My husband and I will celebrate our 30th year as missionaries this coming December.
We have served in Spain and Venezuela.  In these two countries we have been able to participate in the start of 3 Baptist churches.  I remember each one of these churches and the excitement we felt as people began attending services, making professions of faith in Jesus Christ and growing in the Lord.  We look back at how these churches are still preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how people are still getting saved and how young men are being called into the ministry from these churches.  There is something very exciting and awesome about beginning a new church!

We are now in the process of beginning again!  A little over one year ago we arrived in Spain once more and moved to the city of Parla.  During this year we have, along with the other members of our team, studied the city, strategized as to how we can reach the city for Christ, rented a building and made the necessary repairs to use it for services.  We have also done a lot of praying, planning and preparing.  In April we finally opened the doors to our building to begin having Sunday morning services.  At that point we had one lady who came faithfully every Sunday.  She has been a real blessing in our church as every week she witnesses to people she meets and invites them to our services.  She is very excited about seeing the work grow.  Right now we are laying the groundwork for the ministry.  We are evangelizing the city, trying to share the Gospel with every person in the city of Parla.    As with past experiences in starting churches, we know that if we do what God has told us to do, then He will bring the increase.

We are excited, just like we were 30 years ago when we first began our missionary endeavors.  We don’t know how fast the work will grow, who will get saved, who will remain in the church serving God, who will be called into the ministry, but we know that God is going to do His work here.  We are just vessels to be used by God to do His work of planting the seed of the Word of God.  Then God will give the harvest. 
How exciting it was when two months ago a man entered the church to find out who we are.  That man has since, come faithfully every Sunday, brought his wife and son and three weeks ago, trusted Christ as His Savior.  Two weeks ago, a middle aged lady came to know Christ as her Savior in her home while we were visiting with her.  These are the firstfruits of the work in Parla.  How exciting!  Already we can see some new contacts whom we are working with and who seem interested in knowing more about God.  We are using all the means we can to get the Gospel into homes, through DVD’s, tracts, billboards, webpages, newspapers, etc.  We are beginning to see fruit and it is the most exciting experience that a servant of God can feel.  This is just the beginning of what God is going to do.  We have the same promise that God gave to the apostle Paul in Acts 18:9-10, “..Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.”