Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,

It’s hard to believe that we have already been in Spain for one year! What’s curious is that we concluded the year almost the same way as we started it. When we arrived in Spain naturally we had to find a place in which to live and we found a house about seventeen minutes from the church. At that time our church had just started and so we had to ask some missionaries and members from other churches in Madrid to help us unloading the container that we brought from the States. Well, just about two weeks ago we moved into a new home right in Parla, Madrid. After living in Illescas for a year we realized that we needed to be closer to the people in order to be more effective in the ministry so we decided to make the move. We are so glad to be living in a home that is walking distance from the church. What blesses my heart the most is that this time when we needed help moving our belongings we didn't have to look elsewhere for assistance because seven men from our church volunteered for the job. This may seem like no big deal but to me it is indicative of the work that God has been doing here in Parla for the past year. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next year. 

In October our church celebrated its first mission’s conference. The church really got excited about this event and the people were able to learn about the need for laborers all around the world. We invited two missionaries from Spain. They were able to share about the need for more churches to be established in our Jerusalem and Judea. We really wanted the people to know that God is able to use Spaniards as well to do a work for Him. Then we invited Tyler Masters who is a missionary to the Muslims. After he preached we gathered the men from our church so that they would be able to ask Tyler some questions. Two men asked the missionary about finding God’s will for your life and how to know if God has called you to preach. Please pray because our desire is to see leaders raised up and churches established in Spain and abroad. In order to accomplish those goals we need men. Through Tyler’s testimony our people were greatly challenged to reach the Muslim community in their midst. For the last Sunday of the conference we had my grandfather, Wayne Witherell (He has been a missionary in five different countries) share about what God has done through his life and ministry. We learned that it’s important to start well but even more important to end well. During the last two Sundays in October we had 49 and 48 in attendance.

Well, I want to share some exciting news! We found out in October that Favianna is expecting our third child. As I am writing this letter I realize that it’s time to update our letterhead since the family has grown considerably since it was designed. The baby will be born sometime during the end of May. Please pray for Favianna and for the baby that the pregnancy will go smoothly. I thank God for the family that He has given me. I pray that my children would grow up to love God more than anything. I’m excited about what is in store for their lives. Thank you once again for your faithful prayers and support. Merry Christmas!

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!

Many people have been asking about our adoption progress so I decided that I would give an update.  

We are still waiting.  It has been 1 year and 4 months since we started the process.  When we started, the agency told us that it normally takes 12 to 18 months.  When we returned to the USA 4 weeks ago, we had to renew our home study.  The home study is good for 1 year and has to be renewed each year.  

Many of you have no idea how an adoption works (just as I had no idea before we started this) so let me explain the process and maybe it will help you understand a little more of what is going on.  

When you start the process of adopting, you have to fill out lots of paperwork explaining exactly what you want.  You can be as general or as specific as you want.  You really have to make some tough decisions as far as to exactly what you want.  We decided that we would like to adopt a child, boy or girl, age ranging from infant to one year old.  We have also submitted a family book explaining things about our family, home, etc. with pictures and information.  This information is taken and given to perspective mothers who are pregnant and don't want to keep the baby.  These mothers look through several families who desire to adopt and then they choose which family they would like to give their baby to.  So basically, we are waiting to be matched with a birth mother.  In our case, we will most likely be able to be matched with a mother who is pregnant and once the baby is born, we will be able to take the baby home from the hospital.  However, it is also possible that the baby will have already been born.  

So as of now, we are still in the "waiting game."  Some days it seems like it will never happen.  However, so many people who have adopted before have told us that they felt the same way and then one day, all of the sudden, they got "THE CALL" and the next thing they knew, they were home with their newly adopted baby.  

So for now, we wait.  We ask for your prayers in this matter.  We are really praying that the adoption would go through before we leave the USA in November.  However, we know that the Lord's timing is perfect.  

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,

Great news! If you remember in our last letter we talked about a special service that we were going to have at our church in June. We called the service “Friend Day” and we really encouraged our people to invite their friends, family and co-workers to the service. We had really been preparing our people to focus their attention on the people that they already knew to start making an impact in their lives for Christ. We told them that maybe their friends and relatives would not come on that day but they would have at least started the process of introducing them to Christ. We, of course, led by example and were able to invite several people. We had some good quality invitations printed up and gave our people a month to invite their friends and pray for them. Two weeks before “Friend Day” we had the opportunity to preach a mini-series about how God used Andrew to bring his brother Peter to Christ and how Phillip did the same with Nathanael. Then we talked about how God values every individual soul and we used the example of how Phillip was sent to preach the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. The result was that the people really got the point. We have a core group of 25 people in our church and that’s usually our weekly attendance. On “Friend Day” the Lord blessed us with 50 people in attendance. We had 25 new visitors on that day and they were all the friends, relatives and co-workers of our members. Although no one was saved that day many people were able to hear the gospel preached in a clear way. The best part of this approach is that our people will have the opportunity to follow-up with all those that visited because they are part of their lives already. Praise the Lord!

