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Dear Supporting Churches and Praying Friends:
Isaiah 40:31 says, ‘But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. ‘
This verse is becoming my prayer as we labour for the Lord here in Granada. Honestly, the last 2 months have been up and down with probably more downs. We praise God for the ones that came for the first service, but since then it has been very slow trying to get started. We do know that it will most likely take some time, maybe years, to get the church established; but Satan has a way of getting you down and trying to hold you there. We have been busy passing out flyers to promote each service, and spending time talking with others about the Lord and our church, but have yet to see any real response. Praise God that in the midst of it all, we know that He is at work!
Most of the visits we have had so far are from Pentecostal attendees from churches around us. We have found out that those churches are very popular in this area of Spain and are growing fast. They came and didn't come back once they found out we don't hold the same stands and beliefs that they do. One man, Antonio, came just to encourage us to open up to ¨the gifts of the Spirit¨. There is much to fight against here in Spain, not just the hardening of the hearts of the catholics here in Spain, but also the lies and hurt that the cults have done on those that were searching for the truth.
Please pray for Lucio who has moved to Barcelona in search of a job. The crisis has hit Spain pretty hard with unemployment now around 8%, in January alone it moved up 0,5%. We were able to put him in contact with Pedro Pinyol, who is the pastor of an independent Baptist church only 20 minutes from where Lucio is living. We hated to see him go as he was really growing in the Lord, he was doing over 10 pages a week in the discipleship book that we were covering and expressed desire to get baptized!
Also, please keep Olga in your prayers as she will return to Germany in 2 weeks. It has been a blessing to have her play the piano for us and to have her faithfulness in the services.
PRAISES:
• There is a great number of international students here at the university in Granada and this past Sunday we had 4 new American students come to the service! With Olga, Janina (Olga´s unsaved German friend), Lauren (another American student that has been attending for a month), and my family included; that gave us 12 for the service.
• We also praise God as He uses you to take care of our needs. During the month of December we received many special gifts, including money for the sign on the street, as well as a special Christmas offering from our home church. Praise God for His goodness! And thank you so much for you sacrifice!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
• For strength and encouragement in the work.
• For the many guys on the football team that I have been able to talk with about the Lord and the church.
• For God´s wisdom as we seek to start a Bible study in English for the international students in Granada.
Again, thank you so much for your prayers and sacrifice. We know that many of you are sacrificing so that we can be here; it is humbling to be God´s missionaries and your missionaries.
In Christ´s service,
Matthew, Pilar, Kayla, Nicole, and Noelia
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