Dear Friends,

In some ways these have been discouraging days, at least for me (Mark).   One reason is feeling rejected by some neighbors I had considered friends over the Christmas season.  They are probably rejecting Christ, but it's difficult to not take it personally.  Another reason is simply that church planting goes very slowly in Spain, and I like to go fast!  We've just posted an article on our web page that describes the process pretty well.  You can read it by clicking on this link:  http://johnsonjournal.com/id68.html 

This is not new, we went through something very similar in Venezuela.  Establishing a church is the most rewarding thing a person can be a part of, there is nothing else I'd rather do.  But to get to the fun part we have to go through these initial stages of just slogging it out, at least when in a place where the ground is hard as it is here.  I just long to get to the point where we see people coming to Jesus, when we have evangelistic and discipleship Bible studies going.

So we don't give up.  We have lots to be thankful for: good ministry partners here in Spain, loving family,  the prayers and support of people like you back home.  And the news is really not bleak.  Carlos Ramos, a Spanish pastor friend, asked me to accompany him last week to look at potential sites for his church to start a daughter church.  He's encouraged by that prospect, and so am I.   Kay has great relationships with a couple of neighbors and we spend time with their families almost every week.  We're going to do a seminar on leading evangelistic Bible studies for our team and some other missionaries that have expressed interest.

TEAM Spain is in the process of redefining our direction, specifically along the lines of TEAM International's vision, to establish churches where the most people have the greatest need.  It's been exhilarating to be part of that and it's been fun to apply some of the things learned in Venezuela to the ministry here.  I'm responsible for a mini conference next month for 80 people so have been finding a site and trying to firm up details.  I'm busy and that keeps me happy.  Which leads me to the obvious, the discouragement does not come form the Lord, it is an attack from the enemy.

We appreciate your prayers. 

Thankful for you,

Mark, Kay,

Greg and Ian