Party!

This will be my last post so pay attention!

There is going to be a thank you party for all my supporters (aka you) at my house this Saturday.

We will be serving dinner so come hungry. I will be talking about my time in Spain and showing some of the work I did with Young Life.

Now the essentials,

Where? My house: 6117 N 14th street

View Larger Map
and

When? Starts at 60:30 Ends when you leave. (around 9:30-10:00)
Remember this party is for YOU so please come and be ready to have a good time.

Please RSVP by e-mailing me at: albenjammin@yahoo.com or calling me at: 602-279-3416

Thank you once more for all of you help and love.

For the last time,
Alexander Benjammin Miller

There and back agian.

1^st off I need to thank the Palacin family for letting me stay with them in Barcelona being such great hosts.

I also need to thank the Banegas family for letting me stay with them in Banyoles for over a month, giving me a chance to work with Young Life and being my family away from my family.

And of course thank you for being my supporters and for all your prayers. I would never had made it with out you.

Now that the formal stuff is out of the way I am going to tell you about my last day.

I would say I woke up but I never really went to sleep, David Palacin and I stayed up late watching a movie and when we went to bed I was thinking to much about how I didn’t want to leave and what I was going to do when I got back to the states and before I knew it the sun was up.

I got dressed and made myself an espresso. The Palacins drove me to the air port, I checked in and tried to think of every reason I could to stay. I asked David to knock me out so I’d miss my flight but he wouldn’t do it.

When it came close to my departure time I knew I had to say my goodbyes and I did.

The Palacins waved me off through security and I was on my way.

I made the flight with plenty of time to spare and had no problems what so ever.

I arrived in London Heathrow just a little late.

Now I want to pause to tell you some thing.

I have been to a lot of air ports all around the world Hyderabad Malaysia, Hong Kong, Germany, Barcelona, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Singapore, and of course Phoenix. Out of all these air ports I have never missed a flight. I have also had a (more or less) good experience at all of these.

Ok play.

So I arrive at Heathrow the only airport I’ve ever had a real problem with. last year I missed my flight to Spain and ended up spending 100 dollars on a pay phone to let Jonathan Banegas know that I would be a few hours late.

This year I was hoping for it to be different, I thought I know how Heathrow works. That’s just the problem with Heathrow soon as you think you know it there‘s a change, one time you take a tram to get to one place and have no security or anything the next time is a whole different story.

When I step out of the plane I see that it is raining. Go figure. Evidently we didn’t stop right at our terminal we stopped in some random place just off the runway and so we have to take some metal stairs down to the ground and then get on a bus.

The thing about metal is that when it rains it gets wet and when it gets wet it gets slippery and when it’s slippery American 18 year olds coming home from Spain with no traction in their shoes slip and fall.

Yeah I slipped and fell a few steps I bruised my arm and my pride.

There was a buss to take us to terminals 1,2,3, and 4. It just happens that my flight was at terminal 5 witch means I need to take another bus after I get to 1,2,3, or 4 to get there.

So I get on another bus and drive for 10 minutes.

I get off at terminal 5 and think that all I need to do now is find my gate and wait… I was wrong.

I find the signs that say terminal five connections and start walking and walking and walking.

I finally get to the customs… Wait customs? I thought I was connecting? …Well yes I am but in London they don’t trust whoever just checked all your passports and what not so they do it again. Ok, so now to my gate right? Wrong. Now I have to go through security AGAIN.

As I walk past the lines and lines of people waiting in line I find one that’s only about 30 people long and was the shortest.

I get in line only to find that this is a special type of security check where I need three trays for all my stuff one for shows belt and wallet, one for my laptop and one for my bag, my stuff goes through the x-ray and I go to get my stuff. Oh but I forgot to tell you that these tray’s are attached to the conveyer belt.

I have to grab my wallet, shows, watch, necklace, glasses, I-pod, head phones, laptop, and bag in a few seconds.

Thankfully I was smart enough not to try and put it all on as I grabbed it I just shoved it all in one of my pockets and found a bench a little ways away. I was amazed that I didn’t get the “ random” check.

