Bell Nouvelles in short:
Praises:
-good evangelistic activities
-a good start to our weekly children's meetings
-good meetings about Creationism
Prayer Requests:
-a good testimony at the university
-the children's testimony at school
-several families struggling with problems
Dear praying friends,
The month of September began with the special blessing of my aunt's visit. She spent two weeks with us and was a great encouragement and blessing. Last month was a very important one since David just began first grade and Andrea started 4-year-old kindergarden. It was a bit of a rough time for her, but having aunty Christine here made things a little bit easier. Andrea has done very well at adapting to her school. We are thankful for the new opportunities for contacts and trust that the Lord will open up new doors for witnessing. Maribel was able to talk to David's religion teacher a few weeks ago, which gave her the opportunity to share with him exactly what we believe. Please pray for further opportunities there.
September was also a big month for the church. We were able to start our new year of children's meetings under the direction of one of the deacons in the church. But before we started, we wanted to have a special push for evangelism specifically aimed at children. For the last four years we have carried out a special children's evening in a local park where we have organized games, crafts, stories, etc. and been able to give out hundreds of tracts and even make a few contacts with families. This year, however, we ran into problem after problem when we asked for permission from the city government to do the same activity. At first they did not want to give us permission to run the activity for two nights. Then they required a special insurance in case of any accidents. In the end, we decided to modify the activity and do something on a little smaller scale which was less interactive. We took the young people and several children from the church out to the park and drew a crowd around with some juggling. Then Maribel and one of the young people presented a puppet story. Following the puppets we gave out coloring pages with a Bible verse and the information about the children's club. We have not yet had any visitors from those efforts, but we continue to make contacts. Many of David and Andrea's classmates from school were there in the park, and we are thankful for the new opportunities to witness.
The final weekend of the month we organized a special conference on "the Bible and Science." On the Friday night, a good number of people from church got together, and we went to different areas of our neighborhood and passed out invitations to the meetings. I was very glad to see the good participation of the people in this "hard" activity. The response of most was rather indifferent. But for several the topic seemed to catch their attention. I trust that the Lord will work in their hearts even though they did not come to the meetings. The first night of the conference, we had a crowd of about 80 people (many were from our sister-church in Elche) present to hear Santiago Escain, a chemist/Bible lecturer from Catalunya (north of Barcelona). We had good attendance as well for both services on Sunday. The lectures were very interesting and served to remind us of how great our Creator God is and that His Word is inspired and infallible.
Daniel is now home by himself in the mornings (without his brother and sister, that is) now that school has started. He continues to add to his bilingual vocabulary every day. And when David and Andrea get home from school, he's waiting for them, and the three have a great time together.
Thank you for your prayers,
David and Maribel
davidbbell@ono.com
