I wonder how many of us are truly happy.  With the circumstances in our life and all that is happening right now, can we say that we are truly happy? 
When you deal with people, it is amazing to find out the details of people’s lives and what they go through.  Our lives are so different then other people’s lives.  Over the last few months I have been able to sit and listen to the different struggles that Eduardo and Stefan are going through.  As they were talking, it hit me that two guys from two different places in the world, totally different backgrounds, have similar situations and God has brought them to us and wants to use us to be a help in their lives. 
I realized as they talked that I have never, ever one day in my life wondered were my next meal would come from.  I have always had the security of knowing that I would eat the next day.  As these two struggle for work, they both still have food, but wonder how long it will last. 
I have never lived in a place where I couldn’t pay my rent or mortgage payment, waiting for the bank to kick me out.  Both live in apartments that have a significant amount of debt left to pay and with no job, one of them has stopped paying altogether just waiting for the bank to kick them out. 
I have never had to deal with a spouse who either flat out tells me I am worth nothing and I need to leave, or who gets on me for little things when I try to help out around the house, only out of spite and bitterness.  Both of these men, who have given their hearts to the Lord, are now dealing with issues from their spouse.  This has made me appreciate Deanna more then ever and appreciate what God has done in our lives.  One of the men was telling me that he will make the bed and clean the house trying to win his wife over and she will complain that he didn’t make the bed right or clean the house good enough. 
With all of these problems and more, both of these men have stated that they would suffer the rest of their lives if they had to in order to please God and that they are truly happy.  They are truly happy because God has saved them and their lives are different. 
I wonder if we can say that we are truly happy. 

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends, 

 “...Ye sent once and again unto my necessity (Phil. 4:16) As we near the end of our  deputation journey I want to praise God for His provision in our lives. In the midst of this  recession the Lord has used many of you to meet our needs. We have lacked nothing and our faith in God has been greatly strengthened. Since our last letter we have had three new churches partner with us and we are currently at 87% of our needed support! We have another 17 churches to visit before our departure. 

We have wonderful news! Last month we received a call from the Spanish Consulate and they informed us that my visa has been approved. We are still waiting for Favi’s visa as well as the kids’ but mine was certainly the most important. That day we purchased our tickets and so we have an official departure date. We are leaving for Spain November 29, 2010. 

Every day our team members inform us about what God is already doing in Spain and we can’t wait to join them. Since we started the gospel DVD project in Parla we have distributed 31,008 DVD’s. We know that people are watching them because several have called or  visited our ministry website after receiving the DVD’s in their homes. Many have requested free Bibles which has allowed our team to share the gospel with people that are already      interested. It gives us such joy to realize that thousands have been evangelized as a direct result of this project. Please pray for Paco. He is a Spaniard that showed up at the church  because he had received a DVD in his mailbox. He is searching for the truth and is hearing the gospel every week. Since August, an average of 20 people have been visiting the church each week. The last Sunday in October two new converts will be baptized. Continue praying for Eduardo. He is a young man that contacted my parents after searching on the internet the phrase, “What is the true religion?” That search led him to our gospel website. He visited the church and trusted Christ as his personal Savior. He is a sponge and is growing in the Lord every day.  

We only need approximately 15 more supporters and we will reach our goal. What’s     awesome is that God called us so we know He will provide. We are leaving for Spain in 47 days regardless of our level of support. It will be exciting to see how God provides. Would you consider partnering with us as we attempt great things for God in Spain? “Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that  may abound to your account.” (Phil 4:17) God Bless.

We are amazed at how God is providing for our Setup Fund. Last month we recieved gifts from two churches and two individuals. So what we still need to raise is as follows:

Container: $3,500.00 ($2,500.00 already raised. Praise the Lord!)

