In July, we had another one of our all day excursions to the towns. Here is an impressive sight in the town of Lanaja. The building is an old wheat silo built to store and ration the wheat harvest. You can see more than a dozen stork nests, there are almost as many more on the other side. These nests can measure up to NINE FEET diameter and weigh several tons.

Spain is one of the world leaders in alternative energy. Here you see a field that used to grow crops now being used to "harvest" sunlight and turn it into energy. The governement subsidizes both solar and wind generated energy, and they are being a significant source of income for many of the outlying towns.

I have told you in the past that many of the towns are decreasing in population as the people move to the cities and larger villages. However, many of them do not forget their roots. They take the money they earn in the city, and use it to fix up houses in the towns, to be used as a vacation property, like the magnificent bulding to the left.

The province of Zaragoza is very dry, and the countryside very barren. Teruel, the province to the south, is mostly mountainous, with many springs and rivers and much more rain. You will find many of the houses in the villages there with wonderful flower gardens growing out front.

In the 1980s, a plague swept through the region, killing most of the elm trees in the area. In this particular town, the people have left the trunk standing of the last elm tree that grew here

In the month of June, our son Jon came to visit us along with his girlfriend, Stephanie Wicks. While he was here, we tried to do some of the things that Jon misses doing since he went back to the States. One of the things we did was drive up to the French border. You can see a picture on the right of the Pyrenees Mountians.

In the town of CanFranc, there is an abandoned train station where rail pasengers used to transfer from French trains to Spanish ones. In the pictures above, Ben is playing with an old crane used to move cargo on and off the cars, while Jon, Ben and Steph try to switch the tracks. Obviously, none of this machinery functions.

There are lots of abandoned train cars as well, which the three of them loved exploring, looking for old documents which are scattered throughout the grounds. It is reported that during the Second World War, Spain shipped hundreds of tons of material used for armored vehicles in exchange for gold through this very station. The gold has never been found.

At the end of May, we held a special service in one of the Zaragoza churches for David Fuertes, seen here on the left in the picture with Juan. After ten years of faithful service in the towns, David has found himself with many physical problems that prohibit him from going out with us. We praise God for this faithful man who He called to work with us in the mission to the towns of Aragón.


The event was a surprise for him and his wife, Alicia. We showed pictures of him working in various aspects of the ministry. Then Juan and I presented him with a plaque, and his wife with a quilt that Sue had made for her.

We invited our group in from Tauste for the morning service, which was a great time of fellowship. It was also very good for the Zaragoza church to get to know some of the brethren from Tauste better.

Here is a picture of some of our faithful folks in Tauste. Left to right: Azucena, Juan, and Pedro. We would appreciate your prayers for the salvation of Juan and Pedro, and for the growth of Azucena.

These pictures are taken in the town of Tauste. They had an entire week of fiestas the second to last week in April. To the left you can see some of the religious items waiting to be carried throughout the streets for one of their processions. On the right, we can see the gates and fences erected in the streets for their version of the "Running of the Bulls." Both events are pretty common in the town festivals. Obviously, the people were pretty distracted that week, and it was hard to evangelize. The weeks afterwards, though, are usually very productive.