|
"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my
servant be..." John 12:26 Mission and Support Address:
Charity Baptist Mission Inc. P.O. Box 692 Bristol, TN 37621-0692 USA |
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From Romania
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Dear Friends in Christ,
September 18, 2023
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As I mentioned in
my last letter, we made it through a summer filled with some unexpected trials.
In hindsight, without having had to face these difficulties, we would have
missed experiencing God’s mighty, gentle, strong and kind hand as He guided us
through each situation.
At the beginning of summer, when Johnny and Blue were leaving for Germany, I
experienced what we feared could be a heart attack…chest pain, difficulty
breathing, etc. I wound up in the emergency room of the municipal hospital,
which anyone who has had the misfortune of needing medical attention in Romania
knows, is usually worse than the ailment that brought you there. Over the next
weeks I had numerous tests (heart ultrasound, angiogram, CT scan of lungs,
thyroid and abdominal ultrasounds and dozens of blood tests) which, in the end,
found nothing that should have caused such symptoms and kept me in bed for about
two weeks. The doc said if the symptoms reappear, they will investigate more.
Thank the Lord, He raised me up right about the time our next trial would
unfold.
After a news story broke about horrible conditions and treatment in a nursing
home in Bucharest, the government declared all nursing homes and children’s
homes would be investigated. A couple of days later, a van showed up unannounced
with officials from 7 or 8 different agencies and raided our Home. Police, Fire
Department, Health Department, Consumer Protection, Ministry of Finance, Child
Protection and others were all represented. After a day and a half combing
through our records, talking with the children and workers, and inspecting the
Home, Thank God, they had only a couple of issues. One, we had to install a
video security system and, Two, they closed our kitchen until we could remodel
it to meet new European Union requirements.
They gave us until September 15th, about 2 ½ weeks, to have everything done.
It was going to take a huge amount of work and a huge amount of money that we
didn’t have to get it all done. I have to be honest, I had my doubts we could
meet the deadline. I told the kids “We don’t have a choice. We are going to
start the work and trust the Lord to help us get it done and get the money here
to pay for it. It’s God’s house. You are God’s kids. I can’t do it, but He can!”
All the kids who were available helped as we put in new ceilings, light
fixtures, stove exhaust fans, an extra sink, new metal shelving in the pantry,
new windows in the kitchen, and converted a toy room into a worker’s
dressing/bathroom. We also had to close off the kitchen from the living room
which had been wide open.
Several of the kids worked with me day and night and the Lord helped in so
many ways over this time. It seemed each morning Sandy would come over and tell
me about someone who was sending money…one day a precious widow sending $50…the
next a church sending $1,000…each day the expenses being taken care of until a
couple of days ago, a church in St. Pete, Florida, promising to take care of
what was left. The Lord provided exactly what was needed.
On the 15th, the inspector came and was amazed we got everything done and
done so well. I thank the Lord for each of you who sent what was needed. I pray
you are blessed as much as we are seeing God move mountains for us. I am
thankful for Dara, Sandy, our kids and the Home workers who labored tirelessly
so that we could have our kitchen back.
Finally, for a week in August we were blessed to host a mission group from
First Baptist Church of San Antonio. They are our long-time friends, actually
now family, who started visiting after one of their deacons was stationed at the
nearby American military base some years back and came to the Children’s Home
church. Together we held a 3-day mini VBS with some very poor children in a
nearby village and painted the entire downstairs of the Children’s Home. Most of
all, they were, as always, a huge blessing and encouragement to all of us here.
As I said at the beginning, it was a summer filled with challenges. Thank the
Lord, we didn’t have to face them alone. Our God is faithful. Thank you again to
all of you who helped us through your prayers and your giving.
“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor
be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.”
2 Chronicles 20:17
In Christ,
Dave, Dara, Sandy and the Kids (A printable PDF version is available here)
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Dear Friends in Christ, September 2023
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Summer has come to
an end… the kids have returned to school. We had an enjoyable summer, but it was
not an easy one. Besides what I’ll write below, I had some health issues, we had
a major inspection at the Home and we hosted a mission trip. I’ll write another
letter this week to tell you about those.
