Good things continue to happen in the life of our church, and you are playing a key role in making it happen.  We are continually grateful for your prayers and financial support.  It’s always an encouragement to see the interest that others have in our ministry.   On occasion we have groups and individuals that travel to Spain as an extra offering of their time and resources in the ministry they already have a part in.  I promise you, every time, it’s a huge blessing to the membership of our church.

There is a sweet spirit among the people of IBBT and it is never sweeter than when a member brings someone with them to church for the first time.  Maria Rave is a faithful member of our church and one morning she brought with her a friend named Alexis.  After greeting them and welcoming them to church Maria said to me, “This is my friend, Alexis, and she wants to be baptized.” To which my reply was a slightly drawn out, “Okay.” I paused for an awkward moment hoping she wouldn’t leave it there.  But then awkwardness turned to joy when she said, “But Pastor I told her that she needed to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior first and then be baptized.  So she would like to talk with you about that.”  That morning after the preaching hour we praised the Lord as Alexis was a new name that was written down in glory.

We are adding to our number monthly for which we are grateful.  However each Sunday is a full house in our auditorium that is not very large.  On one special day last month we had 75 people packed into the space and it was hardly manageable.  As mentioned in earlier letters, there is a fantastic opportunity we have to purchase a building.  This will be great blessing from the Lord that will solve the majority of our growing pains.  Good things have recently happened with the negotiation process to purchase the property.  However, because we are but a small blip on the radar of the Volkswagen corporation (owners of the property) the process is moving much slower than we would like.  Therefore, we patiently stand firm expecting God to do great and mighty things concerning this issue.

There are missionaries in our midst, and we are privileged to have them.  The Gritts family are with us and they seem to be settling in well to their new life here in Spain.  Please pray for them as they adjust to new cultural realities.  TJ, Kimberly and their girls are a wonderful addition to our congregation. We are anticipating the arrival of the Corbello family at the end of this month as they wrap up their transition and deputation to serve the Lord on this needy mission field. Both families are an answer to prayer.  The work of the gospel through sound doctrinal churches is scarce in our area.  We can use all the help we can get in the area of church planting.

-recent prayer letter from Arnold and Leslie Belasco, missionaries to Spain