As we have mentioned already in previous letters our ministry philosophy is based on the model of our Lord Jesus Christ and how he invested His time on this earth primarily on 12 men. We understand that we cannot do the work by ourselves and we must involve them in the mission. In order to do that we must disciple and train those that are saved in our ministry so that they can become reproducing Christians. This also means that we cannot be a one-man band and have to begin to train and equip them to do the work. As you know the Andrews family are on furlough and someone had to take over some of  Jeff’s responsibilities.   Instead of having us do everything Jeff prepared Eduardo (The guy who heard about us through the ministry website) and He has been doing a fantastic job. What’s awesome is that Eduardo immediately got busy training Joao (He came as a result of the “Bible in every home” project) in case of an emergency. Joao, whose main job is to be the greeter and usher, went ahead and trained Paco to take his place in the event that he had to take over Eduardo’s job. Another way that we involve and train our people in the ministry is by having them evangelize the lost with us. If we have the opportunity to visit someone or deliver a Bible to someone we always take someone that we are training with us. We never want to be alone and we try to use everyday situations and turn them into training opportunities. We really appreciate your prayers and support. Please pray that God would continue to work in Spain. God Bless.

About two months ago we had the idea to have a special day at the church on June 12. We decided to call the special day, "Friend Day." The purpose of the special service was to give our people the opportunity to invite their friends and loved ones to church so that they could hear the gospel. We explained that if the people that they invited didn't come it wouldn't be a failure because they had at least initiated the process of introducing their friends and loved ones to Christ. Two weeks before the special day we preached a mini-series titled, "One, not everyone" to encourage our people about friend day. The idea behind the series was to help them understand that God wants us to do what we can do, not what we can't do. We can't single-handedly reach a city for Christ but we can make the difference in the life of one person. If all of us would impact the life of one person at a time than we would ultimately impact the world for Christ and we believe that to make an impact in someone’s life is to lead them to Christ and then to lead them into maturity until they become fruit-bearing Christians that can initiate the process in the life of others so that the cycle is never ending. We used the example of Andrew and how he brought his brother Peter to Christ. Our people really got excited and got busy finding people that they could bring to the special day. Well, on June 12 we had 50 people in total attend the service. We usually average 23 people each Sunday so more than half of the people there were guests. What encourages us the most is that they came because people from our church invited them. All of them were friends and family of the members of our church. Among the guests were Atheists, Catholics, Agnostics, and people that believe that all religions lead to God. They heard a message titled, "How good is good enough?" No one made a profession of faith that day but they clearly understood that good people don't go to heaven only forgiven people go to heaven. What's great is that our people will be able to follow up with them and continue sharing the gospel with them. This day was truly a high point for our young church (we are only a year old) and we expect many more things to come. Just a year ago only two people along with my parents and sister and brother-in-law were attending church services. Now a year later 23 people gather each week faithfully and all of them have been baptized, are currently being discipled one-on-one, and are getting involved in the work of the ministry. We are humbled to see what God is doing. 

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends,

Sometimes as I walk through the streets of Parla I am reminded of my childhood here in Spain. I remember like it was yesterday all of the fun things I used to do as a kid in this incredible country. I remember our church in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid). Although we had a small church many pastors, leaders and missionaries came out of that ministry. My friends, Alberto, Francisco (They are both married and on their way to serve God as missionaries in Seville, Spain) and I  would stand outside of our church many times and pass out gospel tracts. What is still recorded in my memory is how many of those tracts would end up on the floor. I remember how my Dad would offer a free Bible on the radio (he had a two- minute radio spot) to anyone who was interested. In five years only one person requested a Bible. So was it all in vain? Absolutely not.

