APRIL PRAYERLETTER

Dear Co-laborers in Christ,

I

t is with deep appreciation that we write this letter this month to all of our supporting churches. Many of you have faithfully supported our ministry and have fervently prayed for us for many years.  At the same time we now have many new churches who are supporting our ministry and we are thankful for all of you who have been sensitive to God’s leading in your lives to hold the ropes for us so we can do the ministry in Spain that God has called us to do. 

The month of March was a very busy and emotional month for us.  We spent the month packing boxes and purchasing household items that we will need in Spain.  On the 28th of March a group of men from our home church, Pleasant Hill Baptist church, including our pastor Lamar Rackley,  came to our house and helped us load a 40 ft. container to ship to Spain.  We are so grateful for all the hard work that these men did in spite of the heavy rain that fell that day. 

On March 11 we had the special joy of attending our son David’s ordination to the ministry.  I was able to give the charge and our pastor led the ordination.  Several pastors and missionaries, including 3 from his own family, helped in the ordination.   We are praying for him that God will continue guiding him as he tries to raise his support to go to Spain also. 



In His Service,


Julio and Andrea Velasquez

This past Saturday and Sunday we had our missions conference.  This little church supports 12 missionaries at 75 to 100 Euro a month.  They gave over 11,000 Euros to missions for 2008.  On Saturday, we had an international dinner with some great food from many different countries.  Spain, Peru, Columbia, Equador, Paraguay, the USA, and more were represented.  The food was great and Bro. Jack challenged us from the Word of God about our responsibility for missions.  The most exciting part was that we had 8 first-time visitors during the two day conference.

I was finally able to get all the videos up from our special meetings that we had for Semana Santa (Holy Week).  You can watch the entire service or you can watch the service in two parts, the music specials and the preaching.  To view the videos go here:

http://iglesiabautistavr.com/index.php/semana-santa.html

I trust you all had a wonderful "Resurrection Day."  However, for Christians, every Sunday is a great reminder of the awesome resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

We held special services for Semana Santa (Holy Week).  On Saturday night, my father-in-law Julio Velasquez, preached a message on the crucifiction of Christ.  It was a good service and the Lord blessed.  

Sunday morning, we had a special program and mini drama.  The young people dressed up in robes and told the story of the death of Christ and his resurrection.  We also had several choir specials and then Jack Loveday preached.  

On Sunday night, we had a choir special, special music, and then I preached on the awesome love that God has for us and His message to the Church at Ephesus who left their first love and then his message to the church at Laodicea who were lukewarm.  

All and all the services went well and we give the honor and glory to the Lord.  In a few days, I will be posting the videos of the services.  I will let you know when they are ready.  

AS I PROMISED, I have some video from one of the processions that they do here during Semana Santa.  It is really sad to watch.  The whole procession is very dreary and sad.  We have reason to celebrate because Jesus Christ is RISEN and ALIVE!!!  If you notice the second to last video that I posted, the procession ends with Mary in all her glory.  It was the most elaborte and decorated of all.  You can view the videos on our video page.     

http://www.thatallmayknow.net/video-page.html

In Spain, this week is Semana Santa or Holy Week.  Most of the people will be off from work and will use this week as vacation.  Here in Spain, there will be many processions and religious events depicting the death of Christ.  Lord willing, I will be getting some pictures or video of some of it and will be posting more about this in the next few days.  It is sad to see this because most of this signifies the work that they feel they have to do as penitence for their sins.  Some will even afflict themselves physically as punishment to themselves.  What we are here to tell them is that they can have forgiveness for their sins through the work that Christ has already done on the Cross.  By trusting in Him, they can have eternal life and eternal forgiveness of sin.  

Pray for the special meetings that we will be having this weekend.  They will start saturday night.  My father-in-law will be preaching Saturday night.  Then Bro. Jack Loveday will be preaching Sunday morning and I will be preaching Sunday Night.  Please pray for these services.   

Since Deanna's parents have arrived, we have been busy from morning until evening running around, looking for apartments, doing paperwork, etc.  The days have been very productive.  They were able to begin their paperwork and they got an appointment scheduled in 2 weeks to submit their papers.  This is amazing considering it normally takes 2 months to get the appointment.

We found a great apartment the other day.  Everyone fell in love with it.  It was a nice size place (for Spain standards) and it had a patio and a yard which is very rare here.  The price was reasonable and it comes with several appliances that noramlly aren't included.  The owner mentioned that he liked Deanna's parents the best out of any of the other potiential renters that have looked at the apartment.  When we went to the agency that handles the rental agreements, they told us that they may not be able to accept them because they do not hold a job here in Spain.  The reason being if they were to default on there agreement, this agency could actually go directly to the tenants workplace and take the money owed by the tenant.  This was odd to use since Deanna and I went through the same agency and they approved us.  The agency still took their information and said they would review it.  Please help us pray that they get accepted.  This is a very nice place at a reasonable cost, especially for all that it has, and they really like it.  Moreover, the container that was shipped is suppose to be here in 2 1/2 weeks and if they don't have a place, a storage unit will have to be rented and it will make things much more difficult.  

Tomorrow is another day to accomplish many things.  We praise the Lord for the opportunity to be here and to serve Him.  It is an honor to be God's servant and to be doing His will.  

Since Julio and Andrea Velasquez have arrived, we have been busy looking for apartments, doing paperwork, opening a bank account, etc.  We have gotten a lot accomplished in the past few days.  We have also been able to drive around the city and look at areas that might be possible places to start a church.  We have been able to talk from time to time about how, when, where, etc. we want to start the work.  It has been exciting and we are looking forward to getting things going.  In just a few moments, we will be heading downtown to present their papers.  Pray that the process goes smoothly.