The Mission Field Needs YOU

In Madrid there is a school for Missionary Kids called Evangelical Christian Academy (or ECA for Short). If you are a teacher and you love Missions and MK's ECA can use you! You wanted to know how God could use you on the Mission field right? Well here's how! Contact ECA through their web site http://www.ecaspain.com/eca/ or drop me an email for more information!

Sunday at the Police Station.

Today started out like any ordinary Sunday... running around at the last minute to find a kids lost shoe, ironing the shirt that's more wrinkled than Methuselah, and rushing out the door 5 minutes late. We've only been to this new church a few times so we use the GPS (affectionately named Tommy)to get there and back. (Being a country boy, I don't do Cities very well).

We get to the church, park and find a seat. The sermon was a Narrative delivered by an Argentine lady in the role of a little girl. It was well delivered, and I even understood it was about David and Goliath! When we left the church things got a bit more interesting. (You're wondering about the police station part aren't ya).

We got to the car only to discover that someone had smashed one of our windows and ransacked the car. The made of with Tommy, Josh's Nintendo SP and a bunch of games he just bought yesterday at a Rastrillo (think community yard sale), and my ipod recharger / play thru the radio thing. On a side note, when we leave stuff in the car it's well hidden, event the cables and mounts. But now we'll leave nothing in the car.

You know, Christians are awesome people, and our Missionaries are super awesome. I asked Mark Cannon what I should do. This dude, who is suffering from kidney stones by the way, asked help from two other christian brothers and the three of them escorted Anna and I to two police stations to file the report (turns out you have to go to a different type of police depending if your, mugged, robbed, etc.) In the mean time Ellen Cannon, Marks awesome wife, took the kids home and fed them Sunday lunch/dinner. When Emily Cannon (Mark and Ellen's beautiful daughter) found out that Josh had his SP stolen she gave him her SP... dudes, I almost cried. Then one of Josh's friend's, Stephen Jolly, came over and gave him a game!

So tomorrow we call the insurance and file the report and see what's covered, and then try to get the window fixed. But in spite of everything, God is in control.

Remember when I mentioned the clutch died on the car a week or so ago? That same day when it was repaired I met our neighbors. Today he came over and helped me with some stuff around the house and his kids played with ours and Anna and I visited with them for a few hours at house! God is opening all kinds of marvelous and wonderful doors. So a window got broke, so Tommy was kidnapped (GPS-napped?) and I'll get lost every time I look at Madrid, so what? God is at work, and he's opening some really cool doors.

Missonary Adventures (Part 4)

What does your intrepid missionary do when his STL vehicle is in the shop and cup cakes must be delivered to a classroom full of ravenous, foaming at the mouth, first grader, Missionary Kids? He improvises, overcomes, and adapts!

Here you see your missionary displaying his indomitable spirit as he shows of his custom made Cup Cake Delivery Device (CCDD) made from high quality material that was liberated from a nearby dumpster and attached with zip-ties. The only thing needed to complete the CCDD is a little duct-tape.

However the maiden run of the CCDD was postponed. Just as the CCDD was to roll into action, two of our AG Missionaries (Shawn and Deb Gaylen) drove in and rescued, I mean, picked up Anna to safely deliver her and the goodies to the famished MK’s.

But seriously… what did missionaries do before STL? We’ve done a lot of walking, & bike riding over the past few days. THANK YOU STL, youth pastors, pastors and Students for all you do!

God at the Panaderia

We rejoice over the opportunities for ministry that have opened in our little town. In October I ran out of bread as we were preparing to go on an outing to a castle. Tony & Josh went to our local bakery, but the bread wasn’t ready. Tony began to help the baker and talk with him while he waited. As he was preparing to leave a Spanish lady walked in and heard his Spanish and wanted to know how long he had been living in Spain and where he was from. She then asked if he would be interested in coming and possibly helping at the English school she recently opened. She soon called us and we scheduled a time to meet. The school was started so that children in the community could come and receive help with English grammar and conversation. Since January I have been teaching a small group of Spanish children age’s 11-13 English conversation two nights a week. Tony tutors teens one night a week. A wonderful friendship has been formed with the director of the school. My friend is a wife, mother of three children, successful professor and attorney. It would appear that she has a wonderful life. Recently she shared personal heartache her family has experienced. With tears in my eyes, I listened as she poured out her heart. She said I was different than her other friends and wanted to know if the Assembly of God has helped me. It was the perfect opportunity to share with her about Jesus. The hour was late but she looked at me and said, “Anna, I don’t think it was an accident that I met Tony in the Bakery that day, it was His plan that we meet.”

I stand in awe at how God orchestrates every step we take. We have recently moved and found that our friend lives around the corner. We are also building friendships with other Spanish families in the neighborhood. Please agree with us in prayer that the Spirit will continue to lead us and that we will continue to find favor with our neighbors.

