May Update

Residence Card

I have begun the process of gathering the necessary paperwork to renew my residence card. Kathy and I are hoping to go to the office in Segovia next week to turn everything in. Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that I have been in Spain for a year. Other times it seems like forever, except for the fact that I still can’t speak as well as I’d like, but that’s mostly my own fault. It’s been a good year and God has been faithful. This next year will be very different with Jon and Kathy gone, and my brief visit to the States as well, but I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me and I hope that He will be able to use my life as a testimony to His love and grace.

Language Study

This week marks the end of my “full-time, formal” language study. I am in conversation with my professors at school about some part-time classes (1 or 2 days a week) in June and possibly beyond, depending on available time and finances. I’m really looking forward to a break and at the same time I don’t want to leave. They have become like family. They are a wonderful group of people who have cared for me while they were teaching me. At the same time, I know that I need to deepen my relationships with the women at church. In an effort to do that, and practice my Spanish, I am hoping to be able to meet with someone every day for an hour or two. The two ladies I was meeting with last fall are eager to get together again so I just need to find 2 or 3 more ladies to fill out the week.

This month’s quote:

“I often hear people praying for more faith, but when I listen carefully to them and get to the essence of their prayer, I realize it is not more faith they are wanting at all. What they are wanting is their faith to be changed to sight. Faith does not say, ‘I see this is good for me; therefore God must have sent it.’ Instead, faith declares, ‘God sent it; therefore it must be good for me.’ Faith, when walking through the dark with God, only asks Him to hold his hand more tightly.”

--Phillips Brooks, Streams in the Desert

Praises:

1. My cough is entirely gone and I’m feeling more rested. Thank you for your prayers.
2. Our new teammates, the McGees, will be arriving in Spain next week. We are excited to have them on the field. They will be working in Madrid.
3. Katie (our short-termer) will be heading back to the States at the end of the month. She has had some good discussions about spiritual things with her Spanish family. Continue to pray for them.

Prayer Requests:

1. The wife of one of my professors (José Miguel) is in the hospital with some kind of heart problem. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and healing for Deborah and most of all for their salvation. They have a 2-year old daughter.
2. Pray for the renewal process for my residence card, that everything will be approved before June 1.
3. Pray that God will allow me to develop some good friendships with ladies at church while they are helping me with my Spanish. Also, for wisdom as I plan for some continued part-time study at my language school.