Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Granada, Spain Suffers 28% Unemployment
For every 1 Evangelical Christian in Spain you have 10 Muslims practicing their faith among them, for every 1 Spaniard converted to Christianity, 3 Spaniards convert to Muslim .Is there a need for the evangelization of Spain? You make the call. Monday we met in Granada, Spain with a missions training organization, which will remain nameless for security reasons, to discuss their methodology for recruiting and training Latin Americans to reach Muslim people in Islamic countries and in Spain. This is one of, if not the most influential, movements in impacting that people group in this area. This organization has identified the Latin Community as a natural place to recruit missionaries in order to impact a North African Muslim culture that has very similar cultural values, origins and behavior patterns to Latinos. Even though their efforts have concentrated on impacting the Muslim community, because of the 20% national unemployment rate and the 28% unemployment rate in their area, the proud Spaniards who once thought it beneath them to ask for assistance from anyone, along with the immigrants have now begun to form the lines to receive food and vocational skills from this organization. Imagine a city of Granada, which has about 300,000 people, only has 3-4 evangelical churches with an average of 40-60 members to bear witness to the gospel. The need is great but there is a movement of churches that are committed to and partnering with each other to strategically plant churches to reach this country for Jesus Christ. There is so much more that we learned that I wish I could share in this blog but instead Charlie, Rene and I will share a little more of our experience this Sunday at Church, hope you can make it or catch it on line. – Jesse Elizondo
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wisdom from Widow in Malaga
After a 12 hour drive from Barcelona to Malaga we made it to our hotel where there was lots of hot water for a shower and, a soft bed and a real good nights sleep. In the morning we made our way to church. One of the first things I saw in Malaga was parks with kids and there were whole families. They were out together and we did not see that in Barcelona. We did not see a lot of kids in Barcelona but, the ones we did see were not in the parks or with family. Malaga just has a feel about it that we did not get in north Spain. The town feels like a place you would like to live. Once at church it was hard to find a parking spot, we had to walk a little ways. There were two things that hit me about today one was the Lord’s Supper. It was as if it was the first time I took of the Bread and the Wine. I am in a land that I do not know, with a people I do not know and, we cannot talk with one another. But today as I took of the Bread and the Wine I could see I am part of one body. There is one God and there is one body not just our church body but the body of Christ. To worship with people that from 1975 and before could go to jail or be killed for being a Christian and see them worship with the doors open, to hear them sing so not only God can hear them but the outside world and, then to take the Lord Supper with them I have no words to say how it made me feel to be a Christian. We have so much and give so little, they are so few but with a love so big for Jesus. My heart hurts for them even with the love they have for Jesus there were no kids or teen in church today. When we asked about the kids and teens they said they do not come to church. A church without children will not last. My prayer for them is to find a way to reach the teens and grow as a church family. The second thing about today was the fellowship dinner they had for us. The food was so good all home cooked, the smell of all that food made my mouth water. I am eating things that I have never seen before I have even been drinking coffee. For those of you who know me you know I am not one to drink coffee. It was a real good time of fellowship, not only was the food not like what we would have at home they did not serve tea or water with our meal they served soda and with the soda there was also wine and beer. Yes I said wine and beer in the church fellowship hall, oh, and coffee too. I think I like coffee. Please be in pray for the youth of Spain. – Charlie Matlock
Sunday, like every day, was a great day. As we drove into Malaga close to midnight, I noticed that this city was extremely quiet. There was not the hustle and bustle that there was in Barcelona. (I felt that Barcelona is a town that never sleeps) It was a feeling of a small town. After a long day of driving and trying not to get lost, we arrived and found the hotel and went to sleep. In the morning on the way to church, walking the streets there were actual families with children and parents together (unlike Barcelona). As we entered the church, there was a warm sense of welcome and a feeling of love which surrounded us. A little lady, who made a tremendous impact on us all shared her story with us after church. She is beyond doubt a living breathing example of the Gospel. Her presence had a glow of Love that I have not experienced very much in my life. She is truly the example that I dream of following the rest of my days. As we conversed and dined with her, I felt that we were walking and worshiping with an angel who is walking among us.
On the business side of my mission, we met with 3 pastors who are working on a very large project which probably has great vision and is out of my league. The project they are working on consists of a four acre tract of land, which the government has ‘given’ to them for a period of 90 years. In this time they need to raise approximately $27,000,000 for a complex which will integrate several facets and also be a part of a government project. While they do have an excellent business plan and have much enthusiasm, I do not believe we fit with this one. What a Blessing to be a part of this missions project. We have so much potential here in Spain. I pray that God will pave the way for TRBC to be integrated in this great movement. Rene de la Garza – Rene de la Garza
As the worship service started I noticed sitting in the front row an elderly lady, 74 year old widow by the name of Concha to be precise, raising her small wrinkled hands as we sang our praises to God in Spanish, not noticing that she was the only one of 28 worshipers that gave herself the freedom to worship with her hands raised up high. Her enjoyment for the Lord at that moment was not encumbered by any of her 6 cracked discs that seem from an outside observer not to bother her or by the harsh life that had once marked her journey before and after she embraced the Lord as her Savior. As she described after the service her often and frequent enjoyment of Jesus’ presence, wherever she found herself, she embodied the essence of what it means to be the gospel, good news in the flesh. As she pointed to her front teeth to show us where they had once been shattered by her husband’s frequent physical abuse she smiled and shared with us that she had become a believer 36 years prior and when she did, her prayer to God was, “Help me love my husband because I hate him and change his heart” and so that started a journey for her in which God gave her that love for him. When he would beat her, she would pray, “Lord, please forgive him and love the man that I love”. Two days before he died, he became a believer, she had prayed for him for 34 years and while this is amazing, what is even more astonishing is that while she shared this she was giving God the glory because she learned to enjoy God, to enjoy him when times were good and when times were bad. She did not seem to have an ounce of resentment but a heart full of love for the Savior and a keen awareness of Jesus’ presence in her life; she was good news in the flesh in the way that she described her intimate walk with God, “enjoy God and you will enjoy life” she said. – Jesse Elizondo
Sunday, like every day, was a great day. As we drove into Malaga close to midnight, I noticed that this city was extremely quiet. There was not the hustle and bustle that there was in Barcelona. (I felt that Barcelona is a town that never sleeps) It was a feeling of a small town. After a long day of driving and trying not to get lost, we arrived and found the hotel and went to sleep. In the morning on the way to church, walking the streets there were actual families with children and parents together (unlike Barcelona). As we entered the church, there was a warm sense of welcome and a feeling of love which surrounded us. A little lady, who made a tremendous impact on us all shared her story with us after church. She is beyond doubt a living breathing example of the Gospel. Her presence had a glow of Love that I have not experienced very much in my life. She is truly the example that I dream of following the rest of my days. As we conversed and dined with her, I felt that we were walking and worshiping with an angel who is walking among us.
