For quite some time I have wanted to write on this subject. As today is the culmination of July I thought it would be appropriate to review this amazing month in sports for Spain. As those who know me can testify, I am a huge sports fan. I was born in Spain and I didn't grow up around football (American football as I call it) or baseball, but my passion was soccer (better known in the rest of the world as fútbol). Unless you were in a cave this month I'm sure you realized that the World Cup of soccer was going on in South Africa. You may not have seen a single game but you knew it was taking place. If you've ever had the opportunity to live in another country you would know just how big an event the World Cup is in reality.  I am sure you also heard that Spain won the World Cup for the first time in all of their history. It was amazing to see the millions of people lining the streets to celebrate this historic event. For just an instant the divisions between the different provinces, especially the Basque region and Cataluña, seemed to dissipate as the whole country united under one flag and sang in unison, ♫ - Yo soy Español, Español, Español - ♫ ♫ - I am a Spaniard, a Spaniard, a Spaniard - ♫. 

Add to that the amazing victory once again of Rafael Nadal in Wimbledon, which makes a historic 8 grand slam titles for the 24 year old (to put it into perspective he already has the same amount of grand slam titles as Andre Agassi and he is far from being at the end of his career). We would have to talk about the recent Tour de France victory for Alberto Contador (his third title) and Pau Gasol winning his second championship ring with the L.A. Lakers (of coarse I understand this is a team trophy and he is the only Spaniard on the team, but this man is huge in Spain). Spaniards are seeping with national pride (as you can expect) because they can say that they are on the top of the sports world looking down at the rest of the mere mortals that dare challenge them. I want to mention, however, that although I am thrilled for my countries achievements I realize that none of these accomplishments can fill the void and guilt in their hearts caused by sin. Fame only lasts for a season and eventually all that you are is a side note on some sports history book. Our desire is to make the gospel of hope and peace available to every Spaniard so that they can experience true forgiveness of sins and a sense of purpose and fulfillment that will never go away. As the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:8 "...bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come." Pray that Spain will go from soaring atop the sports world to understanding and knowing the maker of heaven and earth and living for the one who promises to bless them on this earth and elevate them to the heavenlies to live with Christ for all eternity.

The DVD Project

A little over a year ago, I was talking to David Velasquez (the other member of our team) and we were discussing plans for the ministry and how to effectively reach the people with the Gospel. I expressed to him my belief that Spain has not been seeded like other countries. For years there has been “pockets” with the Gospel message, but a constant seeding of the Gospel year after year has seemingly eluded Spain. In our discussion, David mentioned being in a mission’s conference and hearing the preacher talk about going door to door and leaving a bag full of goodies on each door handle. Inside the bag was information about the church and a cassette tape containing a clear message on Salvation. The preacher mentioned that the next Sunday, 40 new visitors showed up. As we went back and forth, based on this idea, the DVD project was born. Shortly after our conversion, we set the wheels in motion. We came up with a script, bought the equipment, recorded the video, and there began our DVD project. It has taken some time to get everything set up, duplicate the DVD’s and strategically plan out our attack, but with the Lord’s help, we have been able to get the Gospel DVD into 22,543 homes. So what does this mean? We calculate that on average, there are 3 people per household. That means that we have given 67,629 people the chance to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. Why is this exciting? If a person on average talks to 2 people per day 7 days a weeks, 365 days a year about the Lord, in a span of 50 years, that person would have talked to 36,500 people. That is great. With this DVD project we have been able to give almost double that number of people a chance to hear the Gospel in less then 3 months.
So is the DVD project working?

That is a question I get a lot. What results have we seen from it. Actually, our primary goal for this project was not to fill our church, although, we hope people come because of a result of it. Our primary goal for this project was to give everyone in our city a chance to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel. You ask, “Isn’t that what church and the preaching is for?” We would love it if in 30 or 40 years of ministry, every single person in the city walked through the door of the church to hear a Gospel message, but ask any pastor or missionary and you will see that it just doesn’t happen. As a matter of fact, the number of people from your city that will visit the church will be a very low percentage. Understanding this, we decided to take the message of the Gospel to them. By placing it in their mailbox, every home and the people in it, will have a chance to hear a Gospel message on DVD even if they never grace the doors of the church. So, yes, it is working because we are fulfilling the purpose that we set out to do. At the end of the DVD, there is a website that they are directed to so they can learn more about the Bible. We have averaged 400 to 500 hits per month on the website. The message is being heard.
We have been able to get the DVD to half of the homes in our city. Lord, willing, we will finish the other half very soon. We don’t plan on stopping there. Part of having a good harvest is continuing to seed and seed. Our plan is to continue getting the Gospel to our city, not just by way of DVD, but in many different ways. We want to thank every individual and every church that has given towards this project. Rest assured that every dime went to the cost of producing this DVD.
THE CHURCH

