Go tell it on the mountain

When we debriefed a bit with the Operation Mobilization Transit Team that recently spent 10 days with us, one response was that they wished they could have been here at the beginning of their 5-month trip rather than at the end. The orientation that they got from the people we had invited to share was an eye-opener into why Europe appears to be the only continent where Christianity is decreasing. Our Basque Buddhist friend with a PhD in religious history had prepared a power point with his research on why people are fed up with "The Church", which to Spaniards means Catholicism. I felt kind of sorry for the priest who was with us, to tell us what the Catholic Church's "New Evangelism" is. He actually spent more time rebutting what our Basque friend was quoting, and didn't seem to have much to say about evangelism. The time with the 7 member team (US, Switzerland, Uruguay, Ireland) was so helpful, doing work on our property and sharing their testimonies, even surveying people using prepared literature, since only one speaks Spanish.

The new snow from these mountains is going to find its way down to the Tagus river. We want to follow it with the gospel, covering the same territory, especially to children and youth. The next step is to continue praying. We don't quite see how just the 2 of us, in our 70's, can initiate what needs to be done. So we ask your continued prayer for the southern slope of the Gredos range. Think of Spain whenever you see mountains. We were encouraged by the personal responses from a number of you to our recent communication. Let's keep up the 2-way interchange to strengthen the bonds of prayer. As a response to those prayers I think the Lord has placed in our thoughts the AIM program (Apprenticeship In Mission, the idea of which goes back years, even before joining OM), a 2-year training program to be totally integrated with an outreach program based on things that have proved effective over the years.