On the business side of my mission, we met with 3 pastors who are working on a very large project which probably has great vision and is out of my league. The project they are working on consists of a four acre tract of land, which the government has ‘given’ to them for a period of 90 years. In this time they need to raise approximately $27,000,000 for a complex which will integrate several facets and also be a part of a government project. While they do have an excellent business plan and have much enthusiasm, I do not believe we fit with this one. What a Blessing to be a part of this missions project. We have so much potential here in Spain. I pray that God will pave the way for TRBC to be integrated in this great movement. Rene de la Garza – Rene de la Garza
As the worship service started I noticed sitting in the front row an elderly lady, 74 year old widow by the name of Concha to be precise, raising her small wrinkled hands as we sang our praises to God in Spanish, not noticing that she was the only one of 28 worshipers that gave herself the freedom to worship with her hands raised up high. Her enjoyment for the Lord at that moment was not encumbered by any of her 6 cracked discs that seem from an outside observer not to bother her or by the harsh life that had once marked her journey before and after she embraced the Lord as her Savior. As she described after the service her often and frequent enjoyment of Jesus’ presence, wherever she found herself, she embodied the essence of what it means to be the gospel, good news in the flesh. As she pointed to her front teeth to show us where they had once been shattered by her husband’s frequent physical abuse she smiled and shared with us that she had become a believer 36 years prior and when she did, her prayer to God was, “Help me love my husband because I hate him and change his heart” and so that started a journey for her in which God gave her that love for him. When he would beat her, she would pray, “Lord, please forgive him and love the man that I love”. Two days before he died, he became a believer, she had prayed for him for 34 years and while this is amazing, what is even more astonishing is that while she shared this she was giving God the glory because she learned to enjoy God, to enjoy him when times were good and when times were bad. She did not seem to have an ounce of resentment but a heart full of love for the Savior and a keen awareness of Jesus’ presence in her life; she was good news in the flesh in the way that she described her intimate walk with God, “enjoy God and you will enjoy life” she said. – Jesse Elizondo
Saturday, November 13, 2010
From Barcelona to Malaga
Life without rules is what life is like for non Christian teens in Spain. School ends at the age of sixteen and there is no curfew for the teens of Spain. In Gonzales teens have a midnight curfew. A night out for the teens of Spain would be meeting friends and going to the clubs, you have to be 18 to drink but teens can go into the clubs without mom & dad. Our new friends took us around to see the teens’ hang outs, and the subways were full of teens, we saw 12 year olds heading out at 10:00 pm on Friday night. A day for a teen in the summer would be going to the beach where they are topless and the teens are too. Teens can freely smoke pot, because pot is legal in Spain. There are no jobs for the teens in Spain, so from 16 to 23 you just hang out and have fun. Since the few churches in Spain are a new to reaching people, they haven’t figured out a way to reach out to the teens. – Charlie Matlock
Friday November 12, was an awesome day. Besides being another long day, I feel like we made major strides in being connected with the business world here in Catalunya. (Pastor Raul Hernandez must be commended for the brothers and sisters he has introduced us to, all them the influencers in their field.) We met with a married couple who immigrated here from Argentina. Mauricio’s business is import/export. We discussed several options for a setting up a cooperative. We have an initial plan in three different areas for beginning. It is our plan to continue to network our resources. I am hopeful that we will be able to develop a long term relationship with these brothers and sisters in Spain.
On another note, it is very important not to spit seeds on the sidewalk, the fine is $ 300! Dog poop on the sidewalk, $900, hanging your bici (bicycle) on the balcony, $900, speeding tickets, $900. Most young people travel on mopeds. They drive like maniacs! They weave in and out of traffic like a “Laurel and Hardy” Keystone cops movie.
Affordable housing is very scarce. Depending on the area, an apartment may cost from $1,000 to $2,250 per month. Entry level jobs will pay from $450 to $900 per month. The exchange rate is $1.50 to 1.00 €. – Rene de la Garza
Imagine this; a young Moroccan illegal immigrant places her faith in Christ after a church member cautiously shares his faith with her. Her parents as a result angrily disown her and kick her out of the home, only to find herself without a home and into the loving mercy of her new found friends. Her parents plead with her to come back, which she does, only to find herself thrown into the trunk of a car and taken to Morocco to be married to a Muslim husband. Occasionally, though rare now, she calls to say that she is OK. This is a real but all too often account of what happens with Muslim immigrants when they put their faith in Jesus Christ; the personal risk to their life is a great one. I was introduced to one of only 3-4 leaders in Spain, who works in Barcelona as a businessman and belong to an organization whose sole responsibility is to evangelize the Muslim and disciple and integrate the Ex-Muslim community into the few Churches in existence in the area that have a heart for reaching the Muslim community, which are even fewer. We just traveled 12 hours to Malaga, Spain to meet some more key influencers in Malaga, then we will travel to Granada for another meeting and then to Madrid for our final key contact so please pray for us in our next leg of the race. -- Jesse Elizondo
Friday November 12, was an awesome day. Besides being another long day, I feel like we made major strides in being connected with the business world here in Catalunya. (Pastor Raul Hernandez must be commended for the brothers and sisters he has introduced us to, all them the influencers in their field.) We met with a married couple who immigrated here from Argentina. Mauricio’s business is import/export. We discussed several options for a setting up a cooperative. We have an initial plan in three different areas for beginning. It is our plan to continue to network our resources. I am hopeful that we will be able to develop a long term relationship with these brothers and sisters in Spain.
