God Moves.

WOW!! God has moved mightily in the last 24 hours at the Stayton's home. Let me give you a recap and share the works He's done.

  Thursday morning, we were stirring and awake at 5:30am which is no small feet on an ordinary day, let alone on a morning when didn't go to bed until 12:30-1:30am.  As we awoke, Lora was reminded that it was 11:30am in Spain and a good chance that our friends, the Hoefts, might be online at Skype to give us all the details of the meeting he, Dave, had on Wednesday with the pastor, Pablo, and interpreter/elder, Caesar.  This meeting discussed his and our involvement at the church as well as some logistical details for us while living there. (We had a meeting with our missions coordinator, Diana, at Horizon Christian Fellowship, our sending/home church, and, from that meeting, we had other questions and felt an urgency to get the ones we already has asked answered.)  So, we skyped Dave and he was on.  Not only was he on, but he was with Pablo and Caesar, whom we have never seen "face to face" but have had only communicated via email.  It was a divine appointment set by God.  It was surreal to hear a Pablo, through Caesar, express his excitement and eager desire to have us there serving with them.  We are just as eager and excited.  The introduction also revealed how badly we need to dive in to learning the language! It was further confirmation of God's call upon our lives.  We are right where He wants us and are going where He is leading.  We also got a lot accomplished in our conversation with Dave regarding the plans for us when we arrive. (We will need to be prepared to hit the ground running!)  We are going to be provided a three bedroom apartment that is within the church's building.  Thanks to a very generous gift, the furnishings for our living space beyond what is already in the apartment are going to be provided.  We've established that our living expenses should be rather minimal and need about $1000 a month of financial sponsorship to sustain us while in Spain.  We were able to get our passport numbers to Dave and the church leadership in Spain.  These numbers allow them to write a formal letter that has to approved in Spain by the government and then sent to us to include in our visa application packet. Our FBI background checks have been submitted and we are hopeful to get them back in about three weeks (at least that was our request to have them returned).  We have also contacted our church's travel agent, who specializes in missionary flights having relationships with airlines for discounted tickets.  We have asked that she start checking availability for flights to Malaga, Spain on or around December 7th.

  WHEW! I warned you God has been busy with divine appointments to confirmation on the call to discernment and vision for a timeline. As I sit here with all of our passports beside me, stacks of items priced to sell, and the very small pile of items to store, I am amazed at the work of God's hand in our lives. I'm humbled to be loved by Him, used by Him, and moved by Him.  God moves everyday in big ways and small.  Keep your eyes open to how He's moving you!

  Thanks for sharing in the journey that God has prepared!  The Stayton Family