Church family

An ocean between and two different languages but the history book I looked at with Edgar's family could have been from Rock Prairie. It recounted the 40-year history of the church in Alcoy. It was Edgar's great great grandmother who was the first Christian in Alcoy and who helped found the church here. They were still under the dictatorship of Franco, who abused religion to manipulate and control people and who required everyone to attend Catholic mass. (This weekend I saw a wall where he had people killed by a firing squad if they disagreed with him! And, incidentally, they were also not allowed to be buried in the cemetery.) The evangelicals here went obediently to mass on Sunday mornings to stay alive, but then met in secret on Sunday nights. They continue the habit of meeting on Sunday nights even though now they are free to pursue their own religion. In the history book, they have recorded the weddings, baptisms, children's programs, socials, holiday events and more. In the pictures you could see the families grow up and a few pages later it was their children on the stage. A large part of the church is related, having descended from three sisters who are currently matriarchs in the church. But others have joined and, just like at home, the church is their family.
The pastor, Pedro, has been part-time pastor at two churches. The other is in a coastal city more than an hour away. He preaches there in the mornings and then at Alcoy in the night. Tonight he announced that the other church has called him to be full time so he'll be moving his family there. The business meeting was just beginning as we were leaving and already there were tears. Monte Sion is the only evangelical church in this city. Certainly God has been faithful these 40 years and will continue to be, but as we know, finding a new pastor is a difficult process, even in a country where there are churches everywhere you look. Mark and Carla, though Pedro and Maria Jesus are their dear friends, will stay with the church to try to help them through this difficult time. Pray for the church in Alcoy.