PRESTON´S PRAYER POINTS FOR MAY 2012
Hi everyone from Tasmania, Australia. We've been here for 3 weeks now and return to Spain on Monday. It's been a quick and crazy time but very worthwhile on many levels and there will be one little boy who finds his home in Spain rather boring after 4 weeks of constant attention and people contact! We will try and make this brief but we did just want to update you on what's been happening and thank you once again for your prayers.

GIVING THANKS AND ASKING PRAYER FOR...

• We give thanks for our WEC Spain annual field conference which was held nearly a month ago. We praise God for a great time together and some wonderful teaching and worship which was appreciated by all. We were really encouraged by a strong sense of unity and a good beginning as we focus our attention on consolidating regions and de-centralising the field over the coming 12 months. Lucas had a lovely time with his "girlfriend" Suzanna, and at one moment during our international dance evening, when there was a lull in proceedings due to technical difficulties, he filled the gap valiently by leading her out onto the dance floor for a quick number! We also praise God for supportive team mates who made our quick departure from Spain possible straight after conference.
• We give much thanks and praise to God for the best flight back to Australia ever (especially for Coralie). We rarely fly straight through these days without a break in Asia, to help Coralie manage the long haul flights. However, on this occasion we didn't have time so we flew direct. Lucas also did very well and Steve was relieved not to have to "hold the bag" and pick up the pieces! Please pray for our return trip next Monday evening, that it will be equally as smooth. We are due back in Madrid on Tuesday 8th May.
• Praise God for a very good time at the WEC Australian conference. As you may remember, the main reason for the trip back was to attend this conference, to share with and get to know WEC Australia. We had been nominated for future leadership of the WEC Australian Sending Base, to commence in 2014, which the conference accepted and confirmed. It still seems a long way off, however we plan to return to Australia permanently by the middle of next year in order to reconnect with churches, friends and supporters. Our new role means we will be based with WEC at Strathfield in Sydney as home based missionaries, facilitating the oversite of the different ministry teams here in Australia with the overall aim of preparing and sending people overseas for missions. We hope to share more about this new appointment with you in the second half of next year as we travel around. While the role will see us working from the home end, it will not be a paid position, and so just as we have done during these past 11 and a half years in Spain, we will continue to trust the Lord to supply our needs.
• Following the conference, we participated in a week of leadership training with a number of WEC Australian workers including our future team members. It was a really worthwhile time not only for our future role in Australia but also in terms of looking at what we can do to finish well and help WEC Spain over the coming 12 months. 3 weeks of non-stop conferences and trainings seemed a bit crazy but we were really blessed with great teaching, connecting on a personal level with so many people and we were also very thankful for how settled Lucas was with family members. He was very content to be away from his parents for a week and a half (with a couple of half day visits as we missed him dreadfully!).
• Please pray for our return to Spain, as we have a number of things to follow up on after our field conference and want to make this coming year count as we prepare the way for new leadership there. Pray too for the Lord to raise up the leader(s) he wants for WEC Spain in the future. Leadership nominations are now open there and our prayer is that as the Lord prompts, the right person/people will take up the call. Pray too that we will settle back quickly. A trip like this can be unsettling and we know we need to remain focussed. Pray also for Lucas that he will get back into his routine with kindergarten again and won't have forgotten all his spanish!
  It is time to close but thanks so much for your support and prayers which are a great encouragement to us.

With love to you all,
Steve, Coralie and Lucas.

PRESTON´S PRAYER POINTS FOR MARCH AND APRIL 2012

Warm sunny greetings from Spain. The weather is definitely doing some bizarre things as we´ve gone from being part of one of the coldest winters in Europe to having spring arrive early! The year is racing along and we are about to cover the next two months in our prayer points which will take us to a third of the way through the year. Our team conference begins on the last day of March and then we are flying out to Australia for a quick trip two days after conference finishes so we would appreciate your prayers over these coming two rather packed months. Thanks for travelling with us in prayer during February. We had some real highlights to praise the Lord for despite some particularly difficult pastoral issues that we had to deal with as well.

GIVING THANKS AND ASKING PRAYER FOR...

