Much has happened since our last prayer letter, many encouraging things. David has started a Bible study with one or our neighbors and her daughter, Nadia and Sophia. Nadia is elderly and Sophia has two young sons that come play with our kids from time to time. He has also made contact with a gypsy family who is eager to learn more about the Bible. Their first language is Russian, though they understand Romanian as well, though they cannot read Romanian. Jacob and David went last week for the first Bible study with them and plan to go again this week. Pray these families will remain open to the truth of the gospel and be saved along with their families.

As I mentioned, we have started having neighbor children come to our yard to play with our children. That has been a tremendous answer to prayer. One of the problems is that some tire of it because my children are not fluent in Romanian. My boys in particular have a hard time understanding and communicating in Romanian. To help solve the language barrier, we hired our neighbor’s college-age daughter to teach our children Romanian for the summer. It was very convenient for us that she lives so close and was willing to have lessons with them.

Jacob and Viola Hughes, our co-workers, arrived last month and settled into an apartment in town. They have already been a tremendous blessing to us in helping with construction of the house. as well as in other areas. We thank the Lord again and again for our co-workers.

One of the greatest blessings about the house this summer is that the running water was hooked up and turned on in June, much earlier than the November we had been told. My personal prayer was that the water would be on at least by July, by the time the baby was born. It has turned off for a week or more twice, so when it comes back on we always scramble to catch up on laundry. It tastes much better than the well water and it is probably safer to drink. Not only is there running water, but a neighbor actually paid to put rock on the street that runs in front of our driveway. Now getting out with the car after it rains is not so problematic. No more mud!

David also was able to finish applying for the gas connection to the house and we are just waiting on the company to come. The projects in the near future are the septic system, finishing the walls in the kitchen, and laying the tile in the kitchen. We were able to buy the tile this week! Please pray for wisdom, patience, and speed as the men work to complete the house. The kitchen should be complete in another week or two. That is very exciting because we will be able to use these two rooms upstairs for bedrooms instead of squeezing all six of us into one room.

Yes, I said six. Ana Joy decided to come three weeks early (July 13), blessing our home with her easy, sweet disposition. I was very nervous about how the Lord was going to work it out to get to the hospital in time and get the three kids handed off to someone else. My water broke on Sunday morning, but I didn’t go into labor until six hours later, which gave us plenty of time to make the three hour trek between Soroca and Chisinau. We even had time to stop and buy diapers. We called some American friends of ours that live in the capital, and they graciously met us at the hospital and took the kids with them for the rest of the day. Ana has had some minor complications, but for the most part, she is healthy. Praise The Lord. Please do pray that her jaundice clears up soon and that I continue to recuperate from the birth.

We have a new mailing address since we have been in Soroca. It is included here:
Str. Independentei 73
C.P. 7
Or. Soroca 3006
Republic of Moldova, EUROPE
Thanks again for the prayers and support.