Letter from Lou & Pam Hill

August 15, 2009

Thank the Lord for His continued blessings on Balkan States Ministries!

Summer opens opportunities for ministry in Macedonia that are next to impossible any other time of the year. Some of the villages are accessible only by donkey or farm tractor in the winter since there are no roads. Ministry has to be optimized at this time of year. These remote areas are like a step back in time. The people live in crudely built houses with dirt floors and no running water inside their homes. Water has to be carried from a nearby spring in bottles. Please pray for the pastors as they reach out to these difficult areas.

Since our last letter, five people have given their hearts to Jesus Christ in Kumanovo church alone. They now await believer's baptism. Please pray specifically for a woman named Jana. Pastor Marjan says she is so excited about her new found faith in Christ that she never ceases to talk about Him to her friends and family. She is truly a witness for our Lord.

On a personal note, Pam and I are both doing very well. She is currently recuperating from a very difficult glaucoma surgery on her left eye. Since this is her only source of vision since losing sight in her right eye, we were naturally concerned. God is truly answering prayer on her behalf as her sight has returned and the swelling seems to be going down almost daily. As for my health issues, I am growing closer to the end of my chemo therapy treatments and tolerating them better than I was at first. The wonderful news is the last week of July they scoped the inside of my bladder where the tumor was removed and did a CT scan of the area where the cancer had spread and both tests were clear of any signs of cancer. Praise God! He is gracious to heal and His love endures forever!

Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for continuing to partner with us as we answer our Macedonian call.

In Christ for precious souls of Macedonia,
Lou Hill

Letter from Australia

August 20, 2009 Report

Dear Pastor and Church,

Since our last prayer letter we have left Ohio and went to Windsor Virginia, Missions Camp in Arkansas, Wichita Kansas, Kansas City Missouri and back to Ohio to preach and share our story, and our burden to reach Australians for Christ. Each church we visit has a character all its own and yet the same heart felt desire...to provide a place where people can come to hear the truth of God's Word. From God's Word we find true meaning for life and everything we do is to fulfill that premise. We want our people to have a personal, intimate walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. We know and teach that is the only way man will have victory over the storms of life. There is such a oneness among the brethren to do this.

With all the storms out there that come into our lives...in the house of God there are answers...there is a peace that passes understanding. We have a God that loves His people and every time He permits a trial, to come our way, He is always there to help us and to know it is for our good and His glory.

It was great to go to missions camp where we have some time to refresh and meet some of our friends, friends that are so involved in missions work. Those that God has called to leave family and friends to serve on foreign fields, but we are not any different that those that God has called to stay and help those that have gone by prayer and financial help. I believe it is a lot harder to stay, and study, and work to build the house of God, here in the States, to stay strong so we can go.

Last letter we were at 48%, we are now at 52%...thank you for your help, it won't be long till we have our total support...it just takes a little time. This past week was a blessing because 6 different Pastors rang me and said they wanted to get involved in our ministry. This has never happened before...so you see...it's happening. Keep praying!

Serving together in Christ,

Ron & Vicki Letts
Your Missionaries to Australia

Urgent Prayer Requests from Turkey

Gateway Prayer Update
August 16, 2009

Peace be with you all and may the Lord continue to direct your prayers by His Spirit for the ministry in Turkey. We have many urgent needs during this time and would appreciate your focused prayers.

1. Zacchaeus Projects (Two trips to the East the end of August): Then end of this month Dr. Mujdeci, E., K., R., and others are planning two trips to several provinces. There have been some spiritual attacks on these for the purpose of trying to discourage these trips. Pray specifically for their protection, unity and that they would be led by the Holy Spirit in all. The evil one hates this work as we are breaking into this unreached territory and we are in fierce battles daily because of this.

2. NUT School: “E.” has trained 2 future workers among Muslims this summer in our program and we have one more student coming this fall. Pray for this new coming student we will call Zurafa from Rochester, NY. Zurafa is 20 years old and has felt called to Turkey by our King for quite some time. He is wishing to stay in Turkey for 6 months but needs to raise funds for his plane ticket, food and lodging and language school. Pray that hearts will be moved to support and pray for him. His estimated time of arrival in Turkey is in September.

