God is blessing us and we have so much for which we can be thankful and grateful. Everybody has some kind of hardship and difficulty in this life, but Paul said it so well when he said that ours, as Believers, are really not even worthy to be mentioned when they are compared to the glory that is yet to be revealed!

As is expected of missionaries and as did the Apostle Paul, Gina and I have totally died to our own culture and people to become of another in order to win them for Christ. We dearly love the people of Spain and our hearts and souls are committed to them. Paul said however, “I become all things to all men in order to win some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). So, even though God has given us great favour with many, it’s a given that we are not going to please everyone.

Over the years we have been through everything from horribly frightening incidents of persecution to laughable occurrences of opposition. These things do not move or discourage us… actually many times they rather tend to encourage us because at least we know that God is doing something that the enemy wants to resist. In my heart, all of these events ultimately glorify God. (Notwithstanding all of the natural difficulties that the mission field or ministry in general can or has presented to us, one of our most difficult is being far from our grandchildren and children and not being able to see them whenever we like.)

One Sunday morning I arrived at the church to find a pile of broken bricks, chunks of concrete and stones piled up under the large window in the front of our sanctuary. Some people had gathered in the night and took their time to go to a construction site down the street and stone the church! The window is cracked but did not cave in! This was no, “throw the stone and run”, effort for there are at least 12 points of impact on the glass.

The thing that fascinates me is that you can see where the chunks of concrete and the rocks pulverized and broke apart (like they exploded) when they hit the plate glass window! This is not wire reinforced glass or anything special. The aluminium frame around the window was hit and dented, yet the glass did not break!It’s just the hand of God that kept the glass from caving in and come crashing down. The building’s owner said that he believed that God kept us from suffering a great loss, for we didn’t yet have insurance that would cover this.

These people took a concerted effort to do what they did and had to make a great deal of noise in the process. That Sunday morning I led the congregation in praise and thanksgiving because this opposition is just a manifestation of God’s work in our midst and because the glass did not cave in during the attack. (We have not yet been able to replace the glass but we did place a metal screen in front of the window!)

A few days afterwards we were on the street to do some open air evangelism with a precious group of short term missionaries from Conroe, Texas, when a small crowd began to stone us from a near by hill. Only one person in our group, a young lady (a real trooper), was hit on the leg. But she was undaunted as were all of us, and we proceeded to minister in two open air meetings in a park until about midnight.

Soon afterwards I arrived at the church and found that the Neo-Nazis, a very serious organization here in Europe, had glued a threatening sign on the door of the church telling us to get out. These are probably the ones that did the “rock” concert on the church. Anyway, I took the sign down and have kept it as a trophy in my office. There are a few other “things” happening but I’ve got calluses with this stuff and am only moved to praise.

At the same time, we are seeing great support and favor from various sectors of the community. Everyone greets us warmly and with sincere kindness. We really feel the love and acceptance of the people of Cáceres as we distinguish that God is doing something different here.

There is nothing the world could offer to take the place of the immense joy that we have found in following in our calling to serve Him on the mission field all of these years. The only things that I would change are the mistakes that I have made in judgements, dealings in relationship with people and certain decisions. Yet even these, even when they caused me some temporary setbacks, have been incredible learning tools and have taught me as nothing else could have. I just wish I could have obtained this wealth of knowledge without the knots on my head!

It is all extremely worth it if another precious soul comes to know the love of God that is found only in Jesus Christ. When I see these new Believers loving the Lord and raising their hands in worship and marvelling at the wonders of God that they are seeing for the first time because of their deepening relationship with Him. I am reminded all over again that it is worth it!

I love the Lord with all of my heart and His work in our lives is absolutely irreplaceable. We feel that the fulfilment of our calling is the total zenith of our earthly existence. We want to thank you for your love, prayers and your financial support of our ministry.

Would we obey our calling without your financial support? No doubt about it, we answer with a resounding, YES!! Would it be just as easy or just as fruitful? NO WAY!! You are so very crucial to what God is doing here! “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building” (1 Corinthians 3:9).

About Me

Name: Prince and Gina Parker

Location: La Carlota, Córdoba, Spain

El Dr. Parker y su querida esposa gozan con más de 40 años en el ministerio. Han establecido iglesias en varios países del mundo. Comenzaron su ministerio en España en 1989 en, Daimiel, Cuidad Real, Castilla La Mancha. En 2003 compartiendo el mensaje del amor de Dios en la ciudad de Cáceres antes de adjuntarse a la facultad del Seminario Español de Teología en La Carlota, Córdoba donde sirve el hermano de profesor.

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© 2006 Prince Parker