HOWARD AND SUE COLEY

Elim missionaries in Spain
for 35 years

Hola desde ESPAÑA

Hola, Greetings from us in Andalucía, Spain. We pray that all is well with you and want to catch up with you and let you know what is happening here.

We have had a very strange 2025 for us. We stepped aside from the day to day in the church as Lucy & Bruno assumed the responsibility for the pastoral care and work. Howard and I didn’t fellowship there so they and the congregation could move forward however the Lord led them. It’s so good to be able to pass the ‘baton’ on to those who the Lord has called, anointed and trained to serve in this capacity. They have been doing a great job, and the congregation have been loving towards them. It's not easy for Lucy as she is working bilingually in all she does, thankfully a few people have assisted with translation including our son Samuel in the Sunday meetings. Bruno is serving as a Minister in Training and continues to lead the children’s Sunday School each week and aids as much as he can.

Howard and I have visited different churches on Sundays and not really belonging to their fellowship has been very difficult for me as I felt the loss of our church family even though I know the changes have been right. I spent a time feeling very sad and happy at the same time and that emotion is less strong now, I think I have been in some sort of ‘recovery from ministry’.

We haven’t been looking to minister anywhere and have slightly avoided doing so as we transition towards to plans the Lord has.

We have been blessed to bring the word and praise and worship in our church plant in Almuñécar, Granada a few times and also in Benalmadena so those pastors could have a break. We plan to spend more time assisting in Almuñécar this coming year and all the Elim churches here in Andalucía.

Our Project is slowly coming together; we have spent some time staying there to find those things that need to be improved. It is lovely to be able to take the time to focus on it. Howard & Bruno have laid the foundation for an extension, built the walls, fitted external doors and hope to put the roof on before the summer heat arrives. We have readjusted the floor plan following vandalism during a strong storm in January. The police had sent an emergency siren to everyone’s mobile phones telling us to not go out when someone disconnected our security cameras, stealing them and as we found out later cut all the power cables from the solar panel to the house. Howard and Bruno dashed over in the storm and found the cameras off our land on the track that leads to the village, and they have now been repositioned, thankfully this time the house wasn´t broken into. This has led us to reconsider the extension security and we shall adjust the plans accordingly.

Howard and I stayed there for 4 nights following the damage and were trapped there because a large rock fell and blocked the track, after it was cleared we still couldn’t leave as the 4-wheel drive pickup truck our son in law Bruno had lent us wouldn’t start and we needed to be ‘rescued’. It needed a new battery and chose that day to fail.

We have been able to come alongside a couple who are YWAM trained and have a vision of training disciples in Algeria who will spread the news of Jesus there. Hamid has been able to consolidate a small group of folks who have been holding on to their faith despite the persecution of the church there.

Of course, we have continued to support Lucy & Bruno as the ‘hand over’ has been happening and have been available to help when needed to the rest of Elim here in Spain including the new National Leadership Team of Elim España. I also have the privilege of overseeing two new ministers in training here in Andalucía.

Thank you for continuing your support for us all here it is really appreciated and needed, personally, for the church work and the project. As we have entered a new season (not retired) please don’t stop, drop us a line and let us know how things are going with you where you are.

May the Lord bless you and give you strength today.

With love from
Sue and Howard