Elim España Newsletter March 2021

Hola desde ESPAÑA

Greetings from Sue and Howard here in Andalucía, Spain.

We hope and trust that all is well with you and that the grace and peace of our Lord is keeping you strong in faith and action, that your family, church and friends also are well.

Thank you for all your prayers and your support. We genuinely appreciate all your help in our works over here as partners with us in the Lords plan of salvation.

Our mission hasn ´t changed , our foundation from Matthew 28 is to take the good news of the gospel to as many people as possible, making disciples who will make disciples who.....

The challenges have increased , as I am sure they have almost everywhere due to the global pandemic. We continue to reach out to those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Saviour and to the Children of God with encouragement using the means at our disposal. Mostly via social media, in person where possible.

Howard and I have been privileged to be able to chat and invite some of the folks who have businesses near to our church building and we pray they will decide to seek after the Lord who promises He will be found if they seek Him. We trust in the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and stand in faith for their salvation.

What a privilege we all have, to carry such good news that impacts all our lives.

For those of you who live in the UK it sounds as though times are tough in so many ways and we rejoice that the vaccination programme appears to be going well. You too have so many challenges, we know, and it makes it so precious to us that you are mindful and supportive of us and what is happening here. You truly are a part of Gods work here, and united, working together in unity we know that we shall see the Lord ´s blessing upon this town and the place where you are.

MEETINGS

We are still limited to a once a week, in-person meeting, therefore we still have one in English and one in Spanish, both on a Sunday. All our protocols are working well and it is so good to come together in the presence of God as we unite in Him. We strictly adhere to the rules that are in place and we have become accustomed to them. They do not stop our Lord and we are experiencing Him with us in our gatherings. All our other mid-week meetings are still via social media and we enjoy people joining in with us from outside our area, this blesses us.

Care Packages – We continue working together with pastors Marco and Lorena and the Spanish Evangelical Church here in Benalmadena as we endeavour to meet the needs of those who have lost jobs and are finding life a bit tough at the moment.

We are extremely grateful to the Elim Relief Aid funding we have received; it has made such a difference. We are no longer allowed to have food collection days in supermarkets because of covid-19, therefore, now, we need to purchase everything. Together we are united in our Lord ´s mission for this town and we continue to believe for a great move of the Holy Spirit as we labour together in this harvest field. We shall see the lost being saved and the Lord glorified as we all serve Him the best we can.

FUTURE PLANS

It ´s not easy to write of our future plans, except to say that we will continue to take the gospel forward as well as we can and do our best to be the children of God here, hopefully being a blessing and that God ´s will, will be done here.

ELIM FEDERATION

As the President and Secretary of the Federation of Elim Churches in Spain we continue to work for the benefit of all our churches, which is a huge challenge of its own as we are presently working on producing new church statutes for our daughter churches enabling them to be independent, maturing with the support and protection of the Federation. Legal paperwork is generally a bit confusing in English, it ´s just the same, actually more so in Spanish and at times I think it ´s possible to feel the brain cells collapsing. Howard is doing a great job. We continue to be in awe in how the Lord is moving in Catalonia and expect to see growth here in the South of Spain too.

PROJECT IN GUARO

HOUSE OF JUDAH

This project has been on hold for so long for different reasons, one of which has been the fact that we have been unable, for so long, to travel outside of our respective towns and villages. Different restrictions are made and lifted and then re-instated so we have had to put things on hold, we hope that our works will continue soon and this future blessing will be available for those who will need it. There is much to do first.

We have a vision for a House of Praise which will be a blessing and a testimony to the greatness of our God. In the scale of projects, it is small, but for us it ´s huge and we believe many peoples lives will benefit. There are so many tasks to accomplish, from building, putting in sanitation etc., to land management and care so we can host different groups of folks who will be greatly blessed. As I write this we have a small team there on the land looking at how best to proceed. Decisions are having to be made, which walls to keep, which ones to plaster, or paint, or tile. Not always easy to decide because the walls are stone and some are about a metre thick. We have a tree growing in the ´bathroom ´ which keeps growing despite being cut down more than once, it will have to be dug out or it will be in the shower. So far we have done most of the works ourselves, apart from some help from our great friends who helped us lift concrete beams onto the roof. We certainly hope for workers and helpers as we move forward.

It is exciting and a lot of hard work but the blessings will be great for those who will receive. You can keep up to date with the progress via our website.

Although we have responsibilities beyond our normal capacity – we really are just two kids from Leicester with quite a few years added on – All Glory must go to Jesus Christ because it is He who is building His church in this country. We are just labourers. I don ´t want to paint a picture that everything is perfect here, there are days when we wonder what is happening, feelings that are not always faith filled, but our God is faithful to His word and He says He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

If it ´s not easy where you are, take heart, it wasn ´t easy for Jesus and His followers at the birth of the church. Our joy, our strength comes from Him and the knowledge that He will return and take us to be with Him and our struggle is only for a short time here.

PARTNERS TOGETHER

As we continue together to serve our Heavenly Father please let us know what is happening where you are and if you have something you want us to pray into. Together in unity we will see His Kingdom come here on earth.

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