We rang in the new year in cold, snowy Wisconsin, and in a subdued way, at least for Kay and me.  It was good to reflect a bit on the blessings of 2008 and dream regarding the challenges of 2009.  

Our biggest blessing has been to see a church begin to come together and function as a church in Spain.  One of our challenges will be to facilitate the church becoming truly established and ready to stand on its own two feet.  At the same time TEAM has asked me to help develop a plan for TEAM's next church plant in Spain.  We are still in the process of coming up with a job description.

A more immediate challenge will be to get our residencies approved (mine has been approved, Kay's and Ian's have not) in time for our flight January 22.  That implies packing and moving out of our house in Wisconsin, and finding a permanent place to live when we get to Spain.  Then we'll have to buy some furniture and get settled, all this before we can really be effective in ministry.

We've been blessed by the visit of our son Greg over the holidays and will sadly see him off on Sunday.   He again faces financial and academic challenges of finishing school (he's a junior) and of working out his faith in a non-Christian world.

These challenges give you plenty of food for prayer for us for the next few weeks.

And we are very thankful for your prayers!

Mark, Kay, Greg and Ian