Tim and Melanie Wendel

About Us › Our Family › Locate a Worker

Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Happy summer and many thanks for your prayers and gifts.

Two quick updates:

1. English Camp went very well and we now begin the follow up. We were so blessed with the many teachers who spent part of their summer and served by touching so many lives in Tres Cantos. In the closing ceremony the Alderwoman who is our City Hall contact totally blessed us when she spoke highly of the camp and our English efforts but continued to share that what makes the camp unique is not simply the good English that is spoken and taught but the other things that are better caught than anything else: positive attitude, cultural interchange, acceptance and sharing. These past few days we have received many emails from parents of campers expressing similar thoughts, in fact, one leader from our church had a great opportunity to talk with a neighbor whose child went to English Camp and who was very curious to know what these “people” were all about. Such an encounter gives our friend and sister in Christ a perfect platform to share the distinctive of the Gospel in action and the love of Christ shown in tangible ways, beginning with English as a first step but laced in love along the way.

2. Visa trip. Good News and Bad News. We received good news that my visa and Melanie’s were approved which means we will be able to renew our Spanish residency. The bad news is that the visas must be picked up before July 30 which didn’t allow me time to get a good ticket price given the timeframe and the high season. Thankfully I can pick-up Melanie’s as well, instead of her needing to go. We are still waiting for the visas for the 4 children which have not yet been approved. The Consulate officials in Chicago don’t understand why this is the case but said they should be coming in soon. I will be arriving to Chicago July 26 and will stay until August 11. Please pray that the kids’ visas arrive during that time so I won’t to have to make another trip or extend too much further.

Four things to pray for:

1. Melanie and the kids while I am away in Chicago for part of the summer. (July 26-August 12)
2. I finished the coursework two years ago and I have until February to finish my project for a masters in counseling I did here in Spain. I hope during my time in the States to wrap it up.
3. The Christian Community Church of Tres Cantos and our new building we are subletting from our NGO (Global Ventures – SPAIN) and for its spiritual health, grow and community impact for Jesus.
4. We have said “hasta luego” (until later) to our teammates, Tim and Marilyn Westergrens. Pray for us as we need discernment to focus on the projects and relationships that God is preparing for us as well as for HIS strength when we will feel weak and stretched. We are also awaiting the arrival of two new couples, one returning to Spain and one doing an externship with us next year. Pray that their visas and finances come through quickly.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support of us. We simply feel as though we are an extension of you here in Spain.

Blessings

Personal History
Melanie was born and raised in Ecuador, S.A. to missionary parents where she gave her life to Christ at a young age. She later rededicated her life to Christ in high school and at that time felt a call to full-time Christian ministry. She graduated with a B.S. in nursing in 1989 from Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, and with a Doctorate in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 1998 from Rush University, Chicago, Illinois.

Tim also was raised in a Christian home as a pastor's kid. He too gave his life to Christ at an early age. He graduated with a B.S. in Business Economics in 1990 from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. The next year he studied at Capernwray Bible School in England where he felt a strong call to full-time Christian ministry. In 1997 he graduated from Trinity International University with a Master of Divinity, Deerfield, Illinois. During this time he also served as associate pastor.

While in England, Tim and Melanie met at Bible school and were married 4 years later. Tim and Melanie are the parents of three active boys and one little girl: Timothy (8), Nathanael (7), Elijah (4) and Olivia Elisabeth (2).

Part of the Wendel's process of preparation before arriving in Spain involved Melanie working as a Registered Nurse for 11 years at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago and later as a Family Nurse Practitioner where she was on the teaching staff at Rush University during the last two years. Tim worked in the business world for several years as a computer trainer before entering into the pastorate. The Wendels were involved in pastoral ministry for six years (Elmhurst, Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, and Wheaton, Illinois) before leaving for Spain.

Tres Cantos, where we live and why
Tres Cantos was conceived as a planned community by Francisco Franco in 1971 on rural land ceded by the city of Colmenar Viejo. The first residents arrived in 1982. In 1991 it incorporated as its own municipality, the youngest city in all of Spain. Tres Cantos lies 21 km north of the capital, Madrid, halfway toward the mountain range of Guadarrama. It is a beautiful town with many parks, green walking zones, trees and fountains, a large man-made lake, a cultural center and library, a town hall that provides many services and plenty of shopping.

