Bell Nouvelles 8.1 Pictures

I've decided to make a separate post this month with some special pictures, either of family or of people at church.


This young lady has been very special to us this year. She is an exchange student from France who is studying at the university here in Alicante. A missionary in France contacted us a year ago about her time here, and she is currently living with a lady from church. Her sweet Christian spirit has been a blessing to all, and her willingness to be involved in the minstry is a wonderful testimony. We are really going to miss her when she goes back to France at the end of this year!


For Valentine's Day, we had a special meal for couples. This gentleman has been coming to our church for about a year and a half. He was a Flamenco musician when he was younger, and he entertained us with some special guitar music during the supper. I have been working with him on a special number of a hymn to play in a service sometime soon. It has been very enjoyable for both of us.


The Soto family were in our church over ten years ago. Then he took a job in another part of Spain and they left. The Lord recently brought them back, and they have been a real blessing. Emilio has a real gift with people, and they have brought several unsaved vistors with them over the past few months. What a blessing it is to see the people of the church with a burden for souls.


The other day it was snowing up in the mountains, just 45 min. from our house. So we took the kids up to play in the snow. I took this picture of Maribel and liked it so much I decided to publish it here. I realized that I normally publish pictures of the kids, and my wife doesn't get much coverage. So, here she is!


David and Andrea, besides going through chickenpox together with their little brother last month, are also going through the toothless stage. Here they are showing off their respective gaps!


Andrea just turned five this month. Here she is at her party. The kids really had fun hitting this piñata until it finally started to break (we had to help it along a little, or they would have destroyed everything inside). I should have gotten a picture of the kids diving for the toys, but oh well.

Bell Nouvelles 8.1

March, 2005
Bell Nouvelles in short:
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Praises:
-Good family retreat
-a good start to new year
-the Lord's working in some families
Prayer Requests:
-Easter cantata
-the children's testimony at school
-increasing emphasis on evangelism
-a new class in the Bible institute
-the salvation of my sister-in-law's boyfriend
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Dear praying friends,

It is hard to believe that we are coming up on Easter all ready. The year seems to be flying by at a frightening pace. The children are doing well in school, although we pray for them everyday that they would be a good testimony for the Lord there and that He would protect them from bad influences. The activities at church are going well. We are very encouraged by the growth that we see there.

This year I am teaching the adult Sunday school class. We are studying the book of Revelation. It has been a joy for me as I prepare these classes and then teach them to our people. I trust that the Lord will continue to use this study in my life as well as the lives of the church people. The children continue to enjoy their Saturday morning class. Maribel has been organizing the sessions this year; she and the young people have been teaching about spiritual armor. The children have been making their own armor each week. When they finish they are going to wear it for a Sunday morning service to present what they have learned about. That will be a sight!

We have had some very busy weeks recently. Our mother church in Elche held two conferences on the family last month. We were very glad to be able to have a good group present from our church to listen to the preaching/teaching. I was especially glad that my sister-in-law's boyfriend came. He is not saved, although he has been to church several times. The other day I went to his house to help him with some projects and was able to talk to him a little bit more about spiritual things. Please pray for him. He is not closed to the gospel, but it is hard to know if he is really open, either.

The weeks ahead of us promise to be very busy too. Next Sunday we will have our Easter cantata. Please pray that we will have good attendance. We have really encouraged our people to invite unsaved friends and family members. We trust that the Lord will work in hearts through this program. At the end of this month I will be starting another course in our small Bible institute. I'll be teaching about the prophetic and poetic books of the Old Testament. I'm really looking forward to this class, and it looks like I'll have a good group to work with (between 10 and 15). I desire to open their eyes to the beauty of these books of the Old Testament so that they see them in a new light. May God prosper his word.

As many of you know, I have been doing some very concentrated work on my dissertation for the last few months. Things are coming together, praise the Lord, and I if all goes well, I will present it and graduate in May. The Lord has been very good to us in these extremely busy months. I am thankful for all I have learned, and I know the Lord will give me the strength to finish the last push on this project. On the homefront, the children are doing well. Andrea just celebrated her fifth birthday this past weekend. We are thankful for the way the Lord is working in our children's lives, as well as our own.

Thank you for your prayers,

David and Maribel
davidbbell@ono.com
En MMV civitatem fundamenta habentem expectans