Hi all! Well it's only been 7 months since my last blog, so thought it was about time to update, oops.
So the past few months have been really good. We've had a guy called Marco Diep (cousin of Veronica, for those that know her) from Mexico with us for the past 9 months. He's been an incredible help to all of us as a church plant here, serving in many many ways, too many to list to be honest. Sadly, he's going the end of this month back to Mexico so we'll miss him a lot. But before he goes, he wanted to travel and see a bit of England too so during August, I brought him with me for a visit which was great fun and a good opportunity for me to keep practicing my Spanish! After the week in England, I went to the US for 3 weeks, staying with Lis, my sister, and her family for about a week in San Diego before going up to Oregon for 2 weeks and having a whole family holiday together, including my parents and other sister, Lou, and her husband. It was so great being altogether again and the time went very quickly...
Anyways, since coming back to Madrid, things have been picking up very slowly. Work was pretty much impossible for almost the whole month of September, it's always a slow start teaching English. So things got pretty tight come the end of last month, but God has been faithful as always and has provided me with a lot more work again. Apart from that life is just pretty much the same, playing football at the weekends (another English guy joined my team this season so I can actually make sense of football chat/banter now!), working, socialising (reinforcing friendships made here and making new ones too) and church.
Church is very exciting at the moment! We meet as 2 small groups on Sundays, morning and evening, English and Spanish, 3 times a month with the possibility of a third group forming soon nearer the centre of the city. The other Sunday in the month we meet altogether which is great as we don't always get to see everyone that often in a given month. The other weekend we had a fantastic weekend away as a group with Guy and Heather Miller who gave us a lot of challenges, insight, teaching and encouragement and it's also great to hear of the support we have from back in England :-)

 

Recently, we've gotten in contact with an Apologist called Andy Wickham (English name, Spanish guy) who wants to do some stuff with us as a church plant. So this Thursday, we're having a debate night about the relevance of God in an age of science. It's a great opportunity for people here so we're hoping we get a good response of people coming along to it. Please help us by praying for it too :-) on the back of it, we're starting an Alpha course so things are really kicking off here! There's a video link too which I'll attach showing you a bit of the team and the needs that we have: http://vimeo.com/76123406
Well, that will do before this gets too long. Thank you to everyone who continues to support me out here whether it's by prayer or just by friendship. It's really good fun living in Madrid but it's a HUGE challenge too, so I really value all your support and encouragement, even if I may not always be vocal about it. And for those that do pray for me and the rest of the team, they're working and we're seeing a lot of answers! :-) Anyways, hope to hear from you all soon!

Hi all!

Once again, my level of updates has been slipping terribly. To be honest, it doesn't actually feel like it's been that long but no excuse!

Well since coming back in January, things have been going well yet again. As a church group, our 2 smaller groups are going very well. The one I don't go to had a guest a week or so ago who seemed to make some sort of commitment to God! We are currently praying for him to see if this could be a real genuine decision but if so, we may have our first convert here!! Very exciting! The group I go to has now moved itself into almost fully Spanish speaking which is brilliant. It tests and stretches us but we are doing very well I think. We've also done a few more socials which have gone really well! I am now "running" them which is good fun too. We've had a fair amount of guests but more importantly we're getting a lot of regulars so we are developing more friendships. We also seem to have found another venue to meet in once a month when we're altogether, such an answer to prayer! It's at a school much nearer to where we all live so we'll see how that goes. We ALSO have just finally launched our website www.nuevasfronterasmadrid.com - a lot of hard work went into it, from our friends in Mexico, so we hope this will now put us more out in the open. As well, we've leafleted(?) the huge university here advertising our small groups so again, we are praying that we get a response from these.
I also had the privilege of going to a prayer and fasting weekend in Portugal with Kevin and Nigel back in February which really shook my view of God -- it's brilliant! It was so good to spend a few days with all the other churches from around Portugal and Spain, to encourage one another and to lift our eyes to see a part of the bigger picture. Also, there are very exciting developments for Madrid which may happen in the next year or so perhaps? Not sure if I'm allowed to say (Kevin??) but anyways watch this space! And please keep praying! Not just coz I'm here :-) but because Madrid really can be a key to changing the future of this dark yet amazing country.
We've also been joined by a guy from Mexico by the name of Antonio -- for those who know Veronica Lovejoy, it's her cousin! He's here for a good 6 months as a part of our team then we'll see what happens :-) there is also another family who are almost on the verge of joining us here in Madrid, experiencing a few problems but are remaining amazingly so steadfast in their calling.
At the end of this week, we are all off to Portugal again for the Iberian Peninsular Conference! We are all so very excited about it. This will be the 3rd year it's happened and they've always got better and better. AND this past weekend we've had the legend that is Oscar Suarez with us. He is the pastor of a Newfrontier church in Guadalajara, Mexico. I met him 7 and a half years ago when I lived there, never expecting to see him over here where I live now! But he's an excellent teacher and we've had a great weekend with him.
Changing tack completely, the next month is going to be a little crazy for me. After the Conference next weekend, I fly to the States on the Thursday to see Lis (my sister) and my nephews and brother-in-law for a week, then see Jon Rowsell get married! Very excited for this :-) when I get back, my parents will be coming out to see me for a long weekend and then some more friends are here the week after that! So pretty crazy time, but I'm really looking forward to it.
Work is going well too, I have a lot of hours now which is keeping me very busy. God has provided me with work already for the month of July when all the academies and schools shut here. There is a slight problem but I hope it'll get sorted and I can work there as it's so very convenient and would help me LOADS. But we'll see...
Football is still enjoyable, when it isn't cancelled! Nothing to do with the weather, Spaniards just don't like playing when it's holiday! I have met some great people in my team and I hope they can develop into good friendships. Talking of football, my incredibly generous Spanish mate GAVE me his ticket for Real Madrid against Man United at the Bernabeu last month! It was the biggest game I've ever been to in my life and it was an amazing experience! Here's a pic :-)

 

Even better when you're the only united fan amongst thousands!!







I did treat my friend to a curry afterwards, though it was only fair?! And in the process, I've finally found a place that does a decent curry!
Oh and I know it's been freezing in England but it's not been all sunny and warm here either. I knew it got cold but this year it's been snowing more than ever, which has been great! So, if you do want to come here to visit, make sure you time it well, although it is (finally) getting a bit warmer again. Can't wait for summer! Anyways, here's a couple of photos of some snow while walking to work one morning.

Anyways, this is getting pretty long ago so I'll sign off now. Thank you all so much for your continued support. I don't think I'll ever have enough words to thank you or I'm not sure you'll ever know fully the results of your commitment but I guarantee that we feel it here and, although it's very hard at times, God continues to be amazing with us, which, as far as I'm concerned, is largely due to you.
Some prayer pointers:

• Fundamentally, we want to see Spanish Christians here. Please pray that we encounter key people who will really take this church plant to a new level. We are hungry to see people's lives here changed.
• Pray for our new "potential" venue that this is where we should be and that we get it for a good rental rate! :-)
• Pray for us as a team, some of us are going through some real battles here and in England. We want to serve the community here with all we have and to demonstrate God's glory to them.

Thanks for reading this far if you've managed to. And please stay in contact, I'll try doing the same but better this time! Don't underestimate the power of a simple word. It does wonders to encourage those who are feeling right out in open warfare :-)

Dave