New Links!!

Hello All,

Just wanted to point your attention to the Links on the right side of the front page. When our page was first completed, it had some links, put there by Jason Dean. Then I went and changed the template and the links went away. Long story short, I have finally figured out how to get the links back. There will be more to come, but I wanted to let you know about the ones that are up now.

The Spain Information, map, and language translator are self explanatory... you can see where our city is located on the second map.

Missions Down Under is the website of our friends Jason and Kris Bauernfiend. They are missionaries serving in Australia. Jason has been a mentor and friend of mine since I was in Junior High! Additionally, he is the one responsible for setting our site up. Thanks Jason.

The PackingHouse, Wildwood Calvary and Intensive Care Ministries are our sending churches. The PackingHouse is our home church but we feel just at home at Wildwood. Pastor Ed and Pastor Chris have been phenomenal blessings to Lela and I. We are proud to be associated with and sent by them. ICM is the ministry of my Father-in-law, Pastor Dan Finfrock, which serves the body of Christ by teaching Pastors around the world to study the Bible, just with their Bible.

Perspectives and Mission Frontiers Magazine. When we left the first time for Spain, we took a three week intensive course through Perspectives. It was a great primer for the mission field, especially with regard to philosophy and worldview. The magazine comes from the US Center For World Missions in Pasadena and has been a blessing to us in the past.

Finally...for now...Brad Bischoff has been a wonderful friend and music collaborator for many years. He handles our Spain Chain distribution, so if you receive the "Chain" it's because of his faithfulness to produce it. He is a genius musician, who I have great respect for. Plus, in the audio section, you can hear some of our collaborations musically.

That's all for now though there will be more links to come. I figure that you can check these sites out when we have a lag in posting, like last week for example!

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
Frank Sanchez

Spain Chain Letter #11

Hello All,

This is a copy of our latest email, the Spain Chain, which goes out the last week of every month. Thanks are in order to my good friend and musical partner of many years, Brad Bischoff for taking charge of the Chain. Normally, for those on the Spain Chain, there is .pdf file with our picture and information. Unfortunately, I don't know how to post that on the site. If you want to be included in the Spain Chain, just send us an email, with "Spain Chain" in the subject line, and you will be added for the next month. Now, here is a copy of the current Spain Chain email.

July 28th, 2006

Dear Spain Chain,
Well, we are still here in California. The 26th has come and gone, no call from the Consulate, and no plane ride for the kids. Actually, that last part is a bit of a relief, as 24-hour trans-Atlantic flights are not really as fun as they are advertised! However, the other parts are cause for more prayer. We are sure of the Lord’s call, we are aware that He is working out a brilliant, wonderful plan that will bring glory to Himself, and in the meantime, He is further preparing our hearts and lives for a long term of service in Spain. At present, this is the extent of what we know, and we will find our satisfaction in this for the time being.

The good news is that we will have the chance to see many more of you over this time of delay. Plans are already in place to come to various spots in California. As of this writing, the calendar is being examined for various activities, including among other things, a Spain Chain gathering. Matt and Krista Sauls have graciously offered their home for the purpose of a Spain Chain meeting. We are inviting you to join us on August 25th, at 7PM for a night of worship, sharing and prayer. If you can set aside that night and join us, it would be a blessing to be able to fellowship over the topic of Spain and what the Lord is doing there. We will send out directions a week prior to the meeting through email. Now onto our update…

“SO, WHAT NOW?”
Good question! Obviously, we are going to continue to wait for the Spanish Consulate’s call. In the meantime, Frank (the author) is working on getting dates on the calendar for opportunities to share about the work in Spain. As of this writing, we have confirmed dates with Calvary Laguna, Calvary Chapel of Claremont and Calvary Chapel of Guadalupe, August 6th and 13th & 20th respectively. Calvary Laguna is a new contact for us and we are excited to share with that part of the body. Calvary Chapel of Claremont has been faithfully praying for us since the beginning of our ministry, so that will be a great time of fellowship as well. We had a great time with the congregation of C.C.Guadalupe back in the winter, and are looking forward to seeing that very warm congregation again.

As far as our eventual return to Spain is concerned, there are special circumstances that are involved, that we would ask your prayers for wisdom for. Should our visas arrive anytime after this writing, then we are free to travel back to Spain. I am required to be back in Spain by October to activate my visa. At that time, if the family’s visas have not come, they will wait here in California while I travel back to Spain and I will return to wait with them after presenting my visa.

In addition, there are other dynamics involved, including our house in Spain, Pastor Carlos’ traveling plans and Renae’s pending school schedule. All of this is what the Lord holds in the balance, and we trust Him to bring the most beneficial action for His Kingdom and for us, His children. Thankfully, He is holding all these things together.

• Pray for wisdom for Frank and Lela regarding decisions that need to made.
• Pray for the Lord’s will to be done with regard to the visa situation.
• Pray for our emotional states, which wars against our intellect in this time of delay. Pray that the Lord would remind us daily that He has purpose in this delay.
• Pray that as Frank speaks and shares at these various fellowships, that the Word from the Lord would be clearly communicated and specialized to each congregation.