I ALWAYS get the random check because I lived in India for 4 months in 2006 and still have the same passport.

After that I went to my gate and found they were boarding. The line was long but I snuck in to the 1^st class line with no hassle the attendants were too busy to care about some kid in the wrong line.

So now I’m home free right? Wrong again.

I get pulled aside evidently they realized that they missed me at the random check earlier and decided to get it in now. (So much for sneaking in with 1^st class to save time.) After a 20 minute taxiing delay the plane leaves London and I’m on my way home.

I arrive in Phoenix at about 5:30 and have to wait in my plane for 20 minutes because all the computers in customs are down. After they fix the computers I walk to baggage claim, find my bag and my brother Rem waiting for me wanting to know what took so long.

I am now in my house in Phoenix.

I will be having a get-together some time next week when the rest of my family gets back home.

I will send an e-mail with all the date and time.

Thank you all so much for everything.

See you at the party!

There and back again,

Alexander Benjamin Miller

The End

This is my last post from Spain.
I never get teared up in front of people and that includes people reading my blog, but I will miss Spain more than I've missed any other place I've been (and I've been around).

I have never felt more at home than in any country (some times more than in the states) even though I'm not even close to fluent in the language I love it. The people and the culture are lovely, the whole time and even now I never felt homesick for the states.
Sure there are friends and family I can't wait to see, but as far as missing America goes, nope, nothing.
There is a lot of work ahead of me in the States that I will still be needing prayer for.
I have no idea where or if I will be going to collage, right now I am praying about spending a year in Spain to learn Spanish and work with Young Life. There are a lot of details to work out but the one thing I know for sure is that even if I don't come back to Spain this or next year, i am going to end up here sooner or later.
So please keep praying, not only for me but for the campers. i have been able to talk to a few of them on Facebook and in other ways. Pray that these kids would grow in there interest in Christ and the Gospel

I will be having a dinner for all my supporters to let you know what I've been up to this whole time and to thank you all. It will not be for a week or so after I get back because most of my family are not in Phoenix.
None of this would have been possible without your prayers.

Thank you.


On my way home in the Lords mighty hands,
Alexander Benjamin Miller

Videos and Pictures

Here are some pictures and videos of the camp.
The videos are on facebook *I think you need an account to see them*
http://www.facebook.com/coffieboi?ref=profile#/video/?oid=59321376198

and some pictures:

All over

Camp is over and I am now staying in Barcelona with the Palacin (Pronounced "Palathene") family they are very nice and are taking great care of me here. I'll be updating about my time here and doing a camp review for you and Jonathan Baneges.
I will also try to get some photos up from camp.

Last day.

I have one day of camp left. I loved working with Alex and being with the campers.
I really love it here in Spain and even though I'm about ready for camp to be over I don't want to leave Spain. I know for a fact that when I get back to the U.S. I will learn Spanish but I really feel a calling to Spain and the Spanish people. Everyone I talk to here thinks I was made to be in Spain I'm starting to think so too.
Please be praying for the kids, we were able to share the gospel with them last night and it was good. This is just the beginning for the Young Life staff. They are going to fallow up and build on the relationships they have made here.
Please keep praying.

I will have a few days in Barcelona before I come back to the States and will try to get at least one or two more updates in before I leave.

At camp.

Things are great here at camp. I've already started on a few projects and am very busy(this will be a short post).
It's great to be with everyone but it can be hard at meal times when everyone is joking and laughing and I can't understand any of it. Some time I'll hear my name in a joke and wounder what it is they're saying about me. Sometimes one of the staff who speak English will explain but it's not the same. Please be praying for this week of preparation.

I'll try to get more posts in later!

Off to neverland!...or camp.

Well, it's time.
I will be leaving for the main Young Life camp the 3rd. As i said in my last post, the campers will not arrive until the 7th so this week we will be getting ready.
I will try to keep you all up to date, but I might not have internet access at there. Please be praying for the campers and staff, we have a lot of none Christians who will have a lot of hard questions.