3 Airplane Tickets: We bought the Tickets! 

1 month of rent: $1,200.00 (We have found a home to rent and have put 2 months down already but we still need to pay one more month in advance when we arrive in Spain)

Vehicle:$6,500.00 ($500.00 already raised. Praise the Lord! We found out that cars are not as expensive as we first thought so we have reduced the total amount we need)

If you would like to be a part of helping us with our Setup Fund please send all gifts to:

David Velasquez

c/o M.W.B.M

P.O. Box 519

Braselton, GA 30517

Designated to:

006 Shipping/Travel

Several years ago when I was eleven I had the privilege of attending a mission’s conference in Houston, TX that greatly impacted my life. The guest speaker for the week of the conference was Dr. David Gibbs. During one of the preaching services Dr. Gibbs brought a message that I will never forget. As a matter of fact it really affected our whole family in a positive way. The title of his sermon that night was, “What is your cause?” He began by describing how many different causes we find in this world and how people are investing all of their time, energy and resources for their particular cause. Then he directed the message towards the congregation and asked the question, “what is your cause? You see as Christians we have the greatest cause to be alive on this earth and we find that cause clearly expressed in the Word of God. No Christian ought to go through life wondering what life is all about. Only one cause is truly worth living for and that is to live for Him which died for us and rose again. If we truly have the greatest Cause on earth as believers, what sacrifices are we making for our cause? I think what convicted me the most about the message I heard that night was when Dr. Gibbs began to share how he had determined to read the Bible in its entirety every month. That means that he was reading the Bible twelve times a year. At first I was in disbelief. I thought, “How could you possibly do something like that? You would have to spend your whole day reading the Bible. It’s amazing how when you do the math it really isn’t that hard. You would only have to read the Bible for a little more than an hour a day and you would reach your monthly goal. He challenged all of us to try it. He said that when you read the Bible in that way you will find that some interesting things will happen to you. Well, I went home and tried it and sure enough I felt like never before. I could hardly think of anything else except the Word of God. It was as though I could see the Scriptures in front of my eyes at all times. I wish I could tell you that I have read the Bible every month since then but I would be lying. It’s so easy to get involved with other things and just flippantly skim through the Bible. But the question remains the same, “what is your cause?” Maybe I should rephrase the question, “are we living our lives as though we had a cause?” What do we spend most of our time doing? What consumes the majority of our energy? Where do we spend the majority of our money? What do we think about the most? Whatever that may be is ultimately our cause.

I wanted to share some wonderful news with all of you!  The Lord has answered our prayers. I got a call from the Spanish Consulate today and the lady told me that they have approved my residency visa. I have until December 30^th to leave the country (we are planning to leave much sooner than that). Believe me, I’m ready to go! Don’t get me wrong I have enjoyed deputation but everything has a time and a season and right now I am in Spain mode. I have 32 wonderful churches to visit from now till then and we have complete faith in God that we will have all of our support raised by our departure date. As a matter of fact we are currently at 86% of our needed support. They haven’t approved everybody’s visas yet but the lady told me that they should be ready in about two more weeks. I am so amazed at how God has opened every door for us. During the end of March of this year we really felt the Lord leading us to step out by faith and set a departure date. At that point we were at 66% of our support. In just 5 months our support has increased by 20%. Also, we have been praying that the Lord would supply the money that we need for our Setup Fund. Just in these past two days we have had 2 churches and 1 individual give towards our Setup Fund. The amount that they have generously given is exactly what we need to purchase our tickets. We are seriously considering leaving for the field November 29^th, 2010. That is 2 days earlier than we had originally planned. You can’t imagine how excited we are. I would ask that you pray for the rest of the visas to be approved shortly. We really feel great peace in our hearts because we know that right now we are in the center of God’s will. Amen. 

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,

“For from you sounded out the word of the Lord...so that we need not to speak anything.” (1 Thessalonians 1:8) Most of you have noticed that our website is www.thatallmayknow.net. We have named our ministry in Spain thatallmayknow ministries. The reason that we have chosen this theme is because we believe that this is ultimately God’s heartbeat. Our team members have recently started a church in Parla, Madrid with the vision to aggressively and proactively find a way to reach every single household and individual in the city with the gospel message. Like the church at Thessalonica we want to make a profound impact for the honor and glory of God.