Tres Cantos has 40,000 residents in its official census, though the actual population is around 45,000. With the five-year plan PGOU the city will reach 60,000. Ten percent of the population was born in another country and there are many cross-cultural marriages. Those born in Latin America are the largest group of foreign-born, but as a whole, arrived long before the current influx of Latins to Spain. They are professionals who came to work in Spain with companies and stayed, either because of marriage or standard of living

While developed as a model community, only 25 percent of the working population both live and work in the city. The majority commute to Madrid for work, using the recently expanded highway M-607 or the excellent public transportation by train and bus to the capital. Nonetheless, the city receives daily 20,000 employees who commute to work at the industrial zone of Tres Cantos and its "Technological Park," home of cutting-edge companies in the aerospace industry. Other multinational corporations with offices and/or production in Tres Cantos are: Lucent Technologies, BP Solar, BDF Nivea, Samsonite, Siemens, Dannon. Most recently, the largest cable provider in Spain, SOGECABLE, relocated here.

Tres Cantos still reflects its pioneering spirit. The nucleus of the population are those who left the concentrated neighborhoods of the capital fifteen years before the "move to the suburbs" fever hit Madrid in the late 90s. This nonconformist spirit shows up concretely in its demographics. Occupants comprise of young, double-income families with 2 to 3 children living in owned apartment buildings and/or town homes. The birth rate in Tres Cantos is double the national average of 1.08 per woman.

With 40 percent of the population younger than 20 years old, Tres Cantos is one of few towns in all of Spain where new schools are being built to accommodate expanding families (in contrast to the closure of schools in the capital). There are three public high schools, nine elementary schools, four public day-care centers and two private schools with a third to be finished this September. Tres Cantos lies just 10 km from the State University of Madrid (Autonoma), for which student housing in Tres Cantos is currently being built.

The education level of the population is high. Some 60 percent of heads of household have a university degree or higher, and 42 percent of housewives as well. The socio-economic status is commensurate with these levels: the upper-income represent 25,1 percent; the upper-middle, 31,8 percent; the middle class 29,7 percent, lower middle, 8,9 percent and low-income, 4,5 percent.

There are two large Catholic parishes in Tres Cantos and one Baptist church (approximately 100 adherents). In addition to these groups, we have a small, but growing group of 30-35 adults and 20-25 children who participate in our bi-monthly worship services along with other ministries during the week (kids groups, leadership, womens group, mens group, father/son group).

It is the Wendel's desire, and that of teammates Tim and Marilyn Westergren and Ivan and Mayte Wall, to see Tres Cantos become a beacon of light for Jesus.

God reaches out to us in various ways, and Christians can reach out to the world with the gospel in various ways also. One such way occurred five years ago when the team started a summer English Camp to bless the youth of Tres Cantos and has served as a "point of contact" where we can and continue to apply the good news of Jesus.

Contact Information
The Wendels
Sector Descubridores 33-1-IZQ
28760 Tres Cantos (Madrid)
SPAIN

(Calling from the States to Spain)
011-34-91-804-1098

Email: Wendel_Spain@Yahoo.com

Home Church: Blanchard Road Alliance Church, Wheaton, IL
District: Mid-West District

Wedding Anniversary:
7/16/94

Birth Dates:
Timothy Michael Sr.: 4/21/68
Melanie Ann (Moser): 5/24/66
Timothy Michael Jr.: 03/25/97
Nathanael John David: 12/28/98
Elijah Peter: 05/06/01
"Olivia" Elisabeth Ruth: 06/06/03

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

Ways to pray:

1. Spiritual Vitality: Pray that their walk with Jesus Christ will be vibrant and that their kids will grow in their understanding and acceptance of Jesus' love for them.
2. Marriage & Family Life: There are many tensions that work to pull apart marriages and families. Pray that Tim and Melanie would be quick to recognize such dangers and address them directly in their marriage as well as in their parenting of their kids.
3. Spiritual Openness in Spain: For centuries a dark spiritual cloud has hung over this beautiful country. Ask that the Lord would use Tim and Melanie and their teammates as He removes the veil that has covered people's hearts and keeps them from committing themselves to Christ.
4. English Camp 2008 (June 30 - July 11). This will be the fifth year of this growing ministry done in cooperation with the local City Hall. As many as 40 volunteers from the US, England and Australia; these university students and others come to Tres Cantos to live with Spanish families and help with this two-week interactive camp that serves 100 grammar school aged children, providing us with a multitude of ways to bless our community. If you are interested in coming to help in Camp, please contact Tim.
5. Master in Counseling. Please pray for Tim as he finishes up his final project, a study of how the church can respond to the process and problems caused by integration and assimilation of newly arrived immigrants in Spain.

Spain

Approved Specials

If you wish to contribute to one of our specials (vehicle funds, building projects, etc.) you may select it from the Approved Specials List.

Share

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•