November 20-26

        Our week revolved around our special meetings at church this weekend. On Thursday, however, before the meetings started, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with an American family who lives close to us and some other believers. We had a good time recalling God's blessing and abundant provision for us. For our special meetings this weekend, my co-worker invited a missionary from the Madrid area to come down to challenge the church about missions. We had a very full weekend, but the Lord definitely was working in hearts. On Friday night we had a film about William Carey. Then on Saturday morning, a small group of us went up to Petrer to witness on the street. We had some wonderful opportunities as we took a survey about people's knowledge of the Bible. This simple survey allowed us to start good conversations with people and share the gospel with them. On Saturday evening, Sunday morning and Sunday evening, Bill Williams preached about evangelization.
        Our choir continues to prepare for our Christmas cantata that we will be presenting together with the choir in Elche. We trust that the Lord will really use this presentation of the Gospel to touch people's lives. Please pray for this effort. We also would appreciate your prayers for us as we sell our flat. We are trusting the Lord for a buyer so that we can make our move to Petrer to begin this new work.

November 13-19

        This week got off to a rough start! The trip to Madrid last week made the start of the week very difficult, but the kids did well getting back into the swing of things. One special event this week was Maribel's birthday. We had a nice day on Thursday, and then on Friday she invited all the ladies from church over to our house. Saturday was a very busy day. While the kids were at church for their weekly children's club, I went up to Petrer with Israel to pass out tracts. Lord willing, we will be taking up a group next Saturday to do a survey with people on the street. The survey consists of five questions that ask about people's knowledge of the Bible. That opens up the door nicely to leave them with a tract and perhaps witness further. Israel and I had some good conversations, and I am excited about going back next week with more people. Saturday evening was a bit more difficult. I had to visit a family from our church that has decided to leave and start attending a large charismatic congregation. Those kinds of visits are never fun. Yesterday we had good services with very good attendance. We are getting ready for special meetings next week with a missions emphasis. I preached in the morning on baptism as a testimony of new life. It was especially pertinent in my mind because I had attended a going away party at another evangelical church in town this week. What I saw there in the young people amazed me. It was as if there was no difference whatsoever between them and the young people in the world. If we have been baptized in Christ, we are giving testimony to the fact that we now walk in newness of life! May that newness always be evident to all!

November 6-12

        The big event this week was a trip to Madrid. On Friday at noon we picked up the kids from school, jumped in the car and headed out for Madrid (four hours away). On Friday night, Saturday night, and for both of the services on Sunday I spoke at a church pastored by Jack Loveday. It was an evangelistic conference, and the people had really done a good job inviting the unsaved. In each meeting there were at least three or four unsaved people. It was also a very nice weekend personally with the Lovedays. They really made it special for our kids as well. After the evening service on Sunday, we travelled back to Alicante and made it home by 1.00 a.m. That made Monday especially hard, but the Lord gave strength, and we survived! We thank the Lord for His protection as we travelled and His blessing in the meetings. It was a special blessing to talk to unsaved people who were very open about their need of Christ and asked for prayer. The believers were also very tender to the Word and appreciated the messages.

October 30-November 5

        We had a holiday (November 1st was saints day) this week so that made for a nice little break mid week. We got together with Lorenzo and Ana María for our weekly study and also had some time to work on music for the Christmas cantata. We continue to progress in Bible institute. We finished our survey/introduction of Mark and will continue on to Luke this week.
        The children have started work on a play for the Christmas program. David and Andrea are learning their parts and are very excited about the production. They will play the part of a elderly couple! The church people are very excited about the opportunity and are getting involved. We continue to work on the music with the cantata with the choir, and little by little we are making good progress.
        Today I preached from 2 Timothy 3 about all of the characteristics of the last days which are things that people do not have (lack of love, lack of gratitude, lack of obedience, etc.). But how interesting it is to notice that Jesus had all of these characteristics in Him. And he desires to transform our character too!