Genesis 9:13 "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."

GET YOUR OWN SYMBOL…DON'T STEAL OR PERVERT THE LORD'S
We came apart for a few days just before we came apart ourselves and went on a trip to Slovakia, Germany and only part of a day in France (twas all we could take). More about this trip later in this report. While in Strasburg, France, the seat of the European Parliament, we decided to eat a good meal. The restaurant selected from a distance promised us just that. As we came closer we noticed a small rainbow sticker in the window near the front door and a small rainbow flag above the door. Most of us knew what it probably meant but I must admit that my first thought is concerning God's promise to Noah after the flood. A man exited and we asked him what that meant in relation to this restaurant…sure enough he assured us that this meant the restaurant was "Gay friendly"…we asked if there were any restaurants that were non-gay-friendly in France and he indicated that we would be able to locate one. We found a good meal down the street but inspected the doorway with care. Just in case you are not familiar with this perverted symbol…don't eat or do business where this is displayed. We are NOT gay (sodomite) friendly This is not the French flag but rather the flag of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Some 14 years ago we were working for the Lord in Northern Ireland. We made a ministry trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. Aside from one day in Prague, Czech this was our first introduction to eastern Europe. We spent 10 wonderful days ministering and traveling with a man named Alex. Alex worked close with a man called Brother Andrew who became famous to many via his book entitled God's Smuggler. During the hard core Communist years in eastern Europe these two, along with many others, published and smuggled Bibles and Christian literature behind the iron curtain supplying the Christians with precious materials which the Communists called contraband. Alex risked his life and liberty many times for many years. We had not been able to contact him in all of these years and then I saw his testimony on the website of the International Bible Society. I wrote him an email and made plans for our reunion. During this trip we were successful in this reunion to the joy of all of our hearts. He is still busy serving and now smuggles Christian literature to Muslim countries. Our first trip to Bratislava many years before was to visit an extremely poor and terribly oppressed city and country held back from freedom and prosperity by the ravages of Communism. This visit presented a quite different view of a very lovely, modern city, flourishing in commerce albeit still struggling in personal economics…the leftovers of Communism. Photo 7104 shows just a peek of the beauty of this marvelous old city brimming with history. In photo 7105 my family is standing with a plaque commemorating the fact that Mozart gave a concert in this building in 1762…this was one that I unfortunately missed. Notice the beautiful church in photo 7106…it is a Catholic church, since Slovakia is a Catholic country, but the story is told to us by Alex who knows the former pastor. Many years ago this Catholic pastor wanted to give Stalin a Bible…he traveled to Moscow and made every attempt to personally hand Stalin a Bible. He had to settle with leaving it with a subordinate with the promise that Stalin would receive it…but on the way back to Bratislava he was arrested and he spent 15 years in a Communist prison for this worthy attempt. Don't think that I am going ecumenical on you, but I never heard of an Independent Baptist who made a similar attempt…the Judgment Seat of Christ is going to be both interesting and surprising.

Many of you reply back to me that you love the photos, well, photo 7102 is a very European scene. I took this while strolling through Strasburg, France. Photo 7102 shows Mary on the wall of Rottenburg, Germany, one of the most ancient of Germany's walled towns. Photo 7103 is the view of the main street from that same wall. Most beautiful town.

While in Germany I preached for Troy Green and Tom Castellaw. These guys are choice friends of mine in the ministry. They both have American military churches along with as many German nationals that they can wrangle. They are both excellent men and missionaries. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to preach in English with the pleasurable absence of an interrupter (interpreter). The freedom to express yourself freely and be understood immediately can only be fully valued after a couple of years on the foreign mission field.

I preached in the open air in Hanau, Germany and in another city I cannot remember the name. Bro. Troy was preaching by a statue in Hanau when the police approached…I took the vanguard and they said, in no uncertain terms that we could not do this without the permission of the chief. I told them, in no uncertain terms that we certainly could do this according to the European Union constitution. They said they would have to call the chief…I told them to mention the EU constitution when they did…they did…and came back and said, in no uncertain terms that the chief said, in no uncertain terms that we could not do this without his permission. I replied, in no uncertain terms that indeed we could do this because EU constitution stated clearly that we could. They said, in no uncertain terms that we would have to quit in five minutes. I answered, in no uncertain terms that we would be finished in ten minutes…they said in N.U.T. five…I said in N.U.T. ten…they finally said, in no uncertain terms… "not a minute more". They left and we continued for as long as we felt led to and when we finished Bro. Troy asked me, "Wow, you've got to tell me what, actually, that EU constitution says." I told him, in no uncertain terms, "I haven't got the foggiest idea." BUUUUUT…"neither does the cop."

Mar 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

The break from our ministry here was refreshing but we love the ministry here in Romania…and were very glad to get back to it…photo 7107 shows some of our kids from the village ministry of Budila. They were waiting for us when we returned. The ministry here is going through some changes and some of them are quiet painful. We have the burden of all of the ministry upon us for the next two months as Bro. Logan and family are in the states. We appreciate your prayers and your support of our ministry.

Loving serving while waiting the Master
Gerald Sutek and the SWAT TEAM for Christ
2 Tim. 1:8, Amos 5:10
from the states dial 011-40-268-477-243