As you know, the events of the Turkey-Syria earthquake have affected the entire country and, to some degree, the world. Insecurity has swept across the nation, and the fears of future earthquakes haunt the most populated region of the country. There are two major cities near a fault line, with a combined population of well over 20 million people. This region has been warned over the years to be prepared for a major earthquake. Because of the recent earthquake that took the lives of nearly 50,000 people, the government has now just started taking action to prepare for a potentially worse catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of applications have been submitted for building inspections to check if the building is earthquake-safe. Even the building in which we live has been submitted for an inspection. So far, the government has closed down 93 schools that are not earthquake-safe. There is a race against time, and the people here are deeply stressed. My prayer is that these physical events that have affected the nation are a precursor to a spiritual awakening.
A few months ago, I felt that God was leading me to teach some English classes at a private school. Since the school gives me complete liberty to teach whatever I want, my prayer was that God would give me favor with some of the students who would be willing to meet with me on Saturdays. On Saturdays, I would teach specifically about my faith. God has blessed me with favor in my classes, and there have been some willing to travel at their own expense to meet me on Saturdays. There is one particular student who has been faithful to all of my Saturday meetings and has expressed over and over again how I am more than a teacher to him. Please pray that God would continue to do a work in R___’s heart. His salvation and surrender would be an incredible victory. He is a very intelligent college student with a heavy workload, but he still manages to meet with me.
Thank you for your prayers about our family moving to a new residence. This has been a long and trying process, but we are persuaded we are living exactly where God wants us to live. I have had the opportunity to meet a few of our neighbors. We are praying our new residence will result in more opportunities to interact with people, practice the language, and ultimately share our faith.
There are a lot of important plans, projects, and meetings this year that are in need of God’s anointing power. Next week, I have a meeting that will begin the process of preparing and printing a couple thousand high-quality Bibles for mature believers and servants of Christ in the Turkish language. The media team who is working on the Help Them Hear project should be finished by the end of this month. Once this is done, we can start developing a Bible app, online radio, and finish our visual Bible project on YouTube. This summer, we are honored to host a visit from a supporting church. If anyone has an interest in seeing the ministry and culture here, please let me know. You might be surprised how inexpensive a trip here would be. FBMI has an annual Mastermind Conference, and we have the honor of hosting this conference in September of this year. We are praying this conference will be a source of encouragement for friends, both near and abroad, serving in difficult countries.
I want to publicly thank our home church for handling all of the concerned calls about our family after the earthquake. We live in a different part of the country that wasn’t affected. We are so blessed by your prayers and support!
Missionary #6506