April 11, 2007

Dear friends and loved ones,

       We have many blessings to share with you of what the Lord has been doing in Spain through your prayers and support!  Bill started off the year in a New Year’s Eve service at the African church. 

During this service “Desmond”gave his heart to the Lord.  The following week he gave his testimony about his decision and how he desires to stay away from evil and to serve the Lord.  Please pray for Desmond, and also for “Kenneth,” a new Christian saved and baptized in August.  They have moved to Barcelona to seek work.  Please pray also for the First Baptist Church of Roquetas as approximately 10 people have left the city to go work in other parts of Spain.  The faithful members that remain are praying for church growth.  We had a “Friend Day” with a high attendance of 50 in March, and hope some of those visitors will return.

       Things have been going well in “Iglesia Bautista Fe.”  We continue to average over 40 and had a high attendance of over 50 the last Sunday in March.  The greater blessing was to see two saved during that service!  My parents, Rev Mike and Rosemary Rose were here and shared their testimonies. My father preached and Michele McDonald gave the translations.  It was during the invitation that “Rosa” and “Erica” came forward to publicly confess Christ as their Savior.  Jonathan, the deacon who had invited them, said seeing God move and his friends coming forward for salvation was far better than the thank-you gift the church gave him for preaching during the last six months!  The church had another opportunity to reach out to a hurting family when a man who had visited our services just once suddenly passed away in Córdoba, Spain.  Rick and Megan Washburn were able to be a support to the family there in Córdoba, and a memorial service was held at our church after they returned.  There have been six new people attending the services regularly since the memorial of “Claudio,” and we are praying for their salvations as well.  It was a blessing to see how everyone has worked together to minister help and healing in the name of Jesus.  It is also a blessing that David and Florence McDonald have returned after their six-month furlough.  We know that “two are better than one” and we are glad to be able to share the responsibilities in the two churches once again.

       Other items of interest . . .After 9 months, $2000, countless hours of studying, and 24 hours of driving instruction, both Bill and Dena have received Spanish driver’s licenses!  We thank you so much for your prayers for us regarding this “trial” in our lives, and can only say that to have completed this milestone is a huge burden lifted. In reference to other paperwork, Bill has completed the first renewal of his residence, and Dena and the girls are to the last step of residence renewal.  However, we have “hit a snag” with all three boys’ paperwork.  There was a mix-up with dates, and they are currently without residence permission.  We have been told that this should not be a problem but that we can not re-apply for them until July.  Please pray with us about this, that we would not experience any trouble because of their lack of documents.  Now that the McDonalds have returned, we are dedicating ourselves to our Spanish studies until June.  We continue to learn new vocabulary, grammatical structures, and general refinement to our Spanish language skills.  It is still a challenge to understand “Almeri-ense,” a strong accent that people native to our area have.  Please pray for us that the next three months would be profitable in our language study and give us the skills to be able to minister to people in all walks of life.  We continue to see that Spain is a “melting-pot” of people.  Bill has been playing basketball with a group of men on Saturdays.  Last Saturday the six men that made up his team represented six different countries.  Bill and the boys have also had many contacts through their involvement in baseball.  These are just some of the many opportunities God has given us.  Please pray for us that the Holy Spirit would work in us and through us, enabling us to reach out to those around us with the love of Christ.  We are happy to report that a new church has chosen to support us this year, and some of the pressure of the unfavorable exchange rate has been relieved.  Thank you so much to all of you for your love, support and prayers.  Without you we could not be here.

Bill and Dena Rose, with Brianna, Kelsey, Jordan, Joshua, and Josiah
Sent by: Temple Baptist Church; 55437 Wilbur Rd; Three Rivers, MI 49093
Sent through: World Baptist Fellowship; PO Box 13459; Arlington, TX 76094