August - October 2008
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Greetings in Jesus' Name!
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Baptizing New Believers
In September we were able to celebrate another baptismal service. We have no baptismal facilities in our church building so these celebrations take place in nearby rivers. Normally we baptize in a river with a gentle but fairly swift current – a nice experience. This year the river was wide, somewhat muddy and very slow moving and full of leaches! It was still nice; it’s just that no one lingered in the water to praise God – we did that on the shore.
Since we arrived in Cáceres we have baptised and discipled many new Believers. We are blessed to know that our fruit in these precious souls remains according to the command of our Lord in John 15:16.
Recently I received this beautiful note on our blogsite from a young man that we won to Christ and baptised many years ago. I have not seen him for about 15 years. This is a translation of his note: “Hi, Prince. I am so glad to have been able to find you once again. I just want to express my appreciation to you because you were the first [person] to tell me about the Gospel. I want you to know that I am still following the Lord and am involved in His work, especially in sharing with my neighbors. I left Daimiel some time ago and now live in Azuqueca de Henares (near Madrid), in Guadalajara - Victor”.
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Change of Our Spanish Residency Status
Gina and I have been on the mission field for well over three decades and have served in a number of countries. Years ago, when we served in Mexico, it was illegal to be a missionary there. It was also illegal to be a missionary when we first moved to Spain in the late 1980’s and the Evangelical church wasn’t legally recognized by the Spanish government. That all changed in 1992 with the new Spanish constitution.
Even though we were legally recognized as “Protestant” missionaries here, we were extremely restricted in the activities in which we could engage. The restrictions were such that if we engaged in activities that were not directly church related, we could have lost our residence status.
One of the conditions of our residence is that we have to pay Social Security here (between Gina and me about 400 euros a month – we also have to pay Social Security in the USA). Well, our financial situation has been so precarious that we haven’t been able to make Gina’s Social Security payments. So recently when we went to renew our residency permits, they rejected Gina’s permit because of our inability to pay her monthly Social Security taxes. We have appealed and are waiting for their answer.
Fortunately they changed a clause in the status of our residence now giving us permission to work and hold a regular job here in Spain as well as serve as recognized ministers of the Gospel. The government has decided that if the Catholic priests and nuns can do this (and they do) then so could we!
Tent Making
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Even though the Apostle Paul had the financial support of the Philippians (Philippians 4:10-19), he had to make tents to supplement his income (Acts 18:3). The economic crisis that has shaken the USA has also terribly shaken Spain. This has affected us to the point that we have found it necessary for Gina to take up a night job in order to supplement our income. Gina works from 10:00 p.m. until 9:30 a.m. taking care of an elderly couple. She is free to minister to the needs of the congregation and to have her cell meetings during the day and early evening.
We have also decided to supplement our income by opening up a small business here. We are opening up a Disney store & video club called “Bluster Videos”. This store is part of a franchise. The store will give us tremendous exposure in a community in which we are already very well known and liked. 
We have been praying for an inroad to the youth of this city and there is a high school right across the street from us and three vocational schools (high school & junior college levels) within 300 yards of the store. Hundreds of young people pass by the store every day!
We took out some bank loans to open the store, so please pray for our success and prosperity – not just for our financial prosperity, but also for the power and presence of our Christian witness. For as we prosper, so too does the forwarding of the work of the Gospel here in Spain. Our grand opening will be December 4th.
Pray For Our Granddaughter Kaila
A little over a month ago we received the distressing news that our granddaughter, Kaila, our daughter Lupe’s oldest daughter, was diagnosed with leukemia. So please pray with us for her complete healing and the complete cancellation of this sickness. She is now in chemotherapy and the doctors are very positive that they were able to catch it at a good time and that she will completely recover. (Psalms 124:8) “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth”.
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Thank You.
Please know that we do thank you so much for all of your prayers and your loving support of our ministry and may God continue to bless you for your much needed 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!
H.M.S.,
Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker
H.M.S.,
Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker
