Prince and Gina’s Praise Report from Spain
May - July 2008
Greetings in Jesus’ Name!
Apostolic Ministry in Mexico
In April I returned to Mexico to minister in a couple of the churches that we planted close to 25 years ago. At that time the region was virgin territory with no Evangelical witness for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. What an experience it was to return two decades later to see the entire region filled with the Gospel. I can now say, as did the Apostle Paul in Romans 15:19, “I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus”, (The Message).
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I had the privilege to dedicate the brand new sanctuary of the mother church in Tecpan, and believers that we had led to Christ years ago traveled from every part of the region to be in the services – as a matter of fact, some came all the way from Mexico City.
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I not only ministered in the special services that week in Tecpan but taught in special leadership sessions both there and in Tetitlán at another one of the many churches that are fruit of our labor there. I can also say, like the Apostle John in 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”.
I had the privilege to dedicate the brand new sanctuary of the mother church in Tecpan, and believers that we had led to Christ years ago traveled from every part of the region to be in the services – as a matter of fact, some came all the way from Mexico City.
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I not only ministered in the special services that week in Tecpan but taught in special leadership sessions both there and in Tetitlán at another one of the many churches that are fruit of our labor there. I can also say, like the Apostle John in 3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”.
Fruit in Cáceres
Even though one of our greatest challenges has been consistent and effective consolidation of the new Believers, we have had many new converts in Cáceres that are starting to bring forth good fruit. Here are a couple of examples of the testimonies:
Gabriel and Sabina Watcher (Pictured here on the left) are a beautiful young, very well educated couple originally from Argentina that has come to Christ in the last few months and are now in discipleship along with several other precious new Believers that are beginning to bring forth fruit (Sabina is a lawyer).
Cáceres is a university city and we have also had fruit in our student ministry. These students are not only from all over Spain, but from all over the world! Now ministering to these university students is like ministering on a military base, they come and go, but some of these have powerful experiences with Christ and return to their countries with totally transformed lives.
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A marvelous example is that of Emily Hawkins, an exchange student from the USA (Pictured below on the left with Max). She had come to the church a few times but just to check things out. Another student, Max Lees, from Cardiff, England, had been sharing the Gospel with her at school and brought her to my house one night so that I might answer a few questions that she had and share the Word more deeply with her. I spoke to her for about an hour and the Spirit of God manifested itself by totally breaking through to her and saving her with an absolutely astonishing experience!
A marvelous example is that of Emily Hawkins, an exchange student from the USA (Pictured below on the left with Max). She had come to the church a few times but just to check things out. Another student, Max Lees, from Cardiff, England, had been sharing the Gospel with her at school and brought her to my house one night so that I might answer a few questions that she had and share the Word more deeply with her. I spoke to her for about an hour and the Spirit of God manifested itself by totally breaking through to her and saving her with an absolutely astonishing experience!
In the photo below is a group of international youth after a special meeting in the church. In this photo are young people from: (Left to right) USA (Emily), Peru, Belgum, Norway, Germany, Rumania, Norway, Spain.
Ministry of Literature Evangelism
Some time back God brought Roberto and Lu, a precious young couple, to the church. Roberto is a graphic artist and printer and a natural evangelist. On his own, he began to print Gospel tracts and distribute them house to house in his neighborhood.
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Seeing his ardent desire and natural burden, we laid hands on him and commissioned him as director of evangelism for the church. He and I got together and wrote three very colorful evangelistic tracts with short, but clear and concise salvation messages and information about the church.
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At the left is a sample copy of one of our tracts. Roberto has made a data base of over six thousand email addresses in Cáceres and every week he is sending out Gospel literature and invitations to the church. We have some of what we send out translated in Porguese, Frence and English.
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He has formed evangelistic teams that go out every Saturday to distribute these excellent tracts. Roberto had a map of our city made and displayed in the sanctuary with pins indicating all of the streets that have been covered.
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At the left is a sample copy of one of our tracts. Roberto has made a data base of over six thousand email addresses in Cáceres and every week he is sending out Gospel literature and invitations to the church. We have some of what we send out translated in Porguese, Frence and English.
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He has formed evangelistic teams that go out every Saturday to distribute these excellent tracts. Roberto had a map of our city made and displayed in the sanctuary with pins indicating all of the streets that have been covered.
We plan on SATURATING the city with literature proclaiming the Gospel’s salvation message of hope and the love of God. It is encouraging to see the teams of people that gather to spread the Good News of Christ taking this literature house to house until every home has been reached… and then we will start all over again! We will see this city and Spain won to Christ!
Praying For Spain
Every Thursday evening we have a prayer meeting in the church. The last two months have seen this meeting grow into an exciting celebration and about 25 or more people show up to intercede for the needs and the needy. (Our average Sunday attendance is about 100). We are extremely encouraged by this and have taken it to be a sure sign of spiritual growth in these new Believers. .
One thing I must constantly remind Believers in America is that fact that Europe is largely unevangelized. Spain is still at the top of the list of countries with a Christian population of less than 1%. Even the population of confessing Catholics is shockingly very small here – practicing Catholics even smaller still.
One thing I must constantly remind Believers in America is that fact that Europe is largely unevangelized. Spain is still at the top of the list of countries with a Christian population of less than 1%. Even the population of confessing Catholics is shockingly very small here – practicing Catholics even smaller still.
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There are yet 13 million people that have NEVER heard the Gospel here in Spain and thousands of towns and villages have absolutely NO Gospel witness. The average healthy Evangelical church here has about 50 Believers present on Sunday mornings. PLEASE PRAY FOR SPAIN!
There are yet 13 million people that have NEVER heard the Gospel here in Spain and thousands of towns and villages have absolutely NO Gospel witness. The average healthy Evangelical church here has about 50 Believers present on Sunday mornings. PLEASE PRAY FOR SPAIN!
Grandparents Again
On May 6, our daughter Lupe and her husband Joan had their second child; a girl they named Karen Joana de Jesús Parker. She was our sixth grandchild. Tuesday, July 15, our daughter Jasmine and her husband Jeramy celebrated the birth of their third child. A healthy boy named Jordan Elijah Hampton; and that makes seven!
Rapidly Changing Situations
Someone said that inflation is the ability to cut money in half without damaging the paper. Well, that's certainly been true for us. I know that the present recession has hit us all very hard. Here on the mission field, due to the severe devaluation of the US dollar and the alarming inflation rate (for example: gasoline is now $9.45 a gallon) as well as other factors, our income has drastically been reduced.
.You, our faithful supporters, are doing and excellent job of helping to keep us effectively on the field. Unless God tells you something different, we can hardly ask more of you other than that you please continue your faithful support.
.But what we direly need now are new supporters. We are praying for ten NEW churches to receive us as their supported missionaries for at least $200 a month. If you know of other churches that would be open to our ministry, could please you pass our names to them?
Thank You
Please know that we do thank you so much for all of your prayers and loving support of our ministry and may God continue to bless you for your generosity! As always, you are a matchless BLESSING to our lives and the lives of countless others that you help us to reach for Christ! We love and deeply value you all!
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H.M.S.,
.Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker
