Mother’s Day
In West Africa, there is not a day to celebrate
Mothers. In Spain, Mother’s Day is often
celebrated the week before we celebrate this day in the United States. This year, our friends from West African have
celebrated Mother’s day, some of them for the first time. The ladies in ladies class celebrated
Mother’s Day. At our “mi casa” house
church, Norma talked about the story of Naomi and Ruth. During kid’s club, the children made flower
cards for their mothers to celebrate all of the things that our mother’s mean
to each of us. We had over 30 children
at kids club on this day and we finished off the day with hot dogs and
chocolate chip cookies for everyone! Please pray for ladies class, kids club,
and house church. Please pray that our
friends from African will continue to understand more about a personal
relationship with Christ.
Ladies in Waiting
Recently we attended
a conference in Barcelona on human trafficking to learn better ways to help our
ladies in waiting that are possibly victims of human trafficking. We met people from many countries that are
working together to prevent human trafficking, to help the victims, and to help
pass laws to stop the traffic. Through
some of these contacts, we have been able to connect our lady friends with
Christians in Romania who can help them when they return home. Please
pray for our friends that even as they return home to visit their children and
families that these Christians from their home country will be able to help
them find different jobs, or just be a friend to them and show them the love of
Christ. Please pray for Maria, Anna,
Victoria, Vali, Rodica, Flora, Laura, and Teresa.
Please pray for
Cristina and her Christian friends in Romania as they reach out to our friends
who have been working in southern Spain as they travel to Romania to visit
their families.
We also had the opportunity to talk with several of these
“lady in waiting” friends about a personal relationship with Christ. We gave them an MP3 player with 18 Bible
stories in the Romanian Gypsy language. Please pray that they will desire a
personal relationship with Christ. Pray
for Norma and Betty as they continue to reach out to these ladies. Pray for the safe house in a nearby town and
the association in Almeria as they also continue to work with us and our
friends.
At the human trafficking conference in Barcelona, we heard
the story of “Cabeza de Ce
rdo” (Pig Head.) He was the head of a trafficking ring. He was arrested and while serving his time in
jail, someone told him about salvation.
He became a Christian thus ending this trafficking ring. As I heard this story, I thought of our own
ladies in waiting, one of whom’s husband was in jail for trafficking, and I
realized that we could pray for him as well and it could change the lives of
our ladies in waiting in southern Spain.
Please pray for “the bread man.”
The Banana Boat
Well, the banana boat is on the move again. For some time now,
our church in Almeria has been taking over all of the ministries in Roquetas
with our African friends. Please pray that our Spanish friends will
be sensitive to African culture, that they will have courage, peace, joy, and
encouragement as they continue this work.
Please continue
to pray for these unreached people groups who have immigrated to southern Spain…
The Jahanka
people from Senegal and Ginea
The Sereer
people from Senegal
The Mandinka
people from Senegal, Mali, and Ginea
The Wolof people
from Senegal
The Fula people
from Senegal
The Bambara
people from Mali
The Susu Baga
people from Ginea
The Susu people
from Ginea
The Soninke
people from Mauritania
Our family will be moving to Strasbourg, France to continue
working with immigrants from unreached countries. Please
pray for us as we make this transition to a new home, school, and church. Please
pray specifically for Megan, Cade, and Dylan as they transition into the
European School in Strasbourg.
Faulty Trunk
We went to visit our friends in the
church in Albacete, Spain. We visited
immigrant neighborhoods and encouraged the church in Albacete to reach out to
immigrants in their area. On our last
day in town, Isabel and her husband took us to see an abandoned warehouse where
they had heard that some immigrant men were living. As we drove by, we saw some men from African
helping a Spanish man unload some firewood from a trailer. I said to Joel, “We need to stop and talk to
them, but they will be thinking ‘why are those people stopping here’.” Right at that time – the trunk of the car
just popped open! Therefore, we had to
stop the car to close the trunk. We
started visiting with the men and they invited us to come into the abandoned
warehouse (their home) to visit. As we
were talking, Isabel asked if they would like to have some classes to learn
Spanish, and to learn to read and write.
They were very interested. Since
that time, the church has begun to offer Spanish classes to these Bambara men
from Mali with a dinner following the class each time. It is amazing how God can use a faulty trunk
opening to open many doors for ministry.
Please pray for the
churches in Spain as they begin new ministries to immigrants in their areas.
Pray for…
Matt and Michelle near Barcelona
Isabel and Marta and their team in Albacete
Jose and Azucena in
Alicante
Lucas and Mari Carmen
in Murcia
Ruben and Miriam in Cadiz
Ziza and Marcelo in Lorca
Eduardo and Mary in
Madrid
Mariana in Denia
Daniel in Gran Canaries
Ruben, Mihaela, Norma
and Betty in Almeria
Pray for them as they
encourage their churches to be a friend to the unreached people in their
neighborhoods.