3. Beytel West is being evicted: Since 2006 we have been meeting secretly at Beytel West. J. and E. of G.E.S. have been summoned to court regarding Beytel West; this date is set for November. The owner wants us to throw us out because she found out about the Christian activities that have been going on there; she hired a lawyer. Praise the King for a lawyer that worships at and was recently baptized at Beytel West. He will be meeting with her lawyer this Tuesday regarding this. It looks like we will be forced to move. We have been kicked out of 3 places at Beytel East and have had much trouble with the secret police at Beytel West. Our need is to purchase a place that we cannot be thrown out of but we lack the funds to do so. We have been praying for a place to purchase at both Beytel East and West and looking for someone to make this Kingdom investment. Pray that we can find a new place to store Zacchaeus projects goods, to worship, have an office/training center for NUT school, along with being a safe house for Christians to meet and stay when forced out of their homes when persecuted (as this is what we use Beytel East and West for).

4. E.’s prayer requests: E. has been accepted into the International Relations program in a university and begins his studies this September. Pray that he will have a big impact as an Ambassador for the King at the university among both teachers and students. Pray also that he will be very successful in his classes and that all he learns will be used for the Kingdom. E. also asked for a personal prayer for patience and that you all would pray for his father who is a diabetic and having eye surgery to prevent blindness.

5. Prayer Request for L.: L. finished her first year of her doctoral program and begins a new year of teaching at a new school. Pray that she will shine as a light in the darkness at this new school to all the teachers, students and parents of the students. Pray also that the Lord will open many opportunities to be an advocate for the children with special educational needs in Turkey as she is doing her Doctorate in Special Education. She is going to try to organize speakers from the States on these subjects. Pray for her endurance as she is teaching full-time and doing her doctoral work full-time. Also pray for her protection in the city as she travels and that she will be encouraged and continue to have a bold faith for the King.

6. Immediate need: J. returns to Turkey in two weeks and has a need for 4 laptop computers. To communicate with Bible Correspondence Course writers and to be able to have our online worship services for secret believers in the country we need these. These computers need to have a camera and wireless internet capability along with running Microsoft Word and Power point programs. If anyone can help with the donation or purchase of these or even just one of them please contact J. (570-604-6462) or donate the money to the below account.

Thank you and may the Holy Spirit guide you in all you do,
J. of G.E.S.

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Home from China

Hi Friends,
We arrived home 10 days ago and have been adjusting to our return since that time. We both had a wonderful time and hard to believe all that God did while there. I think the best way to say Thank You for your prayers and support.

Kathy's story:
1. Arrived safely after our Chicago plane had problems with the fuel supply. Amazing (but a God thing), there was an "empty" 777 sitting a few gates away and we were all transferred to that plane and headed on to China (pilot had never heard of that happening before but we know Who provided that!!)

2. Arrived at my city, Xifeng (she-fong) in the Gansu Province, Central China to find out that our city hadn't seen many Americans. Our Chinese businessman sponsor held welcoming ceremonies at the town square, complete with TV coverage and everyone wanting to take our pictures (felt like real "celebrities"). All we had to do was wave, smile, and say "hello" to total strangers and we would be surrounded with new friends, old and young alike.

3. We felt such freedom that all the teachers spoke in detail on Christmas, Easter, God's Book and heaven for the first week we were there. A few of my 22 students acted like they had heard the stories before (one teen who had lived in Singapore for many years) but most of them had not. What a blessing to tell them of the love and joy we have in our hearts because of our friend and savior!

4. I was able to keep up with the very hectic schedule of daily walking about 2 miles back and forth to the school, brief lunch with 2 1/2 hrs of fun activities in the afternoon, brief dinner and back at night for games, carnival, Easter egg hunt, movie, etc. God has been so good to me with my health. (I was even able to do all the touring events back in Beijing)

5. Several of our team were able to present the Gospel, hand out Chinese Bibles and tracts but all of us planted the seeds of love and truth.

John's journey:
1. He safely traveled thousands of miles in central and east China where he taught our friends. At one location, he taught 34 young leaders who are in training to enter their mission field. At another location, the church had won a legal battle to worship openly in an actual building (which had air conditioning too). What a miracle that place is.

2. There were 2 teams of teachers: Woody hosted one team and John hosted 2 young preachers who taught some excellent college level courses, encouraged believers and prayed over many needs.

3. Both of these teams (7 men) came back to English camp and helped us the last 2 days. It added excitement to camp with the new men. John helped me teach my kids how to play baseball - they know basketball and soccer. Had lots of fun.

As you can see, your prayers prepared the way and helped us with many things during the 3 weeks in China. You will meet some of those teens in heaven one day - some who may have heard about the Lord for the first time in July 2009. Much love to all,

Your friends, John & Kathy