This will be the first week that I haven’t been to Londonderry/Derry (!) for ages… I’m heading off to Romania this week to do a number of meetings, probably some stuff with students, even though they’re still on vacation from University, and to keep an eye on Ionela, the young lady most of you will know about – the 23 year old (soon to be) 6th year trainee doctor, who was diagnosed some months ago with breast cancer. She’s from right up in the north of Romania – Moldova – a family I’ve known for 26 years, they’re very poor, and it’s not possible for her parents to get down to Bucharest to visit when she’s in hospital, and do a bit of looking after her when she’s out of hospital, from the surgery to remove the tumour.

I’d love to think that God will multiply the anointing that’s been on Londonderry, in Romania! It’s one of my favourite countries, I love it dearly (I’ve been there over 130 times – though I still speak hardly any of the language!), and to see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit like in the past months in Derry, would be astonishing. It’ll be a busy time there, popping backwards and forwards to the hospital, and then Ionela’s home, to do shopping and the like for her, as well as the meetings I’ve mentioned. There are always lots of people to see in Romania, too: I expect once its known I’m there, I might get inundated! To make sure Ionela’s ok, I haven’t booked my flight home yet, though it’s likely to be around the 21-22 August.

Please pray for this lovely young woman: as a student doctor, she’s aware of what’s going on in her body, and humanly knows all the potential outcomes of having a stage 3 tumour. I’m going to be praying that she heals very fast…and that it never returns.

Some lovely ongoing stories from Derry: Jason, who had the amazing of his testicle, following major infection and surgery, is doing fantastically. The doctors had told him he’d be off work about 12 weeks, and that the nurses would be in every day for 8 weeks. They came in the day after Jason was prayed for, and said they didn’t need to come again. They reported to the doctor on the Wednesday (he was prayed for Tuesday), who made an unscheduled home visit to see for himself (you must know how difficult it is to get an appointment with a doctor, let a lone a home visit!) – he couldn’t believe it, and had never seen a similar wound heal so fast. Jason was back at work the following Monday, and is telling everyone! He’s a manager in a big DIY shop, so all the staff, the customers, and the visiting reps know about his testicle!!

Deborah, who was prayed for last week, is incredibly pain free after 20+ years of chronic pain: Irene, who couldn’t walk with acute sciatica, has been brilliant since God healed her on the spot… so many others, too!

This morning, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of people involved in counselling and healing ministries, in a church named ‘The Lighthouse’ in Hillhall, near Lisburn: it was so good to be able to share with them, answer questions (I love that challenge!), and then pray for a couple of them. I’m back with them in a few weeks’ time.

Thank you all so much for your prayers: I don’t know how I’d survive without them (I wouldn’t!!), and if you could embrace Ionela into those prayers over the next 2-3 weeks, it will have a profound impact, I know.