Raymond and Mary Ebbett

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

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Colmenar Viejo, Madrid
December 22, 2011
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Dear praying friends,

Today the entire country of Spain is obsessed with one piece of news: who won this year's Christmas lottery, called El Gordo (the fat one). It is easy to understand all the interest. Widely considered the world's biggest lottery, as measured by the total prize payout, today's lottery distributed a total of 2.52 billion euros in prizes (nearly 3.3 billion dollars)! This lottery has been around for 200 years and is now an integral part of the celebration of Christmas in Spain. The winners literally celebrate with dancing in the streets, as you might imagine.

But it strikes us as quite sad to see how the true prize of Christmas, eternal life in Jesus Christ--infinitely more valuable than all earth's treasures--is misunderstood and in most cases totally ignored. It is certainly not celebrated with dancing in the streets. The spiritual darkness here seems even darker at Christmas time.

El Gordo is just a small reflection of how much work still needs to be done in Western Europe to proclaim the Gospel! As we celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, we are reminded of the words of Christ: "I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." (John 12:46) Mary and I are deeply grateful for your partnership in this challenge to push back the darkness. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support during this past year of 2011 in particular!

UPDATED REQUESTS

Thank for your prayers this past month as well. The College of Prayer event held on December 3rd in Madrid went very well. What a blessing this ministry continues to be to our churches, pastors and leaders!

Briefly, here are a few updated requests for Raymond for the coming weeks:
January 11 Travels to the States
Jan 14--Feb 5 Ministers in missions conferences in Florida (Ft. Myers and Lakeland)
Feb. 6-12 Participates in College of Prayer meetings/conferences in Lilburn, GA
Feb. 12 Returns to Spain

Please pray for Mary as she remains in Spain.

Continue to pray with us for the ongoing efforts of our exciting new seminary (called INFORMA). Classes are projected to begin in January. We expect 30 or more students! God is at work and we are thrilled at how a growing number of men and women are sensing a vocational call to ministry and are highly motivated to prepare themselves to serve the Lord. Pray for God's divine protection and clear leading in every detail of this challenging and strategic project.

Thank you for your support of the Great Commission Fund. As you give to the GCF, you are touching the lives of countless others and furthering the work of the Kingdom of God. Without the baseline infrastructure provided by the GCF, our work in Spain, as well as the work of our other Alliance colleagues around the world, could not remain viable. Thanks so much for your prayers, support and partnership in the Gospel! If you have any questions about how you can participate, drop us a note.

One final prayer point: we need to replace our car. The model we now have has been discontinued and parts are becoming scarce and expensive. If you would like to give toward this need, please designate your gift "Vehicle Raymond Ebbett" and send to the address below. Thanks so much!

Yours for a blessed Christmas... and the "spiritual greening" of Spain,
Raymond and Mary

We are supported by your faithful contributions to:
The Great Commission Fund of
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
P.O. Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935
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Colmenar Viejo, Madrid
November 10, 2011
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Dear praying friends,

From Greece to Italy, the euro zone is stumbling along from one crisis to another these days. And here in Spain unemployment has passed 22% and continues to rise. These are indeed tumultuous days in Europe, but the same could be said for many parts of the world... And 2,000 years ago the Apostle Paul could have mentioned some real "humdingers" of crises that the early church faced. Yet the Apostle Paul was anything but a pessimist. Two of his Holy Spirit-inspired exhortations come to mind...

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth." (Col. 3:1-2), and

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess. 5:18)

In this crazy, unsettled world our hope is still secure in Christ, whom we seek, and on whom we set our mind, and from whom we have much for which to be thankful. As we move into this Thanksgiving season, Mary and I are deeply humbled and truly grateful for your faithful prayers and unflagging support. Many of you are also facing real economic challenges yourselves. Thank you again for your part in taking the good news of the Gospel to a hurting and needy world.

We are amazed at all the exciting developments throughout this past year. And we are filled with thanksgiving at the privilege of being a part of what God is doing here in Spain.

ANSWERS TO PRAYER

We praise the Lord for a truly blessed month of October, with a number of retreats and special conferences which left our heads spinning and our hearts full. One of the highlights was our annual mission pastoral care retreat, when all our workers meet for fellowship, prayer and spiritual refreshment. It was great to have both our regional director and the new workers to Portugal join us this year. Thanks so much for praying!

Raymond also had another great visit to Italy in early October, participating in a weekend of activities and ministries. It was exciting to see our workers and church groups take the initial steps to form a more official Alliance entity in Italy. It was especially encouraging to see two women pray to receive Christ during the weekend. Most of our workers in Italy are bivocational and yet they all have a heart to share the Gospel and start new churches. God is using very ordinary people in Italy in some truly extraordinary ways.

Another major event in October was the second annual retreat for our national pastors. We had a great turnout with nearly all of our pastors and wives present. The times of fellowship were sweet and the Lord ministered powerfully through David and Betty Constance, retired workers who served in Argentina for many years. We left greatly encouraged at how God is continuing to build a spirit of unity and sense of family among our pastors, even though they are from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds, and face significant challenges, especially in the midst of the severe economic crisis affecting Spain.

UPDATED REQUESTS

Please continue to pray for several of our workers who are either applying for new visas or renewing their residency cards, that the Lord will give them favor and enable them to navigate the paperwork process without undue delays. This is quite a challenge for Raymond to stay on top of as well.

Pray also for Raymond as he prepares several year-end reports as 2011 races to its conclusion.

Pray especially for ongoing efforts to establish a new seminary (called INFORMA), with classes projected to begin in January. God is at work and we are thrilled at how a growing number of men and women are sensing a vocational call to ministry and are highly motivated to prepare themselves to serve the Lord. Pray for God's divine protection and clear leading in every detail of this challenging and exciting project.

Looking ahead, there are several other events in the coming weeks which we would appreciate prayer for as well:

November 18-19 Important meeting of our National Church Executive Committee.
November 24 Our North American workers in Madrid gather at our home to celebrate Thanksgiving!
December 3 Another module of the College of Prayer will be held in Madrid. Pray for God to work mightily!
December 4 Raymond speaks at the church in Tres Cantos (Madrid)
December 10-11 Raymond travels to Barcelona to minister in our church there and visit with national workers

Thank you for your support of the Great Commission Fund. As you give to the GCF, you are touching the lives of countless others and furthering the work of the Kingdom of God. Without the baseline infrastructure provided by the GCF, our work in Spain, as well as the work of our other Alliance colleagues around the world, could not remain viable. Thanks so much for your prayers, support and partnership in the Gospel!

Yours for the "spiritual greening" of Spain,
Raymond and Mary

We are supported by your faithful contributions to:
The Great Commission Fund of
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
P.O. Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935

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Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

See the body of our Ministry Update above for our latest prayer requests.

Additional prayer points for Spain:
Each month you can also find additional updated prayer needs on our Spain field website. (see link above, at right: "visit website")

Spain

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