That All May Know Ministries Blog

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.

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

 

I would like to ask you to pray for my wife, Deanna.  For several months she has been battling with many symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, neck pain, tingling in her arms and legs that seem to cause heaviness and slight numbness.  She has trouble sleeping at nights and many times during the day is fatigued.  She has visited many doctors and so far no one can figure out what is going on.  It is wearing on her physically, but also emotionally.  However, we know the Lord is still on His throne and that all things are done for His honor and glory.  Our desire has always been to be empty vessels used for His glory.  Thank you for your prayers in this matter.    

We are excited to present a new church planting opportunity to you.  You can be directly involved in getting the Gospel to thousands of people.  Click the video below to learn more about it.

On Friday, we had our first "official" team meeting.  We hooked up the webcam to our TV in the living room and we had a live feed with David, Favi, and Ian who are in the States.  We talked for a little over 2 hours about short and long term plans and goals for the work.  It was very exciting and we were able to nail down some ideas and details for our first project.  Over the next couple of months, we will be posting details about the plans we have for our first major project.  We want to inform all that we can so we can have an army of God's people praying for these efforts.  There will also be opportunities for those who want to get the gospel to the people of Spain through giving and also opportunities for those who would like to make a trip to Spain to personally and physically get involved.

Please stayed tuned for more details about this exciting new project.  

After a long and arduous process, Deanna, Aaron and I have finally received our residence cards.  I was the first one to receive mine after much difficulties, however, Deanna and Aaron still did not receive theirs.  After many trips to downtown Madrid and shuffling through the right and wrong information, all 3 of us have our cards.  What a relief to finally have them.  The nice thing is that we won’t have to renew them for another 1 ½ years.  Thank you for your prayers through all of this.  We really saw God work during this process. 

Now, please pray that my in-laws will have a much smoother process.  So far, their process has been very smooth with little to no problems at all.   

In Spain, this week is Semana Santa or Holy Week.  Most of the people will be off from work and will use this week as vacation.  Here in Spain, there will be many processions and religious events depicting the death of Christ.  Lord willing, I will be getting some pictures or video of some of it and will be posting more about this in the next few days.  It is sad to see this because most of this signifies the work that they feel they have to do as penitence for their sins.  Some will even afflict themselves physically as punishment to themselves.  What we are here to tell them is that they can have forgiveness for their sins through the work that Christ has already done on the Cross.  By trusting in Him, they can have eternal life and eternal forgiveness of sin.  

Pray for the special meetings that we will be having this weekend.  They will start saturday night.  My father-in-law will be preaching Saturday night.  Then Bro. Jack Loveday will be preaching Sunday morning and I will be preaching Sunday Night.  Please pray for these services.