PASTORS IN A VILLAGE IN MADRID

I am writing while I look out the window of my living room at home. It is a cold and gray day, with rain clouds that are coming to stay all this week. In front of my house I can see a tree with half of its golden leaves that will soon fall, and I can also see "El Obrador de la Villa" (it is a bakery), which has signs on its door announcing that for this Christmas the "Roscón de reyes", or as we say in Argentina "Rosca", should be reserved in advance.

Here in Spain, it is very typical to share the Roscón with the family. In fact, on Sundays after the meeting we always have a coffee time. This Sunday we shared a roscón and one of our leaders told us that the Roscón is shaped like a king's crown, and that's why it has all the colors of the polished fruit, representing the crown of a king. How interesting, I had never noticed that before. Every day we continue to learn things about this beloved culture.

And speaking of kings, there is one that is the most important in our life; these days we remember the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is not the gifts, nor the shopping, nor the food, Christmas is Jesus. I want to share a phrase from C.S.Lewis that read these days: "Once in our world, a stable had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world". May these days be a time to meditate on the importance of the birth of our Savior, Jesus.

It has been a long time since we wanted to write to you, but as they say here, we were full of work. Since May of this year, we are pastoring the Sendero de la Cruz San Agustín church. It is a great and beautiful challenge. Just last night, while we were having some mates with Gaby we were talking about the gratitude we have in our hearts towards God. His faithfulness has been and is continually with us.

Reviewing the last 6 months we can list everything we have been able to carry out:

Weekly leaders' meeting

Attend a camp with the youth of our congregation.

Baptism and family day

Leaders' retreat

Church retreat

Newcomer material

Connection groups

Work with the creative area of the church and give trainings.

Sendero Kids. The children's teachers are doing an incredible job.

Every week we do evangelism.

We are very happy with everything we are experiencing as a church. We are making ourselves known in the town, and people are arriving little by little. We are seeing miracles, answers to prayers. God has surprised us all this time. And we believe he will continue to do so next year. We are looking forward to seeing God's work.

A little more than 6 months ago, some members of Gaby's family came to live with us: her parents, brother and three dogs. It is really nice to have family nearby when you are far away from your homeland. God has surprised them in everything, in terms paperwork, even in the fact that they have found a job so soon. They are being very helpful in the church: Néstor, my father-in-law, with the evangelism; Susi, my mother-in-law, with the children; and Pablo, my brother-in-law, with the music. We are very happy that they are here with us.

Since they have arrived we have seen miracle after miracle. One of them is that two weeks ago they were able to move into an apartment very close to ours; the truth is that this is a miracle because in our town it is hard to find affordable and available rentals. God has once again done the work.

We could tell you much more but we will leave that for the next blog, just tell you that we love you very much, and all the progress of the work in Spain is thanks to God, your prayers and your offerings. Thank you for continuing to be part of the AMAR MOLA project.

We have been here in Spain for almost two years now, and we can say that God has been faithful. He has always upheld us, taken care of us and surprised us.

We wholeheartedly wish you a beautiful Christmas and a happy and blessed 2022.

We send you a big hug from our beloved town San Agustin del Guadalix, Madrid, Spain.

Gaby & Mimi