Another reason why your prayers matter to us.

Because we are US citizens and we've registered with the US embassy here in Spain, we receive notices via email from time to time. Here is a portion of the latest one we received.

On February 8, the Spanish Supreme Court banned two Basque political parties, D3M and Askatasuna, from participating in the upcoming regional elections in March.
On the morning of February 9, a bomb, believed to be the work of the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorist organization, exploded at the Campo de las Naciones in Madrid. There are also media reports of violence in the Basque region the night of 6 February when commuter trains and buses were set on fire.

ETA remains active in Spain, and further attacks are a possibility in the period leading up to the March 1 regional elections. ETA generally provides advance warning of its attacks and has historically avoided targeting foreigners, instead directing its attacks against the police, military, local politicians, and Spanish government targets, as well as attempting to disrupt transportation and daily life; however, foreigners have been killed or injured collaterally in ETA attacks despite advance warning. Two examples of this are the Barajas Airport bombing in December 2006, in which two Ecuadorian nationals were killed, and the bombing at the University of Navarre in October 2008, in which 17 students were injured, including one American student. In addition, bombs have been used as part of criminal extortion of businesses, particularly in the Basque region.

The risk of “being in the wrong place at the wrong time” in event of an ETA action is a concern for foreign visitors and tourists. U.S. citizens living or traveling to Spain should remain vigilant, exercise caution, monitor local developments, and avoid demonstrations and other potentially violent situations.

While this may not have even been reported back home, it kind of hits close to home for us. We live about 30 kilometers from where this took place, and we often go to Madrid for doctor's appointments, government appointments and the like. Thank you for your prayers. We know that they make a difference. We know that the Lord hears you and everything is in His hands. Your prayers literally make a difference in our lives and in the lives of other missionaries all over the world.

Missonary Adventures (Part 3)

Back to our story...

My first post ended like this.

"Since this appointment is what keeps us legally in Spain, as we were driving away from the police station I called our legal representative Silvia so that she can make another appointment for us.

As it turns out, God had some cool things planed (doesn't he always)..."

I explained the situation to Silvia she asked us, "Where are you now?
"About 2 kilometers from the police station on our way home." I replied.
"I'm at the police station now, come back and we can at least get the kids done." She said.

So we turned around and saw Silvia at the corner near the police station and we dropped off the kids. Unable to find a place to park after about 20 minuets I double park and we call Silvia to check on her and the kids.

"Tony, come back and bring Anna to the door. I talked to the people inside and she can sit inside in the heat and wait." Silvia informed us. So Anna, feeling a bit better told me to drive her to the station.

I drop off Anna at the station and Silvia and the kids were waiting for her by the door. Again I go off to find a parking place. I prayed, "Lord, I could really use a parking spot close to the police station. And the Lord provided it. It was a space about two inches wider than the car between a truck and a van. Since the mirrors on our STL car fold in, I was able to get in the parking spot, but it was difficult for me to get out of the car.

Twenty min. or so later Anna called and said, "Come get us." "What's the matter baby are you feeling sick again?", I asked. "No" she replied, "We're done!" "Done? How can you be done? There are over 300 people in line before you?", I asked. "Come get us and I'll tell you in the car."

So I squeezed the car out of it's tiny spot and in five min. I had Anna, the kids, and Silvia in the car and on our way out of Madrid. As I drove Anna filled me in on the rest of the details.

Apparently Silvia knows everyone at the police station and she just took their papers and walked to the front of the line. She took care of all the paper work and even finger printed Bekah when she was scared of the police (they had rubber gloves on and she thought they might try to do a blood draw).

The Lord is so wonderful. Had we missed the appointment it would have been 2-3 months before we could have gotten another one, and as missionaries it's important we get that National ID card with our residence number. God had everything in control. He had Silvia at the right place at the right time, and she was able to take care of everything. Isn't God cool?

Missonary Adventures (Part 2)

Well today I was supposed to tell ya everything else that's been going on but I must ask your indulgence for another day or so. Today we moved into our new house that has considerably less fungus :) It was quite an experience since we just had to dump stuff into boxes and suit cases.

We found out last night at 7:30 PM (Madrid Time) that we would be able to get the new house, this was fantastic news, since there was some doubt on this issue when we met with the landlord the night before. So today the movers came. A BIG shout out to the Madrid International Church Masters Commission Students who came out and lent us a hand and to our incredible MA Ashely. When she saw the all the mold in the house her response was, "You've been living in this!" (Ashley's a tough cookie, and if it grosses her out, it's pretty gross."

More later, we are dead tired, still a bit under the weather and desperate for a shower. If we can only find the box that has our clean "unmentionables" in it...

But it's all good. God is so wonderful to bless us with a clean, health place to live in.