Thank you for your prayers for Blaenau Ffestiniog last week. The meeting was a real blessing with over 35 people attending. Mostly from other places, but all with genuine concern for this town. It was great encouragement especially to those living there.

I just heard tonight from Eric & Jane about the regular monthly meeting Wednesday night. A few of us "regulars" didn't make it, but there were a few new people who came as a result of last week's meeting. And likewise another local couple want to start with us in December!

Two clear pictures that were received during last week's meeting had to do with the breakdown of long-standing enemy strongholds over the town, so we praise the Lord for that! Another picture was that the main road entering Blaenau from the south was lined all the way into the town center with bright beautiful daffodils in front of every house! And somebody else saw the dismal grey shades of Blaenau "somehow" turning into lots of colors!

That is just what the Lord showed our friend Cindy two years ago when we visited to pray there. You can watch that short video here. Please continue to pray that the glory of God break out over this key place in Wales.

As much as we enjoy our monthly overnight trips to North Wales and involvement in other prayer ventures, our favorite place of all is here at Cilfowyr Chapel. This has been the heartbeat of what the Lord called us to in the first place, and is really "hearth and home" for us. Our prayer times here are the key to all the doors opened to us and so many wonderful relationships the Lord has blessed us with.

I come here early every morning, and have enjoyed watching the first light of dawn come and slowly color the skies. During the last few weeks reading through Kings I've found myself enveloped in an intensity of weeping and repentance for the sin and hardness of heart of Israel and Christ's church, both past and present. Tuesday my heart was absolutely broken over Cain's atrocity against his own brother, in the very first natural generation of humankind!

But in stark contrast to this deep grief has been the exhilarating joy of knowing the love of God that lightens the world of its burden of sin. Especially the last two days as I've started Luke's gospel, repeatedly I've had to just stop and marvel in tears of awe and love, unable to contain the astounding power and impact of Jesus' coming into our sphere of human weakness and depravity.

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."     Luke 2:8-11

That the world might taste and see that the Lord is good is the cry of our hearts!

Dick & Gladys

Blaenau Ffestiniog is in our sights once again, and for a special reason. You may recall that back in August I mentioned a ministry here called Waleswide which had identified Blaenau Ffestiniog as one of the neediest areas in Wales? They have defined it as one of their "target towns" for prayer.

Well, tomorrow afternoon we will be meeting with some of their team members and prayer-walking through the village. And then after supper there is a joint prayer meeting together with our group and others that have been invited. SO, this is an exciting development.

This mountain stream rushing down from the rocky heights into the valley was a good inspiration for prayer on our last trip to Blaenau. Would you join with us in praying that God's living waters would flow into the hearts of so many people that live in one of Wales wettest and grayest towns? They may have more rainfall than most places, but spiritually it is a desert.

"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert." Isaiah 35:5-6

Currently without an active bible-believing church or minister, there is a real need here. We have been praying about who the Lord might bring to love and serve the people of this town for quite a while now. The time is getting closer for this to happen, and so would you also please pray with us that the Lord confirm the steps and hearts of the family He is calling here?

We continue to have a steady stream of emails and calls and visitors, and that is always encouraging to us. It is a joy to take people to pray with us in the chapel, and have other voices than our own lifted in prayer and worship. While we were in Mallorca a friend from Virginia visited and prayed inside the chapel with quite a unique connection. She had discovered that her husband is a direct descendant of one of the founders of this very chapel in the 1680's!

If case you haven't heard, this Friday is 11-11-11, and there is a worldwide worship event that has been planned. In each time zone from 7-8 p.m. we are all invited to join in either local meetings or online to take part in a concert of praise to the Lord of Lords. You can find all the information you need at their site, and we'd like to encourage you to participate!

Anticipating the touch of His presence in a dry and thirsty land,

Dick & Gladys

I couldn't resist just a quick note to share how the Lord is so faithful and good to us! Now this kind of thing doesn't happen every day, so I hope you have time for a short story.

I still can't believe what happened or how, but yesterday I lost my Palm cell phone! We were on our way to a meeting and stopped at this beautiful place on the hills above Newport here in West Wales to admire God's handiwork. I had it right there in the car with me and we read an email together.

When I was done, I put it back in its holster, and then stopped a little further on to stretch my legs a bit in a field. Then back into the car we went to Ffald-y-Brenin's prayer day in the Gwaun Valley 3 miles away. About 20 minutes into the meeting, I reached for my phone to read a scripture, and it was not there! I looked in the car like 5 times, and all my pockets 10 times.

We drove back up the mountain after the meeting to retrace my steps, which were only a few, and there wasn't a sign of the phone. Then went back to where we had stopped to read the email, where this photo is from, and back again to the chapel where we parked the car ... nada, nothing, zip, zilch ...

SO, the only logical conclusion was .... it evaporated! I called my number when we got home, and it went straight to the answer phone w/o ringing, which means it was turned off, which I never do. So maybe it got run over somewhere on the road? I also sent it a text saying it was my phone and asking the reader to please call the house.

M aybe somehow it dropped out of my handy dandy holster in the field, and a sheep or cow stepped on it, but didn't see any parts. Or someone spied it and picked it up... but no calls have been made on it (I can see my credit and activity online) so . . . . TOTALLY MYSTERIOUS !!

Well, some friends prayed with me about it, that God would help me get it back somehow. But I must confess I resolved myself that it was gone forever, and so set out looking into a replacement. Fortunately I had a fairly recent back-up, but changing from a complete but obsolete system to a newer smart phone was not looking easy!

Then this morning I got a call from Ffald-y-Brenin, saying a woman had called to see if anyone had lost a phone in the hills! She was riding her horse on the hills and spied it on the ground! She "just happened" to ride right by where I dropped it shortly after I dropped it, before the rain came! Apparently she was pressing buttons to try and find out whose it was, and found the Prayer Day in my first calendar entry and called Ffald-y-Brenin!

Isn't God good? I don't know if that qualifies as a miracle, but it is such a comfort to know that God indeed takes interest in our daily affairs, no matter how small! 1 Peter 5:7 says it best, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

May you know His special care for you every day,

Dick & Gladys