February 2012
Greetings from warm sunny Spain,
How is it possible to be a Christian and an atheist? This seems to be ultimate paradox. This is what we are discovering more and more as we sow the seeds of the gospel in Valladolid. What happens to a country full of beautiful churches and deeply religious people over time without Gods Word? Their religion becomes simply cultural. To be a Spaniard is to be Christian. It is the same as to be Arab is to be Muslim.
The longer we are here and the more we learn, the more compassionate we become for the Spaniard’s soul. It breaks our hearts to know that 99.9% of our city’s population does not worship the True and Living God! One of the most troubling thoughts we have had since arriving is the reality that if Jesus returns for His church this city will not even know the rapture has occurred. Wow!
We want to see God change that! We know it is only a matter of time before God starts to show off His glory here in Valladolid. We are resisting the devil and refuse to believe the lie that it will never happen.
We were reminded recently from Isaiah 59:1
"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear"
We answer back with an emphatic, no! His hand is reaching out in loving compassion seeking those who will worship Him!
What a privilege it is to serve Him in this work. Our team is growing in the knowledge of God, each other and our newly adopted culture. We are experiencing many new opportunities in sharing the gospel and building relationships.
Please pray for Carmen and Patricia our neighbors, Alberto and Gemma our language teacher and his partner, another Alberto who I am meeting with weekly for language exchange. Pray for Tomas and Georgina who, this past Sunday heard a clear gospel presentation. Javier and Sylvia, Heather and Luis, Krissa and Ricardo, Beatriz and Carlos.
Pray for fruit! Each of our teammates have similar lists of people that we are praying for. Please pray with us that the seed of the gospel will find “good ground” and take root.
Since our last update we have been able to secure an office space for our team. This office provides us with legitimacy in our culture. Spaniards are very reluctant to come into your home, but they will gladly meet in an office! We are praying that God will continue to provide the funds needed to keep the doors open.
One of the other benefits of this office is a prayer room, a place that we keep for the work of prayer and intercession. As Oswald Chambers says, “Prayer does not prepare us for the greater work, it is the greater work”. God has set us as watchmen of our city to intercede on their behalf. This week we started a 24-7 prayer cycle where someone is in the room 24 hours a day for seven days praying for God to work in hearts and guide us in this work. We are also each going out to the streets and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. We pray and we go! Someone once said. "It is easier to talk to God about men than to talk to men about God". We are aware of this danger and endeavor to do both!
We are enjoying having Kylie with us for three months. She comes from Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City. She has hit the ground running. She is fluent in Spanish and has already made many contacts and shared the gospel with several people. Pray for her, as she too will feel the effects of bringing light into a dark city.
Today Ally and I start our language classes again. We have taken an extended break in formal classes and are very excited to get back into it. Pray that God would loose our tongues and free some space in our minds to grasp what we need. We also started teaching English in a primary school once a week. We both have two one-hour classes on Tuesdays with about 40 children. This gives us many opportunities to meet parents and teachers. We always get asked the same question…"What are you doing here?" What they are really asking us is…"Tell us the gospel". We use this question to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Thank you for all your prayers and monthly support. God is so good to provide for us through you all. We pray that all your needs too are met and that you are richly blessed.
It's all for Him,
Steve and Ally
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