Day 10 - Last Day of Ministries

This is our last update of our ministries in Madrid. Praise the Lord all the meetings and Sunday service went very well. Jethro led the youth group before worship. The discussion was on 'Temptations and how to avoid them.' At the end of the meeting, we asked the youth to share what kinds of temptations they were facing in Spain and we promised them that we would continue to pray for them and their needs after we've returned to the States.

Elder Mei's sermon today was on 'Abraham's faith.' Betty led the song of response 'Trust in Jesus.' Before she went up on the pulpit, she felt that an invitation should be given for the congregation to come before the Lord so that the STM team members could pray for those who are in need (whether spiritual or physical). Before Betty led the hymn, she gave the invitation. No one came forward. But Betty felt in her spirit that there were many who would need to take that step of faith to come forward. So she invited brothers and sisters to come forward during the last stanza. Praise the Lord that more than ten people came forward. Pastor Young, his wife Lorraine, the STM members, and a few brothers of the local church met with these brothers and sisters individually and prayed with them after Pastor Young closed with a prayer for the worship service. Praise the Lord that one person accepted Christ, and many other needs were prayed for.

After worship, Betty led the women to study I Peter Ch. 3 verses 1-6 on the subject of 'submission.' It's a difficult lesson for the local women. At the end of the meetings, we split into two prayer groups, one in Mandarin and the other in Cantonese. We had a good time of fellowshipping; however, we also found out there were a lot of spiritual needs, especially for the ladies whose husbands were not believers.

Victor and Elder Mei led the men's group in another room while Betty led the ladies in the sanctuary. They also had a great time of fellowship and will share stories with you when they've returned.

We praise the Lord for the wonderful things He's done through this team. This week alone, we've seen four people come to know Christ. Please continue to lift these new believers up in your prayers. Pray also for our return trip as you've already heard on the news about the recent episode of arrest. See you Friday.

Day 9 - Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a day of rest for Jethro and Betty. Jethro went with the Young girls and a few single adults group brothers and sisters to the Madrid Zoo & Aquarium. He had a great time of fellowship and sharings with them and at the zoo.

Betty took the afternoon off to stay at home to prepare for the ladies' group Bible study tomorrow evening after Sunday worship. Then she prepared congee to wait for everybody to return home for supper.

Elder Mei and Victor conducted their two workshops this afternoon. The workshops were well attended; however, we are not sure how much understanding occurred especially for Elder Mei's workshop because of the material involved. Just pray that what was taught will be made understood to the attendees by the Holy Spirit.

Pray for our service tomorrow as it will be our last day of ministries here in Madrid. After the worship service, Betty will lead the ladies' fellowship group; and Victor and Elder Mei will lead the men. Before worship, Jethro will again meet with the youths. There are a few remaining nonbelievers in the youth group. Pray that God will use Jethro to speak to their hearts.

Day 8 - Christmas Day

Christmas day was a busy day for us. Betty led the singspiration in the beginning of the special worship service. Victor read the scripture for the candle lighting, and Elder Mei lite the candle. Jethro? He sat at the piano all throughout the worship service. Not only did he play the accompaniment for the singspiration, but he also had to play for the different presentations by the different small groups during the whole Christmas program. Toward the end of the program, the STM team presented a hymn and after that, Victor gave his personal testimony.

We were all moved by the program presented by the youth group. I heard that they had rehearsed for three months. You will get to see the program when we've returned because it's on videotape.

After the Christmas program, there was a potluck dinner. During the dinner, the STM team members had opportunities to chat with different people. Praise the Lord, we are sure that seeds had been sown. We'll share with you more on the lives of the people here when we come back.

Finally, praise the Lord that two youth group members gave their lives to Jesus yesterday. They are sisters, whom Lorraine, Emily Chow, and I visited at their home last year. They have been attending church regularly but had only decided to open their hearts to accept Christ yesterday. Praise the Lord! Lorraine was the one who talked to them and led them to say the sinner's prayer. Please continue to pray for their spiritual growth.

Wish you all a blessed Christmas!

Day 7 - Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas to you! Yesterday, Dec. 24, was a heavy work day for us. Because we came home at around 12:30am, we were too tired to update the blog; and therefore I'm sending you updates now on Christmas Day. Lorraine took Joe, Victor and Betty to visit four families in the afternoon. Three out of the four families are store owners. The purpose of the visit was to let them know that the church cares for them even though they can't always attend church services regularly. After two visits, we stopped at a cafe to have coffee since Joe and Victor had never tasted Spainish coffee. Interestingly, when we were about done, a Chinese man came out from the back of the cafe. He asked if we were Chinese and we started chatting. We found out that he was the cafe owner. We had a really good chat with him and invited him to attend the Christmas service. The stop at the cafe was not planned. We just happened to walk by it and Betty suggested that we made the stop. God's plan is amazing and it's unimaginable to us!