It is very easy to get discouraged if we don’t see the results that we have envisioned. But, what has God commanded us to do? We know that we can’t save anyone. Ultimately a person must make a personal decision whether to accept or reject Christ. We will be successful in Spain regardless of how many people get saved if we have been obedient in making the gospel available to them in every way possible. Also, we will be successful when we diligently disciple and train those that are saved to reproduce themselves into other  Christians. All we can do is obey God and the results are in His hands. One thing that I have observed about Spain is that it desperately needs to be seeded with the gospel. That is why we have aggressively set out to saturate this city over and over again until everyone has had a chance. Then as the Lord blesses we hope to do the same in other cities. 
Because of the gospel DVD project and now the “Bible in every home” project thousands of people have had the opportunity to hear the gospel and some have been saved. We have a billboard in the entrance of the city. We have an ad in the newspaper. We have a gospel website. We have a church building with an attractive display that has allowed us to share the gospel and personally give Bibles to many people. We do all of these things because we want to make the gospel available to them. What thrills us is that more and more people know that we are here and that we want to teach them the Word of God. 

Last month a Bolivian lady named Primitva was saved. Also, we have a new couple that is visiting our church. They heard about us from one of the packets that we left in their mailbox! We have people visiting often. Not all of them stay but we are thrilled that they had the opportunity to hear the gospel.  Please pray for a very special service that we will be having June 12. We are encouraging our people to invite a friend or relative to church that day. We are excited about the possibility of more people hearing the gospel. Thank you once again for your generosity and prayers towards our ministry. 

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 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. 

I was looking through my prayer letters and I noticed that I had failed to post my previous letter on the website and send it via e-mail. The letter was sent regular mail. I am posting it now just so that everthing will be up to date. Tomorrow I will post this month's letter. Here is the January Letter:

Dear Pastor, Congregation and Friends, 

We made it!!! Actually, we have been in Spain now for a little over a month and we have so many exciting things to share with you. First, we want to thank God for answering our prayers and allowing us to arrive in Spain a couple days before our original   departure date. It was April of last year that we felt the Lord leading us to leave for the field in eight months. At that time we had 66% of our needed support. Exactly eight months later we were on a plane headed to Spain with 93% of our support. We are amazed at how our great God provided for our needs and we trust that the rest of our support will come in soon. When we arrived it was wonderful to be greeted by our team/family members. They were such a help and encouragement to us. They helped us with a place to stay while we waited for our container from the U.S. to arrive. They helped us get settled in and made the transition from the U.S to Spain very smooth. We are thankful for the opportunity to work as a team with them. It took us a while to get our      container out of port and so it wasn’t until two weeks ago that we finally moved into our new home. So here we are, all settled in and ready to see God do great things in Parla, Madrid for 2011.

I want to share a little about what God did through the ministry in Parla in 2010. In January, our team members found a place to rent and meet for services and so they got busy remodeling and getting it ready. Then in February, two converts got baptized. In March the building was finished and they started holding church services in the new location (before they were in my parent’s house). In April, they started the gospel DVD project with the goal to saturate the city. In May they finished the window that      displayed information at the front of the church and as a result a curious Romanian by the name of Stefan came into the church and heard the gospel for the first time. In June many contacts were made as a result of the website and DVD project, etc. In July, Sonia was saved and Stefan also made a profession of faith. In August, Eduardo was saved as a result of our evangelistic website. In the meantime all of the converts began growing in the Lord and receiving one on one discipleship time. Also, in the month of August we had a high day of 41 people in attendance. In September, we were thrilled to see a young Spaniard by the name of Paco come to the church because he had received a DVD in his home and was searching for the truth. Since then he has been saved and is    growing in the Lord. His wife has also visited the church. Please pray for her salvation. In October, the DVD project was almost complete. Thirty-five thousand households received the gospel message. The last Sunday of October three people were baptized. In November, another young married couple began to visit the church also as a result of the DVD project. It’s exciting to see souls saved but what encourages us the most is to see those same converts growing in the Lord and with a desire to serve. This year we will be passing out 50,000 John & Romans, gospel tracts and invitations to the church. We can’t wait to see what God will do in this new year. Thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support. Let’s look forward and attempt great thing for God.

I still remember the first day that I saw her. I was 19 years old and I had gone down to Peru to prepare for the ministry. My Mom had been messing with me right before my departure. She said, "I bet you will find your future wife in Peru!" Of course, I was very "spiritual" I told her, "I am going to Peru to serve God and learn more about missions, and plus, all Peruvian women are ugly" (I can't believe I said that). Guess what, God had a wonderful plan for me. My first day in Peru, we went to a youth meeting and there she was. In that moment I took everything back that I had said about Peruvian women. You know what happened? I don't know how to explain it. The first moment that I laid eyes on her, it was as if I heard a small voice in my head, "you are going to marry that girl." It wasn't love at first sight but I knew that she would be my wife. I went to Peru without any intention to fall in love or marry but God brought her to me. I have known Favi for 7 years now and we are celebrating our 5 year anniversary tomorrow. I love you baby! Marrying you was the best thing (after my salvation) that could have ever happened to me.