Although the church has not been officially inaugurated, many exciting things have   already taken place! Our team members have been unable to obtain the permit which allows them to place a church sign on the building. This has made it difficult to pass out invitations for the church and no official service has been held to jump-start the church. In spite of all of these setbacks we are thrilled to announce that the team in Spain has been able to personally present the gospel to several individuals and two souls have already been saved. Praise the Lord! Not only that, several people have visited the church and many have shown an interest to visit in the future. 23,329 gospel DVD's have been distributed making the gospel available to 69,987 people. Over 2,000 people every month have visited our evangelistic website and many have requested free Bibles. One person has already been baptized and very soon another will follow. We are thrilled about those that have been saved and baptized, but it is wonderful seeing those same people faithfully attend church services and begin the process of discipleship.

Since our last prayerletter we have had 7 new churches partner with us and we are currently at 85% of our needed support. Based on our average support we only need 18 more churches to take us on for support for us to reach our goal. We have already turned in our passports to the Spanish consulate. As soon as they return our passports with the stamped visas (this should take one more month) we will have 3 months maximum to leave the U.S. for Spain. We are still on track to leave for Spain December 1st. Since we already speak the    language fluently and we have a team in place on the field, as soon as we arrive in Spain we will be busy with what God has called us to do. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

As we mentioned in our last prayerletter we will be keeping you updated about our Setup Fund. We have great news! We received two special gifts towards the fund for $500.00 and $100.00. So what we still need to raise is as follows:

Container: $5,900.00 ($100.00 already raised. Praise the Lord!)

3 Airplane Tickets: $2,400.00

1 month of rent: $1,200.00 (We have found a home to rent and have put 2 months down already but we still need to pay one more month in advance when we arrive in Spain)

Vehicle: $9,500.00 ($500.00 already raised. Praise the Lord!)

If you would like to be a part of helping us with our Setup Fund please send all gifts to:

David Velasquez

c/o M.W.B.M

P.O. Box 519

Braselton, GA 30517

Designated to:

006 Shipping/Travel

"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."

THE VIDEO IS NOW IN ENGLISH!

I have made the video in english so those of you who don't know spanish can understand what is being said.

We are exciting about this project.  Many people have already given so that they can have a part in getting the gospel on DVD to someone here in Spain.  You can learn more about this project, watch videos, and even donate  monetarily by clicking on the link below.

http://www.thatallmayknow.net/the-gospel-on-dvd-project.html

About a decade ago, a fair housing program was started, called a sub-prime lending market. The idea behind it was that everyone “needed” to own a home—including broke people. The government decided to start a program to reinvest in communities, which allowed pretty much anyone to borrow money to buy a house. Lending companies charged high interest rates, causing already struggling families to go even further into debt.

Basically, this was a program designed to encourage broke people to buy houses. Most people didn’t even know it existed until it unraveled and became the number-one cause of our recent recession. The government took those stupid loans back and securitized them, which created the financial mess last fall. Helping broke people buy houses didn’t turn out to be a great government program. Guess what? Helping broke people buy brand-new cars—and now home appliances—will turn out just as bad.

The Cash for Clunkers program was designed exactly for people who should not take advantage of the program. You trade your $2,000 clunker in for a brand-new, shiny $20,000 car, and the only way you can afford it is with a high-interest payment. That just means you really couldn’t afford it to begin with. Doesn’t this sound like the sub-prime mortgage problem all over again?

When you drive that new car off the lot, you’re immediately going to lose $4,500. The worst car accidents happen on the showroom floor. New cars go down in value like a rock. The government thinks it’s going to save the American auto industry by putting broke people into cars they can’t pay for. It’s going to come back to bite them—and the rest of us—in the form of taxes galore.

Another bad thing about this program is that we, the taxpayers, are paying for the new cars! It’s morally wrong of the government to take money away from us—against our will—in the form of taxes and give that money to someone else to buy a stupid car they can’t afford in the first place! This is theft, plain and simple.

Cash for Clunkers is a program that redistributes wealth in the name of the environment, and it’s going to be a curse on the car dealer and the manufacturer that carries the paper. It’s going to hurt the broke person who bought a car he couldn’t afford. And it’s already a problem for our country, because it’s adding dollars to the national debt.

There’s always a twist with government programs like this. They try to think of creative ways to help people, but the situation usually ends up worse than it did before they “helped.” In the end, I should decide what to do with my own money. If I want to buy you a car, I will! And if you can’t buy a car without actually paying for the whole thing, then you’re better off keeping your “clunker.”