Our last visit was with a lady who has stage 4 cancer. She's from Taiwan and has only started attending church for about 6 months. The four of us took turn witnessing to her; however, she was not yet ready to open her heart to accept Christ because of her past. She went back to Taiwan last year and made visits to a Buddhist temple. She believed that her health was better after making that visit and saying her chants. She felt that she owed it to the 'religion' and therefore was not ready to accept Jesus. Please pray for Ah Hua's salvation. We're fighting with time in her case because of her health condition.

After the four visits, we immediately headed to join Pastor Young, the girls and Jethro, who had already arrived at a single brother's home. We had dinner there and a short time of fellowship. Of course the topic of discussion was 'marriage.' Praise God that we were able to share not only our experience but also God's desire for man and woman in marriage. May God continue to work in these young people's hearts so that their marriages will be pleasing to Him!

We'll be heading to church in less than an hour here for the Christmas service. Will talk to you soon to let you know how it goes.

Day 6

In terms of ministries, we weren't busy today. We had plans to go to the area where there are a lot of wholesale warehouses owned by Chinese people to pass out invitations. However, because Lorraine had to renew her Spain residency, she was gone the whole morning. By the time she got back, we had to meet the Chu's for lunch. We went to visit the Chu's at their warehouse before heading to church. The Chu's are business people who play important roles in reaching out to other Cantonese speaking people in the city. They also opened their home for the fellowship group to meet last evening. Their children are involved in the church youth group. You'll see a picture of the brothers, Jethro, and Sarah here.

This evening, John and Lorraine Young took us to meet with other C&MA missionaries for a Christmas gathering. We enjoyed meeting the missionaries and chatting with them about their ministries here in Spain. We also met the field director, Raymond and Mary Ebbert. Mary spoke at our church in the fall missionary conference in 2007. She remembered her visit with us. You'll see pictures of the STM team with the Ebbert's and a picture with another missionary couple. This pastor was born and raised in Hong Kong. His parents were also missionaries. He's the tallest guy you see here in the picture.

Tomorrow Betty and Lorraine will continue to visit a couple of ladies. The guys will probably go their separate ways. Tomorrow evening we'll be meeting with the Single Adult group after supper. Please continue to lift us up in prayers.

Day 5 - Another full day of ministries

Today was the first day the STM team split up to meet with different groups of people: Betty and Lorraine visited a lady who hadn't been to church for a while and invited her to come to the Christmas program and Sunday worship. Then we had to rush off to meet with the ladies' group for a simple lunch before Betty led the ladies to study about God's Holiness. After the group meeting, we wanted to make another visit with a lady who has been diagnosed with cancer; however, we ran out of time 'cause we had to come home and prepare for our evening meeting. Lorraine and I had to make plans to visit with this lady some other time during this week.

The guys visited a couple from Guangzhou with Pastor Young, and spent about three to four hours sharing with them. We'll share more about this couple when we've returned. But in the mean time, please pray for Mr. and Mrs. Qiu as they're losing their business and need guidance about their future. Also pray for their salvation. After the visit, they all went to lunch together at 4 pm. Jethro had never had lunch this late. He and the Young girls (Sarah & Abi) were starving to death. Luckily they were treated to a lunch Buffet! Besides feasting, they also had another opportunity to share the gospel with several other Chinese nonbelievers who came to join them for lunch.

This evening we met with the Cantonese speaking fellowship group, which Pastor and Mrs. Young wanted to start up as a regular fellowship group even after our departure. We had a good time of sharing and fellowshipping. Please pray that this group will find time to meet regularly and God will use this group to outreach to even more Cantonese speaking people in Madrid.

Betty shared with you about the lady whom she visited during our first work day here. Tonight Lorraine got a phone call on our way home that this lady was again taken to the ER. Please pray for her that the doctors will be able to find a diagnosis for her health condition and that God will heal her completely. Her name is Ah Jie.

Again we came home this evening at a little after midnight. So needless to say, I need to stop here and get ready for bed. We're sharing with you not only pictures of our ministries today, but also a picture of the nativity scene, a window display in the city of Madrid. May we all remember the true reason for the season!

Day 4 - Recharge Day

Today is Monday, Dec. 21. It's snowing and rainning all day in Madrid!

