It is a privilege to serve the Lord.  We feel honored that each day He allows us to glorify His name.

Adoption

I wanted to give an update on our adoption since so many people have asked us how it is going.  We are still in the process of adopting and waiting to get the call or email informing us that we will have a new addition to the family.  We have had some possibilities which have been exciting.  We have had about 4 opportunities so far where we were able to present our profile and allow the mother to consider our family.  So far, none of these opportunities have worked out but the Lord continues to give us other opportunities which is exciting.  Right now there are two possibilities that we are praying about.  Things are moving along and we ask that you would continue to pray that the Lord would give us the right child at the right time.

Ministry

We have enjoyed being able to share what the Lord has done in our ministry in Spain.  We appreciate the investment that each church has made.  We have thoroughly enjoyed seeing old friends and people that we met years ago.  Many of the churches have been really excited about what the Lord is doing in Spain.  We have been in some great churches and appreciate their heart for missions.  I have found that furlough is a great time as it allows you to step away from the ministry and revaluate what is going on and how you can better things for the future.

The ministry continues to move along.  The team in Spain is carrying on and doing a wonderful job.  As most of you know, we were able to complete our evangelistic projects.  The church had been open a little over a year and we have been able to make the Gospel available to our entire city 2 times.  We are excited about that and we have seen much fruit.  At the heart of our ministry is life on life discipleship, training, and church planting.  We have some great people in our church and it is a joy to see men coming to Christ and expressing the desire to grow and serve the Lord.  Our desire is to seed Spain with the Gospel and see more churches planted for His glory.  

The church has been growing during our absence.  When we left for furlough, the church had grown to an average of around 25 people.  Over the past couple of months, the church has grown to average around 35-40 people!  The last two Sundays, there were 48 and 49 people, respectively, in attendance!  Praise the Lord for His goodness!  One of the young men that I have had the privilege of working with and building a relationship with since before he came to Christ has expressed interest in the possibility of being a Pastor or Missionary one day if the Lord so leads.  We are so thrilled to see people who knew not God, coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and expressing the desire to know Him and His Word more and serve Him in the ministry.  That’s what it’s all about!  

Family

Furlough is always a wonderful time because you get to enjoy a lot of family time.  Aaron has thoroughly enjoyed traveling to many different places and meeting new people.  However, one of the things that has been a real blessing is Aaron’s willingness to participate in the ministry.  Since we have been back, Aaron has been able to sing with Deanna and minister to the churches through song.  Check out the video of Aaron singing by clicking here.  We praise the Lord for allowing our family to serve Him!

Thank you for your prayers, support, and love!

When we arrived in Spain nine months ago after finishing our deputation I was finally able to witness first-hand the wonderful reports that I had heard from the team about the church that had recently been started. God was doing a work in Parla, Madrid and it was evident! The church had been started a few months earlier and already souls had been saved and people baptized (every person that was saved, was baptized and was faithfully attending church services). It was great to arrive on the mission field and immediately get involved in the work of the ministry. One thing that quickly caught my attention was the fact that the church was comprised primarily of men and that the men were showing the greatest desire to grow and learn. That is still the case today. As a matter of fact in two weeks we will be starting our first official men's meeting (the guys are really excited). In most churches the women talk like crazy, but in our church it's the men that can't stop talking and the wives have to finally beg the men to leave. I think that's great. If there's one thing that we need in our churches today is godly men. In order to train leaders and start churches we desperately need men. 

I believe, and this is really what I would like to emphasize, that one of the reasons that men are showing such an interest in the things of God is because of the multiple witnesses in the church to the truth of the gospel. This, to me, is one of the great benefits of working as a team. From day one, anyone that visits the church has the opportunity to see that the gospel has impacted the lives of multiple families, in different life stages, from different backgrounds. This is especially true when it comes to men. As soon as the first men began to get saved they had other men with which to fellowship and share their lives. 

