Last month brought us great joys. We celebrated the first Christmas in our family on December, 25. Then we rejoiced over the new year. In the church service there was an appropriate sermon for the coming new year. The kids of the church had a great surprise when they received the gifts. We got another surprise from the devil for not forgetting he was awake. We had planned another day for giving out gifts and flyers in the Gypsy neighborhood. When we were about to start the service many Gipsies and their children came in. They were making a lot of noise. So I announced that everyone who came only for the gifts and didn't want to listen to the service should go downstairs. There Bane, a deacon, would give them the gifts. Then they could go home. When Bane went downstairs a multitude of people followed him. They were more outside the church. They started to steal many gifts. They broke into the basement and started to steal from there too. My wife saved the situation. We already started the service and she went downstairs and sent the thieves out. Praise the Lord that they didn't manage to steal all the gifts. We still had some for the kids from the church. We learned a good lesson.

Next to our village there is another village, Smederevo. There are 110,000 inhabitants. Zeljko is a member of our church and lives there. He has a rented an apartment where he organizes gatherings for a small group of people. We visit him on a regular basis and try to help him as much as we can. We organized an evangelistic event by watching a movie about Jesus. We also gave out gifts. I went with the deacon of our church. We spent a wonderful time with those people. All of them were non-believers, except brother Zeljko. From time to time this brother brings one of those people with him to attend our church services. We pray for their salvation.
After the New Year's Eve we celebrated Christmas on January 7. We had invited a youth band from "Emanuel" church in Timisoara to present a Christmas carol concert. A great surprise was our new choir which was made up of eight young people who sang two songs. The kids had a special program as well. The church raised money for buying carpet for the area around the pulpit. I praise the Lord for that.

My daughter suffers from sinusitis. During winter time we battle this health problem. The last few days she has had a high fever. I had to take her to the emergency hospital Sunday night where she underwent treatment. We are worried for her health. We pray that the Lord will take care of her. Her schoolmaster called me as he was worried over her school absences. We need your prayer support.