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Dear Churches and Fellow Saints, July, 2009
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this letter finds you all rejoicing in His eternal goodness.
First of all we want to give honor to our late Pastor, Rev. Fred Potter who went home to be with our Lord Jesus Christ. He had been our pastor for the last 15 years and we are very thankful for the time we were allowed to sit under his preaching. He will be missed! Along with being the Pastor of Brookside Baptist Church, Preacher Potter was also the founder of Charity Baptist missions. Just recently the Lord has raised up a young man, Brother Mike Nixon, to fill the Pastoral position and to be director of all the work through Brookside Baptist Church. We thank God for what He has done.
I want to thank all of you for being so patient with me while I have been sick these past several months. As many of you know I came in from the mission field last year to seek medical help because I had injured my back. While doing blood test the doctors discovered that I had a liver disease and I began a 52 week medical treatment plan. After five months of treatments the test showed that they were not helping, in fact the disease was getting worse and the doctors took me off the medicine. The treatment I was taking had several very severe side affects, depression being the main one. For the last several months I have not been able to do anything physically because of my back problems and I could not do much mentally because of severe complications from the medications the doctors had given me. To better my health I have started a strict diet for my liver and physical therapy for my back.
But the main reason I am getting better is your continual prayers to God. It has been a tremendous help hearing from our supporting churches and individuals letting me know they were praying for me.
While here in America we have been helping out at the Tri-State Baptist Children’s home, staying with the boys and doing what we can to be a help there. Please continue to pray as I recover that the Lord will give me a date to return to the mission field. We are thinking it will be some time in the next few months as my strength returns.
Many Pastors have contacted me over the past several months asking me to come to their churches, but I was not mentally or physically able to come. I am well enough now to travel and visit if you would like and give an update of the work. Thank you once again for the many prayers and for your continual financial support.
The work overseas is going very well. We receive frequent reports from our fellow missionaries that the Turks ask about us all the time. They say “they are praying for Brother Joe to get well and return overseas.”
I am also sending a few pictures and testimonies of the
work with the Muslim Turks in Bulgaria. May God bless you all! To God be the
glory in the churches forever, Amen.
Brother Joe Alvarado
(Cell phone) 423-366-4025 (Home phone) 828-682-9842 (Church phone) 423-878-8131
Email address: alvaradojva@yahoo.com
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm
126:5,6
Prayer Letter August, 2006
Dear Churches and Fellow Saints,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope this letter finds you all fairing well in the goodness of God.
Our Bulgarian residency visa has finally came through. We are now in Varna, Bulgaria. It was a long wait, but thank God we are here and will not have to leave the country to renew the visas. We can now do them yearly from here in Varna. God is so good!
When we left Tri-Cities Airport in Bristol TN, we were over weight on all our bags and even had an extra check on bag. We checked right through with no problems and with no extra charge for the baggage. Also the boarder crossing into Bulgaria went well with no problems. Upon our arrival here in Varna we were able to see two of the Turkish Pastors, Brother Ahmet from the church in Dabravino and Brother Ishmel from the church in Novi Pazar. They both were happy to see us and were excited about us now living in Bulgaria.
Virginia and Desere are doing fine and are very excited about being here. We have settled into our apartment here in Varna and are adjusting to the culture. We’re very anxious about getting out to the villages to see more of the Turkish believers. We will be looking for a vehicle as soon as possible. Please pray that the Lord will help us choose a good one. We thank you all for the prayers and funds to be able to buy the vehicle, it will be a big help to the ministry here.
We thank God for what He has already done and we’re looking forward to seeing what more He will do with the Turkish people in Bulgaria. We thank God for the privilege to preach the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ to regions beyond. Bless His Holy Name.
Again, thank you all for your prayers and support for the ministry to the Turks in these countries.
To God be the Glory in the churches forever. Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Brother Joe Alvarado
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm 126:5,6
December 2003
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray this letter
finds you all doing well. Once again we are writing to you from the United
States. While being here these past 10 months God has truly blessed us
abundantly. First we would like to thank God and share with you what all God has
done for our daughter Amanda. It has been her heart’s desire and prayer that
God would send her a husband. While visiting a church in Burnsville NC she met
and fell in love with a young man that loves the Lord and has answered the call
to preach. The young man is Raymond Phillips and on December 6th Raymond and
Amanda were married. Please pray for them both as they begin their lives
together. They both feel that as for now the Lord will have them to stay in
Burnsville and serve the Lord there.
The work in Romania and in Bulgaria is going well. Hearing reports from our
fellow missionaries over there lets us know the Lord is blessing and new
meetings are being started. We received a letter from Brother Zack LeFevre
today. He wrote that he, Brother Ralph Cheatwood and a few of the Romanian
Turks went down to Bulgaria over the weekend and got in on the camp meeting
there. In his letter he said that they arrived around 5:30 and the meeting had
already begun around 4:00 that afternoon. He wrote that Brother Ralph preached
to them about Jesus being the one sacrifice for their sins. He wrote that the
church was filled, maybe around 200 souls there! He wrote that the meeting
closed out around 10:00; they ate some food and then they started the meeting
again and it went on through the night with singing, preaching and testifying
until around 8:00 the next morning. To God be the glory!!
We are planning on returning overseas the first week of February, 2004. If
you would like for us to visit your church before February please call us at
(423) 383-6115. Please pray for us as we return to the field of these two very
special countries where God has called us to labor.
We would like to say to you all Merry Christmas and we pray you have a blessed New Year!
Yours in Christ,
The Alvarado Family
“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalms
126:5,6