"And they,whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them." - Ezekiel 2:5
This is the verse that comes to mind when I think about all the times we have shared the gospel with Spaniards. We long to see one heart bow in repentance to the King of Kings.
We recently held a traditional thanksgiving meal for our Spanish friends. We used this opportunity to present the gospel to them. I shared with them that God told us to come here and give them this great news. We also had a time of going around the table saying things that we were thankful for. To my surprise, Danny a born-again Spaniard told all of our guests how thankful he was that we are here in Spain sharing the gospel. He went on to explain how that for centuries the Catholic Church has persecuted non-Catholics and that many were burned in the town square. He even cited a street named after one of those burned! He really validated our presence here.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that we are planting seeds and watering, but it is God that gives the increase. Please take a moment and pray for our friends that have heard the gospel… Miguel, Mayte, Carlos,Rosa, Oscar, Alberto, Gemma and Flo.
Every Wednesday night for the past eight months we have been meeting in a local café/bar for a bible study. This is an opportunity to invite people to a public place to study with us. Maybe I have not said it before but anyone who is not Catholic are considered a cult. So if we are asked what we are doing here we say something to the effect of we are teachers of the Bible. We avoid like the plague, the terms missionary, evangelical, church planters etc. So having a study in a public place eases the suspicion of the locals.
So recently Miguel (same as above) came to our Wednesday night bible study. It was incredible how he danced around the issues concerning salvation and the authority of the bible. He is reading the Bible now because our teammate Luke challenged him to do so many months ago. But he believes that you cannot take any of it literally. This is what we are up against here in Spain. Satan has done a great job closing every possible door to a man's heart.We desire so much to find "good ground" to which the seed of the gospel will take root and bear fruit!
As Christmas approaches we are missing our family and the grand kids. Please pray for us (especially Ally) as the absence of our kids during the holiday season tugs a little bit harder on our hearts.
This will be the first Christmas with our whole team assembled. We are looking forward to Ally cooking a traditional Christmas dinner and enjoying time with our team. We are growing more and more in love with the people that God has given us to serve with. We are a quirky bunch!
As a team we are now raising funds for an office space. This will provide us with a place to meet, pray and invite others to for worship. We have discovered that an office space will give our team legitimacy among the locals. Avant have asked us to try and raise as much of the rent as we can for the first two years. If you would like to donate towards this project please send it to Avant Ministries in Kansas City and designate "Team Valladolid Office Project". We need to raise $30,000 and we have already been given over $7,000!
Ally and I are also falling short each month of our required support. Would you consider an increase in your giving to make up the difference? We still need approx $1200 a month in regular giving. Please pray about what God would have you do.
We have just moved into our new apartment and we love it! It is in the perfect central location. It is large enough for our whole team to assemble and it is affordable.
Continue to pray also for our language learning. It is a huge challenge for us.
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support.
It's all for Him,
Steve and Ally
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