Also please be praying for the kids who went to the Young Life America camp, you might have seen then around CBC the last month or so.
They are all back now and they all loved being in the US with the host families and at camp.
Thank you to all the host families who took such great care of these kids, many of them have shown much interest in Young Life and one of the girl accepted Christ.
None of this would have been possible with out you.
Thank you.

Back to Spain

I had a great time with David. We worked on a lot of video stuff together mostly trying to get better with 3D animation and other effects. It is amazing to look back and see how much our video and effects skills have increased over the short time we were together. I will missDavid a lot, but I have to get back to Spain for the Young Life camp.

I will be back in Spain on the 30th and will be going to camp on the 3rd.
The actual camp doesn't start till the 7th but we will be spending 4 days setting up and getting everything ready for the campers.

Please be praying for the staff and campers at will be coming to the camp.
I will try to get at least one more update in before I leave for camp. I am not sure if I weill have internet at the camp so you might not hear from me for a little while.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

R&R

Hey,
I've been having a good time with David, we just went to the lake yesterday and spent some time just resting.
I've been sick for he last week or so and have been trying to get better. I'm still a little stuffed up but nothing I can't handle.
We are working on some cool video stuff, mostly 3D modeling and effects. I'ts great being able to work on something with someone who has the same sort of ideas and thought about the project and using eachother's tallents to make some graeat stuff.

Here are some pictures:

France.

Hello,
I'm now in France using David's laptop to make this update. David is doing well and we are having a great time. We will be working on the last video for the Street Summer Basket Ball camp because I was not able to finish it while I was in Spain. This is because my laptop died two days ago. I'm not exactly sure what is wrong with it. I think it is either a motherboard or a power supply problem. Both of which if I could get fixed would cost about $380-500 seeing as my laptop only cost $600 to start with this does not seem like a good choice. Plus I would have to pay to ship it to the maker (HP). What Jonathan and I think is the best way to go about this would be to have my parents buy a laptop in the states and send it back with Neomi or one of the other Spanish kids.
That way the warranty will be in the states and I won't have to pay for shipping (about $150).
Please be praying about these choices. I will need a new laptop before the next Young Life camp starts on August 7th.

Striving for something higher

God has really been blessing us with opportunities to share His gospel.
Yesterday we went hiking with a few of the kids from the basket ball camp.
It was a hard, long (8 hour) hike up and down the mountain but it was good.
At the top of the mountain there was a church and we were able to sit and talk with the guys.
One of the them said he liked the prayer time we had the last day of basket ball camp and that lead to us talking about Christ and his death, then we talked about evolution and creation, all of the guys agreed that even if everything evolved there would have to be something (or someone) that has always been around to start it.
It was a good time with a lot of good questions and answers.
Thank you for your prayers, please keep praying for the youth and that they will come to the main young life camp were we can share a lot more with them.

I'm getting ready for my trip to France to visit David Blanchard. We will edit some of the basket ball video and design logos for the main Young Life camp here.

Here are some pictures of the hike. (I have to go now but I will upload more pics later.)

End of camp.

Today was the last day of the Street Summer Basket Ball camp. It was a good two weeks and today we were able to pray with some of the older teens. God has been building some great relationships with these kids and Young Life.
Please pray for the hearts of these youth and for the hike we will be going on with a few of them this Saturday.

All done

I have just finished the all the videos for the soccer camp DVD and it is now on it's way to have 40 copies made.
Here is what the disc looks like:
I will try and get a video up later.

Two down...

Things are going good, I have finished two of the three soccer camp videos that need to be finished by 4:00pm tomorrow.
Today we were able to share part of the Gospel with the basket ball camp kids. We talked about how to be a good example and how the best example of selflessness is Jesus.
Please be praying for the kids and our work.

Catching up

Hey,
long time no post.
We've had some problems with the internet so I have not been able to update till now.
Camp has been going well but the deadline is fast approaching, I need to have all the videos for the soccer camp done by this Thursday so that they are ready for the campers by the last day of camp (Friday).
I don't have that much news, things are good but busy.
I do have some pictures all of you to enjoy.

