The economic crisis in Spain has left many people in debt, unable to make ends meet, with few job opportunities and little hope. Malaga is a melting pot of nations, with many immigrants from North and Sub-Saharan Africa and South America and there is a real need to support local Christian charities as they meet the various practical, emotional and spiritual needs of such a diverse population.
Felipe and Sarah Yanez - Spain
Call
Our aim is to build bridges, bring encouragement and hope and share Christ with people from all walks of life.
Role
Felipe’s work includes supporting a food bank, Bible studies and informal discipleship. Sarah helps manage the ABC food-bank and runs its clothes bank.
More about Felipe and Sarah Yanez
Felipe helps collect and distribute food twice a week at at the Centro Diez42, a Christian food bank in central Malaga. He also helps run a weekly, informal Bible study at the ABC (an association in our town) and runs a basic English for Catering course a few times a year. He meets regularly with a few different men to encourage them and discuss issues of faith. Sarah is on the management team for the ABC, helping with paperwork and finances, and running its clothes bank. There are constant opportunities to share faith through practical witness and conversations with both volunteers and beneficiaries. Our two boys, Sam and Aaron, are both in local Spanish schools, bringing many opportunities to build relationships.
Originally from Chile, Felipe became a Christian in 1991 while serving in the Chilean army. Sarah was brought up in Pakistan, where her parents worked in mission for many years. Felipe moved to the UK in 1994, initially working with Operation Mobilisation before joining the South American Mission Society and Church Mission Society in 1997. Based in Sparkhill, Birmingham, he was a youth worker within his church and the wider community. Sarah moved to Birmingham in 1995 to work as an occupational therapist and was an active member of the same church, where we married in 2000. We moved to Malaga, Spain, in 2007.
Church Mission Society provides us with a structure of support, which enables us to work in Spain without having to rely on local resources or take local jobs which are at a premium given the current economic crisis.
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