February 27-March 5

        On Tuesday, Feb. 27 we signed on the house in Petrer. We rejoiced as we considered all that the Lord has done to try our faith and strengthen us through this situation. It truly has been a miracle. On Saturday we had the young people from Elche and Alicante over to the house for their weekly meeting. It was a blessing to be able to meet with them and challenge them in this new house. We want it to be a place that God continually uses to gather believers and encourage them in their walk with Him. We have a beautiful view of a local mountain out the front door, so I spoke to the young people from Zachariah 4.7-8 about God's ability to move mountains. But in order to move mountains, first there must be a mountain, and many times we see that God allows a mountain in our life to teach us many lessons.

        On Sunday I preached in the evening in Alicante. I spoke from Matthew 15 about the gentile lady who came to ask Jesus to heal her daughter. It seemed as if Jesus ignored her at first. Then his answer was very direct and could even have been interpreted as insulting. But all this seems to have been a test of her faith which caused her to exercise that faith even more. Many times the Lord does not give us what we ask for immediately, but it is not because He ignores us. Rather He brings us to the point of exercising our faith so as to increase our faith. As I mention this, I continue to think about the sale of our apartment here in Alicante. I have prayed fervently about this matter and am continuing to trust in the Lord that He will give us the buyer that we need.

February 12-26

        I think I just realized on Friday that I had not written the update last week. It was kind of a crazy week with lots of ups and downs. We thought everything was settled about the loan, but then they gave us a new option that is better than the previous one. There were some tense moments there as it seemed that the real estate agent was not cooperating with the bank, but, praise the Lord, it is all coming together. Lord willing, we will sign on the house Tuesday morning. This Saturday, the young people from Elche and Alicante will come up and we'll have our first official church activity in the house!

        Last week I preached in Alicante from 1 John. It was also a special week because the man from Mexico who was here last year working on his doctorate came back for three weeks for a short course and is staying at our house. It has been a blessing to be in contact with him and now to have him in our house. Their family was a real blessing during the year they were living in Alicante. And it has been neat to see how the Lord has really worked in them. On Saturday I had a Bible study with Lorenzo and Ana María to talk about baptism. They have been saved for several years now, but have never been baptized. Lord willing, when the weather gets a bit warmer, they want to be baptized. It is exciting to see the progress in their lives.

February 6-11

        The Lord has been working and we finally have a favorable response from the bank about our loan. This week we should be finalizing details, and we should be signing for the new house sometime in the next two weeks. We are looking forward to making the move and starting to make more contacts as we live there and get to know more people. This weekend we were able to take the young people from Elche and Alicante up to Petrer to pass out tracts. We are trying to systematically cover the city with tracts, and these young people have helped us once again with that effort. We trust that the Lord will continue to give us contacts in this way.
        Yesterday I preached in a church down in Murcia for a missionary who is back in the States now. We had good services both in the morning and the evening. It was a special blessing to spend time with one of Maribel's friends who got saved in Elche but now lives in Murcia. We were able to spend the afternoon with her and her two girls. In the morning I preached on two passages from 1 John that describe how we can call God a liar with our actions (1.10 and 5.10). Then in the evening I preached about when God calls us a liar because our actions do not match our confession (1.6, 2.4, 4.20).

January 30-February 5

        We still have no movement on our . . . [the phone just rang and it was someone asking about our apartment]. We are still waiting on the Lord and trusting Him. This weekend I preached in the church in Elche on Sunday morning. They had asked me to come and share a little about how things are going with our plans to move. I preached from Isaiah 28.16: he that believes shall not make haste. It was a passage that the Lord has been using in my own heart to calm me and keep me trusting in Him as we wait. But the Lord used it to touch other hearts too! In the evening I preached in Alicante on walking by faith, not by sight. After the service, the church had planned a special gathering to recognize the eight years that I have served as pastor in this church. We had a very good crowd and many people shared parts of our ministry that had touched their lives. It was a blessing to hear how God has used us here in Alicante and a challenge to remain faithful to the Lord and allow him to continue to use us in this new ministry.
        One interesting thing of the weekend was a wedding we attended on Saturday. The daughter of my parents-in-law's best friends got married, so we went to the wedding. After the ceremony we went to the banquet, but the mother of the bride came to me and told me that we didn't fit at the table with my parents-in-law and that she wasn't sure where to put us. So she put us at the table with the two catholic priests because she thought that we would fit in ok there. One of the priests asked me what I did for a living, so I told him that my profession was teaching but my vocation was preaching the gospel. He wasn't interesting in going too much further, but the other priest's mother was sitting right next to me, and we had much more opportunity to talk.

