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Dear Pastor and Praying Friends, Greetings in the name of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. We finally made it back home to Spain and have been very busy since we landed. There are so many wonderful things happening that it is going to be hard to get it all in this prayer letter. Blessed be the name of the Lord for all His wonderful provision on our behalf. We praise the Lord for His guiding in our lives. The Lord has guided us back to the area of Spain that we were working in before we encountered our problems with the government in 2005. We have returned to El Puerto de Santa Maria and are renting a home. We received our container of household goods with no problems except it cost us as much to receive it from the Spanish shipping companies as it did to send it from the States. We have made contact with some of the people who were attending our services before we left Spain and a few have expressed interest in starting Bible studies again. One lady, Florica, asked me to pray over her home and family while we were visiting with her. It was a blessing to me, because she saw the need to have the Lord’s presence in her home. Please ask the Lord to put a desire in all their hearts to seek and follow Him. Shortly after arrival Pastor Parker at Bethel Baptist Church in Rota, asked me to fill in for him while he went to Japan. When he returned he told the church that the Lord had called him to go to Japan and work with the U.S. Military there. Upon receiving notice of his resignation, the members of Bethel asked me to take his place as missionary pastor. After much prayer and counsel with my pastor, Dr. Caudill and our mission board, I agreed to take the church with the understanding that I was still accountable to our sending church and that we would use the work to start Spanish and International churches. I will not be receiving a salary from Bethel Baptist Church and the truth is they can’t afford to support a missionary pastor. The voting members of Bethel (a total of five) agreed and were excited about our vision. This is a tremendous opportunity for several reasons: 1. Bethel Baptist Church is already recognized by the Spanish government as a legal church. Missionaries to Spain must be sponsored by a church legally recognized by the Spanish government in order to come here. Bethel is the church that sponsors us and enables us to be here. Bethel is currently sponsoring one other missionary coming to work in the Canary Islands. 2. All the property and church buildings are owned by Bethel and will help be a launching point for starting other churches as the Lord allows us to establish them. 3. We not only want to reach the U.S. Military and the Spanish community around us, but we also have a vision to reach the vast international community that is living and/or visiting here. There are literally people from all over the world here that can either be reached in the Spanish or English language. The majority of those in Bethel are bilingual which will enable us all to reach the Spanish and English speaking people. What an opportunity! We want to do our very best with the Lord’s help to bring in a harvest from all over the world. We have already seen one lady accept Christ as her Savior and follow in believer’s baptism. Please pray for Maria as she continues to grow in the Lord. I recently preached a message in which I stated that Mary had more children after Jesus. When Maria heard this she gasped out loud because she had been taught all of her life that Mary was a perpetual virgin. After seeing what the Bible taught, she accepted it for the truth and realizes the wickedness of the Catholic Church. If only the rest of the souls here could see the truth and trust Christ as their Savior. We still need your prayers, now more than ever. One problem facing Bethel Baptist Church is the local government wants to take the property the church is on and make it a “green zone”. If they are successful in obtaining the property, they will turn it into a parking lot. We are currently fighting against this decision and trust the Lord for the outcome. The Euro is worse that ever before and gas prices, as you already know, are high! We are paying $8.00 a gallon here and there seems to be no stopping the prices from rising. Thank you for all your faithfulness to the Lord and our ministry through your prayers and financial support. God bless you all as you continue to serve Him. |