Costa Chronicles - Horley Baptist Church

Well hello friends, Spring has arrived on the Costa del
Sol at last—a little late for my liking! Girls are growing up fast and doing well at school. Emily has
been poorly this year and her weight does concern us as she isn’t gaining anything, but doctors think
she is fine. She’s had a scarlet fever strain, as have half her class, and an appointment with the
paediatrician yesterday confirmed that she has it again so please pray for her. Apart from these
setbacks we are doing well. The groups are all going well and I have been inviting different friends of
the girls around to the house for play dates to let them see we are normal people (!) and it has certainly proved to be a great
way of breaking down barriers and getting to know the parents better. The girls are now being invited round to their friends’
houses too, which is good. Dad built the girls a beautiful Wendy house when he came to visit in October and this certainly is a
great means of entertainment for them all, including the boys.
The sewing club got off to a great start, but hasn’t happened for the last month; however I do keep up the contacts. Do pray for
our dear sister ANA who has lots of family problems, especially with her son LEO, and her teenage daughter is pregnant and
due to give birth in May. Also remember our friend MONICA who has come to the meetings in the past and want s to be back in
touch again. She too goes to the Mental Health Day Hospital that LOLI goes to. CARMEN and family haven’t been coming along
to meetings so we continue to remember them in prayer too. There has been so much going on of late that I’m sure to have
forgotten to mention someone or something. We thank God for this wonderful opportunity to serve Him and we rejoice in the
small things. Missionary life is not always a bed of roses and we miss our families just like everyone else, but God is good and
we know we are where He wants us to be, love and prayers until the next time, Julie
La Chica—she has now returned to Velez
PRaYER POINTERS... Reme
after leaving due to a row with her partner. Please
FOR María, Loli & the family, after the sad pray she would return to meetings to hear the
passing away of Samuel last week.
Gospel again, as she always listened so intently
before
FOR the three youth groups—all
FOR Maru & family, Maru is Loli’s daughter
mentioned inside
in law and her husband is in prison along with Loli’s
FOR Fernando & Juani—a couple who came husband. She is pregnant and in the past has had
along for a while some time back, but then moved difficult pregnancies, and has two children to look
away due to problems. They’ve now returned. after, Franci and Candelaria, who both come to
Please pray for them as their family life is not easy. the children’s Clubs.
Pray for their daughter Dulce and granddaughter
FOR Andrea, Maty’s granddaughter. She has a
Yasmina who they have legally adopted
large lump at the base of her spine due to a fall last
FOR Janet, who returned home last Saturday year. She has had two procedures to drain the
after nearly 3 and a half months in hospital and a blood, and will almost certainly need it removed
residence. We are so happy the Lord has brought next month and a skin graft implanted. Please pray
strength back to her body again, but please for her and her family who aren’t Christians.
continue to pray for her as she still needs another
FOR Juan Martin, who has stopped coming to
operation in the near future.
meetings, and we are concerned about his spiritual
FOR Yésica, the young daughter-in-law of life.
Michael and Julie Chitty, Calle Aloe Vera 39, 29700 Vélez-Málaga, Málaga, Spain. Tel. (0034) 952 508 271
Mobiles: (0034) 651 653 838 (Michael) / (0034) 657 528 614 (Julie)
E-MAIL: [email protected] /[email protected]
WORKING WITH Jim and Janet van Heiningen and kindly supported by Horley Baptist Church and other kind
churches and individuals. If you’d like to contribute to the youth work we can GIFT AID donations received!
Dear praying friends,
Many apologies for the late arrival of our latest
missive, life has been rather hectic here to say the
least, with plenty of ups and downs! Last Friday
seemed to encapsulate the ups and downs of life as
we were celebrating the birthday of a dear friend of
Mikayla and Emily in the evening, knowing that
straight after it we would be going to a wake.
In the early hours of the morning we got the very sad news that Samuel, who we
had mentioned for prayer before, had passed away at only 22 years of age after 3
heart attacks. He had an extremely serious lung condition and was waiting for a
lung transplant, but his body just couldn’t cope any longer with such a vital organ
being so seriously impaired. The doctors had told them that they would be very
fortunate indeed to find a compatible donor and Samuel’s sister had already died
due to a similar condition. Please do pray for his family, whom we know a little,
and whom Janet and Jim know a lot better, and for his girlfriend Maria, and
Maria’s family because, even though they weren’t married still, he would be
considered a son and brother-in-law by them. Even though Samuel was ill they
never expected this to happen so suddenly.
