Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him...” (Heb. 11:6) I was reminded of this passage of Scripture the other day during a mission’s conference that we were attending. I could hear myself repeating a phrase that I had uttered many times before but on this occasion something was very different. Someone from the church had asked me when we were planning on going to the field and I said, “Well, we would like to be on the field in one more year.” In that moment the Holy Spirit began convicting my heart of my lack of faith. I realized that it was time to make plans to leave for Spain this year. So after much prayer and planning we have set our departure date for December 1st, 2010. We have over one hundred churches to visit from now until December. We are thrilled to announce that since our last prayerletter we have had eight new churches take us on for support and we are currently at 71% of our needed support.

For this letter we have some very specific prayer requests that we want to share with you. Because we have set our departure date for eight months from now we have already begun the process to obtain our visas for Spain. Please pray that this process will go smoothly. It is very time-consuming and stressful at times but we trust God for the visas as well as the support. Favianna will have to go to Peru very soon to pick up some documents that we will need for the visa process. My wife is really excited because she will be able to say goodbye to her family in Peru before we go to Spain. Also, continue praying for our daughter. She has to go see the cardiologist in August. It would be such a blessing to know that she is improving and that the hole in her heart is closing on its own.

As we approach this final stage of our deputation we would like to thank all of you for taking the time to read our prayerletters and follow along with us in this amazing journey to Spain. Thank you for holding the ropes for us with your support and prayers. God has given us a big vision for Spain. We ask God every day to give us the privilege of being used of Him to shake up a nation with the gospel. We have a great job ahead of us but we know that if the task was impossible He wouldn’t have commanded us to accomplish it. Because this is such a special time in our lives we want to begin sending prayerletters every month until we arrive on the field. We want to allow you to see how God is going to answer our prayers in the next eight months. Based on the average support that we have been receiving we only need about 33 more churches to partner with us to reach Spain. We have visited over 200 churches since we started our deputation and we have another 100 yet to visit. We only need a small percentage of those 300 churches to join with us and we will reach our goal very quickly. Would you consider partnering with us to evangelize Spain in our generation? God Bless.

Reaching Spain for Christ,

The Velasquez Family

Psalm 103:2, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:” Most of the time when we think of benefits or blessings, we think of all the good things that happen to us. When something good happens or when times are good we say how much the Lord has blessed us. Does that mean that during times of crisis and hardship and when things aren’t as good, that the Lord is not blessing us or is even punishing us? Is our perspective of blessing and benefit the same as God’s perspective? Psalm 103 gives great perspective of what God’s blessings and benefits really are. Notice a few verses: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;” His forgiveness, healing power, redeeming power, lovingkindness and tender mercies are examples of his benefits and blessings to us. Because he has saved us, redeemed us and shown us loving kindness and mercy, we are blessed beyond measure. Even in the midst of crisis and heartache, we can remember the benefits that he gives to us.

I briefly want to mention 4 things in our life and ministry.

1. The Building

For the most part, the building is done. Because there are several things I want to mention in this letter, I will save the pictures for the next letter. Also, check out our blog at: www.thatallmayknow.net as I will be posting pictures of the building soon. We will open the building to the public very soon.

2. New Ministry Website

I wanted to mention a new website that I have created. This website has articles about the Bible, family, salvation, etc. so that unbelievers can learn more about the Bible. There are also Bible studies that they can download and do on their own. I have also put up a form where they can request a Bible and a personal one on one Bible study. My original goal for this website was to use it as a tool in helping to build a contact base as we plant our church. My vision was to one day see it reaching other Spanish Speaking countries. Since the inception of the website (about 2 1/2 months ago) I have received several requests per week from about 10 or 11 different Spanish Speaking countries outside of Spain. I am amazed at how the Lord is using this site. Here is the website: http://estudialabiblia.com/

3. Baptism

On Feb 7th, I was able to administer my first ever baptism. Not only was I able to do my first baptism, but one of the people being baptized was my own son. It was a great joy to baptize my son as he demonstrated his obedience to the Lord through baptism. He understood that baptism is not part of salvation, but a step of obedience toward our Lord that represents His death, burial, and resurrection. You can view the baptism here: http://www.thatallmayknow.net/blog/My-First-Baptism-Feb.-07-2010.html

4. Adoption

Our adoption process has been moving along. The Lord has taken us down a winding road and we are now in the process of a domestic adoption. We had to come back to the States for a few weeks to do a Home Study. We have basically been approved and our now in the waiting stage. Please continue to pray for the Lord’s direction upon each step of this process. You can stay up to date with what is happening by going here: http://www.thespiritofadoption.org/