Praxiz

Today I had lunch with Praxiz, the christian hip-hop band that was going to play at the basketball camp. I say "was going to play" because we had to cancel due to heavy rain.
But lunch was good none the less and the the band members are a great bunch.
Here are 2 of their music videos and some pictures of our lunch and a little after.

VIDEO CLIP DE PRAXIZ: "LA NACION" from PRAXIZ on Vimeo.

PRAXIZ - FAUNA Y FLORA from PRAXIZ on Vimeo.

It is great here in Spain, all the kids are crazy and love to talk 100 miles a minute with words I don't understand, but I love 'em.
It has been a very hard week with soccer camp every morning and B-Ball till 10, I get to bed about 1:00 or so every night and go right back to work the next morning.
It's hard work but I love it none the less.
___________________________________(click to enlarge)___
Friday a group of Spanish kids are coming to Phoenix to go to the Young Life camp there. Be sure to give them a warm AZ welcome.
(no pun intended.)

Naomi (one of Jonathan's daughters) will be among the the kids.

Well, that's all for now. I be updating every day so keep visiting.

Base:

"Here is the web sight of the company running the soccer camp http://www.base.net/# just thought you might want to know a little more about them.

The basketball camp is going well and the three coaches are great guys and they just love playing with all the kids. Today they are taking some of the high school kids to the river to hike and build relationships.
Here are some photos of basket ball camp from yesterday. (Not as many kids showed up because it was raining part of the time.):

What a day

Well, you may have noticed that there was no update last night.
That was because after filming and editing both the soccer and the basketball camps, I was so beat that soon as I was done catching up with my family, I crashed. Hard.
You might be thinking, "How hard can it be to film some kids?" Well it's hot, humid and I don't just sit there with the camera, I run after the kids and interact with the kids. Doing this for 12 hours (10:00 am-10:00pm) can be quit the workout mentally and physically.

The good part is that I got a lot of my filming for the next week done, so I can take it a little easier the next few days.
I might upload a little bit of the camp video after I do some more editing.

Keep an eye out for more updates!

The calm before the storm

Today was a day of rest. I woke up, went to church, and took the rest of the day off.
Now I'm writing this listening to Audio Adrenaline (oh yeah).

Tomorrow is the storm.

I will be up to my ears in work, starting with shooting video for the soccer camp and then editing said video. Soon as that's done it's off to the basket ball camp to shoot video till 10:00 PM. Do a little more editing, then bed.
Yup, it's going to be a long week and I'm gonna need all your prayers.

Playing Dead

Today Jona (Jonathan Banegas) had me help with the filming of the main movie that we will be showing to the youth at the main camp (Aug 3-16).
I was an actor in the movie this time around, my part was the dead guy.













It's a lot harder than it sounds, no breathing, itching, or moving at all, and the grass would stick to my face.
Scene after scene I would try to hold my breath until someone would yell out "cut!"
I also had to get a makeup job done to make look less alive.




( I had to sit still and remember not to sneeze, for both our sakes)

As I said in my last post, this year's theme is the three musketeers so the the costumes and setting have to be to date which can make finding places to film more difficult.
This is an old Spanish farm that has been converted into a restaurant someone let us use.






(We use only the highest quality video tools.)
(The three peasant-eers)

Safe and sound...alseep.

Well, it was a long flight and somehow my seat was the only one that couldn't recline.... yeah, it was a long flight.
None the less I got to Barcelona safe and now I am going to bed (it's 12:00 here).
I have to wake up early tomorrow because I am going to help Alex finish filming the main camp video.
This year's theme is The Three Musketeers!
So it's off to bed for me.
God bless and good night.

Hola!

If you are reading this it means one of three things:
You have received a letter from me telling you all about my trip back to Spain and all I intend to do there.
You have received an e-mail from me telling you all about my trip back to Spain and all I intend to do there.
You just stumbled here and have no idea what this is all about and should just keep going.
If you are one of the first two please press the rss () or add to favorites () button in your address bar to get the latest updates from this blog.
I will try to keep everyone as up to date as possible during my time away and will try to get at least a small post in everyday.

To give you an idea of what I'll be doing, here is one of the daily videos Àlex Pérez Aragó and I made last year:

Thank you so much for your support and prayers.