We have watched a pair of turtledoves over the past two months as they made their nest in a flower box just outside our window. They became very tame and didn’t seem to mind when we sat at our table only a few feet away. It was fascinating to see both parents feed the young. But one night a week after the two chicks hatched they were eaten by an owl. After a few days of mourning, the mother dove laid another two eggs. They hatched and this time the chicks survived and grew up and have recently left the nest and learned to fly.

Since we last wrote to you we have finished work on our book “Caught with Bibles.” It is the story of Genovieva’s brother, Constantin Sfatcu’s imprisonment in Romania. We are now in the process of searching for a publisher with a view to the publication and wider distribution of this and our other books. Please pray that the Lord would connect us with the right publisher, that our books would be widely distributed and provide us with a source of income.

The book about Genovieva’s life in Romania by Samuel Grandjean was recently translated into Portuguese by a couple in Brazil. We ordered a box of them to distribute here in Israel where we are truly in the midst of the nations.

As we write, Stephen is in the States for a few weeks. He has to prepare the mission accounts for the annual audit and to write a report for the annual board meeting.

Genovieva spends much of her time listening to Messianic children’s songs in Hebrew and translating then into Romanian. She has just finished translating a series of songs for children on the subject of the Feast of Tabernacles (see Leviticus 23:33-43). We sent them to Romania with the original CDs and music books. Our staff there will teach the children these songs in preparation for a special outreach program to the Jews to be held in a public theater in Iaşi in October.

Last month we distributed evangelistic tracts and CDs to villages in the hills above Migdal. This is an ongoing outreach program organized by our Messianic Congregation in Tiberias. We visited 436 homes in four different villages over a period of several days and as far as we can tell, the materials were generally well received.

Our Hebrew-speaking home Bible-study group is led by Bill and Vered Rogers. He is from the States and she is a native-born Israeli. There is translation into English and Spanish as necessary. In this way, our knowledge of the Hebrew language increases each week.

The building permit for our mission house in Migdal was finally received a couple of weeks ago. Work on the foundation has already started, but now the construction can go full speed ahead. Please pray for our studio apartment in downtown Tiberias to sell quickly and that we get a good price for it.

Genovieva was invited by our pastor to give her testimony at a Messianic youth camp two evenings next week. The campsite is situated near Kiryat Shemona, a town close to the Lebanese border, which was particularly hard hit by Hezbollah rockets last summer. Pray that the Lord would use the many experiences she had in Romania to challenge the young people to commit their lives to Him. Pray also that their eyes would be open to the cost of serving Him, that they would learn to follow Him even if He allows painful things to happen that they do not understand, and that they would learn that He is faithful in times of trouble.

Every week we have the joy of giving gifts of food to those in need. Our neighbor Zeba was extremely thankful and said she read the evangelistic tract we gave her. She visited the Messianic website advertised on it and read every word. She was interested to learn about the Messiah Yeshua. Thank you for your support, which enables us to continue this work.

The wonderful load of winter clothing and footwear collected by the WBCL radio network was shipped to our warehouse in Pennsylvania. Our volunteers now prepare to send the first container of brand-new winter coats, boots, shoes, hats, gloves and scarves to Romania. Pray with us that all would go smoothly and that it would reach its destination safely.

Our new leadership team in Romania is doing well. They help the poor and teach the children to worship the Lord. The pastor, Daniel Stanger, wrote to us last month: “For a long time I desired to plant Messianic communities all over Romania. Your work at the El Roi Center was an answer to my prayers. I plan to make known to the Jewish communities in and around Iaşi that there is a Messianic Center where they can come to celebrate the festivals.”

The El Roi Messianic Center in Iaşi welcomes children and their families to the weekend activities, which take place in the worship hall on the second floor. It is a great joy to see the hall filled to capacity as the numbers of children increase. We need to buy more chairs for the Shabbat services as they do not have enough to accommodate all those who attend. Many have to stand at the sides or at the back.

Our staff continues to receive requests for material help from poor families. Thanks to your generous gifts, they are able to distribute food and clothing in some of the villages around Iaşi. They also provide meals for the children who come to the El Roi Center. Recently they had guests from Bucharest and from a Messianic congregation in Austria. Pastor Daniel has contact with Jewish people who heard the gospel in the past, but who were not followed up. He is very glad that now our staff has the means to follow them up. We gave out Hebrew New Testaments in the Jewish canteen in Iaşi some years ago and they were all eagerly accepted.

“The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded… For we are God’s fellow workers” (1 Corinthians 3:8-9).

Thank you very much for your prayers and support.