelona.

They had shower and clothing services as well as street outreach. My first weekend in Barcelona, I served at the shower service, where my team partner and I met a man from Venezuela named Igor. Igor spoke five different languages and had been living in the streets of Barcelona for four or five years. He was a regular attendee of the Agape Mas shower service, and we were able to connect with him every week. We loved getting to know Igor and got to experience the faith he had. You do not often find someone who has faced the challenges Igor faced and has faith in God as he did. We met with Igor often in our spare time and even had the opportunity to invite him to ICB and get him connected with a living church community.

I already said Igor was a man of unique faith, and his faith reminds me of having the faith of a mustard seed. Throughout the summer, we saw God bless Igor’s life in many ways, and we were able to be a part of that.

I enjoyed my time in Barcelona and loved getting to experience God moving in and throughout the beautiful city.

God is continuing to move in big ways in Barcelona.

During my time in Barcelona, God also worked in me and allowed me to see the world from a new perspective. Before leaving on this trip, my faith was not nearly as strong as it is coming back, and I came home excited to see what God holds for me in the future. Currently, I do not have any International trips planned, but it is still on my heart to do missions. My next step is finishing my senior year at MCC and then moving on to pursue nursing and, eventually, medical missions in the far future.

Once again, I appreciate those who supported me on this trip, whether through prayer, receiving our weekly updates, or financially. I could not have done this without you, and am so thankful.

There is so much more I could share about my experience in Barcelona, and I would love to share more with anyone who would like to hear. Reach out to me if you want to hear more about my trip and plans. I appreciate you all for being a great support system to me.