In just a matter of hours, we saw yet again how brief this life is, and how
incapable we are of having any say at all in our destiny. None of the family, as far
as know, are born again believers, which makes the whole situation so much
sadder. A donor couldn't be found for a lung for this life for Samuel, and yet the
most wonderful Donor of all time was offering him and all his family what they
truly needed for their eternal life.
I was reading Ezekiel 13 the other day where the Lord is rebuking the false
prophets amongst His people for not preparing them for “the battle on the day of
the Lord”, leaving them with no protection and strength. And later on in verse 22
we can maybe see a warning for ourselves—that our lives should be such that
people should “turn from their evil ways and be saved”. If we live as if our
eternal destiny isn’t important then we are, in effect, encouraging those who
aren’t the Lord’s to not repent. And, equally, we should be encouraging each
other in the truth so that we are also “encouraging the righteous”, and not
disheartening others with our words and actions. This chapter certainly
challenged me and I hope it will you too for the glory of God!
With lots of love from us all!
Michael, Julie, Mikayla & Emily
SPRING YOUTH WORK TIMETABLE
Plans are afoot for great things this Summer in Velez, as Coaching for Christ
hope to bring out a team of up to 20 youngsters to train and play matches
against teams from Velez. On of the coaches, David Graham, came out 3
weeks ago to meet with two men from the Velez Futból Club, Juan Millet and
his colleague Francisco. They had made contact last August and there was
great interest in the idea.
God worked in wonderful ways through the meeting and we discovered that
their group has a very similar outlook to Coaching for Christ’s, and ours, but
without Christ. Their motto is “No child without football”, whereas ours
would be “No child without Christ”! They seek to include every single child,
whatever their ability, and never charge those who can’t pay, even seeking to
help kids that have got messed up with drugs.
To cut a long story short, the idea was agreed to, and the plan is to carry out
the August football activities as normal, but to bring out the team of
youngsters half way through in the last week of August. We are asking for
any help the Velez town hall can give for provision of minibuses etc, and if
you would like to help in any way then don’t hesitate to get in touch, for
example, sponsoring a child for their time here.
When David was here we asked if he could referee a small tournament which
we had promised the kids that went along on the Thursday nights last
Autumn. It was a wonderful time with 24 kids (the day before I didn't even
know if half that amount would come!), new contacts, contact with parents,
and they were so attentive during the message, and we praise God for what
we hope will be a yearly tournament. We could really sense God’s presence
there in every way.
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE PLANTING OF THE WORD!
MARCH, APRIL & MAY
“Conecta” (10-14s) - Friday 7th & 21st March; 4th &
25th April; 9th & 23rd May
“Los Buscadores” (5-9s) - Thursdays:13th March, 10th
April & 15th May
La Gloria School “Los Exploradores” (5-12s) every Wednesday until 28th May
Thank you for all your continued prayers for all the youth activities. We just wanted to
give you an update on each one…
CONECTA
We’re so thankful to God for the young people He has brought to
this group. We usually get around 10-12, but have had up to 17.
There is a new girl called Rocío who has started to come - she
always came along to the kids’ activities on the estate. We also
had Antonio (Juan Martin’s grandson) and Angel along for the
first time and they seem keen to return. Each session is totally
different and we do a mix of video clips, games and even some cooking which all lead up
to a Gospel message near the end. Please pray for the 2 Paulas in the group who have
expressed interest in knowing more about following Jesus and praying to receive Him.
BUSCADORES
We are also so happy that this group is going so well—we also get
between 10 and 12 at each group. Please pray that we will know
how to invite Mikayla and Emily’s friends from school too. Pray it will
happen naturally from friendships with the parents, like with little
Judit from Emily’s class, whose parents we are now very friendly with,
and she has come along to the last 2 groups. We pray for more doors
to open to invite their friends, and other boys and girls from the
estate and other parts of Velez.
LA GLORIA
The sessions at La Gloria school are always eventful—we never know if we’re going to get 5 or 15! The
Lord’s hand is on this group and has helped us so much with recent problems. The week before half-term
a boy named Miguel hit another boy, Juan Antonio, during the Club. It was completely without
provocation, and we learned that after the Club he followed Juan Antonio home and continued the
attack, even throwing stones at his parents’ house. The mother (whom we didn’t really know) was really
shaken by this, which has been going on for some time during school time according to her. She asked if
|I could accompany them to the police station, which I did. To cut a long story short, Juan Antonio has decided to continue at
the school, despite his mother being keen to move him. Miguel has been banned from after-school activities, and the group
which we thought would dwindle is having more children than ever. We also have a very nice friendship with the parents, and
the Mum (Irene) was talking about coming to church sometime. God is good! And works in really mysterious ways! ☺