Nice of you to read our blog! A lot has been happening again recently, too much to share all here, but I’m going to make an attempt.
Overall we are doing really well We are still in Cuevas Del Becerro and renting a house there for an extended period. It’s a period of calm where we can finally pick up homeschooling properly. All four of the children are very happy in the place we are now. Recently, Grandpa and Grandma came over for a week, along with Uncle and Auntie! Very cozy!
Taking the gospel throughout Spain
A while back I drove by car for a few hours to Jaén, a place a little further from the coast and a little deeper inland in Spain. I was alone and praying. As I did so I enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. Endless fields with olive trees, but also regularly I saw these small beautiful white village which lies against the mountainside. Spain has many such white villages. As I drove like this I got a strong conviction that we need to go around, throughout Spain to reach those villages with the gospel! Short trips, perhaps with a tent or a group of campers, and then sharing the message of Jesus. In order to find people who want to follow Jesus. And then we can return later to continue working with those people. Or that through Zoom conversations we keep a connection with those who want to follow Jesus. Not ideal, but better than nothing to begin with.
Concrete plans
Rodrigo, who was staying in Fuengirola for several weeks at the time, called and he shared with me: “Hey, I’ve been praying a lot lately. I think God wants me to go around with a small team and visit all kinds of places, all over Spain. To bring the gospel. And then not stay for a longer period of time, but keep a tight schedule and be everywhere for, say, a week and then move on.” That immediately clicked with what God had already shown me as well.” We quickly decided to talk further about how we could make this concrete.
A few days late we met and immediately began planning. It was initially going to be a 2-month trip where we would visit a place in the Seville area every week.
It’s practical because I can’t spend two months on the road with the family. Every week somewhere else would be too intense and complicated. But that way I can connect regularly, since Seville is fairly close (about 2 hours away from where we live now). The idea was also not to deviate from the plans and arrive in a new place each week. In each place we try to seek cooperation with churches and offer if we can help them with discipleship and activate the church to go into the harvest.
I asked Rodrigo, “where could we stay? He said it would be most practical to travel around in an RV. I was reminded of Theo who was in Alicante at the time (5 hours away) and had just bought a beautiful fairly new camper. He had just arrived in Spain with that camper and his idea is to come to Spain every 2 weeks and the camper could serve as his office. So that he could do remote work for the company where he works.
‘Theo’s camper would be ideal’. Together with the old camper with which we came to Spain, we could then go out with a team. One camper for the ladies and one for the men. Rodrigo said, “Yeah, I was thinking about that too, but I’m not going to ask. That’s for God to sort out.’
A few minutes later, Rodrigo’s phone rings. It’s Theo. ‘That’s special, he never calls me.’
He picks up and puts it on the hands-free. Theo has a question for Rodrigo about an application for a Spanish citizen service number, how it is done. A little later I say to Theo, “Hey, coincidentally you’re calling just now. We were just talking about how we’d like to go on the road with RVs to share the gospel. For two months around Seville. Can we borrow your camper for this?’ Theo had to think about that for a while and says he will come back to it.
A few days later, Theo says it’s fine. He has a house in Spain at his disposal for a somewhat longer period of time and can therefore spare the camper for a while. Also for the insurance it appears to be no problem that someone else drives it, so we are allowed to use his camper. How wonderful!
Old camper refurbishment
Team
Lilly, one of the former students from the school we gave last October, decided to come along too. She came together with one Benjamin, a boy from Switzerland who was also traveling with God. Later in the trip, Paul from Germany would hook up. I wrote about him in the previous blog, that he had just quit his job to travel to Spain. Sophie from Canada has also joined the team in the meantime and next Monday Vivian from Switzerland will arrive.
On the move!
You can follow the journey through this website: meetjesus.eu. Every Saturday night there is a live stream with updates (in Spanish).
Our dream is that in the future we can send more such teams out across the country! Pray with us that God will make this possible! But also that God is helping the team that is now on the road.
