A few Saturdays ago I had the opportunity to accompany my friend Tony to a church called Buenas Noticias (Good News).  Tony said that they have the best kept secret in Madrid, though I'm sure they have not kept it secret in their part of the city from the size of their congregation.  We were in a leadership meeting and shared some ideas with them, though from their growth they have a few things to teach us.  They have 27 congregations associated with their mother church and have received a good parcel of land on which they are building, all realized since 1990.  It's good to know that God is working in some parts of Spain and specifically in Madrid.

That's an important part of our job since returning from our time in the states: to determine where God is working in Spain and how our missions agency, TEAM, can partner with others to participate in what God is doing.  The information we've gathered has been exciting and challenging, and we've just begun!  This week I'll speak to leaders at a retreat about the importance of intimacy with God, one of my favorite themes.  But the main reason for going is to learn from the pastors and leaders there.  Then later this month I'll visit Francis Arjona in the Cordoba province, with some other TEAM missionaries, to discuss how we might partner with him in his vision for that part of Spain.

In the church that we've helped to start in Camarma, Javier Alvarez shared a really creative message a couple of weeks ago on what it means to be born again.  He devided us into groups of 5 or 6 people and we acted out verbs related to the theme.  Our leadership team met this week to discuss how we can pursue Christian education in our church, among other themes.  We have lots of resources in our church, like Javier, and want to make sure we use them well.

Kay and I took the week off last week to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  Some friends lent us their seaside house in Ireland and we had a great time together renewing our marriage.  God is good!

Greg could use prayer as he looks for work in California this summer and continues to "wrestle with god" (his phrase).  Ian plays in the praise group at church.  Both boys want to finish their school year well. 

Thanks for praying with us,

Mark, Kay and Ian