On another note, it is very important not to spit seeds on the sidewalk, the fine is $ 300! Dog poop on the sidewalk, $900, hanging your bici (bicycle) on the balcony, $900, speeding tickets, $900. Most young people travel on mopeds. They drive like maniacs! They weave in and out of traffic like a “Laurel and Hardy” Keystone cops movie.
Affordable housing is very scarce. Depending on the area, an apartment may cost from $1,000 to $2,250 per month. Entry level jobs will pay from $450 to $900 per month. The exchange rate is $1.50 to 1.00 €. – Rene de la Garza
Imagine this; a young Moroccan illegal immigrant places her faith in Christ after a church member cautiously shares his faith with her. Her parents as a result angrily disown her and kick her out of the home, only to find herself without a home and into the loving mercy of her new found friends. Her parents plead with her to come back, which she does, only to find herself thrown into the trunk of a car and taken to Morocco to be married to a Muslim husband. Occasionally, though rare now, she calls to say that she is OK. This is a real but all too often account of what happens with Muslim immigrants when they put their faith in Jesus Christ; the personal risk to their life is a great one. I was introduced to one of only 3-4 leaders in Spain, who works in Barcelona as a businessman and belong to an organization whose sole responsibility is to evangelize the Muslim and disciple and integrate the Ex-Muslim community into the few Churches in existence in the area that have a heart for reaching the Muslim community, which are even fewer. We just traveled 12 hours to Malaga, Spain to meet some more key influencers in Malaga, then we will travel to Granada for another meeting and then to Madrid for our final key contact so please pray for us in our next leg of the race. -- Jesse Elizondo
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Feeding the Poor in Mataro, Spain
We met with several other Pastors today that make up a ministerial alliance in their city, much like we have back home. Their goal as an alliance is not simply to feed and clothe the poor immigrants that make up their growing population but also share the gospel with them. With 35 dollars they bag up enough food to feed a family unit for 10 days. Once a month these churches scrape up enough money to feed 25 people from Arab and Latino origin. This reminded me of our own Ministerial Alliance, I wonder if we, the Ministerial Alliance in Gonzales, would be open to work together and do a joint Pastoral trip out here to help them serve food from one Alliance to another, I'll pitch the idea when I get back home : )
Next blog time I’ll share about the dangers of Muslims giving their lives to Christ.
Next blog time I’ll share about the dangers of Muslims giving their lives to Christ.
