Dear Saints:

Among our readings recently we have been going through Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. This portion in 1 Thess.4:9-10 says, "But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia..." What a great testimony of how the Body of Christ should work.

Then in chapter 5:8 and 11, he goes on to say, "But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation... Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing."

With the many visitors that we continually receive, we are so glad to be able to say that this is our experience. We receive such rich blessings from each one, and we just can't keep it to ourselves. That is how God's love works and it overflows in gratitude to God and love toward others. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 3:7, "So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase."

The beauty of all this is that it is God's working in all of His children. There are no super-stars, it's just us, all of us who call God our father, just being family. We realize time and again what a privilege it is to be here and receive and share God's love through those that He sends our way. People have asked over the years what has kept us on course here for so long, and the overwhelming answer is that it simply is His love.

This last week was no exception. On Tuesday we enjoyed the visit of two friends of our neighbors, one of whom we'd met somewhere before. She had come for a personal retreat nearby. After a special time of prayer at the chapel, she asked if she could come back later in the week for a visit and to hear the story of how we came to be here in Wales. On Friday when the knock came on our door, we opened to three people instead of just the one we were expecting. And we were going to need help eating the apple pie that Gladys had made just for the visit. Love times three!

Katja quickly explained that she had shared about her time with us on the Tuesday with Serena and Graham, who she met at Ffald-y-Brenin, and when they heard that she was coming for a visit they asked if they could come along. So the more the merrier, as they say, and it really was. Included in what they had heard was about the recently filled baptistry, and that did it for Serena. She had felt the Lord prompting her for some time to be baptized, and so asked if we might be able to baptize her.

To make a long story short, we spend the whole afternoon and evening together. After getting acquainted and sharing our stories, we went up to the chapel and, after a quick survey of the baptistry, we had an amazing time of prayer and worship together. Then we went to Cardigan for supper and made plans for the baptism the next morning.

After clearing it with a couple of members of the chapel, we met about 11:30 in the vestry to talk about baptism. We shared the basics from Romans 6, which she was familiar with already, along with a few examples, and off we went. We were glad to be joined by our neighbor Stan who came along for support and to share in this special event.

After making a few modifications at the water source, and plenty of rainfall in the last couple of weeks, there was an abundance of water. We were thrilled that the Lord would arrange this all so soon after everything was ready. I'd even considered emptying the baptistry before all the leaves fall, but He had plans for a "test run".

Graham had asked if anybody would mind if he were to film everything, and so he was taking part with an extra "eye" on things. When he sent me the finished product yesterday morning, I was amazed at its simplicity and beauty. It is very moving and I hope you will take the 2 1/2 minutes to watch it at this private link.

We are simply astonished yet once again at how the Lord coordinates so many things all in the background! This was like the "first fruits" of what we believe God has in store for this place. And each day is a discovery of His ongoing goodness.

Thank you for your continued interest. And as 1 Thess.5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Dick & Gladys

Dear Praying Friends:

Once again the last two weeks have flown by. Leaves are turning and falling now as autumn gets underway, and change is in the air. Last Friday morning the National Prayer Breakfast of Wales was held at the Royal Welsh Showgrounds in Builth Wells in Mid-Wales. This was the first nationwide breakfast held in several years. There's been a changing of the guard and the new team of organizers did a wonderful job!

Of course, it was marvelous to see so many dear friends that we've not seen for a very long time, and also a great opportunity to make new ones. There were people from many different backgrounds and denominations, but the common ground was a universal longing for a fresh move of God throughout the principality. One of the prayers near the end of the breakfast was very moving, and there is a copy of it at this link to encourage and guide your prayers for Wales.

The breakfast itself was the first segment of a two-day conference called "Healing The Land". It was hosted by the Christian Centre For Rural Wales and organized to provide a dedicated time for fellowship, worship and teaching, and concerted prayer for mercy and healing for our land. There were exceptional teachings by our friend Roy Godwin of the nearby Ffald-y-Brenin retreat center, and also by Andreas Keller from Switzerland. He has had years of experience in praying for the land specifically in farming communities in many nations besides his own and shared some incredibly powerful testimonies of the power of prayer for the earth and its correct alignment with the overriding rule of God and the order that He has established for our obedience and blessing. The dovetailing of the teachings of these two brothers was extremely anointed and powerful. They had never even met before, and kept saying they had "stolen" each other's notes!

After an amazing weekend, today was another exceptional time for us. We were so blessed to be able to spend the day with the current group of students from the Bible College of Wales in Swansea. This is their ninth group of international students for the twelve-week School of Ministry and it was a joy and an honor to spend time with them.

