October 2014 Velasquez Family Update

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,

The time has certainly gone by quickly for us during our furlough. In a couple months we will be back in Spain. It has been a blessing visiting so many of our supporting churches as well as a few new ones. We are thankful for every church that God has placed in our path. We are humbled by your generosity and love. We are partners together in the gospel. One of the benefits of a furlough for a missionary is that it gives him to time to pray and make plans for the future. We are excited about what God is doing in Spain and we are confident that He will continue to work. We just can’t believe that we get to be a part of it!

In September we had our first baptism in Colmenar! Angie’s sister, Guillermina, who is the first-fruits of the work in Colmenar, followed the Lord in believer’s baptism and it thrills our hearts. We pray for many more to be saved and baptized in Colmenar. The work is going strong in the new church plant. Several believers and unbelievers meet together every thursday for the “Come and see” Bible study and are hearing the gospel expounded upon as they go through the book of John. We plan to start English classes and a youth Bible study upon our return to Spain. In addition, we want to saturate the city with the gospel several times. Our goal is that every household in Colmenar Viejo have access to the gospel.

Sunday, September 19 was a highlight for our ministry in Spain. My father was invited to preach in another city and for the first time both churches functioned without the help of any missionary. This is a small but important step in the goal of the churches becoming indigenous. Carlos Temprano taught the Youth Sunday school class and gave the announcements, Cristian led the music, Paco Prada preached in both churches and Flavius gave a five-minute message. This is very important for us. We believe that our responsibility to to enable believers for the work of the ministry. (Ephesians 4:11-13). We told them from day one that we would not always be there and that God would raise up leaders from among them to carry on the work. They are witnessing this first-hand. There is much more work to be done. In order for Spain to be evangelized in our generation we must involve other people in the mission; we must reproduce ourselves in the lives of others; we must multiply our efforts. Please continue to pray for us as our furlough comes to an end that we would be bold in our witness and that God would use us to evangelize the lost, enable believers and establish more churches.