Spain Needs Jesus
Up at 7:00am then off to our first meeting by 9:00am. What a day, got to go by a High School and it was as big as one you would see in Austin or Houston. The students get out of High School at the age of 16, then, if they go on in school, at the age of 17 they will be in Jr. Collage. The students of Barcelona have less than a 10 minute walk to school. At the age of 10 they are getting to be on their own more and more. The funny thing is that they cannot drive a car until 18, it cost $3000.00 to get their license and they do not move out of the house until about 30. If a teen is from a nonchristian home they have more freedom to do what they like. One of the Churches we were at today has 15 teens in their youth group and they meet on Sunday night in a real life group setting. Every year the teens from all over Spain meet together and around 1500 teen attend to get motivated for local and global missions. After two more meetings we made it back to our hotel room around 10:00pm and what a day it was. - Charlie Matlock
Today was a great day! We met with a Pastor who is a church planner for the Evangelical Churches in Spain. We created much excitement when we discussed the possibilities of starting a business based in Spain that would be created for the purpose of assisting our mutual missions’ endeavors financially. His eyes were opened when he realized that a church based business would benefit not only our activities but would benefit the churches in Spain as well. We fully have his support. He and I will continue our communications after we leave the country. There was truly a sense of desire to work together for our common vision of reaching every man woman and child with the life changing reality of Jesus Christ. We also met a Pastor who is the Secretary General of the Evangelical Alliance for Spain which has approximately 150 voting churches in their alliance which covers all of Spain. He too was very excited with the idea of starting a business in Spain. In his congregation of 70, which is considered a large church in Spain, there are some businessmen who may be interested in networking with us to create our new venture. He and I will also continue to communicate. With God’s help, anything is possible, Mark 10:27. --- Rene Dela Garza
Wow, what a day today. We got the opportunity to meet with several Pastors in the area that have a big heart for Christ and a heavy burden for their city and country. Do you know that the average church in Spain is 30-60 members and that less than one percent in Spain out of 45 million go to an evangelical church and only 20% go to Catholic Church, 5% in Barcelona? For every conversion that you have here you have 3 Muslim converts. Barcelona has been identified by the Pope as the most strategic city to impact to reach the Europeans. We met mostly with conservative Pastors that have a heart to reach unreached cities for Christ, for example one of the cities has 45 thousand people and not one church to bear witness, if that doesn’t give you a knot in your stomach, I don’t know what will. A city of 80 thousand where we met another Pastor only has 3 churches. Church members are not used to give because over here you give taxes to the government and out of the national treasury they give to the Catholic Church so people are not used to give to the church, so funding new church plants is difficult, and yet necessary. The church here gets little to no outside funding for church planting but yet the Muslims are heavily funded from the outside to be aggressive and property is bought for them from foreign countries to expand the mosques. Don’t get me wrong there are positive things going on, mainly Jesus Christ is working, it is evident in the hearts of these Pastors and in the current awareness of the gospel within the immigrant community that the Lord is going to unlock the gospel to this unreached people group, Latinos and Muslim Moroccans. Once a year these conservative churches gather together to help start or support new church initiatives and we have been invited to participate, what an honor if we do. Well off to more meetings, keep praying for us as we discern what our role could be here. - Jesse Elizondo
Today was a great day! We met with a Pastor who is a church planner for the Evangelical Churches in Spain. We created much excitement when we discussed the possibilities of starting a business based in Spain that would be created for the purpose of assisting our mutual missions’ endeavors financially. His eyes were opened when he realized that a church based business would benefit not only our activities but would benefit the churches in Spain as well. We fully have his support. He and I will continue our communications after we leave the country. There was truly a sense of desire to work together for our common vision of reaching every man woman and child with the life changing reality of Jesus Christ. We also met a Pastor who is the Secretary General of the Evangelical Alliance for Spain which has approximately 150 voting churches in their alliance which covers all of Spain. He too was very excited with the idea of starting a business in Spain. In his congregation of 70, which is considered a large church in Spain, there are some businessmen who may be interested in networking with us to create our new venture. He and I will also continue to communicate. With God’s help, anything is possible, Mark 10:27. --- Rene Dela Garza
Wow, what a day today. We got the opportunity to meet with several Pastors in the area that have a big heart for Christ and a heavy burden for their city and country. Do you know that the average church in Spain is 30-60 members and that less than one percent in Spain out of 45 million go to an evangelical church and only 20% go to Catholic Church, 5% in Barcelona? For every conversion that you have here you have 3 Muslim converts. Barcelona has been identified by the Pope as the most strategic city to impact to reach the Europeans. We met mostly with conservative Pastors that have a heart to reach unreached cities for Christ, for example one of the cities has 45 thousand people and not one church to bear witness, if that doesn’t give you a knot in your stomach, I don’t know what will. A city of 80 thousand where we met another Pastor only has 3 churches. Church members are not used to give because over here you give taxes to the government and out of the national treasury they give to the Catholic Church so people are not used to give to the church, so funding new church plants is difficult, and yet necessary. The church here gets little to no outside funding for church planting but yet the Muslims are heavily funded from the outside to be aggressive and property is bought for them from foreign countries to expand the mosques. Don’t get me wrong there are positive things going on, mainly Jesus Christ is working, it is evident in the hearts of these Pastors and in the current awareness of the gospel within the immigrant community that the Lord is going to unlock the gospel to this unreached people group, Latinos and Muslim Moroccans. Once a year these conservative churches gather together to help start or support new church initiatives and we have been invited to participate, what an honor if we do. Well off to more meetings, keep praying for us as we discern what our role could be here. - Jesse Elizondo
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Here We Are!
