Shining On A Hill

Dear Friends, We are bringing you a two-part update letter. The first part was just a couple of days before Christmas but as you will read, was written in the middle of chaos. The second update is now after things are back in order again. Whew! What a way to end the year and begin the new!

Merry Christmas from Spain! Here, we have the gift of Dan’s 3 kids that are living in the States to all be here for the holiday, but COVID has hit our house. Ashton was the first to get sick, then Dan, and then the youngest (16) Avery. They have slept a lot. Andrew has shown no signs of the illness and The Lord is protecting me so that I can keep the kitchen running and everyone fed and cared for. He’s an amazing God of details and knows our needs and provides for us. We had finished English classes for the month before Dan became sick. Thankfully, with technology, Dan was able to record the sermon for this past Sunday before he felt too bad. His daughter, Aida flies out on Thursday day to go back to Florida for work.  Please pray for logistics and for health. Even though everyone is sick, it’s nice to be under the same roof together! God is good, all the time.
Have a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Hope and Savior!

Happy New Year from Spain! We pray you and your families are well and waiting with anticipation for what God has for this new year.

* The family here is better and the last one’s quarantine was lifted the morning of January 1st when the town nurse called to check in. Here in northern Spain, once you have tested positive for COVID and are in the system, the nurse calls every 2 days to check in about fever and symptoms. We are thankful for the medical system here. Thank you so much for your prayers for us during this illness! The holiday was different than expected, but God is good and shows Himself in so many special ways.

* We have stayed in contact with the church group via texting and the YouTube sermon I post. In praying about the direction God wants us to take this year, I was struck with the concept of community in the church and what that looks like and means. There have been seasons where the group was very connected and praying for each other and reaching out as the Body should, but with the way COVID has left the world, people are often just focused on their own bubble. God calls us to more. As we walk into this new year, we will use our Tuesday “sermon debrief/application” time to discuss and apply what God’s Word has to say about it.

* We had the director’s meeting for camp in November and we have two weeks set aside for our use for Cowboy Camp, but currently, we still only have one team. If you are an individual interested in coming to serve at camp for a week (July 3-9), please let us know. We are seeking people with a heart for the Lord who are willing to give a week of their time and energy to show God’s love to the Spanish kids who haven’t set a foot inside a Christ following church, but will come to a camp led by Christ following Christians.

* The Reverse Missions Trip only has two locations committed at this time and we were hoping for 4. If hosting a Spanish teen for one week and living out life and your faith is something you feel called to do, please let us know. We are planning to bring a group of 10 teens, so we need 10 homes from a church.

* Missions around the world are looking different these days, but it is still so important to connect outside of ourselves. We have such an amazing privilege of being able to be that city on a hill shining the light of Christ and it CANNOT be hidden. (Matthew 5.14)

Will you consider shining with us?

With our love in Christ,
Dan and Sharon Leatherwood