Small Steps. Big Faith.

The behind-the-scenes work for ministry can sometimes seem unglamorous and uneventful, but I know that helping international staff to come to Spain is an important way to help open doors for the gospel in this country. Due to the trend of increased immigration to Spain, the visa application system in Spain is heavily overloaded and the process seems to be taking longer and longer each year. About 4 years ago, I stepped up to help Agape Spain better facilitate the visa application process for its international staff. Up to now, the process has usually taken about 3-4 months per family; and my experience has been mostly working with Americans who come to labor with university students or athletes. In this most recent case, for Jamal and Mariah (names changed for security reasons), their journey began  10 months ago when Allen, from a partner ministry, emailed me to say that this family, who represent 3 different Middle Eastern countries between them, wanted to come labor with ...

From December 28th to January 5th, we sent a GAiN Spain team of two to Haiti to observe and serve at our long-term project at the Ça-Ira Children´s Home in Leogane, Haiti. There were several objectives for the trip: -to work directly with teh children in order to be able to update the information for our sponsorship program through which many of these children are supported by individual Spanish sponsors. -to continue advancing the construction work on the buildings at the children´s home that were destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. The activities with the children were truly a special time, filled with unforgettable moments. At the same time, the construction work also continues to move forward according to schedule. So far, we have finished each phase on time. We were also albe to bring specific aid (blankets and shoes) to the children which was previously collected during the Christmas holidays. This August a new GAiN team will head to Haiti from Spain with the...

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...