“…THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME”
As I have been pondering this last year, I have been impressed by so many truths that have deeply impacted my being. God, from the beginning of Man’s existence, has taken the initiative to reach His prize creation with His love. Prophets, people of faith and from all walks of life, have endeavored to follow that heart of God, and join themselves to the purpose of re-connecting a fallen being with God the Creator. Most have faced more than just delay. Some have lost life or limb; the cost has been great. It was this thought that filled my heart recently. I was speaking with the Lord and talking about the cost of this whole endeavor, just to have the ability to live in Spain and bring the message of the Gospel to her people. It is costly financially, emotionally and when you talk about 24 hour trips, physically. It was borderline complaint when I sensed the Lord speak that the cost to Him was His very life, and that all of eternity’s resources were focused on this one great goal. I thought of this statement with regard to John 3:16 and there saw again that God the Father, spent the greatest treasure upon the world, namely His dearly loved Son Jesus, in order to bring about the miracle of Salvation. And all for what? That they might be delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness into the presence of God, who will heal the nations in the fullness of the Kingdom. (Revelation 22:2)

Is it worth it? Definitely! There is no greater enterprise on this earth, on this side of eternity, that we can partner in together. I pray that though our delays and troubles are discouraging, I hope that you are reminded of why. This is our hope for you.

FINAL PRAYER REQUESTS
• The Church In Jerez. Continued growth and grace among the believers to be witnesses to the community.
• Pastor Carlos Casco. He travels to Morocco from July 27th to the 9th of August. At that point, he returns from that trip, but then turns around and heads to Bolivia for a Pastor’s training seminar from the 13th to around the 22nd.
• The Spanish Unbelievers who are part of our life there, Jaime, Sylvia, Ignacio and Javier from the Guitar Center, the Picaduena Alta gang of kids, Antonio and Margeurite (landlords), and our neighbors. Pray that they would continue to see the difference in the believers that are around them and identify that as Christ living and ruling in us. We pray for their salvation.

That is all for this month. Please feel free to contact us atlelafrank@aol.com or call us at (909) 904-5891. We are looking forward to times of fellowship and contact with you. Thank you for your love and support.

Blessings,

Frank Sanchez, Author
Lela Sanchez, Chief Editor
Renae, Caleb and Elizabeth Sanchez, missionaries in waiting!

"Thy Will Be Done..."

Hello All,

We are now just 6 days away from our scheduled departure for Spain. As of this writing, we still have heard nothing from the Spanish Consulate regarding the remaining necessary visas for Lela, Renae, Caleb and Elizabeth. Though mine is a "guarantee" of theirs, they still need theirs to travel. The next time that they can travel legally to Spain without a visa is September 22nd. European countries mandate a 90 day interval between trips, so that is non-negotiable. Because of these facts, we are looking at the possibility of delaying our return to Jerez until that time. Each time we delay our tickets, it is costly, so we want to delay them only once.

At this point, the cutoff date for that decision is this upcoming Monday. If the visas are not in at that time, then we will be delaying our return to Jerez.

Now, I must admit that this is not the favored path. I am voting for the quickest possible return, next Wednesday would be nice, but when I came to the Lord, I gave Him the title to my life and to our family's life. My time is His time. As such, I have stopped praying, "God, let the visas come through by next Wednesday." I have, in earnest, been praying, "God, Lord Jesus, Your will be done." And from there, I joyfully accept whatever comes as His best plan for my life and the life of my family.

This resignation has not come naturally, for it has come by cutting away things from my own desires and logical thought progression. His ways are higher than ours, and He does all things well, but it is my mind that always needs to re-embrace these truths.

Thankfully, I had some help from my Pastor's message on Wednesday Night. I had gone in to church and I was asking the Lord to speak to my heart. God is ever faithful to meet those with such motivation. (By the way, I am thankful to have a Pastor that has been faithful to prepare a message, from a text that might not necessarily be found in the Speakers Top 10! Thank You Pastor Ed!) He spoke from Jeremiah 39 about the contrast between Zedekiah, the foolish puppet King and Jeremiah, the faithful prophet. The message is on the Packinghouse's Webcast from Wednesday Night, and is worthy of a listen, but one quote really stood out to me. And I quote, "God's methods for dealing with life's problems often seem to the natural mind, the wrong way to fix a problem." At this point, I could have yelled a hearty "AMEN!" Then came the clincher: "The right way is not usually the cheapest, or the fastest or the easiest way to progress in life."

It hit me like a lightning bolt and I sat there with my mouth open at how profound that word was. Then Pastor closed with a story about a man of influence who was wanting to get his son finished with school more quickly than usual and proceeded to attempt a bribe. The administrator replied that his son could go through a shorter course and mentioned that when God wanted to make an oak, it took 400 years, but that he could also make a pumpkin in a matter of months. The question was'nt and isn't whether there is a shorter course. The question is what result would I rather have?

