USA trip update

 

Howdy friends and ministry partners! We have been in the USA for almost a month, and God has blessed more than we could have ever imagined! Raquel and I have met many new friends all across the country, and these days have been full of first-time experiences for both of us. Raquel’s English skills are holding out admirably… She learned English in Ireland, but she’s already learned to understand American accents from New York, Alaska, the West Coast, Midwest, and even South Carolina drawl!

We landed in New York City on July 4th and were welcomed to the city by fireworks and a wonderful family who opened up their home to us for several days while we got the chance to walk all around the city. From there we went straight to Fairbanks, Alaska, where we worked as teen counselors at Camp Challenge. The Lord blessed with a wonderful week where we were able to invest in the lives of some great teenagers. We also had the chance to present our ministry in Spain to two churches, Hamilton Acres BC and a delightful Baptist church called The Church at North Pole! Some of you reading this letter are new friends from these churches, and I want to say thank you so much for the blessing you were to us! We are so excited to have you praying for us now!

 

Thank you Pastor Bruce and Lina! We all enjoyed lunch with brother Morris Gleiser today!

A post shared by David Bonikowsky (@bonikowsky) on

 

From Alaska we flew to Seattle, WA where we got to spend a brief few days with my grandparents and uncles. They got to meet Raquel for the first time, and I had the chance to catch up with family I hadn’t seen in years.

 

Next we flew to Colorado, where we had the chance to visit First Baptist Church in Dove Creek, CO. You guys were so friendly to us! It was such a pleasure to present our ministry there. Dove Creek is a town with about 600 inhabitants, so two travelers from Spain made a significant uptick in the population for a couple days!

 

The next week we were able to visit Front Range Baptist Church in Fort Collins, the church where I served as intern for 9 months after college. The church has been supporting me since I first went back to Spain, and they finally got the chance to meet Raquel. We had a very special time visiting many good friends. Thank you all so much for your kindness and faithful prayers throughout the years!

 

And finally, yesterday morning we arrived in Greenville, SC. For the two months remaining of our trip stateside we will be living here with the other side of my family. We will be in a different church every Sunday from now on and our hope is to be a blessing in each one. Pray for us as we will be doing a whole lot of driving around in the next two months. God has provided the chance to temporarily buy a car for our travels. Please pray that it will treat us well as we’ll be traveling through about 10 different states with it in the next 2 months! God has also provided a job for me here, so I’ll be working every moment I can while we’re not travelling!

Please pray for safety, direction, provision, and the Lord’s strength for the next few months we’ll be in the States. We will need every one of your prayers. Also continue praying for the church in Irun as they go on without us this summer. We miss our congregation already, and can’t wait to get back to them as soon as we are able.

God bless,

David and Raquel
Ps. 34:3

Plans for the summer

Video update

Hello everyone! Things are as busy as ever here in Irun, but I wanted to give another update covering the past couple months here as well as detail our plans for this summer. Lord willing, Raquel and I will be in the US for about 3 months, from July to October. My goals are to introduce Raquel to my stateside family, visit our 3 supporting churches, and raise more support for our work in Spain.

The Lord has been giving increased opportunity to invest in the men in our church. A couple of years ago the biggest area of growth in church was in the youth group, but now, with a couple of them recently married, as well as several new people who have come to church, we have quite a larger group of young married couples. It’s of course the Lord’s timing, as Raquel and I obviously have a lot in common with this demographic. Pray that the Lord will help both of us as we disciple and serve them.

Thank the Lord for a large living room!

Thank the Lord for a large living room!

Two of the young husbands in particular have shown evidence of the Lord doing a lot in their hearts. On their own initiative they began meeting weekly for prayer meetings, and their group has now grown to where quite a few others from church are joining forces praying for our city. I’ve had several opportunities to spend time with the husband of the Moldovian girl I mentioned in my last update as well. He is very excited about coming to church. Please pray for his salvation. Two young people got married this year, and the young man is getting more and more involved in the church ministry. He is now doing most of the audio/visual/technological jobs for the church. He’s a computer engineer, and he’s doing a better job than I ever could in most areas! It’s great to be able to spend more time with people during church services now that he’s taken over some of the responsibilities. Pray as well for another young couple that recently started coming to church. They’re very friendly, and though I haven’t had the opportunity to meet with them outside church services yet, I’m looking forward to it soon.

Our choir for the Easter cantata

Our choir for the Easter cantata

Last month we presented our Easter cantata at church on Sunday morning. Several unsaved visitors came and had the opportunity to hear the Gospel preached and sung. That Sunday evening we sang again at Iglesia Bautista Bíblica del Puerto, where Roy Keiser is the pastor, and the following week we presented it again at Iglesia Bautista Esperanza Viva, where my father pastors. Several of our choir members visited other Baptist churches in Spain to help in their cantatas as well. It’s great to see the music ministry that the Lord is nurturing in our church extend out to be a blessing to other church plants as well.

I usually design an invitation specifically for church members to share on Whatsapp, the messaging application we all use here

I usually design an invitation specifically for church members to share on Whatsapp, the messaging application we all use here

I was able to find some relatively inexpensive tickets to the US this summer, so Lord willing, Raquel and I will arrive in NYC in the evening on July 4th (hopefully in time to catch a couple of fireworks!) From there we will be flying out to Alaska to help at a Christian camp for a week before finally making it to Greenville where we will be living (for the most part). God has provided work for me while I’m there, which will help us cover living expenses in two countries simultaneously. Over the following three months, Raquel and I will be travelling about visiting friends and churches, hoping to raise additional support for the ministry. 25% of our ministry expenses are covered right now through supporting churches and individuals, and we’re praying that by the end of the summer we will be able to significantly less time working secular jobs and more time evangelizing and discipling here in Irun. If any of you reading this letter know of a church that might be interested in supporting our ministry in Spain, please put me in contact with the pastor. I have a pack with more information about our ministry philosophy and doctrine that I would love to give to interested churches. There still have several Sundays open and we’d love to visit a few more churches.

Raquel now has a 10-year visa for the USA

Raquel now has a 10-year visa for the USA

We are looking for a vehicle to use during our months in the US. If anyone is aware of a vehicle that a friend might be willing to loan us for 3 months, we would appreciate it greatly. Please pray for travelling safety and wisdom making decisions as we head into a very hectic summer! All in all though, Raquel and I are excited for the opportunity. It will be her first time in the US and there’s a lot of places and a lot of people I want to introduce Raquel to. We hope to see a lot of you who are reading this letter soon!

Thank you again for your continued prayers. God bless!

David
Ps. 34:3

A couple extra pics…

Picnic with young couples

Picnic with young couples

Baby shower

Baby shower

Preaching in the new building God provided for my father-in-law's church

Preaching in the new building God provided for my father-in-law’s church

In San Sebastian, the capital of our province

In San Sebastian, the capital of our province