Dear Friends and Pray-ers:

Recently the days have just flown by and I will try to give a recap of our activities. Two weeks ago we drove up to Blaenau Ffestiniog. Weather permitting I go out early to pray and walk in the surrounding areas. On this morning there were highlights of sunshine playing across the mountaintops

Wednesday morning we went to visit friends on the north coast, less than an hour to the north. All the way through Blaenau this rainbow just hung over the town. It was exceptionally bright in some parts, and went before us up the mountain road. Approaching the top it was quite near and small, but once over the pass, it became huge and covered the whole of the next valley. Might this be a portent of things to come?

That evening we had a really good meeting with a record crowd of sixteen! We were delighted to be joined by our friends that graciously host us every month and two others from their church. We had a powerful time of worship and prayer, and it was wonderful to have so many participate with such fervent praying!

In bygone years the influence of the Gospel and previous revivals throbbed with vitality through the chapels and churches. But now this abandoned farmstead in the hills above Blaenau (in the distance to the right) makes a statement of the condition church in much of Wales. However there is more happening than meets the eye!

Just as with hard work and perseverance these old buildings could be redeemed, so we know that with God's grace things can and will change. There is nothing impossible for God, and the workings of the Holy Spirit will empower His church to arise and once more make these hills and valleys ring with praises and be filled with the love of God!

Another area of prayer we've been involved with has to do with the Bible College of Wales, which started by Rees Howells in 1924. You may recall my update from last March when we went to a prayer meeting on the College grounds in Swansea. If not, you can read more about it at this link to the Updates archive.

The following month our friend Qday Lee began to meet every month with a group of people to pray and seek God about His purposes for the property that once housed the bible college and a powerful intercessory prayer center. Since then the group has formally organized as The Forge. You can visit the Forge web site here.

Last week we hosted a day to pray and share together with some of the Forge team members. It was a wonderful blessing to spend time with these precious saints who are committed to pray to see the heritage of Rees Howells restored on the college grounds in Swansea.

Friends in other nations are also praying and working towards securing this property so that the work of intercessory prayer and biblical teaching and equipping can continue. We know God has a very special plan for this place, just as He has big and glorious plans for this little country of Wales.

Thank you so much for joining us with your prayers,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends and Praying Saints:

It gets busy on our birdfeeder sometimes. We've had a few pairs of bullfinches as regular visitors this winter. Along with several other kinds of birds they accompany us for breakfast and liven up our mornings.

Tomorrow we head north for our monthly prayer meeting and look forward to visiting with some other friends in the area. We are always encouraged when we go, and trust we encourage others also to persist in prayer. God is so faithful and we will see answers!

There is a unique outreach to the secondary schools that starts here in Pembrokeshire next Monday. It is called GSUS Live, a unique interactive program of Religious Education classes that teaches Christian values about forgiveness, fear and rejection.

The classes are presented in a mobile unit complete with plasma screen computers and presented by a team of volunteers from local churches. They will spend a week in each of six schools here, and this is a wonderful open door to expose the teachings of Jesus to students most of whom have little or no concept of what Christianity is all about. You can find more information about this outreach on the GSUS Live website.

There is another wonderful ministry called "Bible Explorers" that has hundreds of volunteers going into primary schools each week for five weeks. They teach one-hour classes to fifth and sixth graders on the story line of Old Testament and then follow with five hours on the New Testament. You can find out more on the Bible Explorer website.

Please keep these special opportunities for public ministry to children in your prayers. This may be the only chance some of these children ever have to hear the truth from God's word. Thank you very much for your interest and your prayers for all those that serve in this valuable outreach!

So thankful to the Lord of the Harvest for fellow laborers,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends and Prayers:

In Saturday's mail we received this bookmark from a friend in North Carolina. She said she hasn't been able to stop making these - announcing the coming move of God!

What a great reminder and exhortation to prayer! And it is not just prayer for something in the bye and bye. Awakening is happening now in many places around the world, and we can pray for more. Another friend in California wrote me today saying, "Revival is continually on my heart. We saw about 40 people baptized this past weekend. See some good movement in the Spirit, but are believing for a wholesale outpouring of God. Have NO CONFIDENCE in anything else."

Another friend wrote saying, "My tears flowed with you whenever the Holy Spirit overwhelmed you and your heart was enlarged and softened with God's great love for the people of Wales. My heart and prayers are knit with you and others praying for revival in Wales and the U.K. Believe large!" And indeed we are praying and believing for awakening.

The winter snow on nearby hills will soon enough melt away, and all the landscape be waking into springtime. This is yet another reminder of coming life by God's plans, and more fuel for prayer!

Yesterday morning I read in Romans 9:3 where Paul says, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh." That is a scarily serious prayer.

I had to ask myself if I were willing to make that kind of prayer. Moses made a similar prayer also in Exodus 32:31-32, "...if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."

I believe these examples provide a good and healthy challenge for us. It takes guts to say prayers like this! But if we are willing, God is even more willing to move on behalf of those that fear Him and believe!

Seeking His favor for a needy world,

Dick & Gladys