Johnny and Blue have been our kids for seven years, since Johnny was seven
and Blue was three. Their grandmother, a believer in our Turkish church, asked
us to take them because her daughter, their mother, had gone to Germany to work
and left them with her. The grandmother was older and in poor health and wasn’t
able to care for them.
Johnny and Blue immediately became part of the family. Johnny bonded with our
son, Creed, and they became inseparable. Blue was a bright, sweet little girl
and we quickly grew to love them as our own. They both loved the church and,
Praise the Lord, both were saved and baptized a few years after we got them.
At the end of this past school year, the mother came back and said she wanted
to take them for a visit to Germany. She said she would bring them back after a
few weeks. Her being their mother, we could do nothing to stop her even though
we didn’t feel good about it, to say the least.
After she got them to Germany, she contacted us and said that she was not
bringing them back and that we should forget about them because we would never
see them again. You can’t even imagine how deeply this affected Dara and me…
they are our kids! They call us Mommy and Daddy and, having gotten them that
young, we were now the only family they really knew. This was their life and
that life had been stolen away from them.
Everyone knows me as someone who can fix problems and find ways to work
things out. Everyone asked “What are you going to do? How are you going to get
them back?” I was lost. There was nothing I could do that would bring them home.
I prayed “Lord, you are the only one who can bring our kids home. You sent
plagues to change Pharaoh’s heart and I know you can do something if it is Your
will.” I decided I was going to beg God to intervene and then put my trust in
Him to hear my prayer and to answer it the best way… Maybe not the way I was
hoping, but I was trusting in His goodness and knowing that His way would be
best.
Over the summer, we were able to talk to Johnny and Blue a little bit through
messages. They were devastated, homesick, and losing hope of ever seeing us
again. Their mother and some other relatives there in Germany tried to pressure
them not to believe in Jesus, but to convert to Islam. Johnny told them he would
not give up his faith in Jesus Christ and refused to go into the mosque with
them. He even testified to the hoja (Moslem priest) through a translator about
what he believed.
I told them to keep trusting God…. we were all praying. A couple of weeks
ago, Johnny wrote that his mother, seeing that they were so unhappy, said she
would be willing to bring them back, but she didn’t have any money for the trip.
I told Johnny I would gladly pay for their bus tickets if she would bring them.
After a heart wrenching week of “yes, she would, no, she wouldn’t”, they boarded
the bus and came home.
Johnny and Blue are back home and just started back to school. You can’t
imagine the impact on our family seeing God intervene in an impossible situation
when we helplessly cried out to Him in prayer. How can we ever doubt His
goodness? Praise His Holy Name!
“The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all
their troubles” Psalm 34:17
In Christ,
Dave, Dara, Sandy and the Kids
(A printable PDF version is available here)
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Dear Friends in Christ,
June 2023
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are all doing
well and we appreciate the prayers of the saints for our family and for the
work.
I generally do not make a prayer request the entire focus of an update letter.
Brother Ralph used to tell about a church business meeting where one of the
deacons was explaining how every possible option had been tried, but they still
could not find a solution for some big need in the church. The deacon finished
by saying ‘All we can do now is pray!’ Another of the deacons at the meeting
said ‘Has it really come to that?!’
Well, for us, it has come to that and so I am asking all of the saints who
care about our family and our work to pray with us.
Seven years ago, when Johnny was seven and Blue was just three, a homeless
mother asked us to take her two children who had been living on the street with
her. Her mother was a faithful member of our Turkish church and she knew the
kind of people we are. This woman said she wanted her kids to have a better life
than she could offer – a good education, a stable home life, and a loving
faith-based upbringing. She was going to Germany to look for work and said she
would leave them with us until they were 18 years old.
