Dear Praying Friends and Saints:

Last Wednesday evening we arrived home again tired and happy after a wonderful two weeks in New York and an extremely full 20 days in Louisiana. We are indeed alive and well, in spite of the very long silence! I think this is the longest time between updates since we've been in Wales. Besides spending almost every waking hour with family and friends, I also had 9 very long sessions with two amazing dentist friends David and Kirk that very generously donated their professional services in support of our wellbeing here. It wasn't particularly fun, I'd much rather have gone fishing like the old days, but we are both extremely grateful for their care and help in such necessary matters. (Don't forget to floss!!!)

During the time in the New Orleans area we stayed with our old friends Pablo and Jaime Cruz, their son Sebastian and baby-bump Raphael. We first met Pablo in the 1990's when he came with his family from Honduras and joined our church. He eventually took over my work with the local church and Verbo Ministries, and has since and very happily become a family man. They were wonderful hosts for us in our comings and goings in Kenner.

It was real treat to visit our old home church and greet many old friends as well as meet many new folks that have started coming over the years. It's hard to believe we've been gone for nearly 12 years now, but all the new faces and young people now married and settled down make it undeniable. We are becoming genuine old-timers!

We also took the opportunity to visit our friends at the Cowboy Outreach Church near Shreveport in Northern Louisiana. As always the Lord had our schedule pre-arranged, and we were gladly able to join them for the weekly intercessory prayer meeting and share and spur them on in their pursuit of seeking God's answers to prayer. These saints have been a great encouragement and support to us over the years, and it was a joy to be able to spend time together. We look forward to some of them coming over to spend some time praying with us for the coming Welsh Revival.

Evidence continues to build as we learn of more focus on God's plans for Wales from around the world. On January 20th out of the blue I got this email from a man in Australia that said, "Before I left [for Wales in October] the Holy Spirit came on me and I had to pull over. The Lord said 'strong winds of revival are about to sweep across this nation. These winds  will be stronger than ever before.They will shake the nation to its foundations.'  I felt like I had been given the baton to pass the story to other generations. Every time I click into or think of Wales I begin drinking in the Spirit!"

We spent most of our last week visiting with our son Mike and his wife Lauren when she was available. It was a real delight to just have the freedom to spend relaxed time together and visit between visits to the dentist. Thanks to our friends Luis and Janet Soto who once again gave us the use of their lovely house on the North Shore, we had the perfect place to just make ourselves at home, play some music together and just enjoy being family again. Of course it's always hard to say our goodbyes, but we have gotten accustomed to it at this stage of the game.

So what seemed like would be a very long time away from home went by all too fast. And although we would have wanted to stay more time to see more people we knew and loved during our 16 years ministering in New Orleans, we were at the same time very glad to be heading back again. Like the old saying goes, "Home is where the heart is."

And we know for sure that our hearts are so very much tied up in this amazing land of revivals. The continual newness of hope for God's movings in this land continues growing apace. We are just glad to be home again and we look forward with excitement to what He has next for us here.

We are infinitely thankful to the Lord for His amazing provision for our every need, and want to thank each of you for your prayers for us, and moreso, for your continued prayers for Wales.

Wishing you every blessing and grace in the Holy Spirit,

Dick and Gladys

Dear Friends of Wales Awakening:

Welcome to 2017! Traveling from the farms and fields of West Wales to the heart of Brooklyn, New York has been quite a change of scenery! But we have been having a wonderful time with our daughter Grace and son Richard here, exploring a very different world. Last night we watched a fabulous fireworks display in Prospect Park to usher in the new year!

I have been re-reading the last sermon preached in Welsh by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a well loved and respected Welsh pastor and teacher, that a friend gave me several years ago. He is addressing the need for every believer to have direct personal encounter with God. Among the examples he gives is that of Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French mathematician, physicist, inventor and Christian philosopher.

At one point in his life he had an extraordinary encounter with God, and kept a written description of it sewn into a piece of clothing he always wore, as if to constantly remind himself of this all-important event. I thought it was brilliant, and that it could be a good focal point for our own lives as we look ahead to this new year and the inevitable ebb and flow of current events.

Pascal found himself for about two hours surrounded by "the fire of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Not the God of philosophers and scholars. Certainty, certainty, feeling joy, peace. The God of Jesus Christ, forgetting the world and everything except God. It can only be received in the way it is taught in the gospel. The greatness of the human soul. O Holy Father, the world does not know you, but I know you. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy…. He concluded by quoting Psalm 119:16: 'I will not forget thy word. Amen.'"

As we look forward to the many changes and challenges this year will surely bring, let us keep in mind this wonderful truth that, "... in Him we live and move and have our being..." Acts 17:28

Dick & Gladys