Dear Friends,

 

The first church service was held in our home this morning.  Well, it was just Kay, Greg, Ian and me, but it was a church service.  We sang some choruses, shared our perspectives on Abraham´s sacrifice of Isaac, and thanked God for the ways He has blessed us in the last few weeks. 

 

The reason we didn´t attend an outside church service was that our neighborhood had a meeting Sunday morning at 10:00 AM.  (Spaniards don´t have the same perspective on church services as we do!)   By God´s grace and direction we´ve moved into a neighborhood that has a significant number of problems, and these have unified the neighbors in an attempt to resolve them.  As a result we met several people on our block and the members of the committee that has been seeking solutions.  We thanked them for their efforts, and although we are renters and new arrivals, we seemed to be well received. 

 

Last night I put on my leather jacket and went to a biker party, with some fear and trepidation.  I still remember my little Honda surrounded by Harleys at the Elmbrook service downtown during the Harley Davidson anniversary celebrations, and having Harleys blow by me on the freeway.  There were some younger, wild guys at the party, and I was given some tickets for free beers.  But I also met some family guys, including one guy there with his wife and two young kids.  All of this might be categorized as pre-pre-evangelism, but we are encouraged with the number of acquaintances we´ve made in a short time.

 

Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a regional meeting of the pastors of the church association with which TEAM is affiliated in Spain (FIEDE).  To tell you the truth, I´m always bored at the business portion of these meetings, but it was good to get to know these brothers who are struggling to get Christ´s church established in Spain.  We went to lunch afterward, and that was the best part of all (not just the food!)  I feel I can now count these 12 men as friends.  One even invited me to preach in his church (a Mexican, Spaniards need a bit more time before they trust you!)

 

Please pray for a planning session Tuesday with our partners, Ned and Joanie Steffens, TEAM´s Field Chairman, Don Cabeen, and fellow missionaries, Dave and Rose Prince.  Things are starting to happen, so we´re needing to define a bit more how our team is going to function.

 

And don´t forget to pray for the documentation.  We´ve hit some bumps in the road in getting residency and registering vehicles that will require more trips into Madrid, which takes time from the ministry we´d like to be doing.