Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,
The first Sunday since the quarantine started, I did what I’ve never done in my missionary career; I streamed the service live from my house; complete with songs, prayers, Scripture readings and a sermon from the Word. I didn’t pick a special passage to preach from. I simply continued my series through the book of Titus. And what a providential passage! The grace of God has appeared (in Christ) and it teaches us how we ought to live as Christians. It also reveals to us why Christ came: to “redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:11-15) The Lord has given the churches in Colmenar and Parla the opportunity to be full of good works that glorify God during this world-wide health crisis!
We had plans. Ladies, mens, and youth meetings had to be postponed. Conferences and events had to be cancelled. In all of this we have been reminded that “our times are in His hand.” (Psalm 31:15) However, since our last letter we have seen the Lord work in exciting ways. On February 9, I had the privilege of preaching the message for the ordination of the first deacon in the Parla Baptist Church. This was an important step towards the church becoming indigenous. We have also revamped our ‘Come and See’ Bible studies. Currently we are going through the gospel of Mark and unbelievers are hearing the gospel clearly and their questions about Christ and the Bible are being answered. Pray especially for Sergio, one of Woo Il Byun’s friends from the university. He has been attending the Bible studies every week.
Spain is right now the 4th country in the world with most coronavirus cases. Things will surely get worse before they get better. Please pray that when this is all over we can continue with our plans for 2020, if the Lord wills. Our plans include expanding our ‘Come and See’ bible studies to a couple of neighboring towns. We are also restructuring our children’s ministry which will mean training many more teachers and workers. We also want to better train our congregation in evangelism and give them the tools to do that more effectively. We are actively asking the Lord to add to our church through conversions. The outcome is the Lord’s, but we want to be faithful in the process. I am currently going through the membership process with a couple that has been attending our church for quite some time and now want to join. Their names are Miguel and Margarita. Eduardo Sedoski faithfully discipled this family while we were gone and we are excited to see them added to our church soon. We don’t know how long this government-mandated quarantine will last, but we know that none of this has caught the Lord by surprise. He is still on the throne and we trust fully in Him. God bless!
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