REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

Updated Monday, October 9, 2000

NEWS FROM SPAIN

Dear Leaders, Friends, and Supporters

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ!

(This letter concerns some of the events that have happened to Brian K. Stokes, AIMer to Madrid, Spain.)

I have taken four Spanish classes from my former University, but when I arrived I was not prepared to preach or teach in the Spanish language. Therefore, I have been diligently studying the language, so that I can preach without an interpreter as soon as possible. During the weekdays it would be safe to say that I spent up to five hours a day studying grammar, and vocabulary. The hard work is paying off. The saints at church are already remarking how I have improved greatly. I give thanks to Bro. Sones, missionary to Madrid, who has allowed me this time to study.

Although my Spanish is still limited that has not stopped the opportunities to minister. Within the first week of being here in Spain, I was asked to preach at the National Youth Conference. We had four services, and I was asked to speak during the first service on Saturday morning. We had around one hundred in attendance (last year 51). The youth camp was held in Denia, Spain, a Mediterranean tourist city located a couple of hours south of Valencia, Spain's third largest city. Please pray for both Denia, and Valencia for at this time to our knowledge there are no Pentecostal churches in either city. During the youth camp the Lord did bless, and a local man from Denia received the Holy Ghost. It is our hope that this contact may develop into a work for the Lord.

Bro. Sones has asked me to work with a group of Filipinos in the Spanish church. They understand English better than Spanish, so the group appreciates our efforts to minister to them. I teach or preach to the group on Thursday nights in an English service that precedes our Spanish midweek service. At the first of September during a Sunday service, the Lord healed a man who was suffering from pain in his feet and throat. After the Lord touched him, he desired a bible study that we will start when his wife returns to the country in late September. Help us pray for this group of people. According to a major paper here in Madrid, there are around one hundred thousand Filipinos living in Madrid.

Our major church here in Madrid is very diverse in nationalities. In a normal service, we can have up to seven different nationalities at one time. However, we desire a greater breakthrough with the Spaniards. Characteristically the Spaniard is proud. Traditionally the Spaniard is Roman Catholic. However, we know that where sin did abound grace did much more abound. In our attempts to reach out to the Spaniard, we have started (begun the 12th of September) a new Wednesday night bible study in a different part of town. From the beginning the Bible study looks prosperous, because we have had two visitors and also developed a couple of new contacts. It is our hope that this bible study will develop into a new church. This area of the town is called "Pueblo Nuevo." Help us pray about the Lord raising up a new church in Madrid.

One of my main responsibilities while here is assisting Bro. Sones. He is not only the missionary to Madrid, but president of the work. Therefore, some duties are always subject to change. Just last weekend we traveled to the East Coast of Spain (Madrid is located in the center of the country) to work with a couple of contacts. This is not abnormal because the need here is so great. Spain is a country of forty million people with about two hundred and fifty Jesus name people. Therefore, we never lack in areas to work with. Help us pray that the Lord would send forth labors into the harvest here in Spain.

I would personally like to thank all of you who have supported this endeavor. This burden that the Lord placed upon our hearts could not be accomplished without you.

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