• - Our recent trip to the Basque Country for a week. We had a wonderful time connecting with our colleagues both individually and then as a whole group. They are all doing well and enthusiastic in their different areas of ministry. While we were there a couple from England travelled over to begin the preparations for a short term team due to arrive in summer. The husband is an ethnomusicologist and along with the short term team, they will be conducting workshops to facilitate the writing of worship music and songs in the basque language which will be appropriate to that culture ie using basque instruments etc. Lots of planning came together during this time and we ask for prayer for the coming months as the team and details continue to be worked out. We also really enjoyed connecting with friends from across the different churches in that region, people we hadn´t seen for 6 years since our move to Madrid, who had never met Lucas. All in all it was a very special and worthwhile time so thank you for your prayers. Coralie also enjoyed celebrating her birthday there, appreciating some fine basque cuisine and looking out over the beautiful beaches with the sun shining!
• - We give thanks for the preparation to date for this year´s annual conference. It has been a busy and productive month, preparing the business sessions and program. Please pray for the remaining preparation and for the conference itself which will be from March 31st-April 5th. Pray for our speaker Patrick who is preparing to share, for the times of prayer, fellowship, worship and business, that we will be united and honour the Lord in all we say and do. Pray too for safety in travel as quite a few will come from some distance away to reach the conference venue, and also for good health throughout our time together.
• - Please pray for the Santa Eugenia church planting project. We still do not have a spanish church who has this area as a mission point. Steve and another member of the team met with a local pastor from the church nearest to this neighbourhood and this pastor is open to collaborating for evangelistic outreach. The team will be organising an event straight after Easter, a fiesta quiz night with a short message about the meaning of Easter in other countries. Please pray for both the planning and the evening, that many of the contacts being made through english conversation will attend with open hearts and minds to another perspective on the meaning of Easter.
• - We mentioned in a previous lot of prayer points that our time in Spain will be coming to an end in the middle of next year (2013). After reaching this decision WEC Australia approached us about considering nomination for future WEC Australian leadership. We accepted this nomination and will be returning home briefly to attend the WEC Australia conference, to meet Australian WECcers face to face and also for the voting. If we are accepted this role will commence at the beginning of 2014 and we will be based at Strathfield in Sydney. We will be flying out of Spain on April 7th and arriving in Tasmania (where the conference is due to take place) on April 9th. The conference will be from the 10th -14th and then we will be staying on for a leadership training from the 15th -21st. Our remaining two weeks will be taken as holidays with family on the northwest coast of Tasmania until 7th May when we fly back to Spain. Please pray for this rather huge month for us, firstly for safety and smooth travelling. Many of you will remember that this is not Coralie´s favourite pastime and we will be making the trip as quickly as possible due to time constraints. Please also pray for us and WEC Australia to know clearly the Lord´s way forward for the mission and it´s leadership. If you could remember to pray for Lucas as well that would be good. Hopefully he will stay with family and enjoy some quality time with his cousins and grandparents. However, he is not use to being away from us for more than half a day at a time so this transition might be difficult. We imagine our energy levels are going to be a bit depleted by the end of all this as well so please pray for stamina, quick adjustment to the time difference and good rest.
• - Coralie has begun helping out one afternoon a week with a home work help ministry run by one of our colleagues. It is in conjunction with a much wider evangelistic outreach to children, functioning out of a local church just east of Madrid. Many of the young people struggle with their studies which is often symptomatic of some much greater struggles in their lives. Coralie has enjoyed beginning to get to know these young people and help out a bit. Pray that the Lord can use her despite the limited time she has available.
• - As mentioned in the opening paragraph, we have had a couple of tough ministry issues to deal with during this last month. This has left us weary and quite discouraged. Pray that we´ll have a Godly perspective and that we´ll be able to strike a good balance between grace and boldness in our relationships with those around us.
  Well hopefully that helps you know where we are currently at and what we´ll be doing during these coming two months. Thanks for praying and we will be in touch before leaving Australia to keep you all up to date on future plans.
  
  With love,
  Steve, Coralie and Lucas.