Summer Ministry!

College Team from Lincoln, NE

We were so excited to host the Campus Impact team from Lincoln Berean Church in June.  They are in Spain reaching out to various towns and ministries and came here for their first week.   Last fall, Matt and Dan (the team's leader) discussed the possibility of using a language-learning program to reach out to our community here.  It is called "Language Aquisition Made Practical" or LAMP.  Basically, you practice the language every morning with a native speaker and then head out onto the street talking and learning from the people.  This team did an amazing job.  They were able to make real friends with people in our community and our contact list has exploded because of it!!   I (Rachel) was able to become friends with two young girls (Marina and Nayara) that work in a cafe.  I look forward to continuing reaching out to these girls.  The team also lived with Spaniards the entire time.  This opened up doors for us to be the liasions and for the team to reach out to the families.  One girl, Shanda, was able to share how God has changed her life with her host family.  They ended their time together in tears as the family was so touched by her story!  The stories of that week go on and on.  We are thrilled with how the week turned out.  Please pray for the possibility of teams doing that again in the future!!

Bike Riding

If you know Matt well, you know that he loves to ride his bike.  While living in Chicago, he was a bike-messenger downtown.  Our next door neighbor, Francisco, is a professional bicyclist.  He is retired and spends every minute fixing bikes, talking about bikes, and riding his bike.  So, as you can imagine, this has begun a beautiful friendship.  Francisco and another neighbor, Pepe, have invited Matt to ride with them every Thursday morning.  That may not seem like a big deal, but for a "professional" to invite a "rookie" IS a big deal!!  Please pray for Francisco as he seems very lonely at times.  Pray that Matt would know how to share God's love with him and Pepe.  

Stomach Bug

Matt and I got hit pretty hard with a stomach bug (I'll spare you the details).  Because we were both very sick and it was nearly impossible to take care of the three kids, especially the baby, I asked the neighbor lady (Milagros) to watch Owen during his awake hours.  She was so happy to do it and even got her adult daughter and another neighbor involved.  The three of them passed Owen around, fed him, and bathed him.  It was the perfect example of God using something bad for good!!  Now, these three neighbors have taken our family in and they have opened up their hearts and their homes to us.  Please pray for Milagros, Manuela and Mayte!!

Bible Studies
We continue to have two Bible studies going on in two nearby towns.  The work is slow and hard.  I would call it "spiritual farming."   There is a long wait to see growth and change, but the great thing is that we know there is hope!  These families that we work with are full of brokenness.  Please make a point to pray for them as they are inundated with drugs and abuse.  I will list some of their names if you would like to pray for them by name or choose one person to pray for!!  Please pray for Miguel, Emi, Francis, Carmen, Paco (#1), Carmencita, Jesus, Rocio, Mari, Paco (#2), Sergio, Luisa, Alejandro and Yessica.
How is our Support level?
As you already know, we are missionaries and our salary depends on God providing it through people like you.  You are the one who takes the time to read this letter, pray for us and possibly partner with us financially.  So, how are we doing?  Our support level is still lacking.  We are $900 short of our monthly needs.  Matt and I have been able to cut down on spending by budgeting, but I am unsure about keeping this up with the heavy weight of the euro.  We have done everything in our power to expand our financial support base, but we gain support then lose support, gain then lose.  At times, it feels like a roller coaster. Just this morning, I received an update from another missionary family that is $1500 short /month.  Reading that, I know that other missionaries are in the same boat, and it is clear that this is not at all "abnormal".  It, however, does cause stress!  Please pray that God would provide more financial supporters, and that we would rest knowing that God always provides a roof over our heads and food to eat.

Thank you!
Thanks for taking the time to read what is going on here in Spain.  Blessings to you and your family!   As they say in Spain, Feliz Verano, or Happy Summer!!

 Matt and Rachel