We met this morning at the "Bend me!" chapel in Blaenannerch, known as the kick-off point of the 1904 Welsh Revival. I had been asked by the College to share about the background and early beginnings of the revival and, in particular, Evan Roberts experience there when the Holy Spirit empowered and directed him back to Moriah Chapel. It was there that the Kingdom of God exploded with transformational power into the lives of local Welsh folk, and then swept the nation of Wales and touched the nations of the world at the start of the 20th century. It is always a very moving experience to share about these events and it launched us into a prolonged time of prayer interspersed with worship and hearts were made tender through God's love. Tears flowed freely, lives were touched, and it was an absolute treasure to be a part of such a special time.

When we finished there, they all piled into the bus and followed us over to our own Cilfowyr Chapel for a packed lunch in the vestry. The floor of the 220-year-old chapel, now used only occasionally for fellowship and refreshments, held up well enough under the weight of the joy and camaraderie that filled it. The 38 students and staff from nine nations carry a glorious portion of God's presence and grace, and the small space was buzzing with life and fun.

After lunch, we went over to the main chapel where I briefly shared a bit of our background and our specific calling here to pray for the coming revival. Realizing that in God's amazing ways, our presence here over the years had a small part to play in the re-opening of the Bible College and these students being here today was a bit overwhelming for us both. And what made it even more precious to us was the fact that one of the students here is the daughter of a pastor in Guatemala who had been a student in the Verbo Christian School that I started and directed forty years ago. It was a massive privilege to be able to share with these beautiful dedicated saints, and encourage them in the indescribable destiny that God holds for each one as they say "Yes" to His calling on their lives.

They will be launched like seeds into the wind of the Holy Spirit into places and nations they might not even imagine as yet! Just as Jesus told Nicodemos in John 3:8, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Please join us in praying for these sons and daughters of the King, and that the fruit of their lives will, in turn, reach many thousands more with the incomparable love of Jesus our Lord and Savior.

As always, thank you for your faithful interest and prayers for us, for the people of Wales, and the nations that God is seeking to save,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends of Wales Awakening:

Sunday morning when I went to the chapel it was rainy and bleak, and for some reason, I parked in the field at the top of the drive to do my reading. After a while, much to my delight, the clouds behind me opened up for a few minutes and flooded the whole recently harvested field with sunlight. We love how the Lord always provides us with special moments when we set aside time to spend with him.

Something similar also frequently happens when we spend time in the word. We can be reading through a passage or thinking about a portion when something is suddenly made alive to us. It may be something we've read many times over the years. But when the Holy Spirit highlights it for us, a whole new area of understanding opens up before us as He reveals more of Himself.

Recently we’ve been reading the story of how Absalom rose up against his father King David in 2nd Samuel. And yesterday morning I found myself detained and tears started to flow as soon as I read 2 Samuel 19:39 that says, "Then all the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over…" I couldn't continue reading for quite a while and found myself overcome with joy and longing in my prayer. The words from Isaac Watts hymn, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross come to mind, "Sorrow and love flow mingled down..."

This became a marvelous picture of revival to me! It is like the Lord coming back to restore a personal and joy-producing relationship with his people, rather than an intermediary organization that so easily forms the dependence of its members on its religious activities. It is the Body of Christ returning to its roots as a Spirit-empowered, life-giving, love-sharing organism rather than the sterility of "membership" in an ecclesiastical organization. I suppose this is "the rest of the story" of what the Lord showed me several years ago in the previous chapters when David was forced out of Jerusalem by Absolom. For the complete picture, you can read "What does the Kidron Brook have to do with me?"

A few moments later it dawned on me that it was September 23rd, the very day that I got radically saved in Northern California. It was way back in 1973, and once again I found tears flowing freely as I remembered with joy and infinite thankfulness the experience of my salvation—the revelation and conviction of my sinfulness and the power of God's saving grace through Jesus. And that added another burst of depth to my prayers, that all might know the grace and power of God's astounding love.

Then the words "prophetic nostalgia" dropped into my mind. When we remember some wonderful experience in our past that makes us long to "be there again", like a particular event, a family gathering, or just a sweet old homesickness, that demonstrates our capacity for a deep yearning. I think God gives us that capacity for His purposes. It's as if all those good things in our lives that can make us nostalgic and long for them are just for practice. Regular nostalgia can't really bring anything back. But "prophetic nostalgia" is applying best and greatest longing we could ever possibly have to the fulfillment of God's glorious promises of His coming kingdom.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."  John 3:16-17

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'"  Revelation 21:3-4

We hope this serves as good fuel for prayer as together we yearn in prayer for revival, 

Dick & Gladys

Dear Praying Friends and Saints:

We are just slowing down after what has been a very busy summer and it is a welcome change. Having had so many visitors and extra activities has left lots of catching up to be done in the garden, but finding time for just the two of us to go for a stroll in the hills has taken the priority more than once.

