Gain for Spain - Issue 28

WOULD YOU RUN?

Acts 8:29-30 says, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, go near, and join
yourself to this chariot. Then Philip ran to him.” When was the last
time you literally ran to someone because you felt impressed by the
Spirit to tell that person about Jesus? We run almost daily to catch
the bus, to chase Evy, or maybe to tell someone they dropped
something. Why is it we feel this urgency to run hard after things,
but not after souls? Philip literally ran to the eunuch. What would
the world be like if all believers possessed the faith and obedience
Philip portrayed this day? Today at a bus stop we spoke with Patricia,
an English-speaking Spaniard, who said she did not believe in God or
need God. As the conversation progressed, she had to get on her
bus…before we shared the gospel with her. As the bus drove away,
Justin said, “we’re no Philips”. We could have easily taken her bus,
even though it would have been an inconvenience to us, to continue
telling her about the love of Jesus. Pray God would burden our hearts
and yours so heavily for the lost that we would be willing to run
after someone or take the wrong bus in this case, just for the
opportunity to share the gospel. So what if the person thinks we’re
crazy or if it is out of our own comfort zone, these people need
Jesus!! If hell is a real place, and Jesus is the real Savior, we
shouldn’t hesitate to run.

IMMERSION

People always say the best way to learn a language is to be immersed
in it. We are immersed. Whether we are walking down the streets,
speaking to no one, or sitting in our living room with the balcony door
open, we are taking in Spanish. There is no escaping it…we even
dream about Spanish! We love trying to use the Spanish we know, but
our brains are basically running triathlons every day! This can be very
tiring and can definitely play into culture stress…which we’ve both
begun to experience a bit. We sincerely love the city and the people
we meet, but it is inevitable to go through emotional and mental
challenges when changing cultures. Today we spoke with about 5
people who spoke English in various places, God must have known we
needed that little bit of encouragement. We’ve learned a lot of new
things from our Spanish classes, and we’ve been able to challenge our
teacher a couple times with truths from the Bible. We also mentioned
our realtor, Carlos, in a previous newsletter. Justin has gone out with
him twice, both times discussing the gospel and spiritual things at
some point, and their friendship is continuing to progress. Justin picks
up a lot of Spanish from his time with Carlos as well. Keep Carlos &
Alberto, our teacher, in your prayers for their salvation.