Even though there was no time to go through the normal channels which would
give us at least some legal footing, we prayed about it and got peace to take
them into our home. These years have been wonderful with them. They instantly
became as much of the family as any of the rest of us. Johnny was the same age
as our biological son, Creed, and they became, and still are, inseparable. Both
Johnny and Blue got saved in our Children’s Home church and were baptized. In
school, they both have excellent grades, many friends and the praise of their
teachers. They are warm and loving children…our children...who see Dara as Mommy
and me as Daddy.
Recently, the mother came back from Germany. She wanted to see the kids and
spend some time with them. We have been taking them for visits on the weekends
when they were out of school.
In the time she has been here, she secretly got passports for the two kids.
She told them she wants to take them for a visit to Germany during the summer
vacation…only a few weeks or maybe a month. When we found out, I talked to her
and she assures me they will be back. I have no legal right to stop her. I have
a sickening feeling that she intends to leave with them and not come back.
I know God gave them to us and, therefore, they can’t be taken unless He
allows. Thank the Lord, they are already saved!! I can’t imagine how much worse
this would be without that assurance.
Twenty years ago, when Brother Ralph said we should start a children’s home,
he told us that these children are not ours...God was only allowing us to raise
them for Him. Brother Ralph said we should expect some heartache. But, to be
honest, we are not at all prepared for this.
I just found out today the mother is planning to leave with them in three
days. By the time you see this, if the Lord hasn’t already stepped in, they will
be gone. Please help us pray that they will indeed return. If they don’t, I
cannot imagine the hole that will be left in our hearts, Creed’s heart, their
hearts.
We appreciate all of your prayers.
In Christ,
Dave, Dara, Sandy and the Kids
A printable PDF of
this letter is available here.
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Dear Friends in Christ, March 2023
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For, lo, the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the
time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in
our land;” Song of Solomon 2:11-12. Well, I haven’t heard any turtles yet, but,
Praise God, spring has finally come to Romania! The sun is shining. The mud is
drying up in the villages. The trees are budding out and everything is turning
from gray to green. As the Lord renews His creation, our spirits are renewed, as
well.
I thank the Lord for seeing us through another winter and for allowing us to
help so many others this year. From the coats, socks and food we were able to
distribute in the poorest of villages; to the food, clothing, diapers, and many
other basic necessities we delivered to be distributed to war-affected churches
in Ukraine; to the tents, sleeping bags, winter wear and rations we delivered to
the Ukrainian military, God helped so many survive the long winter.
We were able to include Gospel tracts in each pair of socks…in each pair of
gloves…in each sleeping bag we sent to those fighting on the front lines. In our
villages, we were blessed to hold meetings and tell folks about a loving God who
cares for them and sent His only begotten Son to save them. A special thank you
goes out to all of you who helped to make this possible.
Our children are growing so fast! Some are working. Some are in school. Our
youngest just turned 10 in February. Well, that was true until a couple of days
ago.
A young woman called and told Dara that she was living on the street with
three little kids and that she had no way to feed or take care of them. The
woman said she had heard how we take in poor children and raise them. She begged
Dara to take her children. Dara told all of us and I said we should pray before
Dara talked to her again. Before we could get back with the woman, our
20-year-old daughter, Sevgi, said she would like to take these three kids. Sevgi
lives here on the Children’s Home property with her husband, Clay.
Sevgi and Clay had talked and they wanted to have the little ones move in
with them. So after meeting again with the mother, we brought home three
children: a 3-year-old girl, a 4 ½-year-old boy and a 5 ½-year-old girl. A good
scrubbing, haircuts and clean clothes revealed three precious children who,
thank the Lord, seem to be adjusting beautifully. We have told the Lord all
along that when He wants to send new children into our family, we are willing. I
am thankful that Sevgi, who we got when she was only a few days old, is now
helping us in this blessed calling.
Sandy and our oldest son, Grayson, just got back from a short trip to the
States. Sandy wanted to visit some churches, reconnect with some old friends and
see her best friend of 66 years whose health was failing. Thank the Lord, they
had a good trip and Sandy was able to spend some precious time with her friend
before she went home to be with the Lord. Sandy said several folks asked her if
and when we would be getting more children. We are so glad God has now answered
that question! She also said many people asked if we were safe considering the
many recent earthquakes in this part of the world. Again, thank the Lord, they
have not been close enough to affect us. Thank you for your concern and prayers.