January 23-29

        We waited all week to see what the Lord would do with the sale of our apartment. But in the end, it looks like the Lord has a different plan. The couple that wanted to negotiate a price was not in the position to do so yet, so we are going to have to begin to move our other options with the bank that will allow us to buy the house in Petrer and then sell the apartment in Alicante. It is a good option, but it is a little bit more expensive in the long run. But we are trusting in the Lord.
        This week I finished up the Bible study with the young couple about raising children. But they are excited to continue! So we are going to talk some about Bible study and other topics they have questions about. They have also expressed interest in moving to Petrer with us. We are waiting on the Lord to do that. I want to make sure that it is really His moving in their lives.

January 16-22

        This week we were able to get back to our Bible study with Lorenzo and Ana María. They continue to grow spiritually and ask good questions. It was also an encouraging week for us about our house. As we have mentioned before, we are waiting on the Lord to sell our house so that we can make this move and begin to have a presence in Petrer (and continue the work, of course). On Friday I was a bit down because it seemed that there was no movement. I asked the Lord for something, and not two hours later, the phone rang. It was a lady who wanted to come see the house. She came on Saturday and really liked it. She will return this next Saturday to sit down and negotiate a price with us. We are praying that all will go well.
        On Sunday I preached here in Alicante. I spoke from Philippians 2 about the humble attitude of Christ which can bring unity in the church. But the fleshly attitudes that are native in us will ruin that unity. Paul tells the believers that nothing in the church is to be done with strife or vain glory. These are diametrically opposed to humility and to unity.

January 8-15

        Much of our activity this last week revolved around an intensive Bible institute class up in the Madrid area. A missionary there asked me to come up and teach on the book of Ezekiel. This book has been a very special book to me, so I was excited to work on it again and take of the challenge of trying to give an overview of the book in a one day class. We traveled up to Móstoles on Friday afternoon. Saturday was an extremely full day. Breakfast was served at the church at 8:00. The class started at 9:00 and we did not finish until 5:00. We had a few breaks of course during the day, including about an hour and half for a wonderful lunch. But the group listened careful and asked good questions. I focused my study of the book on the concept of glory. It begins with a vision of God's glory and a call to the prophet to minister so that people will know that God's prophet was among them. As he preaches, we see that the people reject God's glory, but that there is a constant theme running underneath all of the judgement that God will one day restore his people for his own glory. And finally the last section gives Ezekiel a vision of a new and glorious temple.
        On Sunday I preached in the church in Móstoles on Ezekiel 24: God took away the delight of Ezekiel's eyes, his wife, as a sign to the nation, and yet the death of his wife did not embitter him or cause him to sink into depression [as the fall of Jerusalem did to the exiles in captivity], for obviously the prophet had a greater "delight." He had seen God, and nothing could move him. This passage is a challenge to all of us to place our eyes on the Lord and run the race with patience.

January 1-7

        My parents left on Thursday so we have been working to get back into our routine after the holidays. Last Sunday was my last official day as pastor in the church in Alicante which was very emotional for me. But now I can focus my efforts on starting the new work in Petrer. The first big step, however, is for us to move. Once we are living there, we will be much more effective making contacts and we will have a place to meet with those contacts.
        I had a meeting with the real estate agents on Thursday, and we are going to extend the contract for two months so that we can sell our apartment. This is a major matter of prayer for us! As soon as we have a buyer, we can start setting up the move. The Lord encouraged us because while I was in the meeting with the real estate agent, someone called about our apartment. We are trusting in the Lord that He will sell our apartment.
        Much of my study this week has been devoted to Ezekiel. I will be teaching an intensive Bible institute in the Madrid area this Saturday on the book. When that is over, I need to return to my studies on the Church which are preparing us for the work that we are going to begin in Petrer.