We are not “officially” a church yet, however we have been holding Bible studies. A lot of work has gone in to readying the building and preparing and doing the DVD project. However, the Lord has been so good as over the past 6 weeks, we have had visitors every week. Stefan walked by the building and saw our “Escaparate” (window with information) and was interested and came in for the service. That was 7 weeks ago and he has been back every Sunday except for one. He has heard the message of the Gospel many times and my father-in-law and I have had good conversations with him about Salvation. Please pray that the Lord would work in his heart. Last week we had 5 visitors with a total of 12 people. We are very excited about what the Lord is doing and is going to do here in Spain.

The DVD project is going well. We have gotten out over 16,000 DVD’s into 16,000 homes in Parla, Spain. This means that if there is an average of 3 people per home, 48,000 people have had the chance to hear and watch a clear presentation of the Gospel. We are excited about what God is doing through the DVD project. I will update more on that later.

For this post, I wanted to concentrate on our friend Estefan. Estefan has come 3 Sunday’s in a row. It is always nice to have visitors but when they come back it is even more exciting. Estefan came because he was out for a Sunday morning stroll and he passed by the building and saw the posters and books we had in the escaparate (window). He joined us for the service and has come back every Sunday since then. The amazing thing to me is that we haven’t even officially opened the doors of the church yet. The escaparate had only been up and visible for one week when he passed by. Up until about 3 or 4 weeks ago, the metal door that protects the window had been closed and it looked like the building wasn’t open. We haven’t made a big announcement, passed out flyers, etc. letting the community know that we are starting a church. We are still a little ways from being able to do that. We don’t even have a sign up yet. People don’t yet know what we are. You see, our purpose is two-fold. Not only are we starting a church, but we are trying to evangelize our city, our entire city in a systematic, organized fashion. What does that mean? That doesn’t mean that we are going to win every single person to Christ, however that would be nice. What it does mean is that we are going to give every person in our city a chance to hear the Gospel at least once, but if the Lord allows and we fulfill all that we have planned, we will give every person a chance to hear the Gospel over and over and over again in a very systematic fashion. I am not talking about standing in a populated area passing out tracts or randomly witnessing to people on the street. There is nothing wrong with that and we will do that, however, there is no way to measure that. But what I mean is getting the Gospel into every home by means of various ways in an organized fashion, so everyone has the chance to hear the Gospel. Our first attempt at this is being accomplished through the DVD project. We have done a lot, but much more needs to be done. So all that to say, so far we have been concentrating on seeding our entire city before we actually have our grand opening. We are also dealing with paperwork (which is a process in and of itself) and waiting for our last member of the team to arrive before we open officially. In the meantime, as we saturate the city, we have been systematically thinking through how we can make our building as appealing and informative as possible so people will be curious and stop in. We are offering free Bibles via our website www.estudialabiblia.com, Facebook.com and will soon be offering them via our escaparate (window) and possibly by way of Billboard or advertisement. Much groundwork is being laid so it amazes me that God is already bringing people.

That leads me back to Estefan. I ask that you pray for him. As I said before, he has been to 3 of our Sunday Morning Bible Studies in a row. My father-in-law and I had the privilege of taking him out for coffee yesterday and just simply “shooting the breeze.” We have “laid on pretty thick” the salvation message in our conversations before and after the Bible Studies so we decided just to go out and do a little “relationship building” with him. He, like so many others, is struggling in this economy without work. He tries to be a “good” person and even thanks “God” for many things, but he still lacks the repentance and faith that brings us into a true relationship with God. So please pray for him. Pray that God will draw him to Himself. Pray that Estefan will have a tender heart to the Lord’s conviction and that we will be able to be used of the Lord to help meet his need.