Please continue to pray for us. We greatly appreciate the love and support
that you have faithfully shown us over the years. May God bless you all.
In Christ, Dave, Dara, Sandy and the Kids
(A printable PDF of
this letter is available here)
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Dear
Friends in Christ,
December 2022
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we
come to the end of another year, I want to thank the Lord for letting us
continue to serve Him. He has been more than faithful. This year has not been
without its trials but we have seen the Lord do great things in spite of the
storms…maybe even because of the storms.
I was talking to the kids in church last Sunday about the
foundation on which we build our lives. I said that if we build our lives on
the foundation of Jesus Christ, we may face storms but our foundation cannot be
shaken. I told them that the storms we have been through in these 30 years on
the field, rather than discourage us or cause us to doubt, have
revealed to
us the worth of our foundation.
One of
the first Turkish meetings Brother Ralph started after we moved to Romania was
in the home of a dear, Godly woman named Cadrie. She has been faithful over the
years to open her home to anyone who wanted to come to the meetings. Many have
come to Christ through the prayers and faithfulness of this precious lady who
has always been willing to share her faith, her testimony, her love and her home
to anyone who would come.
Over the
last few years, the landlord where she was staying became more and more opposed
to the church. She would argue about all the coming and going and the noise of
the singing and praying. The crowd fell considerably due to her constant
harassment. Praise the Lord, we were able to find a larger, nicer home in a
better part of town for Cadrie to move into. Since the word got out, every week
has seen more and more people coming. Some new folks…some folks we haven’t seen
in years. Yesterday a little widow woman who cares for her handicapped daughter
and grandchildren showed up after no one had seen her for years. There was much
crying and rejoicing as she rejoined the fold. God is so good! Sister Cadrie
feels like she is in Heaven! I thank the Lord for blessing her faithfulness.
I want
to thank everyone who has been so gracious to give extra so that we may have a
bountiful Christmas with our kids and those to whom we minister. I know it is
not always easy. We truly appreciate it. This afternoon, Dara, Sandy, the kids
and I are putting together packets of food to take out to the poorest families
in and around our churches here in town. I am glad our kids get a blessing from
sharing what the Lord has given them.
A little
while back, our 13-year-old son, Creed, started asking from time to time if he
could walk by himself to the neighborhood store about a quarter mile from our
house. He said he just likes to go for walks. We said, “Sure, be careful”.
When he would come back, I’d ask if he got anything from the store. He’d say,
“No, Sir”. We found out recently he has been using his own money to buy things
at the store for a homeless man and his son who shelter beside the store. Can
you imagine what a blessing that is for us?
I am
putting together another shipment of food, clothes, Gospel tracts and other
necessities that I plan to take into Ukraine in the coming days. The Ukrainian
pastor who distributes these to his churches in the war torn areas says these
things continue to be desperately needed. Thank you to those who have sent
funds to make this possible.
Thanks
to Larry and Carrie Leach’s “Coats for Kids” ministry, we were able to fit 35
children with very nice coats and socks. These are children whose families live
beside the municipal garbage dump in a nearby town. They are, as the saying
goes, ‘poor as Job’s turkey’. (I’m not sure where the saying comes from…I can’t
find one mention of a turkey in the entire King James Bible, much less in the
Book of Job) Anyway, we have been able to hold church meetings and minister to
these families for some years now. Putting coats on those precious kids has
become a highlight of our Christmas season each year.
One last
testimony before I close…. We have two boys in the Children’s Home, Billy and
Gabriel, who are “special needs” kids. I say kids, but they are now 20 and 19
years old. They are both precious, sweet boys who, even though they have always
been way behind mentally, have always been just part of the family like everyone
else. Brother Ralph used to say that, even though they maybe would never
understand all there is to know about salvation, he believed they were “safe” in
God’s love like any other little child. We were so blessed a few weeks ago as
we were sitting around talking about how thankful we are for our kids that are
saved, when Billy chimed in “I know I am saved! I know Jesus saved me!” I
believe he is. Billy and Gabriel have never missed a church service in their
lives. They sing the hymns the best they can. They sit quietly and listen to
the preaching. You never know what God is doing.
