Basque Country Prayer Points for Week of August 14, 2023

Sampie Brown on August 20, 2023

Prayers points:

  • The results of the July 23 election are in, with the PP party gaining some additional seats and PSOE losing some seats. Neither party has the absolute majority by themselves. Each party was working to put agreements in place to have an absolute majority for the election of a new legislative leader. Pedro Sánchez was able to gather enough support to be re-elected leader of the coming congress.
    • Pray for the newly elected political leaders and coalitions as they start the legislative process.
  • On May 26, the Spanish legislation passed a new law in order to help with home rent prices. However, it’s not helping as the paper showed a graph where rent prices have increased by ~18% since May of 2022, with the prices increasing 10% since April. Property owners are increasing the price due to the changes in the law causing the opposite of what was desired by the new law.
    • Pray for legislators, realtors, renters and owners as they look to determine reasonable rent prices.
  • Recently data about suicides were analyzed to understand and determine what improvements in the health care system can be made. They discovered that 75% of them had recent contact with the healthcare system. Only 30% of them had been in contact with a mental health professional.
    • Pray for the health care workers and leaders as they work to see early symptoms and explore other options for those who are thinking of suicide and people who are contemplating the option.
  • The Gipuzkoa region of Basque Country labor market is doing well, though they are having some challenges with younger workers. They are looking for more than just a salary, they would like to see a career path. People on unemployment assistance has dropped and is at the lowest levels since 2008, which is when the last financial crisis happened. The labor market also saw the creation of almost 12,000 jobs.
    • Praise that the job market in Gipuzkoa is seeing growth and pray that the growth continues through the coming months as the younger workers are entering the workforce.
  • For the first time since the end of the pandemic the wait times for most medical specialists is decreasing. It has taken almost 3 years to get back to this state.
    • Praise that the wait time for most medical specialists has decreased.  Prayer that the wait time continues to be stable and improves for the specialties that have not yet seen the decrease.

The verse for the week:

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Romans 8:6 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

News for prayer for Week of September 19, 2022

Sampie Brown on September 24, 2022

Headline News:

Non-government organizations are seeing a decline in volunteers, especially in young people. Most of the new volunteers are those over 30. The last study of people that volunteered or helped socially was from 2017, with 14% of the general population participating. That was ~6% higher than when the study was done in 2012. The smaller organizations are really feeling the effects, while the larger organizations (Red Cross & Cáritas) seem to be stable.

Last time I talked about people feeling a pinch while in group settings, like a shot being injected into the body. The government reported that ~120 cases were reported. A majority of those occurred with women, though a small number was seen against men. Thankfully the blood analysis did not show any form of toxic substances. The government is still investigating several reports of assault from the summer.

The sexual abuse that happened in the Spanish Catholic church is getting some coverage. One case was escalated to the Vatican and the Pope pressed for reopening the case. The request was approved and the judicial system is once again going to look at the case. They are also continuing the investigation of the 201 cases that were reported. A committee of 17 members met with them and those results are being reviewed for next steps.

Economy:

The cost of living continued to be highlighted on the front page. Over the last year across energy cost, food, transportation, the return to school and a few other areas, costs have increased 400€ over last year. Another article talked about how food costs, across different products, have gone up 20% from September 2021 to September 2022. The grocery stores are seeing more and more people look at the generic brands to save costs. The 2.6% wage increases Spanish workers have seen between April and June of this year are the lowest in the EU.

The IBEX35 ended last week on a downward trend closing at 7984.70, a 0.60% decrease over the previous week.

Political:

The Spanish government made a request to the European parliament to include Euskera, Catalan and Galician as additional official languages for its sessions. Currently 24 languages are in the list. The Spanish government is willing to absorb the costs for the request.

The polling data for the month of September was released. The PSOE party had a small increase while the PP party saw a small decrease. The PP decrease is due to decreasing confidence in the leader Feijóo. Also, in the polls for leadership Pedro Sánchez, current president, was in third place behind Yolanda Díaz and Alberto Feijóo.

On Thursday September 22, the Basque legislature returned to session. For the first time in two years there are no restrictions for masks, social distancing, etc. Urkullu is looking to address the energy crisis and rising cost of living in addition to the regular items that will need to be addressed.

International:

Coverage was across these topics: Several articles about Queen Elizabeth II’s passing and crowning of King Charles, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and Italy addressing challenges after recent elections.

Sports:

Real Sociedad has had 4 matches since the last edition. The result of those matches was 3 wins and 1 loss. This has them currently in 8th place overall in LaLiga. Last season they qualified for the Europa League competition, where they have won both matches played thus far. The next match is Oct 6 against Sheriff Tiraspol.

Gipuzkoa Basket has been playing a couple of pre-season games. One was against Basket Navarra which resulted in a 82-86 win. In addition, they are playing in the Basque LEB cup. The first game was last night against Zornotza and won 74-56. They will play tonight in the championship game against Juaristi Iraurgi.  The regular season starts on October 7 against Ourense.

The Spanish national teams have also been very active lately. The national basketball team won the Eurobasket tournament this year. A key player on the national team was Dario Brizuela, a native of Gipuzkoa. Additionally, the national soccer team is playing in the UEFA Nations League against Switzerland Saturday September 24.

Prayer Points and verse for the week:

Prayers points:

  • Decline in volunteers for non-government organization
  • Basque legislature
  • Economic impacts

The verse for the week:

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.

James 5:13 NLT