Prince and Gina's Praise Report from Spain
August 2012 – October 2012
Dear Prayer Partners,
We just wanted to send a Praise Update to let you know of a few more (of the many) things that God is doing; but I just have to say that... THIS HAS BEEN ONE INTERESTING YEAR!
Teaching at the Theological Seminary
I also must add that, according to my particular ministerial gifting, that God has placed me in the most advantageously strategic and perfectly suited place for the advance and future of the work of the Gospel here in Spain. This is an absolute, God given opportunity to teach and make disciples in Spain.
There are five of us that are full-time faculty here; the rest of the fine professorial staff is adjunct. The results are that I serve in numerous functions:
- I am assistant to the seminary rector (Dr. Jesus Carmes) overseeing the general academic quality of the courses offered by the seminary.
- I am on the thesis review committee; right now, I am in charge of the esthetics and the multitude of indispensable details involved in writing a thesis – from the project presentation to the actual dissertation. I am not involving myself in the acceptance of the proposed themes though I do opine about some of the aspects presented. It I have also been asked if I would like to be a tutor/advisor to one of the candidates… which task I strongly prefer not to do.
- Finally, and to my greatest enjoyment, I teach Exegetics II (the branch of theology that specializes in the laws that govern orthodox Biblical interpretation) and Old Testament History.
Surely, I will be (and have been) performing a plethora of other tasks as the needs arise, but I am counting it as a privilege to be able to serve in this or whatever capacity I am allowed.
There is, however, one cross that we have been called to bear with this blessing.
Interesting Year
As I said at the beginning of this praise report, this has been an interesting year! When we moved from Cáceres, my plan was to sell our townhouse; but because of Spain (world famous) economic crisis, we have an upside down mortgage, there are no buyers and the banks are not giving loans. So, I pay, a now, exorbitant mortgage on a house that I can only rent for a third of the price and I have to pay, out of pocket, a tad bit more than the other two thirds.
This does not leave us in apt financial to thus rent another house in Córdoba where I now live. Therefore, I live in what I call a monk's cell in the men's dorm at the seminary. Without a decent place, at this time, to house my lovely wife, she has taken up temporary residence with our daughter Jasmine in Washington DC, until a far better logistical situation arises. We celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary (November 6th) with a chat via Skype.
Another "interesting" thing that happened is that:
- Monday of the first week, my email account was hacked effectively cutting me off from the account that I have had for about 15 years. Please take not of my new email address at the end of this praise report.
- Tuesday, my terabyte external hard drive fell and went "kaput!", sending about 20,000 of my studies, investigations, written books and articles, teaching and research materials and much more; about ten to fifteen years of work, if not more, into cyber oblivion.
- Wednesday, as I was accessing my cyber back-up hard drive, it told me that I had to renew my password. To do that I was asked to do it via my email address, when I tried to do that… of course, I was locked out of my email account by the hackers thus effectively losing access to my cloud...
The seminary and some sympathetic functionaries of the city of Ecija have been trying to help me recover my data, but so far the news hasen't been of the most encouraging nature. Praise God anyhow!
Then the last of September I received an urgent call from my daughter Lupe, and I caught a flight the next morning to be with her and her family in Charlotte, NC. Unfortunately, my granddaughter passed away six hours before I arrived. She was taken back to Puerto Rico for burial, but I had to return to Spain. Gina and my daughters went with Lupe and her family to Puerto Rico to be with them.
The entire family has been experiencing the grace and peace of God during this "very interesting" time of God's dealings in our lives.
Ministry Trip to India
In October, the Lord sent me to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, for two weeks of ministry in this city of 7 million, in some rural areas of the state as well as in the cities of Vyara and Surat. As is common in such countries such as India, some of these beautiful Believers traveled 20 hours to come and sit on the floor for hours at a time so that we could teach these converted Hindus the Word of God. There was such a hunger for my teachings that they just drew more and more out of me seeking time to hear the Word long after my sessions had ended.
I am used to traveling around the world and ending up in the strangest places on earth under the oddest situations and conditions and my experiences with India rank right up there with the best of them. Indians are a handsome people and their country is stunning, but I classify their traffic in the top five of the world's most insane! Hundreds of bicycles, motorbikes, trucks, autos, pedestrians, livestock (including camels) and three wheeled taxis all crisscrossing at full speed, nobody brakes for anything, and all this done with absolutely no regard for ANY semblance or recognition of law.
Please Keep Us in Your Prayers
Brothers and Sisters please know that without your earnest and constant prayer and support we would be severely crippled. God has been blessing us so much in our work out here, but these blessings have not come without corresponding challenges. Some of our needs have been so great that they threaten to become burdensome – and I am committed to cast all of my burdens upon the Lord. Two of my favorite Scriptures are, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5:7) and "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Philippians 4:6).
None the less, just like Moses needed Aaron and Hur to help him hold up his arms in Exodus 17:10-13, I really need your help to hold our arms up. But as the psalmist said, "I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more." (Psalm 71:14).
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 financial suppor of our ministry! 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.,
Your Missionaries in Spain
Dr. & Mrs. Prince M. Parker
E-mail: prince.parker71@gmail.com
Or: prince_parker@mail2missionary.com
Blogsite: http://missionaries2spain.blogspot.com/
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