My father was born in Peru into a Catholic home and was saved in his twenties. Jeff was born in the U.S.  but didn't grow up in a Christian home and was also saved in his twenties. I was saved at a young age but something caused me to want to continue serving God even after I moved out from under my parent's roof. You see, it’s one thing for one man to preach week after week about the power of the gospel, it's another thing entirely for three men coming from different backgrounds to attest to the same truths. Once again, I am not saying that it is wrong to do missions alone. As a matter of fact, most of the missionaries I know have done it alone. I simply want to share the blessing of having multiple witnesses to the glorious truths found in God's Word. I have found that it has been very easy for men to integrate in our little church as a result of our team. Also, this models what we would like to see in the future as the church in Parla produces other churches. We want to give them the opportunity to start churches as a team where they will also have multiple witnesses to the truth. I think that is what we see in the gospels as Christ sent the twelve and the seventy in pairs. We see it clear as day when the Holy Spirit (men didn't come up with the team concept) commanded Paul and Barnabas to be sent out. I believe one of the reasons for the birth of corporate missions in the New Testament was to have several witnesses to the truth that the gospel is real and it changes lives. 

Dear Praying friends, family, and churches:

FURLOUGH IS HERE!

We have arrived in the States and have started visiting churches. We are currently at Beacon Baptist Church, the church where I was saved, baptized and called into full-time ministry. We were able to give an update about our ministry and we have been able to spend a few extra days here while Aaron attends their VBS. The people are so kind and loving and we are so glad to be here.

We will be traveling much during our time here. We will be as far south as South Florida, as far north as Maine and as far west as California. We are looking forward to visiting every church that has scheduled with us and being able to give an update on what God is doing in Spain.

MINISTRY

The Lord continues to work in Spain and continues to amaze us each day. We are almost done with our “Bible in every home” project. We have been able to put Bibles in over 35,000 homes in our city. Just as a reminder, the “Bible in Every Home Project” is a project where our goal is to get a John and Romans into every home in our city. We have made up a packet that consists of a John and Romans, a gospel tract, and an invitation to our church. Pray that God will continue to penetrate the hearts and lives of the people in Spain as they receive the Word of God!

On June 12th, we had a special service and we called it “Friend Day.” We encouraged all of our people to invite at least one friend or family member. We planned many special things for the service including special music, several video testimonies and some video interviews that we recorded the week before of the people in our city. David, my brother-in-law, preached a message titled “How good is good enough” based on the premise that if we use the standard that all good people will go to Heaven, that idea presents us with many problems. It was a great day as many visitors came out and we had a high day of 50 people. Our people were very excited and each one had an integral part in making that day a success.

It is exciting to see our people growing in Christ. At the heart of our ministry is the aspect of reproduction. Our goal is to disciple and train others to do the work of the ministry and for them to continue to reproduce themselves and teach others to do the same. We have seen our people grow through one on one discipleship and we are preparing them to be able to disciple others. We have implemented this on a small scale as I was able to train Eduardo, one of the men in our church, to take over the media while I am gone. He does a great job and it doesnʼt even feel like I am gone. However, we didnʼt stop there. Eduardo has also trained another man in our church named, Juan, how to do the media. So on a small scale, we have seen 2 Timothy 2:2 put into action and we are so amazed at what God is doing in our church.

We sincerely thank you for your prayers and support and look forward to seeing many of you soon!

We will be taking our first-ever furlough and we are very excited about reporting of what God has done in the work here.  We have made a video presentation to show in our churches.  This is a glance of what God is doing in Spain.

You can also view our presentation that we used before we came to Spain. It shows our burden for Spain and what we planned to do. You can view that by clicking on the link below.

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

My husband and I have been missionaries for 30 years in Spain and Venezuela.  We have tried many ways of reaching people with the Gospel.  Some of the ways have worked, others not.  Two years ago we returned to Spain to work as a team with our children and their spouses.   As we serve the Lord over many years, there is a tendency to keep on doing things the same way.  We think our way is the only way.  We are so excited that God has allowed us to be part of a team in which each member is excited about doing a work for God and is attempting to try new methods to reach lost souls for Christ.  Since they are young, they understand how this generation thinks and what things will make them interested in hearing the Gospel.  We live in the city of Parla, with approximately 120,000 people.  We are committed to making sure that every person in this city has an opportunity to hear the Gospel many times. 

Last year we produced a Gospel DVD and put one of them in every home in Parla (over 38,000).  This year we are handing out Gospels of John and Romans along with a Gospel tract and an invitation to our church.   We would like to put some piece of literature or DVD into every home every year so that people know that we exist, where we are  and that we want them to know Christ.   We also have a webpage where people can readarticles on the Bible and see a Gospel presentation.  We have also put a monthly advertisement of our ministry in a local newspaper that reaches all of our city.  The Lord has also allowed us to rent a billboard at the entrance to our city with an advertisementto our church.  Our job is to share the Gospel with everyone.  We leave the results up to God.  So far 2 families have come and been saved and baptized because they received the Gospel DVD, one family has been saved after finding our webpage and another family came because of the Gospel of John and Romans that they received in their mailbox.  It is exciting to see what God is doing.  We will keep on trying every method to reach Parla and other cities with the Gospel.

Discipleship truly transformed our ministry many years ago.  30 years ago as new missionaries we did not know much about Biblical discipleship.  Of course when people got saved we would help them as much as possible in their spiritual growth and we would encourage them to be faithful to church so that they would hear the teaching and preaching of the Word of God.  But so many of the believers would get discouraged or would start causing division or would leave the church and take others with them.  We had fruit, but that fruit would not remain.  During our  second furlough we were in one of our supporting churches that showed us Biblical discipleship and how to do it.  We went back to Spain for our third term excited about trying discipleship.  What a change.  Our ministry began to grow, Christians were maturing in the things of God, they had a desire to serve God and we truly began to see fruit that remained and still remains til this day.  These mature believers were then ready to become leaders and we trained them in our Bible Institute and  many of them are serving the Lord as missionaries and pastors today.  When we moved to Venezuela we immediately began discipling new believers and the same thing happened.  We left a church in Valencia with mature Christians that have a desire to serve God with their lives and the church is growing and thriving even today.  Since returning to Spain, we have made discipleship a vital part of our ministry.  Since we are working as a team we have more people to disciple the new believers and we are able to spend valuable time with each one of them and help them grow in the Lord. The material you use is not the key, but the time spent with these new believers, teaching them the Bible, praying for them, helping them through their spiritual growth, answering questions, visiting them and inviting them to our house.  We make it our responsibility to make sure that the person we are discipling becomes a mature servant of Christ and that he or she knows the Word of God and is able to disciple other new Christians.  Our next goal will be to take their training to the next level and begin preparing leaders for the ministry.  We pray that God will help us to train pastors and missionaries to continue the work here in Spain and around the world. 

Dear Co-laborers in Christ,

As we begin our 31st year serving as missionaries, we have to say that each year gets sweeter and more exciting. We are not tired, but energized as we see people come to Christ, grow in the Lord and desire to serve Him. We continually receive good news from people who have been saved in our first ministry here in Spain and also those saved in Venezuela and we praise God for how He continues His work in those places.

The work here in Parla is growing numerically and spiritually. In March we were able to baptize 5 converts. In April we began distributing packets of John and Romans along with a Gospel tract and an invitation to our church. The following Sunday a young couple came to the church and said that they were saved, but were praying that God would show them a good church where they could worship and serve God. Their names are Joao and Raquel Goncalves. Joao is from Portugal and his wife from Brazil and they have not stopped attending the services. They are now taking discipleship classes and getting involved in every ministry in the church. Recently Paco and Eduardo finished their discipleship classes and their wives will be finishing soon.

We have been preaching the last few Sundays on discipleship, reaching souls for Christ and that each person needs to be involved in the Lordʼs work. Last Sunday was very special to us because after the service we had lunch at the church and then everyone stayed to help staple our Bible packets together in order to pass them out into the houses in Parla. Everyone participated. They were at the church for 6 hours working with joy in their hearts and sharing sweet fellowship. It was a blessed time for us to see how much these new believers have grown in the Lord! One year ago there were 7 people in the church and now there are 24! God has done great things!