Dear Co-laborers in Christ,

The months of April and May have been exciting for us as we have had the privilege of distributing 12,900 Gospel DVDʼs to homes here in the city of Parla. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning we meet at the church and then head out to a different area of the city and begin the process of putting these DVDʼs in the mailboxes in houses and apartments. Six of us have been participating in this endeavor and it is truly an exciting project. We have received a few requests for Bibles and we trust that we will have some solid contacts in the days and weeks ahead. We pray that as the people watch this DVD, their hearts will be touched by the message, they will see themselves as sinners and in need of a Savior. We still have over 35,000 DVDʼs that we will need to distribute in order to reach every home. We have duplicated over 5000 more and are in the process of doing another 5000. After that we will need more money in order to continue duplicating more DVDʼs. Remember that each DVD costs us .50 cents. If an individual or Sunday School class or church would like to send a love offering to help us duplicate more DVDʼs, please send to us at BIMI and designate for DVD project. For the past two Sundays we have had a man visit our services. He is of Romanian and Greek descent and has shown an interest in hearing the Gospel. Pray that Esteban will come to know Christ as his personal Savior. Also pray for our neighbors who are Colombian. I have had the opportunity to visit them several times and just recently gave them a Bible. Pray that they will come to the church and also come to know the Lord. We know that the process of sowing is necessary and it takes time and we pray that God will bring in the harvest in His time.

The second week of April I was on my way to Madrid to renew my resident visa, when my leg went down hard on the first step of the escalator at the train station. That simple motion caused me to tear the ligaments in the calf of my left leg. After two weeks of complete rest, several doctorʼs visits and 20 sessions of rehab I am beginning to be able to walk without crutches. The healing process is long and tedious, but praise the Lord that I am getting better. I have been able to witness to several doctors at rehab and that has been a real blessing. Last week when I visited the main doctor, he found that I have also developed an inguinal hernia. This was probably due to the stress from my accident the month before. I will have to have surgery to repair the hernia sometime before the end of the year. Please pray that all will go well.

Please pray for our son David and his family as they have set the date for their arrival in Spain for December 1. They have 80% of their support and are trusting the Lord to bring in the remaining 20% by that time. Pray that they will be able to obtain their resident visas without any complications. Also pray for Jeff and Deanna as they have been approved for adoption of a baby and are now waiting for the agency to call them about an available child. We want to thank each of you for your faithful support for our ministry and for your prayers. We need you to pray specifically that we will have boldness to share the Gospel with the lost around us. Spaniards are usually very closed when talking about spiritual matters, but we pray that God will open hearts that only He can open. May the Lord richly bless each of you as you serve our Lord in your area.

In His Service,

Julio and Andrea Velasquez

Thanks for praying for our adoption process. I wanted to post the latest news on our adoption and I will do so by pasting in the post my wife wrote on her blog:

Grateful, So Grateful!!!

Hi there!! Yes, we are still alive and still working on our adoption, but things have been busy around here since we got back to Spain and I just haven't found the time to update our blog. But, I do have exciting news!!

Our home study has been officially approved!! YAY!! Yipee!! Hooray!! Praise the Lord!

And...

as of yesterday,

our agency will now begin to show our family profile to potential birth mothers!!

We have completed one big hurdle and now begins the waiting game. We could get a call any day, like it could take a year to receive the call. Believe it or not, having to wait is not really bothering us at all. Just knowing that we are where we are in this adoption process is exciting enough. We have 'waited' for 5 years for the Lord to give us another baby and He has given us grace!! So I know He will provide us with the grace for this next phase of waiting. We are sooo excited and a little nervous, because it just seems more real now!!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying with us about this adoption. We get e-mails and calls from friends that say they are praying and that is so overwhelming to us. The Lord has given us so many wonderful friends around the world and such a supportive family. We are grateful, so grateful!!

http://www.thespiritofadoption.org/2010/05/grateful-so-grateful.html

We are so excited about the DVD project.  Up until now, we have been able to deliver 3,165 Gospel DVD’s to 3,165 households.  If the average household has 3 people per household, we have essentially been able to give 9,485 people a chance to hear a very clear and concise message of the Gospel.  You see, I have learned that you have to use every means available of getting the Gospel message to the people.  It thrills me to know that there are people who I would never meet in my lifetime who will have the chance to watch this DVD presentation of the Gospel and hear that Jesus Christ died for them.  Our goal is to get this Gospel DVD presentation into EVERY household in our city.  Please help us pray for this.

