Hey all, 2021 is flying by and a lot of things have happened in the past few weeks. That’s why I’d like to update you on the past period.
The PTS school
In my previous blog I wrote about the PTS school and a beautiful testimony of what happened there. How the police came and how there was all kinds of stress, but at the last moment everything went wonderfully well. We go through this over and over again! Jesus promised to be with us until the end of time. And therefore we have nothing to be afraid of!
All in all, we had a very nice school. What I found encouraging were the various people who decided to live entirely for God. This can of course be done in different ways, but a student from Germany had it in his heart to help with the work here in Spain and with spreading the gospel. When he got home he immediately took care of it and took all the neccesary steps to get back to Spain as soon as possible. One of the things he had to do was terminate his contract with his employer. Until the end of this month he is still working as a physiotherapist, but then he will pack his stuff and come our way! A courageous step!
We also gave other students the opportunity to stay after the school and some are still travelling with us. So the group is getting bigger and more and more people want to get involved in making Jesus known throughout Spain (and beyond).
Marriage of Alberto and Guilia
When the PTS was over, it proved difficult for the group to stay in Salvador’s house. There was also a very cold period. And in the bedrooms of the house there is no insulation, so it got very cold there. Also, most other parts of the house are not heated and not insulated. Besides that it became a bit too much for Salvador to have all these people staying in his house all the time, so together we rented something else in the neighbourhood for a while.
During that time, Alberto and Guilia also came along. Earlier in the trip, when we were still in Merida, Caleb left the group to return to Portugal alone, while the rest of the group continued on to the south of Spain. In Portugal Caleb came in contact with Alberto and Guilia. They were seeking God and Caleb baptized them and then spent a lot of time with them.
Then they went to the PTS in the Netherlands, where we also went and that’s how we got to know them. They have been together for years, but are not married. During that school in the Netherlands they decided to make work of this, because they understood that it is important for God.
Being Italian, they traveled to Italy after school to get legally married. Not only did they get married in that time, but they experienced even more wonderful things! Among other things, they baptized Guilia’s aunt and many healings when they prayed for people. They did not know that Italians are so open to the message of Jesus!
Their plan was to go back to The Netherlands afterwards, to do a wedding ceremony for God. This together with the believers they had met in the Netherlands. But when they were praying about it, God spoke to them to do it in Spain instead of The Netherlands.
Within a day, they had found a prime location. This location is very popular and you normally have to book far in advance. But due to a cancellation, this was still free. This location was about an hour and a half drive away from us.
Then they invited a lot of people from the Netherlands who were also at the PTS. And our family. The nice thing was that the whole thing lasted four days and we could stay overnight at the location!
Disciples House
We had a very nice and cozy time!
For us it was also very special that in those days a door suddenly opened to purchase a large discipleship house. A couple from the Netherlands who attended the wedding had this on their hearts for several years but God kept closing the door. With what we do here in Spain the picture seems complete for them and us. WWe can live there with our family, and there is also enough space for training and for several people to live. Wow! This is something I had been thinking about and praying for before the trip to Spain and suddenly this comes our way.
In the meantime a price has been agreed upon and we are working hard to buy the building + land. When it’s all wrapped up, I’ll tell the whole story of how God led all of this, because it’s really special.
New groups
After the wedding, the group split into three directions.
One group went to Alicante on the east coast of Spain. We had gotten in touch with 2 people from that direction. One of them was already a believer and the other wanted to follow Jesus and be baptized. That happened and her mother too has become a follower of Jesus. Awesome!
Another group went to Malaga on the south coast. They went without a plan and went together with some Dutch people who had also come to the wedding. They were able to share the gospel with many people they encountered! They weren’t that far from us and I was able to visit a few times and then I made the video below of a powerful street sermon!
Kickstart weekend
This second group also organized a kickstart weekend. That was last weekend. This was also very nice! Several people received deliverance and people were baptized (after the weekend). We saw God’s hand in the whole thing, how a number of people were led to the weekend. These people also said it was truly life-changing what they had experienced those days.
The group organized this entire weekend in faith. Meaning, they announced the date and invited people to come. Even though they didn’t have a location yet. Shortly before the weekend, they had contact with a pastor from a local church. He asked if they needed anything: Yes, a location for our kickstart weekend. So they were offered a beautiful location for free!
After the weekend one of the participants offered them a beautiful house where the whole group can stay for a month for free! And this was again great timing, because after the weekend they had no place to stay. And so the adventure continues for them! They continue to keep in touch with the people who attended the kickstart.
In this way you can see how God always lets everything fall into place and takes care of His children.
Family holidays
We ourselves, as a family, had been offered a ranch by Dutch people who live there and would be going to the Netherlands for a few weeks on holiday. They had heard about our journey and this blog and so we received the nice message if we wanted to stay in their house while they were in the Netherlands. We had a very nice time there in that very nice place. This was near the place CoÃn. The children had a great time in the large garden with trampoline :).
All kinds of work
A while back I got the idea to create a new kind of pin on the TLR Map that represents a group of traveling disciples. We had developed this a few weeks ago and now it came in handy.
That way people can contact such a traveling group and it works well. Several contacts have already arisen from this.
I have also recorded some testimonial videos – I hope to start publishing some soon.
Thanks for reading our blog this far! We are doing well and we are still very happy to have embarked on this journey with God. And as far as we are concerned, it is far from over! I expect we’ll be in Spain for a while, God willing.
Best regards from us, God’s blessing and until next time!
