That All May Know Ministries Blog

Tonight was a memorable night, one I will never forget. The Lord allowed 2 great blessings in my life. I was able to administer my first ever baptism and I was also able to baptize my own son. On top of that, it was our first baptism in our infant ministry.  There will be many more baptisms in our ministry but I will never forget this one.

We thank Missionary Marvin Robertson who allowed us to use his baptistery. My father-in law preached and gave a clear message on Salvation and Baptism, explaining that Baptism is not a requirement for salvation but instead, a step of obedience in following the Lord. Later, I had the privilege of baptizing Isabel and my son Aaron.

You can watch the video of the Baptism below.

We are very excited about our upcoming adoption.  We are in the very beginning stages (literally just filled out the intial application) and are trusting in the Lord each step along the way.  My wife and I have started a new blog about our adoption process.  Our desire for this blog is that Christians will keep up with it and pray for us.  Prayer is a very powerful weapon in the Christian's arsenal and we will need lots of it during this process.  Even in the beginning stages we have been asking for much wisdom from the Lord about the decisions that we have already had to make.  Our new blog can be accessed at www.thespiritofadoption.org.

There are several ways that you can follow our blog.

1. You can simply access the web address www.thespiritofadoption.org from time to time to see our lastest blog posts.
2. You can subscribe via RSS feed.  You can subscribe to the RSS feed and follow our blog through google reader or your favorite RSS feed reader.  You can access the RSS feed here.
3. The easiest way to follow the blog is to sign up for the Email subscription.  By signing up for this, you will receive each blog post directly into your inbox everytime we update the blog.  Click here to sign up via email subscription.

Check it out and let us know what you think.  We appreciate your prayers.

 

I am sure all of you have heard and seen what happened in Haiti. It is a devastating thing and on top of that, to think of all those who were ushered into eternity without Christ in their lives. We must pray that God will use this tragedy to bring glory to Himself and that the people of Haiti will seek, find, and turn to the Truth. Here is a link to some pictures of the aftermath.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html

I have a friend and fellow missionary, Ron Maggard, who has some works in Haiti. You can go to his blog and learn more about the situation and also make a donation.

http://worldlink.wordpress.com/

I saw this a week or so ago and have been meaning to post in on our blog. This is great. If you haven't seen it, you don't want to miss it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It is amazing how fast 2009 flew by. God is always good and we were able to see Him working in 2009. We expect Him to also work in tremendous ways in 2010.

We start the New Year wanting to address 2 very exciting things in this prayer letter. First of all, we have been working really hard to get the building finished. It turned out to be a little more work than we thought, but nothing major. We have put up divisions, filled in holes, sanded, painted, put up lights, and cleaned. We have a few minor things left and then we will lay some carpet. We are waiting for some quotes on installing heat and air, but other than that, we are most complete. I am adding some pictures of the progress. Lord willing in the next letter, you will get to see the finished product.

Secondly, Deanna and I have some wonderful news. We have decided to adopt a baby. We are very excited. Since Aaron’s second birthday, we have been trying to have another baby. Aaron is now 7 and we have not been able to have another child. Deanna and I have been praying about adopting for some time now. We recently decided to start the process. At this moment, we are moving in the direction of adopting a baby girl from China. The process will be long and expensive, but we are trusting the Lord through every step. Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom through the process. We also need your prayers for the timing of everything as our resident papers have strict requirements on how long we can be out of the country, renewal, etc. We are simply trusting in the Lord to work out every detail.

Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and friendship. May the Lord bless you.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. We are excited about the New Year and all that the Lord has in store for us. However, we don't want to forget this special time of year where we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of God’s sacrificial gift, we are able to have a relationship with Him. We count it a privilege to serve our Lord.

We hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and we thank you for all the love, support, and prayers.

God Bless,

Jeffrey, Deanna, and Aaron

The team from That All May Know Ministries would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

May we never forget the true meaning of Christmas. God looked upon a sin cursed world and sent His only Son to be born among men, to die for Man, so that you and I could become part of God's eternal family.

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." - Galatians 4:4-5

It is hard to believe that 2009 is almost finished. The year has flown by and so many things have changed around us. With the world economy in focus, a new president inaugurated, tremendous job loss and unemployment data, the death of some famous icons, as well as secrets being unveiled about others, there is always something on the news that changes life as we now it forever. However, as Christians we understand that there is one constant thing in life that we can have comfort in...that our Lord Jesus Christ loves us and is always there for us. The truth that we serve a loving God who would send His only Son to die for you and me is a truth that will forever set us free and give us hope in an ever ailing world. God has a message of hope for the nations that we must deliver to them. There are so many in this world who have no hope.

Our desire is to deliver this "hope" to the people of Spain. We are gearing up for our big "push" that will begin at the start of the new year. In January, we will begin the journey of delivering the Gospel on DVD to 18,500 households. With an average of 3 people per household, approximately 55,500 people will have the chance to watch a very simple, clear, straight forward Gospel Message on their TV or Computer.