What about the results?

Yes, we are hoping and praying that the Lord will use this so we can see people saved and it can help build our church, however, our primary goal for this project is to give everyone in our city the chance to hear the Gospel.  The results are now in God’s hands.  Not only do they hear a clear presentation of the Gospel, but they also have the opportunity to visit our website www.estudialabiblia.com which has articles about the Bible, a thorough in-depth Bible study, and also gives them a chance to request a Bible and personal one on one Bible Study.  I am able to monitor the website and see who accesses it and where they are from.  So far we have had several people from the area where we have been delivering the DVD’s, access the website.  We are so excited about this.  What that tells me is that they watched the entire DVD.  In order for them to be able to access the website, they have to watch the DVD until the end where the website information is displayed.  It also tells me that they are hearing a clear presentation of the Gospel.  Not only that, but that they are interested enough to take the next step and go to the website.  God is using this in a mighty way and we give Him all the Glory!  We have also had someone watch the DVD, go to the website at the end and then request a Bible.  The address they gave was the exact area where we delivered the DVD.  It is thrilling to see what God is doing.

It is always good to have goals and plans, but you shouldn’t let those goals and plans run your life or ministry just because you wrote them on a piece of paper.  You need to be flexible, learn how the people are in your area and then conform your goals and plans to the culture, area, and life of the country you are working in.  We are still learning.  Each day we learn how to better reach the people.  One of the things I have come to realize about our city and Spain in general is that it needs much “seeding.”  What do I mean by that?  It means that the people need to hear the Gospel over and over and over again.  It is an illustration used in the Bible over and over.  The idea is that of a farmer who is planting crops for the harvest.  He seeds over and over so that there will be plenty of crops for the harvest.  In the areas where there is not much seed, there will be few crops.  However, in the area where there is a lot of seed, there will be many crops for the harvest.  Spain is a country where there has been little seed throughout the years.  Therefore there has been little crops for the harvest.  God has laid on my heart the need to seed and seed and seed over again here in Spain.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It is amazing how fast 2009 flew by. God is always good and we were able to see Him working in 2009. We expect Him to also work in tremendous ways in 2010.

We start the New Year wanting to address 2 very exciting things in this prayer letter. First of all, we have been working really hard to get the building finished. It turned out to be a little more work than we thought, but nothing major. We have put up divisions, filled in holes, sanded, painted, put up lights, and cleaned. We have a few minor things left and then we will lay some carpet. We are waiting for some quotes on installing heat and air, but other than that, we are most complete. I am adding some pictures of the progress. Lord willing in the next letter, you will get to see the finished product.

Secondly, Deanna and I have some wonderful news. We have decided to adopt a baby. We are very excited. Since Aaron’s second birthday, we have been trying to have another baby. Aaron is now 7 and we have not been able to have another child. Deanna and I have been praying about adopting for some time now. We recently decided to start the process. At this moment, we are moving in the direction of adopting a baby girl from China. The process will be long and expensive, but we are trusting the Lord through every step. Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom through the process. We also need your prayers for the timing of everything as our resident papers have strict requirements on how long we can be out of the country, renewal, etc. We are simply trusting in the Lord to work out every detail.

Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and friendship. May the Lord bless you.

Dear Co-laborers in Christ,

“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” As Christmas time approaches again, we are reminded of God’s unspeakable gift, the gift of His dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ!  What a joy it is to serve our Lord and Savior and we are so grateful for the free gift of salvation which He gave to us and which we share with the lost here in Spain.  We are excited about having our first Christmas back in Spain after so many years of being away.  We are happy to be able to be part of the Spanish Christmas traditions and to eat all their traditional Christmas foods, but greater than all of these joys is the joy that we will have to share the gift of God with so many of them.  We are almost finished duplicating 18,500 DVD’s which contain a clear presentation of the Gospel and very soon we will be putting them into the mailboxes so that 18.500 households will be able to listen to the Gospel, many for the first time in their lives. We can’t emphasize enough the importance of needing your prayers so that as the people receive these DVD’s they will watch them, listen to the message and that the Holy Spirit will begin a work in their hearts and that many will trust Christ as their personal Savior.  Will you please partner with us to pray for this project?   Our goal is to not only distribute these DVD’s to the city of Parla, but to at least 10 more neighboring cities over the next few years.  We need your prayers and we need money in order to purchase more DVD’s.  Will your help this Christmas Season?

