Basque Country Prayer Points for May 2024

Sampie Brown on June 2, 2024

Prayer Points and verse for the month:

Prayers points:

  • Recently pharmacies have agreed to help share the phone number to report sexual aggression with it being visibly posted. Additionally, people can ask for a small piece of paper that will have the number for them to call, report and ask for help.
    • Pray for those who are in these situations and for those answering the phones.
  • The global economy is having its effects on Gipuzkoa, with the first two months of the year seeing a large drop after a record setting year in 2023. Concerns exist with the other EU countries, the US and China.
    • Pray for a healthy global economy as the effects are felt by everyone.
  • With the results of the recent Basque election, the parties that are currently in control (PNV and PSE) have a list of several projects they’d like to complete. The top 5 are about the hospital system and transportation. Over the past several years larger projects have not made progress as expected.
    • Pray for the efforts of the government as they look to improve the lives of the citizens in Basque Country.
  • Identity Theft is on the rise in Basque Country. Over the last 5 years they have seen a ~73% increase. They are also seeing that 9 out of 10 attempts happen over the phone. People usually find out when they are attempting to sign up for a new service and have a large balance that needs to be paid.
    • Pray for those who are affected by identity fraud, the authorities as they look for the offenders, businesses working to reclaim the charges and those that are doing the taking of identities.
  • On June 6-9 elections will happen for the European Parliament. The last elections happened back in May 2019. A lot has changed since then. The parliament has 720 seats with representatives from the European block. Spain has one of the largest delegations with 61 seats.
    • Pray for people as they select representatives for the European Parliament and the decisions this governing board will make for all of Europe.

The verse for the week:

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

‭Psalms 42:11 NIV‬

Basque Country Prayer Points for Week of October 9, 2023

Sampie Brown on October 15, 2023

Prayer Points and verse for the week:

Prayers points:

  • Statistics for crime were recently released for the first half of 2023. An upward trend was seen in some areas: sexual violence was up ~20%, Cybercrimes was up ~30%. With a down trend being seen with robberies using violence and intimidation down ~10% and forced robberies in homes or other premises down ~10%.
    • Pray for those who are victims of crime, the police officers who protect the city and those who commit the crimes to have their eyes opened to its effects.
  • The Catholic Pope recently announced 21 new cardinals, with 3 of those being from Spain. The Pope has been working to make changes to the organization to have more representation from Catholic minorities. With the recent announcement Spain still has the 3rd most in the organization, behind Italy and the United States. Their purpose is to elect the new Pope.
    • Pray for the Pope as he makes new appointments and for the cardinals when the time comes to elect a new Pope.
  • A new president still has not been elected in Spain. Pedro Sánchez (PSOE) has until November 27 to rally enough votes, should that not happen. Spainards will once again be heading to vote in January. He is facing a lot of pressure as he looks to gain support from Catalonia, specifically Puigdemont who is requesting amnesty from the judicial process he is currently facing. Feijoó (PP) is also working to be elected, though he does not look to be able to gain enough alignment from others to get the needed votes.
    • Pray for the legislatures as they look to elect/re-elect a President for Spain.
  • The number of small businesses closing is quite large for the Gipuzkoa region of Basque Country. In the last 4 years ~1300 small businesses have closed, with ~60% of them having been open for 5 years or more. The service sector was most affected, seeing ~75%. One of the biggest reasons for the closures are the effects from the pandemic.
    • Pray for small business owners, workers and the government as they look to navigate the current economic environment
  • Last week Iñigo Urkullu (PNV), who is the leader of the Basque government, participated in a meeting sponsored by the local newspaper. During the discussion he talked about how the coalition between PNV and PSE was making progress even though another political party felt they were not making progress. He presented numbers showing how in the last 10 years GDP for the region has grown and that unemployment is down close to ~10%. He also talked about the current status for electing a new president of Spain and the desire to have healthcare wait times reduced to what they were before the pandemic, as they have increased afterwards.
    • Pray for Urkullu as he works to lead the Basque Government with wisdom and peace amongst all the different parties.
  • The concern for the mental health of youth was described as serious and increasing, as the professionals see higher cases of anxiety, depression and attempted suicides. They are seeing the causes be more than from COVID, as some students feel isolated and do not have a group of friends. Due to the situation the Basque Government put a strategy in place to address this and over a year 613 incidents for suicide prevention were opened in Basque Country. This is currently the highest non-natural cause of death in Basque Country and they are putting protocols in place to try and address it.
    • Pray for the youth that have these thoughts that they find the right help, as well as parents, school administrators and leaders as they look to develop systems to help youth in these situations.

The verse for the week:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Mark 8:35 ESV

Basque Country Prayer Points for Week of February 13, 2023

Sampie Brown on February 15, 2023

Prayer Points and verse for the week:

Prayers points:

  • The government sponsored family mediation service is reporting an increase in use with a large percentage of the overall request being couples conflicts.
    • Pray for the mediators and couples as they work to find common ground, along with the health of families.
  • The Spain & Basque governments are exploring laws to limit rent prices as prices have been increasing over the last several years.
    • Pray for the legislatures, property owners and renters
  • Crime statistics were released for 2022 recently. Violence against women saw an increase of ~16% and homicides were almost triple from 2019.
    • Pray for the women who are/will experience violence, greater peace and the officers responding to these situations
  • The public healthcare system (Basque name: Osakidetza) communicated several requests for better working conditions and are awaiting a response to those requests. 
    • Pray for the healthcare workers, leadership, politicians and those needing care as they work through the situation.
  • General elections are planned for May 28 in all of Spain and you can see tension building between the different parties PSOE, PP, VOX, PNV and others.
    • Pray for the people as they vote for who will lead them and the candidates as they share their plans.

The verse for the week:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 ESV