May 2022 Newsletter || By Him, For Him
Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Double Rainbow seen from our house, overlooking our neighborhood.
Our 40th Gala was also on my birthday!
Celebrating the 40th at IMM with our team and many others in Spain.
Spending Easter with friends in Madrid
After coming back from winter break in the States, our whole team shifted into overdrive. We spent January-April preparing to host donors, pastors, partners, founders, administration, and a whole array of guests here, in Spain, for our 40th Anniversary Celebration in April.
In February, we had the privilege of recording our Bible Stories in Ukrainian and finishing them in Russian to give to ministries receiving refugees from the war. We are still praying that these stories help those in crisis to find hope in Christ.
Throughout March and April, we doubled down on preparations for the 40th Event. This included printing thousands of materials, arguing with Spanish travel agencies, praying tirelessly for COVID restrictions to ease, and working with guests to get everyone here safe and happy.
Thank you for everyone who prayed for our 40th Anniversary Celebration, it went incredibly well! We had been asking God to give our guests a shared vision for IMM in the future, excitement for upcoming projects, and the ability to support financially so these productions can happen as soon as possible.
While here, guests travelled to Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Segovia, Aranjuez, and Toledo for guided, historic tours of our neighboring cities. We celebrated our 40th Anniversary with both a formal Gala— Persian themed to introduce our Esther: Queen of Hope project, specifically produced to reach Iran— as well as a dinner at the end of the week to commemorate and cast vision for the future.
Our team is still recovering a bit from the event, but the exhaustion is worth it. Talk about the Lord multiplying loaves and fish! For most of the preparation our team was 7 strong. We were thankful the week before the event to have a missions team from West Virginia and a few virtual team members travel here to finish preparations.
Next week we are travelling to Croatia for the Europe Together 2022 retreat and conference. All missionaries from AG in Europe will be there, and quite a few of us are taking extra vacation days to rest before the summer is in full swing.
After we return, we are hosting a Chi Alpha team from Austin, Texas. They will help us organize and catalog many of our costumes and props that are stored at IMM, as well as hopefully teaching them more about media missions.
Over the summer our team will be focused on connecting with ministry partners, translating and recording new languages, premiering our Heritage Project Season 2 (officially!), finishing our projects in Moroccan Arabic, starting pre-production of the Esther project, and so many other things.
Personally, I’m hoping to move into the city by the fall and immerse further in Spanish culture and language. My heart grows daily with the burden for Spain, and there’s a temptation to settle in and get comfortable that all of us have to fight every day.
But the Lord is faithful, His love for Spain is greater.
Prayer Requests
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Pray the Lord would provide actors for our Moroccan Arabic project! Morocco desperately needs the gospel. Pray also that He would send the right team members here to IMM, people who have a diverse array of skill sets (and if you know anyone who would be interested in a few months of video and film experience in Spain, don’t hesitate to reach out!)
My biggest need is for friendships, strong relationships with teammates and locals, and the drive to study Spanish. Pray the Lord would put the right people in my path!
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