June 21, 2001

Dear Praying Friends,

Here I am again, with a Prayer Calendar. God willing, I will leave on July 3 on another trip to Romania, and I will both need and appreciate your following me with your prayers.

As in the past, the Prayer Calendar is intended to help you keep up with my activities from day to day.

Each trip is different. So, as you have noticed, the amount of detail I am able to provide in advance also differs.

Here, I will try to give a general outline of major events that I expect to occur but to which I am unable to assign a date.

The first of these, and perhaps most exciting, has to do with our agricultural program. As most of you know, we have wanted to try to help the village farmers. We hope that a motorized garden plow will do much of the work that is presently done either by hand or by horses, at less expense for the farmer. (Horses eat all year long. Gasoline is expensive there, but the plow will use gas only during the time it is working.) Friends gave us this garden plow. Other friends restored it, and it should arrive in Romania – along with others - the same day I expect to arrive, July 4. Pray for success in this project.

Second, while I was there in March, we learned that this house and lot are for sale. We believe that it would meet many needs for the ministry of the Somes Missionary Circle for an office, a space for their Christian kindergarten and a small warehouse for use in distributing food and clothing to the poor. While this property appears to be ideal for the mission’s needs, we are not certain that this is the place of God’s choosing. Please pray that God will show us His will in the matter -- either by supplying the needed funds to buy it, or by helping us put it out of our minds.

Finally, and for this one I have a date, I want to pass on a personal blessing. Most of you will remember the young man who invited us to start a Bible study in his home shortly after his mother’s death. You will also recall that the Bible study group formed a new church in the village of Bobalna in the weeks that followed. I have just learned that Dani is to be married on July 8, and has asked that I participate in the wedding ceremony.

I also hope also to see Monica and her family again and visit our friends in Bucharest.

It will be fairly long and strenuous trip – one that I would not want to take if I were not assured of your prayers.

May God bless you as you continue to be a part of this ministry.