We are here, and WOW what a day. We have been up for 36 hours with only about 2 hours of sleep. As we came in to Spain I said it looks a lot like Texas. The people of Spain look like people of the USA. It is hard to pick out the teens because they are more like the young adults at home they look and act older then they are. The people are on the move they walk everywhere and the way they drive is like not a thing I have ever seen. One of the coolest things is to see places in person that I had seen on TV or the internet. - Charlie
We met with a Christian brother last tonight. He is a man who is organizing churches in
Spain to unite, much like our ministerial alliance, and also uniting the immigrants who come from all over the world. We will be going with him this morning to meet other Pastors and businessmen. - Rene
As we met with the missionair last night I could not help but be broken for the state of the church here in Barcelona, Spain. There are four dominant people groups here (Spaniard, Catalan, North Africans and Latinos) and they don't want anything to do with one another, especially in the area of worship for God in the same building, they are racially divided. The challenges are immense for church reconciliation to happen but this missionair is trying to do the impossible with man, and unite these churches to reach every man, woman and child for Christ in Barcelona, no exception. He drew encouragement from what we are doing in Gonzales in doing just that with our own ethnic divisions and our work and partnership with our own Ministerial Alliance. Looking forward to this morning and the other Pastors that we will meet through him. - Jesse
We met with a Christian brother last tonight. He is a man who is organizing churches in
Spain to unite, much like our ministerial alliance, and also uniting the immigrants who come from all over the world. We will be going with him this morning to meet other Pastors and businessmen. - Rene
As we met with the missionair last night I could not help but be broken for the state of the church here in Barcelona, Spain. There are four dominant people groups here (Spaniard, Catalan, North Africans and Latinos) and they don't want anything to do with one another, especially in the area of worship for God in the same building, they are racially divided. The challenges are immense for church reconciliation to happen but this missionair is trying to do the impossible with man, and unite these churches to reach every man, woman and child for Christ in Barcelona, no exception. He drew encouragement from what we are doing in Gonzales in doing just that with our own ethnic divisions and our work and partnership with our own Ministerial Alliance. Looking forward to this morning and the other Pastors that we will meet through him. - Jesse
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Getting Started
The three of us have been going to meetings in Austin and having planning meetings here in Gonzales getting ready for this adventure. These meetings in and of themselves have been an adventure. We read of missionary journeys in the Bible and get excited to hear what God does through them. We are so stoked to see what God wants to show us as we journey to Spain and travel around this wonderful country. We are being sent out by our home church, Two Rivers Bible Church and Hill Country Bible Church NW along with HCBCNW's Spanish Pastor Raul Hernandez to look for opportunities of service for future mission trips. We feel a bit like Paul and Barnabas going on our first missionary journey (see Acts 13:1-3). We are excited to be instruments of God as we reach every man, woman, and child with the life changing reality of Jesus Christ here in our home town, and looking forward to being used by Him to share this same good news with the country of Spain.
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