How Will We Impact People in Spain?
Quick update on our pre-launch progress and then on to the post. 63% of our monthly support needs have been met! Thank you to all who are praying and supporting us financially. We are still seeking partners so please touch base with us if you're interested. We're hoping to leave in August, so time is of the essence.
A question we often get is: how will you impact people in Spain? It's a great question, and the answer is as important to us as it is to you. We will first and foremost be teachers at Evangelical Christian Academy (ECA), which is a school that exists to disciple young people and provide quality, Christian education to the children of missionaries. Most of our time will be spent with those students. Yes, we will have contact with Spaniards in our community, our neighborhood, and in the classroom, but we won't have as much direct contact with the people of Spain as some missionaries. Our impact on on the population will be more indirect.
Many missionaries wouldn't be able to come to Spain or stay on the mission field without ECA. Homeschooling is not legally an option in Spain, and language barriers or special needs are significant issues that parents face when taking children to a new culture or country. ECA helps equip their children for college or a vocation and frees parents up to minister. By serving these families, teachers at ECA indirectly impact many different ministries and thousands of Spaniards.
One of the ministries we will indirectly impact is The Friendship House. The directors of this ministry are part of WorldVenture's Spain team and they send their children to ECA. To oversimplify, The Friendship House is community based outreach to North African families in Madrid. It's a place where Rifi Berber, Moroccan Arab, and Jebala immigrants can go to find assistance with a number of physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. We spent a couple of days at this center on our vision trip last November and it left quite an impression on us. They lead adult literacy classes. They teach Spanish and English, They tutor children and lead Bible studies. They teach aerobic classes and gardening. They also have a clothing bank. They creatively share the love of Christ week in and week out with hundreds of people from different faiths and cultures.
While we were visiting, the directors of this ministry told us specifically not to underestimate the importance and call of teaching at a school like ECA. They've been on the receiving end of our ministry and feel it has assisted them in impacting people at The Friendship House.
If you would like to know more about the Friendship House, you can can follow on Instagram @friendshiphousemadrid or follow on Facebook by liking their page at www.facebook.com/friendshiphousemadrid. We invite you to join us in prayer for this ministry and our teammates as they do difficult but important work in a dark spiritual climate. We are eager to partner with them in Spain.