I am so
thankful for what the Lord has let us be a part of all of these years. We are
blessed much more than I have words to express. This holiday season, I pray you
can truly see how blessed we all are by our Saviour, the Lamb of God, Emmanuel,
Christ the Lord! Our best wishes, sincere prayers and heartfelt thanks go out
to you all.
In Christ, Dave, Dara, Sandy and the Kids
(A two page printable PDF version is
available here)
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Dear Friends in
Christ,
September 2022
Greetings in the
Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
First of all, I want to thank God for how
good He has been to us here. The 3rd of
September marked 30 years since Dara and I
arrived in Bulgaria to work with her
parents, Ralph and Sandy Cheatwood. We
arrived eager and willing to serve the Lord,
having no idea what that would mean. The
Lord allowed us to grow and learn and be a
part of a wonderful ministry where we have
seen thousands saved and churches planted
all over Eastern Bulgaria and Romania.
More than 20
years ago, the Lord let us build Casa Julia
Children’s Home in Romania… not only to run,
but to be the parents of a wonderful group
of children. Praise God, almost all of the
children we have had the privilege to raise
have been saved. Last week we had a baptism
service for two of our own children, our
son-in-law and the girlfriend of one of our
boys. The Lord gave us beautiful weather and
we had a wonderful service and then baptized
them in the Black Sea.
The war in
nearby Ukraine continues. Even though this
tragedy has been replaced in the news, and
probably in many people’s minds, with more
exciting stories; there are so many still
displaced and suffering from the continued
fighting…homes destroyed; loved ones lost,
injured or killed; jobs lost; lack of food,
electricity and basic supplies. Regardless
of how you feel about the war, there are
many thousands of lost people who need to
know that there is a loving heavenly Father
who wants to help and heal them. A Father
who loves them so much He spared not His own
Son to save them.
In the last
month I was blessed to be able to make two
trips across the border to take supplies
into Ukraine. We have been working with a
Ukrainian pastor, Brother Alex, who is
travelling to the war torn areas to take
these supplies to the families and Ukrainian
soldiers who are suffering the most. He is
also preaching as he goes from town to town
to distribute food, clothing and other much
needed supplies. Brother Alex is declaring
and showing the love of Christ as He shares
the Gospel.
Together with
another missionary brother here in Romania,
we were able to buy Brother Alex a van to
distribute these supplies. On my last trip,
I took clothes and socks because, Brother
Alex said that many of the soldiers in the
hospitals do not have even a change of
clothes when they are brought in bloody and
injured.
I thank the Lord
for opening the doors and protecting me as I
travelled inside Ukraine. If you have never
crossed the border in one of these Eastern
European countries, you can’t imagine how
tense it can be and how many things can go
wrong, especially carrying a ton of valuable
supplies. So many times the Lord opened
doors and cleared the way for me. Several
times I had to cross through military
checkpoints, show my documents and have the
contents of my vehicle searched. One of
these times, I was able to witness to the
soldier who was inspecting my vehicle. I
gave him and his fellow soldiers some
camouflage winter hats, some Gospel tracts,
and pointed them to the church I was going
to in the nearby town. They were thankful
and seemed to appreciate that others were
praying for them and their country. They are
fighting a war of flesh and blood, but are
unaware of the battle for men’s souls that
is raging all around them. I thank the Lord
for protecting His soldiers as we endeavor
to fight the good fight.
School is back
in session. One of our girls started high
school and we have three in middle school
(one homeschooling with Dara) and our
youngest in 3rd grade. Our two “special
needs” boys got into a very nice vocational
high school.
Thank you all
for your continued prayers and your support.
If the Lord lays it on your heart to help
the folks in Ukraine, I will be sure it gets
into the hands of those who truly need it.
