PRAYER UPDATE Toalmas, Hungary  June 13, 2008

Dear friends,

  I have sensed your prayers.  I left Paris on June 3 as usual one day late.  My first stop was with Max & Ruth Weremchuk in Obrigheim, Germany.  Three of their 5 children are still at home.  Max’s mother in Ontario is still alive but her husband Lazar died.  I went to GVB mission in Eschenburg, GR to get the literature.  I went to another mission in Eschenburg to get German tracts and NTs.  In Siegen, GR I visited Thomas & Lila Cosmades.   As I recall Tom is 84.  He is still writing.  He and Lila will not travel as much as before.  Tom remains active in Turkish outreach.  I stayed at the Mission to South East Asia.  They have a full time worker who is Turkish.  Annalisa is the literature worker here and she again took good care of me.  She is Romanian-German.  Near Basel, Switzerland in Rheinfelden, GR I visited Dieter Rheinbold whom I know from the Massy French language school.  He is a driving instructor.  He is divorced and his 2 children are in the German army.  I enjoyed driving through the Black Forest.  My friend Rolf Thege has moved, I assume to Israel. Word of Life Germany once again was a great help.  Irmgard Krauter continues to be a helper in ministry.  We called veteran African missionary Vic Paul.  He is in a retirement home in Ft. Myers, FL with his sister.  He has much pain from his back and is in a wheel chair.  He is 77.  He was a team man.  He asked me to consider a team.  I fear it is too late.  I was invited to speak again at the church in Wolfratshausen nearby WOL.  I spoke on fasting.  It was well received.  I ate with Rainar & Valerie and their 5 small children.  They asked me to share missionary stories with their children.  They paid attention. 

  I am thankful for another visit with Gideon & Helen Miller.  Since Christmas Alzheimer’s is taking Gideon’s memory.  I was glad to see again the work of WOL Austria.  They have difficulty to find enough students for their Bible School.  They are still without a resident leader.  I pushed on to WOL Hungary on Thursday so I would be ready to go to Budapest Friday night and Sat. morn to look for Jews.  I am thankful for fellowship with several missionaries I know at WOLHU.  Br. Loci has no improvement in his feeling in his hands.  He had a tumor on his spine some years ago.  The outreach near the great synagogue went well.  Many Jews were contacted.  Some took literature.  Friday night I arrived while service was in progress.  I witnessed to 4 Israelis then went walking in area.  I got back to the synagogue just after the service let out and missed the crowd.  I offered lit. in Hebrew to Israelis.  They asked what it was and I said it will help them to get closer to God.  They took the lit.  In the morning I was back and had many contacts with Jews and others.  A Hungarian Jew took 2 pieces of lit.  He did not speak Eng.  Several Orthodox Jews refused lit. saying it was the Sabbath.  I witnessed to Amir whose aunt is a member of the Joseph St. Baptist church in Budapest.  Amir lives in Dublin, Ireland.  I need to email him as he is open.  As I got back to the main synagogue the people were coming out.  Several took lit.  Two old ladies took.  I tried my best in front of the synagogue with a philosophical man with his wife listening.  She apparently spoke better English than he.  Some English lit. was received.

  Next was Romania where I attended an Independent Baptist conference.  Michael is the Jewish believer who works with Pastor Peter Beltechi.  Michael teaches in the Bible School and is in charge of the camp, camp Bucurii.  I returned to camp to a pastors’ conference.  One of my seminary fellow students was the main speaker.  He is Don Forester pastor at Faith Baptist church in Fredericksburg, VA.  In addition to sermon study each week he reads the NT twice each year and the OT through once.  I am ashamed.  He has been blind since age 13.  I was ready to move out after the conference!  Visiting a capital city affords many opportunities to serve God.  I went to Bucharest to be with Daniel Sandu & Pisti Benedek.

  I went north to Suceava to enter UA.  I was not ready so I lingered, and then entered UA for 2 weeks.  I went to the Baptist camp outside Chernovsy, UA and lingered a day there.  I met a brother who invited me to his home. Which is not too far from Vitrenka where I visited Vera & Vladimir Voroniuk now of Germany and Vladimir’s family Cole & Svieta Voroniuk.  I have known these friends for years.  I met 2 Jews near the old Jewish cemetery.  One of them took a booklet but I think he later threw it away.  After the Jewish cemetery I went to a nearby market to distribute.  The distribution went  ok and I met Cole Voroniuk in the market!   He later led me to his house which would not have been easy to find.  Cole V. is a deacon in the Baptist Church and they both are singers.  As they work around the house they sing.  Their children do the same!  Cole is a car & van engine mechanic.  I spoke in their church on fasting.  About this time my eyes apparently changed for the worse.  I went again to Lazar Wermechuk’s relatives in Rovno and Costopol areas.  I was with Stephan & Ina Yanchuk, their son & daughter Vadi. I then went to see Michael Mistesky of Kiev. He is a Hebrew Christian. I went on to Odessa, where I saw Valentine Mirosnichenko. She is not well, but still serving. I stayed with Micha and Nadia, relatives of Yanchuk. I then went to Kishinov, Moldowvia to see Gricha Burlacu who has a messianic meeting. Then, I went to Romania for the Camp with Mioveni Church. By this time I was not well. We studied Iasaiah 10 to 16. I tried to go to Bulgaria, but health stopped me. I had two strokes and ended up 4 days in a Bucharest hospital. The main cause was high blood pressure. I am now with Pisti Benedek, in Bucharest. I will go back to Paris, by plane on 19^th of august. I have a plane ticket for Israel on October, 1^st for three months. I would appreciate prayer for sufficient recovery until then. My house telephone in Paris is (33) 169385104. I will claim Romans 8:28: ”And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”.

On the heeling side,

Michael David Bentley