Every day we make sure that someone is at the church during the day so that if anyone wants to know more about the Bible or our church we are there for them. Every day somebody comes into the church with questions and we are able to share the Gospel with them. Please pray for some of these people, Piedad, Blanca, Susana and Francisco. Also continue praying for the salvation of Javier who I visit in the prison once a month. In April and May we were able to distribute 27,000 Gospel packets into the homes of Parla. Lord willing we will finish the remaining 13,000 this month. Pray that we will see fruit from this outreach. Thank you for your many prayers and financial support. We praise God for you very day. May each of us keep on working for Christ till He comes!

In His Service,

Julio and Andrea Velasquez

Dear Praying friends, family, and churches:

FURLOUGH PLANS

I would like to announce again that we will be taking a FURLOUGH this year starting in the summer.  We are planning on being in the states from the summer through the fall.  Many churches have responded since our last prayer letter and our schedule is filling up fast.  If any church would like for us to come and give an update about our ministry, please let us know.  If you have contacted us by one of the methods listed and I have not responded, this means I have not received your request.  Please contact me, preferably by email, with your request.  We have provided a form with this prayer letter that you can mail back to our overseas address or you can email me at the following address:  jefe40472@gmail.com.  You can also go to the web address below and contact us via the form that is available there. 

http://www.thatallmayknow.net/furlough

We would also like to make our supporting churches aware that we will be trying to raise more support while we are back.  Due to the economy and churches that have dropped us or who have lowered our support, we have lost almost 10% of our support since we arrived in Spain.  We need to gain back this loss.  If some of our supporting churches were able to raise our support a little, we would not have to seek out too many new churches.  We are certain that the Lord will provide for this need. 

MINISTRY

The Lord continues to work in our midst.  In our last prayer letter, we mentioned that we finished the Gospel DVD project.  We were able to place a Gospel DVD into every household in our city.  We have now started a new project.  It is called “A Bible in Every Home.”  Bearing Precious Seed donated 50,000 copies of John and Romans to our ministry.  We are placing a copy of the John and Romans, a Gospel Tract, and an invitation to our church in each household.  We have already been able to get the Bible packets into over 13,300 households.  After the first week of doing the Bible project, we had a family visit our church.  They said that they were on vacation and during their vacation they decided to get serious about finding a church.  They prayed that the Lord would direct them to a church.  When they returned home, they checked their mail and they told us that the Bible packet was sitting in their mailbox.  Countless others have received the Word of God and a clear presentation of the Gospel. 
On March 27th, we had our third baptism.  We were able to baptize 5 people.  It was an exciting time in the life of our ministry.  Paco and Veronica, a Spanish couple who recently received Christ as their Savior were baptized.  Carlos, who gave his life to the Lord several weeks earlier, was baptized.  His wife Olenka, who placed her faith in Christ a couple of years earlier was baptized and Angie, who has struggled with the issue of baptism for many years, surrendered her will to the Lord and was baptized.  Each person mentioned is also getting one on one, life on life discipleship.  We praise the Lord for all that He is doing in our midst and we thank our supporting churches for making all of this possible. 

Last night was a very special night for our church.  Our church has been open for bible studies and services for almost a year and we have seen God do some wonderful things.  It amazes us how God continues to work in the hearts and lives of people.

Last night, we were able to baptize 5 people.  Around 30 people came to the baptism from our church including friends and family members of the ones getting baptized.  I wish I could go through each person's life and their story in detail of how they came to this point.  It has truly been a work of God. 

If you watch the video below, you will meet Angie, the wife of Eduardo.  Eduardo found our website www.estudialabiblia.com.  He typed in a google search engine, "What is the true religion?"  Our website was the first one to pop up.  He read the info, watched the video, and requested a Bible.  We delivered the Bible to Eduardo and he eventually trusted Christ as his Savior.  His wife, Angie, didn't want to have anything to do with us at first.  However, God began to work in her heart and we found out that she had made a profession of faith but had been turned off by a group in Paraguay.  Above all, she was turned off because of their radical and unscriptural teachings on Baptism.  We knew that only God could work in her heart about following Him in this step of obedience.  Amazingly, God did do a work and much sooner then we thought.  Angie told Deanna while they were studying the Bible that she realized she needed to be obedient to God and take this step of obedience.  How wonderful it was to see her baptized. 

