Dear Praying Friends:

Home again in Wales after nine weeks away, our amazing trip almost seems like it was just a sweet dream! After two dozen beds and so many different places, cars, planes and trains, in and out of suitcases, it is great be back. We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us such a wonderful blessing.

Summer has shown up during our absence, and everything is growing like crazy everywhere. The wheat field above the chapel is starting to turn gold, and the heads of grain are getting fat. One day last week we saw these beautiful clouds like cotton-candy all around.

Our Sweet Williams and Lupines are  in full bloom, and the grass in some places is chest high. So we've got some serious work ahead to catch up on things around here. The simple pleasures of home!

After the time with our kids, the last few weeks zoomed by. We visited friends in Northern Louisiana where we had a chance to share in a cowboy church. And then headed out across Texas to visit friends there, and the Lord orchestrated some special encounters in a wonderful way.

From Austin we flew to Baltimore where we got to spend a few days with our daughter as well as more of Gladys' family who live in Maryland next to Washington, D.C. From there we drove through New York to New England where we had some precious time with my sister and husband in Connecticut, and then on to Boston to be with our youngest son again and my niece's family next door, and also time with my brother and his wife.

The Lord also had a special treat in store for us in New Hampshire. We shared one Sunday in a church we've known for many years. It happened to be Flag Day, and so all the veterans were invited forward to pray over the flag and reclaim for our nation the blessings of God according to the original purposes for which it was founded. It was a powerful and moving experience as we all cried out for the Lord Himself to touch America again.

In the church I saw for the first time an historic flag used by George Washington and some of the troops and ships during the time of the War for Independence, "AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN." I'd read about this flag recently but not seen one. Much to our delight, someone actually gave us one which we put up for our prayer times in the chapel. Its simple message sums up what we have all been called to do.

A family from the church had made their mountain cabin available to us for the week, so Gladys and I got to spend some time to ourselves in a beautiful setting right on the shore a lake. Again, there was that flag flying in the wind on the porch, and I found my prayers enpowered afresh for His outpouring on America, on Wales and the nations of the world.

We pray that Holy Spirit guide and empower your prayers too, and that God grant us all renewed vigor and determination in following His clear instructions for us to pray,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends:

One of the biggest highlights of our trip was the time we spent with all of our kids after we returned to New Orleans from Guatemala. Some good friends lent us their "getaway house" on the North Shore where we all met up. It served as our base camp and we spent five great days together.

Some of them had seen each other more often over the years, and that has been good. But we were all sort of shocked to realize that neither they nor we had been all together for so very long. Where do the years fly off to?

We did have some time with Michael and his wife Lauren when we first arrived in late April, and were delighted by the news that he has finally found a daytime job after five years of nighttime work. He studied autoCAD and construction technology and is really happy to be starting a job in his field of study. It is something that he really likes to do and is looking forward to learning more through new experiences.

Another big bonus is that he and Lauren will now be able to enjoy regular evenings together for the first time in the four and a half years they've been married. So their future is looking brighter, and it is a real answer to prayer.

We had another awesome treat of spending a couple of days at Navarre Beach in Florida. It was like old (very old!) times when we were all much younger and would play for hours in the surf. We had such a fun time lying around talking, reading, eating junk food and getting little too much sunshine - a favorite pastime of generations!

During our time together at the beach it also happened to be Gladys' birthday. That hadn't happened for more years than we could manage to remember and so that made the occasion even more special.

Our oldest son Peter, who is in the U.S.Marines, has recently reenlisted again and will ship out to Seoul, South Korea, this coming Wednesday. We are so glad to see how the Lord has orchestrated this whole adventure of ours, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Thank you Jesus!

This beautiful time that we have been having has been just marvelous, and we couldn't have even begun to imagine how it would all come together. We too will be heading out this Wednesday from New York JFK Airport, and we really look forward to being on our home turf again in Wales. It has been the longest time we've been away during these ten years, and so much has been going on that our updates have been few and far between. We hope to fill in the gaps in the near future.

We want to very sincerely thank the many of you that have helped make this trip possible. It has been a refreshing time, and we are much encouraged in so many ways. May God bless you in great and wonderful ways,

Dick & Gladys