BASQUE TEAM: Photo update

Today we will meet with the Erwin’s to discuss the evaluations from the Basque folks.

BASQUE TEAM: Seeds planted through language interchange

BASQUE TEAM: CHATS

BASQUE TEAM: On the ground in San Sebastian

Dear Friends;

We are safely in San Sebastian,  (luggage arrived with us - first time).

It is beautiful sunny day, please continue to pray.

We had opportunity to witness to one of the TSA folks while checking in.  He saw our DVD - God of Wonder and told me he needed something more exciting.  So the door was wide open and I told him about the video.

On our first flight a young man had a very serious grand maul seizure and it took several of the flight crew to keep him down.

We all prayed and right after we prayed he calmed down until the plane landed, and the EMS folks can in to help him.

Upon exiting the plane I saw him and his mother and told her we had prayed for him.

More updates coming.

Basque team

Praying for our Basque Team & their friends

NOTE:  Derek & Mandy E. are with the IMB in the Basque Region.  Please include these specific participants in the evangelism weekend in which the Keller Team will be leading.

Dear Keller team,

I wanted to let you know we are excited to meet you all soon and we are praying for you!

The members we have signed up for our weekend are listed below, so you can pray for them:

1. Alan and Vanna, a couple of recent university students.  Alan is doing his internship with a technology company and Vanna is working at a technological company.  Don´t know much but they both have good English.  He has jsut recently started coming to a group.

2. Rachel - a young lady who studied computers and works nearby.  She actually called for our second weekend a year ago, but it was full!  So she is coming to this one.  young, friendly, with a bit lower level.  she is also coming to an english group weekly.

3. Anthony - a middle aged man with a university aged son and a teen age daughter.  He is very talkative, has a decent level of English and is really easy to be with because he likes to talk!  I meet with him about 2 times a month.  He doesn´t need to learn English but works hard to do so!

4. Uri - He is a long time friend of ours.  He was actually my language partenr in 2004!  Since I returned in 06, he was studying away, so I practied languages with his father.  This family has always been SO nice to us, and uri is going thru a hard time right now.  He recently graduated but cannot find a job in aeronautical engineering.  So, we invited him to the weekend for free, because he is concentrating on improving his English as he works on a master´s degree.  His family, like I said, has always invited us over for meals and treated us so kindly.  We wanted to bless them, know Uri better, and be intentional in showing him Christ´s love.  So he too is coming.

5. Annie - She is a believer who goes to a local church here.  she may even bring a friend from church.  she is sweet, smart and so capable!  We always thank God for her and her family, as they are followers of Jesus.  She came to our weekend a year ago, and she understands our hope to offer neutral services as a means to show Christ to people in very natural ways.  You guys will really enjoy talking to her!

We are so thankful to God for this weekend.  It was actually really hard to fill up, so God has truly worked a miracle.  The weekend is a holiday weekend, so everyone it seemed, had plans.  We had put out about 1,000 fliers for advertisement, and up until just two weeks ago, we only had one person signed up.  I was really beginning to be discouraged.  We are thankful for this number because it helps cover the cost of the room and board (though the food budget will go a bit over - so we especially appreciate you guys giving the extra funds for administrative costs!).  but the number is also great because we can have lots of different types of interactions, and we can touch that many more people.

Also, another praise:  When I called to confirm our plans with the caserio [country house, or bed-and-breakfast], she responded surprised that she had not understood what I wanted.  The result was she had NO ROOMS AVAILABLE!!!!  I panicked, but God quickly led us to another place the very same hour, which is smaller, but the number of attendants is perfect for this new place.  

We are so excited about the weekend and being together with you guys!  Please let us know if we can pray for you in a specific way.  Please pray we´ll have strength to make it!  We are tired because of this other team, but so thankful that God has given us Christian family to come and work alongside us.

We thank God for you each, every time we think of you,

Derek

Basque Region Background, & YOUR Prayers!

Economic prosperity.  Strong work ethic.  Frequent restaurant dining.  Distant luxury vacations.  DEBT.  DRUGS.  ALCOHOL. VIOLENCE.

This familiar description is not of the United States but of the Basque Region between Spain & France.

The Basque people are morally more conservative than the rest of Western Europe, yet they remain in spiritual darkness.  With no evangelical witness among them, they are practical atheists living as if there is no God.  While a small amount of Christian literature does exist in the ancient Basque language, most people have no access to the Gospel.  They live only for the pleasures of this life, missing any eternal perspective.

While the Basque language, unique and difficult, is itself a source of national pride, decades of evangelical work has been done in the Spanish language.  The few evangelical churches in the Basque Region are in Spanish and are composed primarily of Latin American immigrants.

While previous attempts for evangelism have been frustrated, many mission opportunities remain among the Basque.  The most attractive of these is teaching English classes and English camps or weekends.  

One worker among the Basque people has formulated a strategy for using volunteer native English speakers from the USA as conversation partners for Basque students and adults who pay a nominal fee for their participation.  Through leading conversational questions, these volunteers have opportunities to share their own faith and to find out more about the spiritual status of the Basque participants in a relaxed, fun setting.  Ongoing relationships are established that are maintained through e-mail, phone, and potential future visits with one another either in Basque country or in the USA.

The Basques’ love for international travel also opens up doors of opportunity to minister to them right in our own homes in Texas.  Arrangements can be made through our missionaries for Basque students, young adults, or even families to visit and stay with FBCK members for a week or longer.  These situations would afford excellent opportunities for informal interaction (most likely in English) and sharing of the gospel.  This is an exciting opportunity to explore.  There are large concentrations of Basque people in places like Reno, Nevada, Boise, Idaho, and other U.S. cities (including Dallas). 

From MARCH 17-24, a team from FBCK will be participating in a Chat event.  [Video 1]  [Video 2]

·         Pray that each team member (Karen Anthony, Eva Duhon, Ed Nelson, Bob & Lourdes Vigoren) would be clean vessels, and blameless for God’s work in Basque country.

·         Pray that the Holy Spirit will not be quenched.

·         Pray for the Basque folks that God wants to come to this weekend.

·         Pray that each team member is led by the Holy Spirit to do His work, not selfish desires.

·         Pray for team unity and a right spirit among the team.

·         Pray for safe travel and that the team’s luggage arrives with them.

·         Pray that when they see an open door to witness that they will be bold to proclaim the Truth in love, and that they say the right words to convict them to repentance and to put their faith in Jesus Christ.

·         Pray that the team’s thoughts, words, actions, and motives are pure and honor God.

·         Pray anything else as God leads.