May 2015
Hello from the Roses in Spain! Things are heating up over here, and summer is in the air; with the anticipation of the end of the school year comes lots of planning, preparation and even stress as we work towards being prepared for summer activities and our coming furlough. Our “regulars” continue to be faithful and we are running around 20 in weekly services, although we lost one family who moved away. Victor’s wife has been attending every week. Please continue to pray for the families of both Victor and Jose to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. We also would ask for special prayer regarding the need to find a place to meet outside of our home. This is becoming more urgent as our furlough approaches!
In upcoming events we are looking forward to winding up the basketball year next month and Bill is planning an evangelistic barbecue for the teams he coaches to celebrate the end of the year. He has already secured a special speaker for the evening, a Spanish man whose has a testimony of receiving Christ after his basketball coach witnessed to him. Please pray for the young men who will be present that evening, that their hearts will be open to the gospel. As far as basketball goes, both Jordan and Josiah’s teams have made it to the playoffs. (Go Cártama!) We have also begun the paperwork and planning to hold an evangelistic campaign in our town once again in July. Please pray for God’s provision and leading for this event as we still haven’t worked out all the details for lodging and transportation for the teens who would attend. Although still in beginning stages of planning, this campaign would include 5 day clubs in at least two local parks, sports evangelism, movie night, a Christian concert, street evangelism and possibly an apologetics seminar. Thank you for praying with us for this campaign and for it to be effective to reach people in Cártama!
We praise God we are all well and He is giving us the strength to continue. In preparation for furlough we are already working on our presentation video and we pray it will be a blessing to the churches. We have notified our landlord we will be moving out in July and we plan to begin storing some of our belongings in a storage facility little by little next month as we can. This Friday, May 15 we will be turning in our paperwork to renew our residence permission. Evidently some things have changed in the five years (How is it possible it’s been so long?) it has been since the last time we had to renew and we’re not exactly sure what to expect. We’ve been told it will take around 45 days, so we’re hoping to be on schedule to fly out mid-July. Please pray with us regarding this paperwork renewal and our travel schedule. We are thankful to have a friend who helps us get stand-by plane tickets, but even as “stand-by” is a huge blessing, the uncertainty also adds to our stress level. Please pray with us for God’s will in the timing of both our paperwork and our flights and for us to rest in peace during the process. We know that without the Holy Spirit’s enabling power we can do nothing!
Thank you so much for your prayers and support for our family. We remain faithful because HE IS.
Bill and Dena, with Kelsey, Jordan, Joshua, Josiah and JohnPaul
This photo: This is line we have to wait in at the Police Station every time we need to do something with paperwork!
