We have been working hard in recent weeks on our latest book, “Caught with Bibles.” It is the true story of the time when Genovieva’s brother was imprisoned for distributing the Word of God in Romania. Writing is hard work at the best of times, but this book was the hardest we have ever written! We had to relive the suffering we went through twenty-two years ago. As we wrote the story, we felt everything as if it happened yesterday. Praise the Lord that times have changed since then! We have four more chapters to write and the book will be finished. The suffering the Christians in Eastern Europe went through under Communism will never be forgotten.

In April we had a radio interview via phone from the States. It was broadcast live over the WBCL network from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The station collected over 32,000 brand-new items of winter clothing and footwear donated by the listeners for distribution to the poor children of Romania. We are very grateful to the station and to everyone who participated in this project. These wonderful items will be shipped to Romania over the next few weeks from our warehouse in Pennsylvania. Please pray for Lorraine Miller as she supervises the shipments.

We are glad to be part of a Messianic congregation in Tiberias. In addition to the Shabbat services, we attend a home Bible study once a week. Some of our friends there work with a local company that produces Scripture recordings in many languages on a machine not much bigger than a credit card. To listen you just press a button, and it does not need batteries or recharging. It is ideal to give out in Hebrew or other languages to Israelis. We will use some of the support we receive for Israel in this way to reach those around us with the good news of Yeshua (Jesus).

Last week we visited a Kibbutz in the hills and had a Shabbat meal with an immigrant family. We took them some food from the market and had a lovely evening. We prayed for their “aliyah” (immigration) papers. Also, a few days ago we went to another Kibbutz to visit a Ukrainian family from Odessa, whose first language is Russian. We shared a meal together and again had a good time. Both these Kibbutzim have beautiful surroundings and are nice places for the children to play. Genovieva practiced her Hebrew with both families. Stephen practiced his German with one family and his Russian with the other.

We often pray that nothing is at random. One evening we had our windows open and Genovieva heard our neighbor Zeba speaking loudly on the phone in Hebrew to her ex-husband. She is a single mother of two. She sat on her patio below our window and cried a lot. “I have no food for the children!” she said. “They are your children as well! I have no money for the bills and I didn’t receive any money from you!” We had heard enough… We went to the grocery shop and bought a cart of food, then took it to her that same evening. It filled her refrigerator with meat, cheese, fish, honey, peanut butter, fresh fruit and vegetables, bread and butter. Again she cried – but this time for joy. We promised to help her with food every month. We told her that we believe in Yeshua and that she should thank Elohim.

A few days after that someone rang our door bell. Stephen went downstairs to open. It was a man from the electricity company who came to cut off the electricity to our neighbor. He had rung the wrong bell. The Lord put it on our hearts to help this neighbor Ariel, who lives on the other side of our apartment. We took him several bags of groceries we had for that purpose. He was very thankful and said that he had lost his job and was temporarily out of work. We prayed with him that Elohim would help him to find and job and we blessed him in the name of Yeshua.

Yesterday we heard of a poor Israeli family whose son had an accident and broke all his teeth. He has just started his military service in the Israeli army. We would like to provide money for dentures and would welcome donations for this purpose.

While Stephen does correspondence and bookkeeping on the computer, our flat is full of the sound of music. Genovieva listens to Messianic children’s songs in Hebrew and works at the Romanian translations.

Work on the foundations of our mission house in Migdal is going ahead. The construction site is about a quarter of a mile from our apartment. Every morning we walk over there and stop to pray that the Lord would use this house for His glory and purpose. About $50,000 (£25,000) is still needed to pay for it. We would be very thankful for donations for this purpose.

Laurian Sfatcu retired from the work in Romania earlier this month due to ill health. We thank the Lord for all his hard work over the last twelve years. He has severe osteoporosis and a recent biopsy showed that he has cancer of the spine. He has had a history of back problems and recently developed numbness in his right leg. He is in pain much of the time and undergoes treatment in hospital. Please pray for him.

We have appointed a leadership team of younger staff to take Laurian’s place. Laura Sirbu will serve as administrator and have the overall responsibility. Cristi Popescu will continue to work in his capacity as our technician, Olga Mitrofan as our worship leader and Dana Barbu as our social worker. In addition, Silvia and Nicoleta will continue to serve as cooks and to run the Bread of Life Bakery. Daniel Stengher, the Messianic pastor from Bucharest, will come the first weekend of each month to teach the children. Please pray for this leadership transition to go smoothly.

Recently our staff in Iasi visited the Hodorogea children who used to live at our orphanage. The children are now with their mother in Targu Frumos. The staff and some of the boys from the dance group took them a new refrigerator and washer for their apartment. They also visited some old people in that town and distributed food.

Two weeks ago Cristi, Olga, Silvia and some of the older children went to the village of Slobozia where they distributed help to a group of about a hundred kindergarten children. These children are from families affected by the floods last year and they live in extreme poverty. Our staff gave out clothes, shoes and toiletries as well as Christian books for the children. The boys who helped on this occasion were Lucian, Stefan, Alin and Marian. They were deeply touched by the needs they saw. It did them good to participate in an outreach such as this. We pray that the Lord will continue to use them to help in other outreaches planned in the future.

The El Roi Messianic Center cares for about fifty children on a regular basis. They receive meals at the canteen and participate in worship and teaching programs. These include the International School of Ministry video-based Bible training course at weekends. The staff organizes activities for the children every Saturday, after which a hot meal is served in the name of Yeshua. The dance group meets for practice every Friday. Your support for El Roi will help us care for poor children and take the gospel to the poor.

Visit our web site www.genovieva.org and read the next exciting episode of “Caught with Bibles” (part seven). You can also see the latest pictures of our work.

“God… will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them” (Hebrews 6:10).

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.