You will also meet Paco, a Spaniard who came to one of our services and then left before it was over.  We never though we would see him again but he came back the next week.  We, later, found out that he came because he received our Gospel DVD in his mailbox.  He never missed a service.  Eventually he brought his wife and family.  A couple of months ago, Paco repented of his sins and placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have seen so much fruit in his life.  He has a hunger for the Word of God. 

Carlos came to our church with his wife Olenka in November of 2010.  Carlos has always been a skeptic.  After each message, Carlos would question things that were said and things that the Bible said.  However, he kept coming back.  Slowly but surely, the Holy Spirit worked on his heart until finally he surrendered his will to the Lord.  If you listen to his testimony you will hear a clear understanding of salvation and how he is willing to be used of the Lord. 

Veronica is the wife of Paco.  Paco first attended the church for many weeks and then she finally came.  One day while my father-in-law was over at their house, Veronica said to him, "I would like for you to explain to me the subject of Salvation.  I have seen such a change in Paco, I would like to know what this is all about."  My father-in-law explained it to her and she trusted in the Lord.  How awesome it is to have a husband and wife following the Lord and starting a family as believers. 

Olenka came with her husband Carlos.  She trusted the Lord earlier in her life but was never taught about baptism.  She has seen her husband turn from a skeptic to a believer and has grown in the Lord herself through the teaching and preaching of God's Word and one on one discipleship.  Once presented with scriptural baptism, she made the decision to follow Him out of obedience. 

What a wonderful night.  It is a very exciting time in our ministry and we pray that the Lord will continue to work in our ministry here in Spain.  ENJOY THE VIDEO BELOW!

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends, 

It wasn’t too long ago that I was sitting in my office in Atlanta imagining myself in Spain. I am so thankful that I am now exactly where God wants me to be. As a teenager I wanted to go back to Spain but never as a missionary. I had bought into the lie that the work could never really be done in this dark place. I wanted to go someplace were I could be a “successful” missionary. God began to work in my heart and gave me the desire and the vision to go back to my people and attempt great things for His glory. I’m not saying that it’s easy but God has not given up on Spain or Europe for that matter. He is still at work and I have seen it first-hand. In the short time that I have been here I have witnessed God do amazing things and I get goose bumps when I think of the possibilities for the future. He is able.

In February we have been busy getting things ready for our next project, “a Bible in every home.” In the container that I brought from the States we were able to load 50,000 John and Romans that were graciously given to us by Bearing Precious Seed in Ohio. We have placed a beautiful invitation to our church along with a gospel tract in every Bible and we plan to saturate the city once again with the gospel. As a direct result of our Gospel DVD project we have seen 3 people get saved. We are excited to see what God will do through this new endeavor.

Do you remember that I asked for you to pray for Paco’s wife? Last month during a Bible study in her home my parents were able to lead her to Christ. Also, Carlos and Olenka (the Peruvian couple that came as a result of the DVD) have been saved. What a blessing! So far everyone that has been saved has been immediately involved in a discipleship relationship. I say relationship, because we firmly believe that discipleship is much more than just a series of lessons, it’s developing a relationship with someone and helping them to grow and mature in the Lord. We accomplish that by following Christ’s example when he trained the twelve. We want to train people who will train others. In two weeks we will have three more people baptized. So far just about everyone that is faithfully attending the services heard the gospel and was saved in our church. That encourages and humbles us because we know that God is already using our church to impact Parla with the gospel. 

As you can see, your prayers and faithful support are not in vain. You have already had a part in souls that have turned from  darkness to light. Thank you for your generosity. We know that God is doing the work and to Him be the glory and praise! Pray for my neighbors, Carlos and Monica as well as Juan and Asuncion. We are developing a relationship with them and we hope to see them saved. May God richly bless you.