Small Steps. Big Faith.

After obtaining the rights to print EL ARTE DE SER PADRES in Spain last May, we finally had our first batch of manuals available to promote for parents and churches in Spain.  Several small groups have started up in and around Madrid. We also launched a pilot group on Friday evenings in our church in Terrassa (near Barcelona) at the beginning of May.  The 8-lesson study covers topics such as helping our children to develop relationships, identifying and nurturing their identity, forming character, applying discipline, preparing them for the mission God has for them and realizing the power of family. It's been a great chance for us to get to know a few of the families in our church better. The study has also given us all a lot to think about in our role as parents and grandparents. Please pray for those pictured here: Dámaris, Oscar, Miquel, Fina, Ruben, Iolanda, as well as Ruben, Sara and me (not pictured) that God would continue to give us wisdom, perseverance, patience and l...

In May, the Global Family Life office granted us the rights to print The Art of Parenting study. There were several edits that needed to be made to adapt the Latin American Spanish to Spain Spanish. Due to supply chain issues, there were challenges in getting right material to print. Then the month-long Spanish vacation time hit in August.  FINALLY, near the end of September we got our first batch of these books, in Spanish called El Arte de ser padres .  I am so hopeful for how God might use this study in the lives of moms and dads here in Spain. Please pray for the first study that will start at our church in Terrassa in early 2023. Also pray that the Lord would open many doors for us to promote this study to churches and communities throughout Spain.

As mentioned previously, our social work ministry, GAiN (Global Aid Network) has been developing a special project among Moroccan immigrant women . This year 5 different Spanish classes have been offered, serving over 100 women, in order to help them improve their language skills, improving their chances of finding a job and making their way in Spanish society. (Pictured above are some of the students from my Friday morning class.) This project was started 5 years ago by Isabel Fernández, Agape staff member with a degree in Social Work. She has worked tireless, not only to create the structure for these classes, but also to build relationships with the various city officials related to this project, as well as using her professional knowledge to help several of these women rise above their economic and cultural challenges. Soon, Isabel, along with her husband, Agape Spain´s National Director, and their 4 children, will be taking steps of faith to blaze new trails in a differen...

15 women from Morocco. They all showed up this week. They are eager to learn. A few can write. Most cannot. They are so grateful for the smallest efforts. In the one hour a week I have with them on Friday mornings I want to give them all that I have. I want to give them a step up in the midst of this world economic crisis. All but one are married. All those who are married have at least 2 often 4-6 children that they are rearing. As we seek to bless these ladies, we will also be influencing scores of children. Fatima, Fatima, Yamna, Jamila, Fatima, Fatima, Latifa,  Samira, Rahma, Halima, Fatima, Hasna, Louiza, Hanán, Turiya Would you pray for them? Please pray that God would point out those who are open to hear more about Him. Please pray that He would reveal those that we can help in other areas in addition to language acquisition. What? You don´t see anyone in the classroom pictured above? The students are very shy. They have a strong aversion to cameras, especially...

We gathered today at the GAiN ( Global Aid Network ) headquarters  to prepare for this Fall´s new wave of Spanish students, who are almost exclusively Moroccan immigrant women living in Terrassa, Spain. This is the 5th consecutive year that we´ve been able to offer these classes to more than 100 women whose social needs are enormous. Our teaching team for the 2012-2013 year is made up of 8 women: 3 full-time staff and 5 volunteers, one of whom is an alumni of these Spanish classes. We are very excited because this project continues to grow in number and we believe that it is also improving in quality and excellence. This year we will be using specific student manuals for each of the five lanugage levels. Although it might seem like a small detail, it reflects a huge step forward compared to the previous years. As you may already know, GAiN is working to improve the quality of life for its students and to encourage social participation from those who don´t have the same econom...

22 students started. 10 continued faithfully to the end. They come with head coverings, long skirts, hard life stories and big smiles. Each Wednesday I have looked forward to my Spanish class, a solid group of 8-10 women who have attended faithfully each week, pictured here: (left to right) Karthoum, Saliha, Guita, me, Rachma and Malika. The learning curve is high. Many are not literate in their own native languages. So, learning to hold a pencil and/or re-learning to read from left to right (instead of right to left) are some of the language challenges that they must overcome as they gather the building blocks for adequate communication in this new world they live in. The learning process is slow. Many have lived here for years and are just starting to learn the language. Others have attended classes for multiple years but require much repetition of basic topics until they are recorded in long-term memory. The year-long course ended this week.  We celebrated with trad...

Coque-a Catalan pastry- and café con leche. They were small details that reflected a strong desire....to connect. She was so kind to come, the neighbor that I see on her balcony throughout the week. I was so happy to have someone over. After months of silently retreating inward, the moment had arrived to start reaching out again. Although we literally see each other from our balconies, we don´t really know what´s going on in each others´ lives. How could we know? It´s the hidden things of our hearts, not just the outward activities, that really reveal what´s going on. I was kind of nervous about the details. It had been months since we talked last. What would we talk about? Would she be turned off by the emptiness and boxes in our house as we prepare to move? After cordial hellos and the traditional 2 kisses, she simply opened up and shared her own details.....life is hard right now: laid-off, money is tight, a postponed wedding, a diagnosis of illness, a weary mo...

The Good News: They found it! It was like striking gold. The workers on the construction site of the  Ça-Ira Children´s Home  in Haiti had found a new water source for a well. The Bad News: The water still needed to be treated to guarantee the health of the children and staff who currently live in the orphanage. Soon, this need will cease to be a concern. Within a few weeks, our children at the home will not need to worry about the quality of the water that they drink or bathe with. As we filed into the conference room at  Optima Renovables , a renewable energy company located in Terrassa, Spain, we were eager to hear their response to participate in the needs at the children´s home in Haiti. The directors were willing AND eager to donate a special water purification system to GAiN Spain to be used at the orphanage in Haiti. (pictured below) It´s a system with the latest technology and has the ability to purify 7000 liters of water a day, which is mo...

"  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...

Over the last 3 years, slowly and what seems to be coincidentally, staff members, one after the other, have been moving to the Barcelona area, specifically to the city of Terrassa, including Ruben and me. In all there are four married couples (and 7 children!) who make up this team. We have all come to this city for different reasons, but each one has been led by the Lord in some way or another. We all definitely have a desire to share the gospel, but the exact purpose of this loosely connected team was a bit fuzzy at the beginning. Mariangeles Bootello has been involved with evangelism and discipleship in the Campus ministry since 2002. She moved here from Sevilla three years ago, just before marrying a young man from Barcelona. She works with Existe Más Mundo (More World Exists), a social work outreach of the Campus Ministry in Spain that serves the hungry and the homeless. She´s also been working with troubled teens, many of whom are children of Moroccan immigrants. Two of th...