"May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:17)

This is our prayer for Gypsies For Christ as we enter the Year 2000 and for everyone who reads this Newsletter. We give thanks and praise to the Lord for all that has been achieved in the last six years and look forward to greater progress and increased blessing in the years ahead.

NEWS FROM EASTERN EUROPE

HUNGARY - At our AGM on 13/11/99 it was agreed that we would provide the Gypsy church in Verpelet with 100 stacking chairs as a Millennium gift for the premises they hope to buy next year. These can be bought for £10 each and are very practical with polypropylene seats and strong tubular steel frames. They will be transported to Hungary next summer in the 'new' van which will be driven by Golden Spearman. He and his wife, Julie, will be travelling with us and we will be taking both our vehicles. Please pray for this project and the journey. If you would like to be part of the 'Chairs for Verpelet' project please send your contribution to the treasurer, Derek Cartwright, at 12 Fosters Close, London E18 1DQ.

ROMANIA - Thank you very much for your prayer support and gifts for the Water project - at the time of writing 75% of the work has been done and although slightly behind schedule we hope that it will be completed before the end of November. We will open the project officially and hold a Service of Thanksgiving and praise when we visit Chirileu next summer. We were amazed at the rapidity with which the funds came in and the generosity of all the donors - an anonymous gift of £1,000 arrived to complete the final installment just before it had to be paid. We praise God for His faithfulness and provision and pray that he will open windows of heaven so that everyone who gave will receive 100 times more! Please pray for the completion of the project and the people of chirileu village.

SLOVAKIA - Pastor Stano Olej of Partizanske and his family have been invited by pastor Simon Smith to visit the Woodford Christian Life Church in the New Year. Stano and Alicia (and Tatiana!) are looking forward to seeing how the church is run and to learning from the experience. The visit will help to cement ties between the two churches and lead to further developments - we are looking forward to an exciting future together. Please keep Stano and the family in your prayers as they prepare for the journey and their time with us.

HOME NEWS - The AGM on 13/11/99 went well and we were very grateful to have the support of Nigel Joda and Paul Bancroft, elders of the WCLC. Rev Terry Hurst has resigned from his position as Vice-Chairman and we thank him for all his efforts on behalf of GFC - please continue to pray for Terry and the family as they seek the Lord's leading in the future.

ESSEX - Goldie reports that the Vardo Project is taking shape and he and Julie hope to have everything ready to go on the road in the new Year. This has been Goldie's dream for a long time and it is something that GFC has also wanted to do so we praise God for this shared vision. Please pray for the success of this project and that Goldie and Julie will find the support they need as they go travelling for the Lord. Recently there was a meeting for Polish Gypsies at the Southend Full Gospel Church and Valdemar Kalinin was one of the interpreters. It was well attended and subsequently English classes have been organised for the gypsy women. Please pray for the extension and success of this outreach. Valdemar continues to translate Scriptures and we were glad to receive a copy of Evangelia Matejotyr (Matthew's Gospel in the Baltic Romani language) from him. He would value prayer as he continues his liason work with Gypsy children and asylum seekers in London.

JERSEY - David Allaire has agreed to represent the interests of GFC and arrange prayer support. As the Channel Islands are so close to France his vision is for a team to go over to evangelise among the Gypsies of Brittany. Please pray that the Lord will show us the way forward.

PAKISTAN - Pastor Basharat Ureem reports that preceeding the August outreach some members of the team were fearful but they fasted and prayed and gained courage. They visited the cities of Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Gujranwala and Lahore where they shared the Good News of Jesus with Gypsies and others, and prayed for many needs. They got some good responses but in Lahore there was Muslim opposition, so they returned home giving thanks to God for his mercy and protection. We had hoped that Bash would be with us for the AGM but due to recent political changes he was unable to get a visa in time. He hopes to be with us before the end of the year so please pray his plans will be established and that we will be able to bless and encourage him.

ROMANI PRAYER LINK - "Bear one another's burdens...." (Galatians 6:2). Prayer requests for Gypsy people may be sent or phoned through to the office and they will be relayed to our Prayer Co-ordinator, Sheila Irving. Prayer is extremely effective so please make use of this new service.

THANK YOU - We are very grateful to our Pastor and the Elders of the Woodford Christian Life Church for making this Newsletter possible and to all our supporters for their encouragement in prayer and finance. We are all working together in God's harvest field and we appreciate your continuing committment.

God bless you richly this Christmas and draw you closer to him every day in the New year - with love from everyone on the GFC Team.

"Press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of YOU. Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus."

 (Philippians 3: 12-14)