This past summer we enjoyed our time in the United States
for our Off-field assignment (formally known as furlough.) We had a great time in Texas; visiting our
families, churches, and attending the CBF general assembly in Fort Worth. It was great to get back to our roots of
cowboy hats and boots! We even had time
to stop by the world’s largest amateur rodeo in Tiffne’s hometown of Stamford,
Texas. During our time in the states, we
traveled through seven different states to visit and speak in churches. Megan, Cade, and Dylan were able to
participate in a VBS and music camp at Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill,
South Carolina.
Then we headed back to Spain to begin a new school
year. We quickly got back in the swing
of things with kids club, ladies class, and house church at “mi casa.” Throughout this holiday season we wanted to
stop and take a moment to say thank you to y’all for your prayers and support
and give you a small update on how things are going…
We have been encouraged by the level of participation and
sense of ownership that our host church, Iglesia Evangelica Bauptista de
AlmerÃa, has provided during our time away from Spain. This church has been very instrumental in
carrying on the ministry to immigrants in Southern Spain in our absence and is
a true blessing because they will always be here to minister regardless of
where we may roam.
Your support
(churches and individuals stateside) has been instrumental in all that we are
doing. Your prayers and funding have
allowed us to model a culturally appropriate ministry to Muslim immigrants as
well as make those ministries happen.
Year after year with your support we have watched ladies class, kids
club and now the house church blossom into events that have and continue to
change people’s lives by providing friendship, hope for a future, and spiritual
understanding about having a personal relationship with a living God. Your gifts are also touching the lives of
individuals and families. It doesn’t
take much, but for many of our friends they are faced with choices like:
having to choose between food for your
family and buying eyeglasses for your children.
When you are at this point, the glasses just don’t seem so
important. One example that I can share
is a family with two grade school children who needed glasses and have for
years, but could not afford them. Over
time and through the deepening relationship with this family, Tiffne was able
to hear of the mother’s struggle and meet this quality of life need that has
gone unmet for so many years. Maybe now,
these children can see their schoolwork and the family might be able to see the
love of God through this ministry.
Lately, we have been able to do some research to learn that
through ladies class and kids club, we are working with several different
unreached people groups; including a few that might even be unengaged. This means that our friends from Africa often
have no Bible in their language and very few if any Christians among their
people group. Thus, with your
partnership, we are having the unique opportunity of being involved in
groundbreaking work. Some of our friends
are showing an interest for the first time in the Gospel. Please pray for the children in kids club who
are interested in knowing more about a personal relationship with Jesus. Please pray for the adults who come to the
house church and hear Bible studies in their language. As a member of our Spanish church leads the
Bible study in Spanish, often one of our friends from Africa translates the
study into an African language so that more may understand.
Thank you for working with us to reach the unreached.
Love,
Joel, Tiffne, Megan, Cade, and Dylan Whitley