We have a building for our future church! Praise the Lord we have found a building in a strategic area of the city which is on a busy street and only one block away from public transportation.  We have much work to do now in order to get it ready for services.  It is one large room with one small room that we will use for an office.  We are needing at least one more room and so we will be building two walls to form a nice size room.  We also have to install heat and air conditioning.  Then we will fill in holes in the walls, paint, lay carpet and put up a sign on the outside wall.  In January we are planning on starting English classes and piano classes in order to make contacts.  Through these activities, we are praying that the Lord will allow us to share the Gospel with them and that many will be saved.   We are praying that we will be able to open the building for use by the beginning of January.  Please pray with us about this. 

New Contacts! Please pray for new contacts that we have made.  We have neighbors who are from Colombia and they are very much interested in the Gospel.  I have also had the opportunity to witness to several Muslims and have made friends with a Muslim man who lives in our apartment complex. They need Christ!  Will you pray for their salvation?

The Family is Growing! We are very happy to announce the birth of our third grandchild.  Hayden Mikaela Velasquez was born on November 5 and she is our first granddaughter. David and Favianna are thrilled with this special gift from God and Ian is a very proud older brother.  We are so anxious for them to arrive in Spain to help us in the work.  Please pray that they will be able to raise the remaining 40% of their support  in a very short time so that they can join us in the ministry. 

We want to thank all of you for your faithful support over the years.  We have been missionaries for 29 years and God has been faithful in supplying our needs.  He has used you to supply that need.  Thank you for your prayers, letters, gifts and monthly support.  We love and appreciate all of you.  May the Lord richly bless you this coming year as you serve our Lord.

In His Service,                                                                                                                         

Julio and Andrea Velasquez

HAYDEN MIKAELA VELASQUEZ

November 5th, 2009 David and Favianna delivered a little baby girl weighing 8.5 lbs and 20in. long. She is precious. Her name is Hayden Mikaela Velasquez. The baby was born via C-Section so pray for Favianna during her recovery.

Please pray

Please pray for Hayden as she has been admitted back into the hospital. The doctors have found a small hole in her heart and her heart is beating fast. The doctors are reassuring that everything should be ok, but please pray as they are running tests and may have to do surgery. Pray for David and favi as they are both very tired. Pray for their Son Ian as he adjusts to having a new member of the family.

If you would like to personally contact David, you can do so at 404-285-2113.

Thank you for your prayers.

Many people ask how they can pray better for missionaries. As I was reading in my personal devotions this morning, the following passage jumped out at me. This is not only how to pray for us as Missionaries but how we can pray for our fellow Christians in general.

Paul writes in the book of Colossians in chapter 1 verses 9-10:

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

He starts by saying that they “do not cease to pray” for the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse. He goes on to say that they are praying for and desiring that that they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We may know the direction that God wants us to go. We may know that God wants us to be a preacher, a missionary, serve in a ministry, etc. but are we “filled with the knowledge of his will” having all wisdom and spiritual understanding to daily walk the road that He wants us to walk.

Paul goes on to explain just what the knowledge of His will, all wisdom, and spiritual understanding is for.

“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

1. That we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Do we walk worthy and please the Lord in all we do? Is our focus more on pleasing men then pleasing the Lord? So much of what we do many times in the ministry or in life is done because of what others may think about us. It is done for the pleasing of man instead of the pleasing of our Lord.
2. Being Fruitful in every good work. If we are filled with the knowledge of His will, all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and we are walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, then we can be fruitful in every good work. When are works are done to man or for self gain, they are in vain. May we be fruitful in every good work.
3. Increasing in the knowledge of God. This should be our daily desire. We have been put on this earth to serve and glorify our God. He has sacrificed His life, the life of His only begotten Son to give us salvation from the bondage of sin. He is our Savior. We should desire to increase in the knowledge of God.
   

May we pray for one another, as Paul and Timothy did for the saints at Colosse, that we will be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.