Since yesterday was a long day for us, this morning we all took it easy to recharge. In the afternoon, after having lunch with several Cantonese speaking people, since we were in the area where many Chinese people work and reside, we stayed in the area to pass out invitation pamphlets to Chinese people whom we saw on the streets and invited them to come to the church Christmas worship service. It was interesting to see how people reacted differently to our invitations. Anyhow, even if they are not attending the service on the 25th, we pray that the names and contact info. that were printed on the pamphlets would be useful to them one day.

In the evening, we visited with a couple who attend church regularly. Since they also need tremendous encouragement and caring from the pastor and his wife, the STM team felt the need to visit with them at their home.

Tomorrow Betty and Lorraine Young will be with the ladies' fellowship from 2-4 pm. The guys are going to do more visitations. Tomorrow evening, we'll be with the Cantonese speaking fellowship group. May the Lord give us a good time of fellowship. Please remember these two group meetings in your prayers. Thank you!

Day 3 - First Fruit

God is amazing! Praise the Lord that He has brought us here to reap His harvest! And thank you for your fervent prayers and support. This evening after the worship service (the service here begins at 5:30pm) a lady came up to Joe and Betty and wanted to speak to them about accepting Christ. After hearing her out and sharing the Four Spiritual Laws with her, Joe led her in saying the sinner's prayer. Hallelujah! She was so ready to accept the Lord; however, she didn't know how to. This incidence resembled so much the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch recorded in Acts Ch. 8. The Lord sent us here to reap! Glory and Honor to Him!

Several other people came up to us to ask questions and wanted to know more about knowing God. The team members are happy that we were sent here to serve in the field.

Before worship, Jethro led the youth group meeting. Betty sat in on the session and thought that Jethro did a really good job sharing with the group and challenged them to commit themselves in studying the Word of God and developing a closer relationship with God. Jethro will meet with the group again next Sunday.

After worship, Betty met with the Single Adult Fellowship group and led them in the study of the Book of Joshua Ch. 3. We had a really good discussion on faith and obedience. The meeting ended at 9:45pm. We left the church at a little after 10pm and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby. We finished dinner at 12am and arrived at home at around 1am. Yea, that's the lifestyle in Spain!

Please continue to lift us up in prayers as we will meet with the Cantonese speaking fellowship group on Tues. evening, Single Adult group again on Christmas Eve, lead worship on Christmas Day, etc. etc. in the upcoming week. Please also pray for the Madrid Chinese C&MA Church as there are many needs within the congregation. They will be moving their meeting location at the end of the month as the lease of the current building is terminating. They have found a place; but I'm sure there'll be some adjustments to be made. Got to go to sleep now. It's 3:25 am.

Day 2 - First Work Day

The first night in Madrid was interesting. The team members woke up at different times in the night because we were still adjusting to the time difference. When we were up, the kitchen was the only place we could go because all other rooms in the apt. were taken up. So the lights in the kitchen was on almost all night.

Right now it's 11:20pm Saturday, Dec. 19. We came home at around 10:30pm after two afternoon workshops at church and dinner out. Elder Mei conducted the first workshop from 4:30-6:00pm on Inductive Bible Study, and Victor Chow conducted the second workshop on True Wealth from 6:30-7:30pm. The workshops were well attended.

Betty went with Lorraine Young to visit a lady who was ill and will need surgery on Monday. We prayed for her before heading to church to join the guys. When Betty got to the workshop, most people who were here last year recognized her from last December's visit.

Tomorrow we all will participate in different ministries. Jethro will lead the youth group before joining the adult worship service. Betty will lead the single adult fellowship group after the worship service. Please continue to lift us up in prayers. Thank you.

Day 1 - Arrival

STM Team Leaving Morgantown

Praise the Lord that we arrived Madrid safely at 3:30am Friday your time. The flights and everything went very smoothly. We didn't sleep very much on the plane at all. I'm sure we all will sleep like a log this evening. Tomorrow will begin our first work day. Elder Mei and Victor Chow will be conducting training workshops at the Madrid Chinese C&MA Church beginning at 4pm Madrid time. Sarah, Rev. Young's daughter, remember me from last year but thought that I was Emily's mom.

Rev. Young and his wife, Lorraine made us lunch and dinner. We got to go cause' it's dinner time; it's 8:30pm Friday here. We're having dinner early this evening because we all need to go to bed asap. Will update you on how the workshops go tomorrow when we've returned. Please keep praying for all of us. Thank you.

Arrived Madrid, Spain