Winter in the Med- an update from 24-7 Ibiza by Tracy Heasley

Published: January 3rd, 2007

Summer 2006 in Ibiza was fantastic.  We had 6 summer teams covering the main tourist season from June to August who joined us predominantly in the West End of San Antonio and also in the clubs around the island.  With their help, we prayed for more than 1200 people, helped around 50 people back to their hotels or to receive medical attention, prayed and worshipped in clubs and generally just found ways to bring some of the light and love of God to the area.  It was a whirlwind – frantically busy, often challenging, sometimes scary, but always exciting and inspiring – a real adventure with God.  But gradually the big closing parties came, the sunset strip and west end bars pulled down their shutters, airlines stopped flying directly to and from the UK, and the season was over.
So what now?  Lots of jobs to get on with – all the things we had realised needed sorting out in the summer that we knew would have to be postponed until winter – but what else?

I felt close to God over the summer months in the sense that I knew he was with me, helping and inspiring me all through the high season on the island.  There were so many stories to tell about conversations we’d had and how God had answered prayer.  I had prayed loads, but a lot of it was dominated by ‘God touch them’ and ‘God help me’ kind of prayers.  That was kind of "ok" for that season, but now I realised it was time to get back to a better rhythm of just ‘being’ with God.

Then Ian Nicholson came to visit.  He spoke to us about not forgetting what it was that brought us up to summer 2006 and not getting so caught up in the stories of this season and planning for the next, that we forgot about the hours of prayer and time spent with God.  Those times had been part of what being a 24-7 community is all about and the foundation for what had happened over the summer months.  A lot of our prayer prior to the summer had been about being salt and light in every setting.  We had asked God to give us compassion and grace; we had called out to God to redeem the island, to draw out the goodness that was already there and bring it back to its original good purpose.  Looking back, I think he heard those prayers!

So now it’s back to that – yes there are still plenty of jobs to be done, people to spend time with, places to visit to promote summer teams 2007 – but it’s time to get back into the rhythms of prayer and reflection again.  And maybe next summer, we’ll be a bit better at keeping that going as well as everything else!

 
photos for title image and thumbnail taken by costari

Tracy Heasley is married to Brian and together they are base leaders of 24-7 Ibiza.  Tracy is mum to Ellis (11) and Daniel (8) and has lived in Ibiza since 2005, working to establish a permanent 24-7base on the island.  She works predominantly in San Antonio, which according to Operation World has more bars pubs and clubs per square mile than anywhere else in Europe.  Tracy loves sunshine, windy days, walking, movies, books and chocolate. 

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