In Christ,
Dave, Dara,
Sandy and the Kids
(a printable PDF
version of this letter is available here)
"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and
where I am, there shall also my servant
be..." John 12:26
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Dear Friends in Christ,
May 2022
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord
we are all safe and healthy here in Romania. It is hard to believe that a
couple of hours away in the Ukraine, lives and homes are being destroyed by war.
Shortly after the war began, American missionary Casey Kline and his family fled
the bombing that had begun in their town in Eastern Ukraine. After three
days in the van with their six kids, they arrived here at the Children’s Home,
literally shell-shocked and exhausted from their treacherous escape.
They stayed and recovered with us for about 10 days during which Casey and I
found ways to transfer money to Ukrainian national pastors to help the families
who were not able to flee. Since then, we have hosted other missionaries
and Ukrainian families who have been working tirelessly to get Bibles, Gospel
literature, food, water, medical supplies, etc. to the families who have been
stranded in the areas where fighting has taken place. Many of these
families have been without electricity for weeks and these necessities have been
increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to obtain.
While missionary brothers Richard Maher and Paul Gray stayed with us, we had
50,000 Gospel tracts printed in both the Ukrainian and Russian languages.
They drove a part of these into Bulgaria to help the efforts of the missionaries
working there. Another part, these men took to distribute to preachers and
pastors along the many Romanian and Polish border crossings into Ukraine.
We have learned from these missionaries to Ukraine that one of the biggest
obstacles they face is having someone, a Ukrainian, who can cross the border
into Ukraine and take literature and aid directly into the areas where it is
needed. Alex Kamnev is a Ukrainian pastor who escaped the bombing in
Mikolayiv. He and his family are staying with another American missionary
family near us. He has been making trips into the heart of the war torn
areas to take supplies to his churches and families who have not been able to
get out. We were able to help him fill a van with medical supplies and he
left yesterday on the perilous journey back across the border.
We are grateful to have someone who is willing and able to get supplies, money,
and Gospel literature directly into the hands of those who so desperately need
it. Please pray for this pastor and the many others who are literally
risking their lives to try and help their people. If you are able to
supply funds to help in these efforts, I will ensure they get to these brave men
who love their brothers and sisters more than their own selves.
As soon as the weather warms up a bit more, we are going to have a baptism
service at the Black Sea for the new believers, including some of our Home kids.
Thank the Lord for that!
We appreciate all the prayers and support. We love you.
In Christ, Dave, Dara, Sandy and the Kids
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Dear Friends in Christ,
May 2021
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I hope this finds all
of you doing well, healthy and enjoying God’s many blessings. I do not know how
things have been where you are, but here in Romania and Bulgaria, this past year
has been a difficult time for us.
The virus infection rates are beginning to fall but most of our Home kids have
been forced to do school on-line for about a year now. Just this week they are
returning to in-person schooling. Please pray for our children. It seems to me
that Romania’s on-line schooling did not work very well and the kid’s learning
has suffered terribly.
For us, the biggest hardships have been the ban on gatherings and the
restrictions on travel for Americans between Bulgaria and Romania. Until the
virus hit last year, the missionaries in our group living in Bulgaria were
meeting weekly for an English church service. I was driving down from Romania as
often as I could to be there. For the better part of a year, the missionaries
have not been able to openly meet and, even if they could, I would have had to
quarantine 2 weeks had I crossed the border.
Because of the restrictions, most of our Turkish work has been meeting with the
believers and their families in their homes. A few weeks ago, we felt led to
gather the Turkish believers in this area at the Children’s Home for a meeting.
We had been doing this weekly before the pandemic hit last year. Even though we
were not supposed to be meeting in this way, Bro. Nathan Reed, his son Jacob,
and I gathered around 50 believers and had a meal and then a three-hour service.
The Turks were thrilled to get together and many testified how much strength
there was in getting together again to worship. A couple of weeks later we did
it again and plan to continue, Lord willing, every couple of weeks or so. Pray
that we will not have trouble with the authorities.