December 18-31

        With my parents here and all of the special activities, I got away from writing my Monday reports. So once again I find myself trying to catch up! We had a great visit with my parents and enjoyed our time together as a family. We also had a good end to the year. The Sunday before Christmas we had a very special day with a church lunch after the morning service. We had good attendance and then we followed it up with a mid-afternoon service. Different members read portions from the Christmas story in Luke and we sung appropriate hymns between readings. It was a very nice time to spend together as a church family. Last Sunday, my father was asked to preach in Elche for the morning service, so we all went and I translated for him. In the evening we finished out our year with a celebration of the Lord's supper. It was a very special celebration for me because it was my last official service as pastor here in Alicante. I have communicated to the church my desire to withdraw from Alicante so that I can focus my efforts on starting a new work in Petrer, about 30 minutes away from Alicante. As we celebrated the Lord's new covenant through the symbolism of that special meal, we recalled all of His blessings to us and the ways in which we all desired to be more faithful in the coming year. It was a beautiful way to finish out a year.
        For our prayer services this month I have been speaking on the prayers/psalms that we find in the first chapters of Luke. It has been a blessing to study Zechariah's, Mary's and Simeon's prayers to see what Christ's birth meant to them. I have also been continuing on with our Bible studies with Lorenzo and Ana María. We are constantly encouraged by their desire to learn and do what is right. They have even expressed the desire to move with us to Petrer to help out with the new ministry. We are praying that the Lord would do His will in giving us the people that He wants us to have.

December 4-17

        I just realized that last Monday I did not write an update. We've had two very busy but good weeks. Last week we had our children's program at church. The kids did a great job with their drama. They all worked very hard to memorize it and act it out. We had a lot of visitors at church for the program, so we praise the Lord for the seed sown in hearts. This week we presented our Christmas cantata. Once again, we were thrilled with the good number of visitors. Our choir joined together with the choir from the Elche church to present "The Greatest Gift." The Lord really blessed, and the message came through very clearly. We pray that the Lord will use this in people's lives to bring them to himself. On Saturday night, my parents arrived, so we are enjoying the time with them. Praise the Lord, they are doing well with the jet lag so far. This week I am praying especially about the sale of our house. We need to Lord to do his will about the sale of our house. We would really appreciate your prayers for us.

November 27-December 3

        It is hard to believe that another month has gone by! It is even harder to believe that we are in December all ready. The unusually warm weather for this time of year has made it even harder to believe. Last week was my last week of classes for the Bible institute. We dealt with the introduction to Acts and talked about several themes, including tongues in the New Testament. The students are now preparing for their final exam today. We are continuing on with our Bible study with Lorenzo and Ana María. We are dealing with what the Bible says about raising children. How I praise the Lord for their desire to learn! Our choir continues to work on the Christmas cantata we are preparing with the choir from Elche. Things are going well. Our son David is playing the xylophone in the orchestra, and both he and Andrea are singing in the children's choir. They are also preparing a Christmas drama with the other children to be presented next Sunday. The cantata will be the following Sunday.
        Yesterday we had a very special day. In the morning service we had a baby dedication for the couple that I married a year ago. The Lord has blessed them with a little boy, and they wanted to publicly show their desire to raise him for the Lord. They invited unsaved family members for the special service. In the evening I preached on a topic that at least one family in the church was struggling with. They did not understand why we did not let the women preach. I spoke to them yesterday morning to let them know that I was going to be preaching on that topic but that I was not trying to single them out. Rather I wanted to explain why we do what we do from the Bible. I tied the whole message together with the idea of submission: are we, as the bride of Christ, willing to submit to the pattern for His Church that He has set up? After I preached, I spoke with the husband again and mentioned to him that we could get together to discuss the issue more or to answer any questions, but he told me that it was not necessary because he now holds to the same conviction that we have! All he needed was to hear the topic presented from the Bible! Praise the Lord.

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!

October 16-22

        Things were very busy this week, as all of my classes have now started. I had good Bible institute classes on Monday and Wednesday. The students are excited and asking good questions. Our Thursday prayer meeting was back down to normal attendance, but we had a very good service. On Saturday we met with Lorenzo and Ana María for our weekly Bible study again. They continue to respond well to the teaching. Yesterday was a very interesting day. We drove up to Elda, the city right next to Petrer where we plan to begin a new work in January, and we took Israel, one of my students from the Bible institute who feels called to the ministry and who will be helping us start the work in Petrer. The purpose of the trip was to visit the only non-charismatic church in the area. It was a good opportunity to clarify our goals. Please pray for us as we continue to take steps towards this goal.
        I preached in the evening from 1 Thes. 4 in the last of my series about not being ignorant. Here Paul instructs us about the resurrection. The difference between us and those who are without Christ is our hope. Those who died in Christ will return with him and we will see Him together with them. The emphasis on Christ is beautiful. Heaven is not a time just to be reunited with loved ones; rather it is a time to be with our Savior. This makes the joy and comfort even greater. After the message we had the Lord's supper. It was the first time that Viviana had ever experienced this celebration. She was very touched by it and is looking forward to being baptized soon!

