just wanted to share an article for any that are interested. often people ask who are these gypsies you are working with, what defines a gypsy, and whats the background on this people group? this is an excellent article written by a OM worker basically giving a history of the people and talking about the work that OM is doing with gypsies throughout Europe. if you click here or on the link on the sidebar under articles of interest it should download. read and pray for gypsies... a people group that is so discriminated against here, that they would see that "all are equal in the eyes of God" and that they would continue to come to him!

winter has officially skipped us here..... personally i'm kinda disappointed, i was looking forward to some crisp snowy winter days but i know lynnette is celebrating, but then again maybe we are jumping ahead of ourselves and we might just get a late hit of snow?!

this last week ministry wise has been really good, we started meeting with new english students, one new girl on tuesday and two kids on friday, and all of them seem really fun and easy to teach which is of course a big plus, please pray that we would find ways to share the gospel through the english classes with those that attend, a friend in the czech. had some theme days where her english students brought friends to the center and dressed up as cowboys and had different events, so maybe something like that would be cool to do, anybody wanna send us some cowboy hats and horse shoes? also on mondays i shared that while lynnette meets with Olga and teaches her English I have been hanging out with some local kids playing soccer, so this last monday we also started to read through the gospel of John, we read through the first 15 verses. as we read through the word i pray that it really speaks to their hearts. on fridays we also meet with them and this last friday our team mate asked them how many have accepted Christ into their hearts and two of the boys that come on mondays said yes. praise the Lord that he has already been working in their lives. we really see hope in these boys and i pray that as they hit their mid teens they would make some positive decisions that would bring them out of the darkness and hopelessness that is around them. praise God that he promises a hope and a future for these boys! we've also been invited to teach baseball to the local elementary schools during their gym class so these last couple weeks have found us in a number of schools and this week we will visit 2 more. we've probably taught a couple hundred kids and invited them out to a baseball camp that we will be helping to put on at the end of march. this spring again we will also help to coach one of the kids team and the great thing is the field is right around the corner from our place here. it's always a good time teaching a kid who doesn't even know what hand to put his glove on and seeing them the next week celebrate their first hit (and then forget to run to 1st base!).

English Club update:

this week we had our first english club, we wrote earlier about how we wanted to start one up and there was interest but we hadn't had anyone yet, but this last week on lady came out, 70 years old and very keen to learn. by the end of the class she was kissing lynnette in excitment of it all. i never knew teaching some one the alphabet could have results like that! she is a lady we have met at the clothing sale we help with every week and she comes week in and week out for shoes, and every week she leaves with a couple pairs. who knows what a old lady like her needs so many shoes for?! one week she saw a pair she liked but they were a bit small, she was very driven and after 20 minutes of pulling, squeezing and sweating they finally slipped on, literaly! ok forced on. this past week she even brought a friend and both of them sat there forcing a whole array of shoes on. she is a very sweet old lady! next week we will also have one more lady and 2 teenagers at english club so it is beginning to grow! we pray that the club would provide for many oppurtunites to share about christ, the old lady is a jehovah witness and this past week we talked a little about christmas and the meaning. this coming week we also will begin our intense language studies, so we will be quite busy! and tomorrow we will be doing a presentation on canada in a elementary school complete with maple syurp and some canada pins (thanks chris and cheryl for those)

p.s. happy thanksgiving jonny (and any of u other americans out there), we will eat a little extra turkey for u at our team dinner tonight!