One Tuesday I left the guys in Cariñena after the Bible study and went to pass out tracts in a nearby town called Villaroyo del Campo. As you can see from the pictures above, it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, which is why we have never done the town. You can also see from the picture of the house above that it is definitely not abandoned. even though I saw no one on the streets. This, like many smaller towns, is a place where people escape from the city and the larger towns during the summer and holidays. They will find a surprise in their mailbox on the day they arrive!!

MARCH 2009
On our monthly tripo to the villages, there were 6 of us. We were also able to have a Bible study with an older couple who live in a town that is an hour and a half from the nearest congregation. Tomas (third from the left) and Paquits (third from the right) were extremely pleased to see us and open the scriptures.

FEBRUARY 2009

Here is a picture of one of our Bible studies in Tauste. I had to take three different shots to get all the people in, there were a total of 21 adults here this particular day. Many of them came from Zaragoza to evangelize, praise the Lord!!!!

Here is a picture of two of my most faithful companions, Juan Blanquez on the left and Medardo Bello on the right. Both of them have been going out with me since 1999. Juan has grown to be my right hand man, especially in Tauste. In fact the Lord has manifested a pastor’s heart in him towards the people of that town. Medardo just lost his job and has been going out with us since then. He has shown that he has a gift for both evangelism and teaching. He has already taught a couple of times in our Bible studies, and has made several excellent contacts during our evangelism. Please pray for both of these men, that God would use me to help them to develop their gifts for God’s glory.

DECEMBER 6-20 VISITS

I am going to try to present things in a little different manner, to see if it is a little more interesting to the people who don’t know the people here like I do. I will just try to hit the highlights of our visits in the towns, and give you a little bit more info on the people who are both working with us and those who live in the towns.

DECEMBER 17 TAUSTE

I was very sick today, so I stayed home. Juan and Medardo took charge of the day and did a good job. Medardo drove my car and gave the Bible study, while Juan organized everyone, including a visit to Juan and Pedro. It was exciting for me to see these men step up and be responsible in my absence.

DECEMBER 12 CARIÑENA

We had a new visitor to our Bible study this week, Noelia. She is another one of Belén’s nieces, daughter of the only sister who isn’t involved with us. Laura, Dori’s daughter, had been talking to her a lot, and so she came to the Bible study with Bible and notebook!! Praise the Lord for what He is doing in that family!!

DECEMBER 11 TARAZONA

This was our second day in this town. I had a huge blessing by going out with Eduardo. I wondered why he usually has so much success, and I do too, but when we went out together it was a big flop. I decided it was my bad attitude, since he doesn’t do things MY WAY. I decided to let God work as he wanted to, and we had many good conversations. I saw once again how God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

DECEMBER 10 TAUSTE

Today was a blessing, everyone told us about their gifts. Carmen, a lady from Argentina told us that she was a nominal Christian until she came here to Spain, when she realized that God wants her to evangelize the Spanish people. We have been able to visit two of her cousins who live in Tauste. There has been a lot of opposition since we started in Tauste, and we need to be praying more than ever, especially for each other.

DECEMBER 6 LA PUEBLA DE ALFINDÉN

Today was not a very productive day. Did some follow up visits and some questionnaires, but nothing exciting. Some days we are just breaking up the stony ground!

NOVEMBER 23 TAUSTE

We had our first service in Tauste this evening, in Antonio and Dunia’s house. Four of us came from Zaragoza (Juan, Feli, Fernando Blanco and I) and there were 11 others from Tauste including two visitors, Sara and Magdalena, friends of Karina. We had no muscicians, but both Sue and I decided that it is EXTREMELY important that we praise God, so we sang acapella. I preached on God’s name, God Almighty (El Shaddai). I can only assume that it was what the Lord wanted me to preach, since there were at least three lost people there, they need to know who is this God that we serve and trust in. Later, we had a time of fellowship and it seemed to go well, Diana and Dani walked with Karina, her dad, Jorge, and her friends. It definitely seems like a good way to feed the believers that cannot come to Zaragoza, to preach the gospel to others we don’t know, and to create a community of believers there in Tauste. It is imperative that we cover the entire work with much prayer.

NOVEMBER 20 TOWNS OF TERUEL

Today we had the most people we have ever had on an excursion to the towns. Besides our regular crowd of Juan, David and Eduardo, we also had Simona and Yakeline with us. Juan, Eduardo and Yakeline had several good conversations with people, while David, Simona and I did most of the tract distribution in the houses. Afterwards we arrived in Herrera to find not only Alina and Virgil waiting for us, but also his brother Emilio. It was a pleasure to be able to preach in Spanish and hear them say that they understood everything perfectly. We arrived back in Zaragoza at 11pm after having traveled about 425 kilometers, also the most that we have ever done. The names of the towns with their respective populations are as follows: Cuevas de Almudén (111), Jarque de la Val (106), Hinojosa de Jarque(186), Cobatillas, Santa Barbara, Camarillas(131), Aguilar de Alfambra(88), Ababuj(85), El Pobo(155), Monteagudo del Castillo(68), Jorcas(54), and Galve(144). Twelve towns in all, with almost 1300 inhabitants, that were able to receive the gospel, many for probably the first time!!! Glory to God!!

NOVEMBER 19 TAUSTE

We had another record group today, 10 of us, so we had to go in two separate cars. I had to spend some extra time looking over the list of contacts that we have in order to make wise use of our people resources. I also found it necessary to cut off both Eduardo and Medardo who have a tendency to go on and on about whatever we are talking about, or about a totally different subject. The rest of the group was in agreement with me, that it was more important for us to get to work than sit around all morning discussing various subjects. I have found that as the group grows I am forced more and more often to exert authority for the good of the entire group. I am getting a little taste of what it is like to be a pastor, and it makes me appreciate all the more the work that both José Zamora and Pastor Grace do. Simona and Lady had a couple of good visits with some Romanian women, Medardo and David were able to have a good conversation with another Spaniard, Yakeline and Ana Fuertes were able to give a Jesus video to a young man who called because of a tract. Eduardo and I tried to do follow up on the people he spoke with last week, but they weren’t as interested this week. It is the usual story, either they are just being polite the first time, and it appears they are interested, or they really are but someone they know talks to them and warns them about getting involved with a “cult.” That is why it is so important to do follow-up, to separate the wheat from the “chaff.” Dunia is VERY excited about our first meeting coming up on Sunday.

NOVEMBER 18 CARIÑENA

We had some great news today. Adoración told us that not only did she receive the Lord as her savior, but that has also decided that she wants to be baptized!! Afterwards, we went out in three pairs, and each of us had at least one good visit. Juan and Eduardo went to visit Julian, who had been to the Expo and spoke with someone from our church. Margarita and David went to visit an elderly lady who they had spoken to a few weeks before, while Sue and I went to speak to a woman who used to be one of Adoración’s friends in the JWS. It was an interesting conversation, because she said she became one of them because of their testimony, not always criticizing and gossiping about others. Then she told us that she believes the way to eternal life is to be good, but she knows that neither her nor anyone else is good enough to have it. She actually said, that IF THERE WERE a hell, she would go there. This woman definitely needs the Spirit of God to reveal the truth to her before it is too late. Her name is Victorina and she is 80 years old.