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"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

SLOVAKIA - We began the long journey mindful of the promises God gave us as we prepared for the trip, confident He would lead us and control everything.

Reaching Partizanske, Slovakia on the 17th May, we stayed with Pastor Stano and his wife, Alicia and were introduced to their beautiful 6 month old daughter, Tatiana. We felt like grandparents all over again! We were glad to celebrate Stano's birthday with the family and to help when a minor accident took the baby into hospital overnight.

Joining the team from the Apostolic Church in Turcianske Teplice which regularly visits the Young Offenders prison in Martin, we spoke to over eighty young men, mostly Gypsies. Many responded and those interested will be followed up. (This led to a request for us to visit prisons in the Czech Republic, hopefully next year.)

Paul Bancroft, an elder of our church, visited to meet the pastor and the people of the Pramen Zivota Fellowship. He joined us for Sunday worship and on visits to church families so that he could see their living conditions and how GFC supports Pastor Stano and his work.

We visited the Children's Club run by Katka, a young Gypsy woman, and gave illustrated Bible story books to all who attend. The books enabled Sonnie to contact many Slovak children on the estate where Stano lives. Each child who came to 'Mr.Sunflower,' as they called him, was given a biro, a packet of sweets and a SGM booklet for Mum and Dad.

Finally, we were invited to a new fellowship in Vrutky, the heartland of Slovakia. The members are mostly street people, ex-addicts and prostitutes, rescued by some young men who feel God's calling to do this. It was lovely to meet them and to teach them on "Tithing" as they had requested. Their gift to us proved their sincerity.

Imre took us to the Gypsy church in Sirok which meets in a disused Fire Station. He is in charge of several small Baptist churches and we went to Bible Studies and meetings at some of them and spoke about our work.

Andras took us to the Gypsy churches in Kerescend, Verpelet and Szajla. These have grown and the one in Verpelet has moved into larger premises which they hope to buy next year.

It was good to share in the worship services and experience the moving of the Holy Spirit as we prayed with people. The many children in these churches were attentive to all they were told. Once again, the packets of sweets, books and pencils we gave out were eagerly received.

We joined two outreach teams from Szajla and Verpelet. One went to the village of Szentdomonkos and used some children to sing and share with the children who came along while we told the "good news" to the adults. This form of evangelism was novel and fruitful.

The other team consisted of adults from the church, some of whom had special responsibility for the children. When we arrived in Tornabod, the team split up and went to the streets, pubs and homes to give out literature and invite people to the mission in the Community hall. The Gypsy worship group sang, there were testimonies, then the gospel was preached. The response from children and adults was overwhelming. The Mayor of Tornabod has noticed the difference in the village and given his support to the new church. Daily, people were born again. Praise the Lord!

ROMANIA - A 12 hour journey took us to Tirgu mures, Romania. Little had changed, except that the roads were worse and inflation higher.

As soon as we were settled in, we began meetings to get the Water Project under way. These provided opportunities to witness and preach the gospel to all the people present. Once the contract was signed and the deposit paid, the work could begin. We found that it was going to cost more than we anticipated, so please make it a matter of urgent prayer that the funds needed will be released. We are sure that this is what the Lord wants us to do and that He has a special purpose for the village. (He has spoken to us from Isaiah 41: 17-20 and 43: 18-21 and given us promise of success in Isaiah 48:15.)

With the help of the Orthodox priest in Chirileu, we were able to show the 'JESUS' video in Romanian to a full house and distribute literature afterwards.

We visited Hill Street, a Gypsy settlement on the outskirts of town. Fundatia Dayspring operates a feeding programme there twice a week and we helped with transporting and distributing soup and bread to the children. We had been there two years ago and recognised many of the people. They remembered us too.

We also went to Levesini which is the poorest village we have seen so far but many of the people are Christians and are being cared for by missionaries from the town. A crowd gathered around the van on the dusty road in the blazing sun and we sang together, "We have come into this place and gathered in His Name to worship Him, worship Christ the Lord!" It was a very moving experience indeed!

We also had the opportunity to lead a Bible study for a group of about thirty young people in a Reformed Church. The topic was 'The Holy Spirit' and they were interested and asked us to come again next time!

On the 10th of July, we set off for two days rest with Pastor Andras and the family at Balatonfuzfo beside the Hungarian Sea. It was lovely to be able to relax completely before the long journey back to calais, and home where we arrived at 2 am on 16th July.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE - Terry continues his work for the undertakers and has got to know a few show people. He has discovered many interesting Gypsy graves in Watford and Dunstable which he is going to photograph as the headstones are engraved with 'gallopers' and 'vardos.' During the summer he has done a lot of visiting as numbers of travellers come through wycombe.

He had an opportunity to speak to the 15-16 year old pupils at Bonnie's school. This year she won a prize for R.E. and is about to cut her first record. Well done, Bonnie!

PAKISTAN AND INDIA - Basharat Ureem and the family have moved to Abbottabad where he and seventeen others have started a church.

His next mission to the Gypsies will be for 15 days during August and will involve people from the church in literature distribution.

The situation for Christians is very differcult so please pray for the safety of Bash and the family. They are all well but his elderly mother has kidney problems. He believes the Lord is going to heal her in answer to pray.

Maurice Glover and his wife spent four months in South India last year travelling and teaching in Bible School. he reports that in December, three young men were baptised and one of them was a Lamani Gypsy. Please include Raju in your prayers.

A SPECIAL THANKS - To Teen Challenge, South Wales for the gift of a serviceable van (top left) for the extension of our work in Eastern Europe. We are very grateful. It will be put to good use.

BOUQUETS! - We thank our partners at the Woodford Christian Life church and all our supporters whose love and prayers give us strength. We thank Release International for all literature donated, Scripture Gift Mission and the children of WCLC who supplied the sweets and biros.