I want God's will to be done. 2 more months or 2 more years is nothing to Him! I am no different though than anyone else. I am the soldier for Jesus who wants to be decorated, but doesn't want to face any battles. I want to be stronger, but I don't want to exercise. I want to be a giant of the faith, but never have to trust in Jesus for what is not happening in my life. These are impossibilities. So pray with us that the Lord's Will would be accomplished. Only then will we see the best works of the Lord come to fruition.

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
Frank Sanchez

Our Story and Finding Pertinent Information

Hello All,

For the benefit of those who might be joining here for the first time, I quickly want to recap our story (which I alluded to in both services at C.C. Santa Maria) and point you to all the pertinent information that you might want to have access to on this site. Here is a rough time-line:

7 or 8 years ago... Lela and I both sensed a call to pray for Spain, independently of one another. We prayed for a week, nothing happened, we stopped praying!!

5 years ago... The house that we were renting ran into a bunch of insurance problems and the prospect of moving came up. I sensed from the Lord that this was not going to be an ordinary move.

Around the same time... We went to meet with our Pastor, Ed Rea, about the future of ministry and what he thought we should do. He asked us the famous question: "Have you ever prayed for a place?" Spain was the only place that fit the criteria.

Still about the same time... We began to investigate. We looked at the Calvary Chapel website and found that there was only one Calvary Chapel in the whole country! I quipped, "Well, it looks like they got it covered..."

Long Story from here... Through a good friend and team member, we met Steve and Aryn Caliguiri. They were instrumental in getting us ready to go to Spain. We had met several times and had intended to join them in Alicante Spain, but the Lord it turns out, had other intentions. (The Caliguiri Family are still in Spain and we look forward to seeing them there one of these days. When we return, I want to do one blog entry on all the missionaries we know who are either in Spain or very close to coming.) It was around the same time period that we me met Pastor Carlos Casco, who asked us to come and assist him in the church plant that he was involved in.

September 2005... We made our first trip into Spain to set up our house and determine if we were to live on the Mission Field.

December 2005... We returned to the states to officially apply for our Visas.

April 2006... We returned to Jerez and waited for word regarding our visas.

June 2006... We returned to the states to pick up Frank's visas.

July 2006... We are currently waiting and praying that the Family's visas will come.

There you go! Now, on this website, there is a good deal of information which we have addressed at one time or another, about various subjects.

For information about our mission, vision or how you can support us, go to the January Archive.

For our updated prayer requests, go to the June Archive.

For a good taste of what life is like for us in Spain, including a short bio of the Church and Pastor Carlos Casco, take a look at the May Archive.

Hopefully, you will find all the information that you might need in these places.

God bless you and thank you for taking interest in what the Lord is doing with us as we endeavor to work in Spain.

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
Frank Sanchez

C.C. Santa Maria

Hello All,

I have reliable internet access now, so Lord willing, you will read from me a bit more often now until we leave for Spain.

I want to welcome those who might be reading for the first time from Calvary Chapel of Santa Maria. We were there this last weekend and had the pleasure of leading worship for the Sunday morning services. It was a wonderful time in the Lord's presence together. As is often the case, it was somewhat surprising to us how God would choose to move. We added a song to our morning that was not originally in the "plan." It was "Let Me Cling" which Lela wrote a few years ago. And it seems that that song was just perfect for the message, and that it really touched a lot of lives. To me, the most poignant moment was after the second service. Pastor Paul had asked us to share the song for a second time at the end of the service. We came back up and did the song, and afterwards, there was no applause. It was just a beautiful silent holy moment. You could almost hear the truth of the song, rooting in the hearts of the congregation, adding to the power of Pastor Dan Finfrock's message. It was that borderline ackward position that all worship leaders have to confront: Do I talk or remain silent? It was a beautiful moment.

Thank you to the CC Santa Maria staff for making this weekend such a blessing to be a part of.

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
Frank Sanchez

Update...

Hello All-

Long time, no blog! I am sorry for the infrequency. The issue has been internet access, so the delays may continue. My apologies. I do hope to have it rectified soon.

No word on the Family's visas at this time. I called the consulate yesterday, and they told me that from July 27th, I have three months to return to Spain. So, this alleviated some pressure, as I had believed that it might be necessary to travel back alone to get paperwork started. Lord willing, and we are asking for your prayers, the visas will come within the next week and a half.

We have been busy here. Our calendar is virtually full with appointments, lunches, dinners, speaking or playing (Drumming for Frank, singing for Lela) engagements. I have had the priviledge of sharing with several Pastors and church groups about Spain. That continues this weekend as we head into the Santa Maria area to lead worship for Calvary Chapel of Santa Maria. It will be a special time, as my Father-in-Law, Dan Finfrock will be giving the message. It will be a family affair.

I will try to post again on Monday. Thanks for your prayers and support during this time.

Blessings To The Friends Of Spain,
F.S.