The DVD's have been duplicated and are ready. We have been fixing up the building trying to get it ready before we start delivering the DVD's. We are hoping that through the Gospel on DVD project, english classes, and other means of making contacts we will build a core group of people. Once we have this core group of people, we will then hold our inauguration service as a church. That is our plan for now. Pray with us as we try to make a dynamic impact in our city. Pictures of the progress on the building to come.

I read this article on Dave Ramsey's Website and thought I would share it.

"No matter what your budget is this Christmas, remember to be thankful. Take a deep breath in the middle of all this craziness.

You might have a lot. You might have a little. If you are driving a beater, be thankful for that beater. You would rather drive that than walk, wouldn't you? There is always something to be thankful for.

That's what contentment is all about. When you understand and really grasp contentment, it becomes easier to save money and invest. Stress slowly disappears. Budgeting is easier. Relationships improve.

Be happy with what you have. More than three billion people, almost half the world, live on $2.50 a day. Sometimes we need a little perspective to become content with our current situation.

Without contentment, it's easy to be bitter and apathetic. Happiness is sold to us, especially during this time of year. We think if we can just get one more piece of stuff that "true" happiness will be right around the corner.

We say things like, "I'll be happy when I get that house!" or "I'll be happy when I get that new car!" But happiness cannot be bought. Sure fun—in the form of a house, a car, a new LCD television—can be bought, but fun is temporary. True happiness, or contentment, is lasting.

You can get out of debt, save money, and get on a budget, but until you realize that stuff doesn’t bring contentment, you will always feel stressed and unhappy. Contentment brings peace. And isn’t this time of year about bringing "peace on earth and good will toward men"?

Remember what this deal is all about. It's not about trees, lights, gifts, baked hams, and shopping malls. It’s about a little child who was born in a manger and grew up to die on a cross. It’s about peace on earth and good will toward men.

So if the Christmas frenzy is wearing you out, you've missed the point of Christmas. Make a plan with your money, and make a plan to get back in touch with the true meaning of this special day.

You are invited to Dave's Give Like No One Else Christmas at DaveRamsey.com. Daily giveaways and great articles will make you want to check back every day to see what's new."

Dear Co-laborers in Christ,

“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” As Christmas time approaches again, we are reminded of God’s unspeakable gift, the gift of His dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ!  What a joy it is to serve our Lord and Savior and we are so grateful for the free gift of salvation which He gave to us and which we share with the lost here in Spain.  We are excited about having our first Christmas back in Spain after so many years of being away.  We are happy to be able to be part of the Spanish Christmas traditions and to eat all their traditional Christmas foods, but greater than all of these joys is the joy that we will have to share the gift of God with so many of them.  We are almost finished duplicating 18,500 DVD’s which contain a clear presentation of the Gospel and very soon we will be putting them into the mailboxes so that 18.500 households will be able to listen to the Gospel, many for the first time in their lives. We can’t emphasize enough the importance of needing your prayers so that as the people receive these DVD’s they will watch them, listen to the message and that the Holy Spirit will begin a work in their hearts and that many will trust Christ as their personal Savior.  Will you please partner with us to pray for this project?   Our goal is to not only distribute these DVD’s to the city of Parla, but to at least 10 more neighboring cities over the next few years.  We need your prayers and we need money in order to purchase more DVD’s.  Will your help this Christmas Season?

We have a building for our future church! Praise the Lord we have found a building in a strategic area of the city which is on a busy street and only one block away from public transportation.  We have much work to do now in order to get it ready for services.  It is one large room with one small room that we will use for an office.  We are needing at least one more room and so we will be building two walls to form a nice size room.  We also have to install heat and air conditioning.  Then we will fill in holes in the walls, paint, lay carpet and put up a sign on the outside wall.  In January we are planning on starting English classes and piano classes in order to make contacts.  Through these activities, we are praying that the Lord will allow us to share the Gospel with them and that many will be saved.   We are praying that we will be able to open the building for use by the beginning of January.  Please pray with us about this. 

New Contacts! Please pray for new contacts that we have made.  We have neighbors who are from Colombia and they are very much interested in the Gospel.  I have also had the opportunity to witness to several Muslims and have made friends with a Muslim man who lives in our apartment complex. They need Christ!  Will you pray for their salvation?

The Family is Growing! We are very happy to announce the birth of our third grandchild.  Hayden Mikaela Velasquez was born on November 5 and she is our first granddaughter. David and Favianna are thrilled with this special gift from God and Ian is a very proud older brother.  We are so anxious for them to arrive in Spain to help us in the work.  Please pray that they will be able to raise the remaining 40% of their support  in a very short time so that they can join us in the ministry. 

We want to thank all of you for your faithful support over the years.  We have been missionaries for 29 years and God has been faithful in supplying our needs.  He has used you to supply that need.  Thank you for your prayers, letters, gifts and monthly support.  We love and appreciate all of you.  May the Lord richly bless you this coming year as you serve our Lord.

In His Service,                                                                                                                         

Julio and Andrea Velasquez