October 9-15

        This past week was a rather strange week because we had two holidays (Monday and Thursday), so there were many special activities instead of our normal routine. On Monday we were able to spend the day with Lorenzo and Ana María, and we visited several families in the church. On Thursday we spent the day with Juan and Cristina and then had our couples' study with Lorenzo and Ana María in the afternoon before church. Since Thursday was a holiday, we had an extra large attendance at church for prayer meeting.
        But the biggest activity of the week was our men's retreat on Friday and Saturday. Pablo Portugal came down from Barcelona to be the speaker, and we had a total of 25 men. The topic was prayer, and the studies were very practical. The Lord was so good to us in many ways. Emilio was a great help to me for the last retreat, taking care of all of the food and other organizational matters, but he went to the hospital last Monday morning with yet another heart attack. When I visited him, he told me that he wasn't going to be able to be at the retreat. But he got out of the hospital on Wednesday and was there helping out and entertaining at the retreat as if nothing had ever happened to him. On Friday morning I checked the weather report and noticed to my horror that they were calling for rain Friday night and thunderstorms during the day on Saturday! I could just imagine all of our tents getting washed off the camp site. But the Lord overruled, and we had perfect weather all week end. Praise the Lord for answering our prayers about this retreat.
        Yesterday I preached from 2 Corinthians 1.8-9 about another of Paul's "ignorant" passages. In this case he warns us not to be ignorant that even the strongest trials can be used by God to teach us to trust in Him.

Bell Nouvelles 9.4

October, 2006
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Bell Nouvelles in short:
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Praises
- a good start to the Bible Institute (10 students)
- a good trip to Austria (a great encouragement to us)
- Viviana, new contact at church
- we found a good house in Petrer
Requests
- the sale of our current flat!!
- Men's retreat next weekend
- evangelization in Petrer
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Dear friends,

I'm trying a new format. I have started writing a weekly summary which I am posting on my blog for those who would like to follow our ministry in more detail. In my email, I am mainly going to focus on our prayer requests. The weekly summaries are included down below for those of you who cannot make it onto the blog.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

David Bell
davidbbell@bluebottle.com

October 2-8

The Lord gave us a good week. We were able to make a down payment on the house in Petrer that we have been looking at for over a month now. We also put our present flat up for sale. Now we pray that the Lord would help us sell it soon so that we can move. My Bible institute class is going well. I have ten students this semester for the New Testament Introduction class. We have been covering some general topics like the canon and the historical background of the NT. Our study with Lorenza and Ana María continues to go well. They continue to be very open and interested in the topics we are covering about marriage. Dr. Garlock spoke this morning about Joseph's God-centered view that made the difference in his life. This evening I preached my second sermon in my series about not being ignorant. I spoke from 1 Cor. 12 about spiritual gifts. This week we will be getting ready for the men's retreat next weekend. I'm really looking forward to that time.

September 25 - October 1

This last week was the start of academic life once again. My classes at the university began on Monday as well as the classes that Maribel is taking. The kids went back to school after our time in Austria, and I began my class for the Bible Institute. I have a nice group of about 10 students for my New Testament Introduction class. We began by talking about the canon of the New Testament. I feel that is especially an important issue in the wake of the DaVinci Code and other such material. Viviana has been a special blessing this week. She started coming to church a few weeks ago through a contact with a lady in our church. She is in a motorized wheelchair and through that situation came to know the Lord through a local charismatic group. Since she started coming, she has been very faithful and seems to really be drinking in the teaching. She especially thanked me for the study before our Thursday prayer meeting. On Saturday morning we had our monthly men's prayer breakfast. Dr. Garlock was visiting and spoke. I found his challenge very direct, and it was a real blessing. He has been preaching on the family in Elche all weekend. Today at church I preached about one of the things that Paul warns believers not to be ignorant about: past blessings do not guarantee future success (1 Cor. 10.1-5). We had two visitors last night. After the service I spoke with them and found out that they are strong Catholics. They enjoyed the service and especially the preaching, but do not think that they should read the Bible. Reading and understanding the Bible, in their opinion, should be left to people who are trained to do so. They were just content to listen to the "exerts". I praise the Lord for the opportunity to preach to them, but I encouraged them to read for themselves. May God touch their hearts (they did promise me that they would attempt to read) and bring them to a personal relationship with Christ! After the service we had a time of fellowship to say good bye to Claudia who will be returning to Argentina this week.