The Alvarez Family: October-November 2021 Prayer Letter

The Alvarez Family – Missionary in the Basque Country  

Dear Brethren:
Thank you for continuing to pray for us and for your faithful support and
love to the missionary work! There is no doubt that we live in times of anguish, confusion and uncertainty, but how wonderful it is to be able to say wholeheartedly that we can rest because we are safe in the hands and will of our loving Lord. We have had the opportunity to live in these exciting times in which we are witnessing the fulfillment of God’s plan.

Church: Baptisms

What joy our hearts feel to see the new believers obeying the Lord’s will! Two new believers in Christ took the first step of obedience and got baptized. How exciting it was for the congregation to see Edwin and
Dayana’s public testimony. Amen!

Several members of our church have gotten sick with COVID , but by God’s grace none of them have been seriously ill. Here in the Basque Country we are entering the sixth wave of the pandemic. The contagions are spreading like wild fire, causing the authorities to make decisions overnight. Praise God, so far they haven’t forbidden us to gather with the church. We hope that we won’t reach that extreme again.

We thank God for a few new people that have come to church, among them being a Basque man named Gorka as well as a few women.

Last Sunday I had the blessing of talking with a brother from our church who was saved not too long ago. His name is Luis and he is from Extremadura, Spain. It was very interesting to hear his testimony and see the gratitude in his eyes as they filled with tears. Luis is an older man whose life has been filled with much grief and suffering, but to see him joyful as he recognized that it is God Who has changed his life filled me with joy and gratefulness to our loving Savior. Christ saves souls and changes lives!

Teté: Ladies retreat

This past month of November, Tete had the blessing of teaching at a ladies retreat that took place in a beautiful town, Roses, which is in Girona, Cataluña, by the Mediterranean Sea.

It was such a blessing to see the group of ladies, most of which are Catalonians, paying close attention as they heard good Bible teaching. It gave me one more reason to thank the Lord, as I saw my beloved Tete standing there, being used by the Lord to be an encouragement and of edification to our sisters in Christ.

Looking Forward

We are about to finish one more year, one filled with great challenges, fear and uncertainty around us, but one year in which the Lord has shown us one more time that He is faithful to His promises.

Even though many beloved brethren in Christ have gone to be with the Lord and many of our brethren in Christ have suffered great sadness, we can say without a doubt that our God is sufficient and the strength and grace He gives us enable us to keep going.

We have several plans for the beginning of the new year; we pray that the Lord will give us wisdom to be able to carry them out. We are organizing different activities and retreats to carry out at Aierdi throughout the year: Intensive Bible Institutes, several work teams from different churches that
want to come, as well as an apologetics retreat, the retreat for pastors and workers, and the Missionary Teen Retreat, among others.

The pandemic made us close Aierdi and its ministries for a couple of years, so you might imagine how excited and anxious we are to begin a new stage in everything that has to do with this wonderful place that the Lord has given us for His work in this part of the world. Once more we ask that you would pray that nothing would hinder these activities. We are excited to once again see Aierdi being used to be a blessing in many lives! Thank you for your prayers, dear brethren, and for your investment in our ministry and lives. May God bless you!

Because He is worthy,
Juan, Teté and Andrea Alvarez
Basque Country, Spain

Missionary Link

We are very thankful to the Lord for the first Missionary Link virtual retreat! Missionaries located in different parts of the world joined our live transmission.

I thank God for my pastor, Bro. Luis Ramos, and his support to this
project. Our hearts were united many years ago around the missionary work, its challenges and needs. It was there that this vision that is now being carried out was born. I thank God for our team, made up by Franco Loyola, Benjamin Frandsen and Roberto Espinosa, and all their invaluable
work and support in this ministry. Lord willing, we will be carrying out
our transmissions in internet through a new format named Enlace Mensual (Monthly Link). Every month we will have a virtual meeting with missionaries and pastors where we will teach classes related to ministry and family. The first of these meetings will be carried out on the 3rd of January. We already have everything planned for next year. We will be emphasizing a different continent of the world in every meeting. We have very interesting plans and ideas, and we are very excited and praying to be able to be an encouragement, blessing and support to our missionaries that are fulfilling their labor to carry the message of the Gospel to all the world. Please pray for this ministry, that the Lord would use it for the glory of His Name and for the advance of the Gospel.