Looking back now, the last couple of months have been filled to overflowing with the joy of fellowship and the love of the brethren. The evident hunger for God and enthusiasm in prayer of everyone has been a tremendous encouragement for us, and we have been blessed indeed by all who have come.

We realize time and time again that it is God's amazing faithfulness that enables us to keep on assignment here, and we are simply thankful for His grace. We share together with all who have come this foundational truth from I Corintians 1:9, " God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Ten days ago we had a couple of errands in Swansea which included a visit to Bible College of Wales. You can imagine our delight when we met a new student there from Guatemala! After a bit of conversation we discovered that her dad had been a student at the Verbo school in Guatemala City when I was the director in the early 1980s.

I remembered her grandfather because he was a pastor who came enroll his four children and pay the fees, etc. One of those sons grew up to also be a pastor, and now here is his daughter enrolled in the 12-week School of Ministry at BCW! It is uch a joy to look back so many years and admire the amazing goodness and faithfulness of our gracious Father!

We had a visitor last week from Tasmania, the island off the southeast coast of Australia. She was finishing up a 3-week visit to the Celtic nations and we had a great time together praying and sharing. She told us about her time at a 10-day prayer retreat that took place there in June.

It was amazing to learn that among the main themes in the forefront of their prayer and prophecy, Wales seemed to come up time after time. She had taken detailed notes, and she shared about some of the visions that people received during that time. We were amazed to discover the similarity with visions that have been received here in recent times as well.

Once again we can only admire how God is orchestrating things around the world, and we are just blown away by His marvelous ways. The more we meet people and hear their stories and testimonies, the more we realize how great He really is. As it says in Ephesians 3:18-19, that we "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends and Prayers:

We don't know how this beautiful summer now turns into September tomorrow, but here we are. Our many visitors have brought some wonderful prayer times and great encouragement as well. And as if that weren't enough, the Lord gave me an amazing dream a few nights ago and I hope it encourages you as much as it has us.

In the dream Gladys and I were with some of our recent visitors standing out somewhere in an immense field. The grass all around was about knee high and beautifully lush and green. We had simply been sharing stories about the goodness of the Lord and were filled with gratitude. At one point in our conversation we suddenly found ourselves engulfed in the presence of the Lord. It was a joyous realization that He was visiting us in a new and powerful way and it was growing more intense.

Then somehow, among the surrounding grass there appeared a great number of colored hoops in varying sizes, like the old-time hula hoops. They were standing vertically and they were spinning and vibrating and sending out light of different colors as they spun, like the colors of a rainbow. We didn’t notice how many there were at first but we were surrounded by these wheels of light and color and they were somehow connected as if by invisible cords to a luminous cloud of the presence of heaven itself above us. We found ourselves caught up by joy as the awareness of the presence of God continued to grow upon us.

When we looked a little farther away we saw our friends from Florida, who had just been here the previous week, standing not far from us, and they too were surrounding by these spinning wheels of glorious shimmering light, and we shouted over to them, “Hey, Steve, hey y’all, this is so amazing! Glory, glory!” And we were looking at each other and loving each other and loving Jesus and admiring His amazing grace towards u,s and we sensed a wondrous fulfillment of His promises now coming into this world and making Himself tangibly present.

Another look showed that there were actually hundreds and thousands of these colored spinning wheels that extended throughout this vast countryside. We saw another group not far away in another direction and realized they too were experiencing the same thing, and as we looked at and loved one another, the mutual awareness of God’s presence and glory made our hearts soar and our spirits overflow with worship, adoration, and love.

As we looked farther afield we saw more and more large and small groups who were also enraptured with this visitation from heaven. It just went on from there, reaching ever outwards as we just watched and admired and adored the Lord Jesus. As more and more people came into God's presence, the joy grew immeasurably. Those that had been unbelievers received revelation and were converted on the spur of the moment, and we all knew this was the beginning of what we have been praying for and longing for—ourselves for decades, and countless other saints over the centuries.

May this be encouragement for your hearts and fuel for your prayers as we cry out to God for Wales and the nations. "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Habakkuk 2:14

Dick & Gladys