Small Steps. Big Faith.

After almost a year of planning, the event had finally arrived. Although I was named as the Conference Coordinator, in fact there was a key group of staff who worked to created this special environment where more than 150 staff and volunteers were able to focus on the Lord and hear from Him under one roof. The conference theme, "Llamados 2011" ("Called 2011")  was born from the desire to call others to join with us to help reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Held from October 28-Nov 1, 2011 in Platja d´Aro, Girona, the conference was a unique coming together of staff, young families, retired couples, university and high school students to worship and pray, play and celebrate, learn and yield to what God has in store for us as his "called ones." Among the conferees were 10 visitors from various non-Spanish-speaking countries (including Estonia, Lithuania, Holland, England and the USA.) We were able to provide t...

This year my mom flew over to Spain to help Aaron and me make the long trip home. (Ruben came two weeks later when his summer vacation time started.) We came to get to know the grandparents better, to visit our favorite Target store, to make a quick stop at our greatly missed doughnut shop and, of course, to update our faithful ministry supporters. While we were not able to see many individual supporters on this visit, we were able to visit  Saint Mark´s Church ,  New Covenant Fellowship Church ,  Church of the Holy Cross  and  Brookwood Church , the church families that support this ministry, many of whom have been with me since I started working with Campus Crusade for Christ in 1992. How refreshing it was to be at home again, seeing familiar faces, sharing ups and downs, testifying to God´s goodness in Spain. One of the exciting new projects that I shared about this summer in is the national start up of Global Aid Network  (GAiN) in Sp...

June has been a busy month so far. In our free time, we´ve been surviving the summer heat in Spain, searching for a playschool for the fall, visiting with acquaintances from the park....but mostly I´ve been focused on gathering resources and preparing teams and materials for our National Staff Conference which will be held Oct 28-Nov 1, 2011 in Girona, Spain. Last fall our national director asked me if I would consider coordinating this event. I had coordinated the National Staff Conference in 2008 in Valencia and was honored to be asked. One of the special tools we will be using during the conference is a personal "home-made" video created by several staff throughout Spain about how God called them to full-time ministry. I´ve been challenging and coaching Spanish staff and volunteers to present their special stories as a testimony to God´s faithfulness and  as inspiration to others. I´ve included some of my favorites here below. Although they are in Spanish, I think y...

GAiN Spain continues laying the groundwork for a Spanish influence around the world. Most recently, Agape´s National Director Edi Souto and GAiN Spain´s National Director Ruben Rivera flew to Leogane, Haiti where we´ve joined the commitment of GAiN to rebuild the Ça-Ira Children´s Village.  Upon his return, Edi shared these thoughts.... "In a world with so much suffering and so many problems, one of the greatest threats that one can encounter is that little voice saying, "It´s not worth it. Things will never change. They´ll continue on just the same." The world seems eager to maintain the status quo maintaining the status quo, not wanting anyone to step out of line. Then, all of a sudden, you meet someone whose life has been destroyed, without options, without resources, who moves forward, who overcomes all the difficulties and has become a new person. It´s the miracle of restoration. Life is not easy in Haiti. It doesn´t seem like it offers anyone a promising career...

Since November 2010 I have been serving as a translator/interpreter between our GAiN Spain office and the head office of GAiN in Germany. (No, I don´t speak German, but most Germans speak English, which our Spanish team doesn´t do very often.) In April, our national director, Ruben Rivera (seated front row, right), attended meetings of all the national directors of GAiN throughout Europe and around the world. During the gathering, each national director was asked to present an update on its team and office and share about projects that the other GAiN offices could get involved with. Later in the week, several countries, including Spain, were added to the official list of GAiN offices around the world.  While I wasn´t able to accompany him as an interpreter, I did have the opportunity to translate Ruben´s GAiN Spain presentation. It was a great talk. (If you´d like to read it you can click  here. ) All the directors said so. Ruben was kind to congratulate me, but the truth...

  4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. ( Philemon 1:4-7 , New International Version ) Pictured above is Marian Bootello, whom I have mentioned several times in the last few years. Marian is a Spanish woman from Málaga who joined the staff of Agape 9 years ago to work with adolescents. We first met in the south when I worked in Granada and she was a student at the University of Málaga; and started collaborating together when she joined the Campus staff of Agape in Sevilla in 2002. Because we share a common background of the Campus ministry and because we are both new to the staff team in T...

So, we´re starting a new work and we want people to know about it. Who ya gonna call? Facebook  of course. While I´m no expert, I do use Facebook and I have internet access and time to access when Aaron sleeps. So, supervised by our communications director, I am GAiN Spain´s Facebook administrator. Our hope is that as we share thoughts, events, images and new ideas, others will be motivated to join with us in being the hands and feet of Jesus. Please pray that this light will rise in the darkness and that He´ll use this FB page to catch people´s attention, involve them in projects and even capture their hearts for Him. Pray that God would be pleased to use this work as His hands and feet to meet the physcial, emotional and spiritual needs of people around the world. Although the page is in Spanish, come check it out:  GAiN España  on Facebook. Many of the internet browsers automatically translate foreign languages into your own language. And if you like what you see...

"  14  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  15  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  16  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  17  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  18  But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”    Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.  19  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.   20  You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless [ a ] ?  21  Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  22  You see that his faith and his actions were wor...

As of now, you can follow what God is doing in and through Agape Spain on our new website, in both Spanish and English: www.agape.org  You´ll find descriptions of our ministry, introductions to our staff, access to ministry materials and a blog roll for our staff of ongoing events around the country. My 2-cents-worth contribution has been to assist with some of the translation to English of some of the different pages and to provide ongoing translation for the staff blog, which is available for anyone and everyone to read. Our hope is that this additional communication tool will help to encourage financial investors as they give by faith and help to inspire potential new laborers to join with us in taking the gospel to the 46 million people living in Spain.( Spain Demographics ) Please pray that God would use this new web page to help us become more effective in reaching Spain with the gospel.

After months of searching, praying and negotiating, the Lord has opened the door for "Obra Social Agape" to move in to a new locale at Avinguda Jaume (James Avenue), number 1. Just before Christmas Eve our team gathered on the 2nd floor to give thanks and praise to God and celebrate this big step. As 2011 is just getting started please pray... Please pray for the upcoming semester.... *Spanish classes for Moroccan women *after-school tutoring for at-risk kids *international projects and the launching of GAiN (Global Aid Network) Spain *other possible new works? Pray that the Lord would use us as His hands and feet. Pray that He would open a door for our message, the gospel message of Christ, of hope and reconciliation found in Jesus. Pray that many would be drawn to Him. Pray for our team....that we would grow closer together this spring as we work together.