WINTER NEWSLETTER 2023

Returning to Albania

Before the pandemic in 2020, my brother John and I had planned to return to Albania. Once travel restrictions lifted, it was firmly on the agenda. We have stayed in contact with our friend Ralf Gjoni through the years and he agreed to organize our schedule. I met up with Rachel Wilson, the AOG Missionary to Albania, at the Missions conference. Rachel took some guitars back with her. With those we sent and took ourselves, we ended up with 14 guitars in Albania. One of our objectives was to return to Pogradec to meet up with Arnold Geiger, who we first met 30 years ago in 1992. What a joy to see how the work of ‘Nehimiah’ has grown in those 30 years. The project has a school, a university, a hospitality block, as well as involvement in the local church. During the week we travelled across Albania, to give guitars to organizations, churches, youth groups and individuals. We were even invited to speak on Christian radio. We also spent a day with Rachel Wilson and visited the centre where she has her children’s ministry in Shengjin.

Hungary

The first trip after lockdown was to Hungary. Our friend Pastor Janos never fails to organize a mission, where we visit as many churches as possible. We visited the leader of the Roma community, Pastor Lazlo. What a joy to be sowing into this ministry and see first-hand where the guitars are being used that we sent during lockdown. After two years of being unable to travel, John and I loved every minute of being able to follow our calling to go into all the world, giving guitars, to raise the level of worship.

AOG Conference

It was a joy for me to go back to the place where I was born, Harrogate, for the AOG Conference. I am truly blessed to be a Missionary with AOG GB and serve on the Europe Missions Team. To my surprise and delight, I was invited on to the platform and recognized for the work of Guitar Aid.
This enabled everyone at the conference to hear about our ministry. I will never forget the moment that Kirk, Steve and Hannah from the Missions board, prayed for me along with the vast auditorium of conference delegates.

30th Anniversary in Romania

We were in Romania when the land was bought for a Church and an Orphanage in the 90’s. How wonderful to be invited to the 30th Anniversary and share in the joy of the celebration. We had seen the young people that testified; grow from being young children to mature adults, with their own homes, families and real purpose in life. I remember giving Laura his first guitar when he was a young boy. Laura now leads worship at the church. What a blessing to see this happen. We honour the faithfulness of Pastor Moise and his wife Nuti, in the way they have sacrificially run the Church and orphanage for many ears.

Campfest Slovakia

In the summer, Liz and I took guitars to Campfest, Slovakia. It was a joy to tell of the miracle that has happened in our life. Our son Chris was taken to hospital in late December with Covid. We were told he wasn’t going to make it through the night. We prayed and cried to God like never before, on more occasions we were told there was little hope, but we still trusted God. After 9 weeks in ICU and 8 weeks on a ventilator, Chris started to improve. After seven and a half months in Hospital, Chris came home just before his 35th birthday, to continue his recovery. We thank God for this miracle, and thank you for praying for us and Chris. If you would like to be part of what we are achieving with Guitar Aid, why not consider being one of our sponsors. It’s the regular sponsorship we receive, that enables us to carry on giving with generosity.

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