Praise the Lord, we have been able to continue to have English church services
here at the Children’s Home on Sundays and Wednesdays. Some of our teenagers
have been inviting their friends to church and several have been coming
regularly. I just preached recently about how it seems, with each passing
generation, fewer and fewer people are choosing to follow and serve the Lord. It
is encouraging seeing these kids showing a desire to share their faith and
getting a burden for their lost friends.
With vacation coming soon, the older kids are hoping things open up enough that
they can get summer jobs. I am already teaching the younger ones to use the
lawnmower so they can take over yardwork.
We thank all of you for your continued prayers and support. May the Lord protect
you and bless you and your families.
UPDATE: Before I had a chance to send this letter out, two of the girls in the
Home got saved! Melek (14) and Blue (8) got saved at a very good Mother’s Day
service on May 9th. They have both been coming to the altar and praying a lot
over the last couple of months and we knew the Lord was dealing with them.
During the song service, the Lord moved in and they hit the altar with tears
flowing. Praise God, they said afterward, each in a different way, how the Lord
touched them and they knew they were now saved. Can you imagine what a Mother’s
Day blessing that was for Sandy and Dara! Thank you again, Lord, and Bless Your
Holy Name!
In Christ,
Dave, Dara, Sandy and the kids
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Dear Friends in Christ, May/June 2020
In 1859 Charles Dickens wrote “It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch
of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was
the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of
despair.” This seems more appropriate these days than ever. Our country, even
our world, is in turmoil such as I haven’t seen in my lifetime. Many souls are
in darkness and despair.
In the midst of this gloom there is still a spring of hope, an eternal light for
those who seek the truth. Jesus Christ is still working to gather in souls unto
salvation. He is still comforting the hurt and the heartbroken. He is still
spreading His wings to protect and provide for His children.
Romania declared a state of emergency that has kept everyone largely confined
for more than two months now. Because we answer to the state regarding our
Children’s Home, it has been even more strictly applied to us. Dara, Sandy and
all the kids didn’t leave the confines of the Children Home property during all
this time. I was only able to go out occasionally to stock up on essentials for
the Home. As of June 1st, the restrictions are easing somewhat, but not
entirely.
Thank the Lord, since we are all here together at the Home, we have been able to
have our church services on Sundays and Wednesdays. We have had some really good
services and have prayed much for you who maybe have not been able to meet
regularly and for our national believers here who also have not been allowed.
We have kept in touch with our national pastors and many believers. Bread has
been delivered daily to the poor families we normally help. Even though we have
not been able to hold regular meetings among the nationals, some of the
missionaries have held “virtual” meetings joined by believers who were able to
gather their families around a telephone to worship. I know many of the
believers have continued to meet in their homes to sing and pray, waiting for
the time when we can all worship together again. Please pray for these folks.
As I said, in the middle of all this, the Lord has continued to bless. After the
shock wore off of not going to school, not seeing their friends and not even
going to the little village store down the road, the kids adjusted well. A few
of the kids are older and only the Lord knows where they will be in the near
future. We have spent a lot of time “reconnecting” in the family and in the
church. We have had wonderful fellowship, prayer and worship that I believe they
sorely needed at this time in their lives. In many ways, this quarantine has
been a great blessing.
I
know many of you continue to pray for us. We thank you and are trying to do the
same for you. We give God all the glory for what He is doing.
In Christ, Dave, Dara, Sandy and the kids
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends in Christ,
January 2020
I pray that you have had a good year in the Lord and, as the Romanians say, that
the next year will be at least as good as the last.
This
is Johnny. He grew up homeless with his mother and little sister. Almost 3 years
ago now, when his grandmother died while his mother was away in Germany looking
for work, he and his sister, Blue, became a part of our family. He was 7 years
old and had never been to kindergarten or school. He told us stories of how he
and Blue and his mother would go around with an old shopping cart to gather
plastic bottles and pieces of metal to sell so they could buy some food. At
night, Blue, who was still a baby, would sleep in the shopping cart in the park
or wherever else they could find a little shelter. I was able to get Johnny
enrolled in school. He is now in second grade and has been at the top of his
class since day one. Most kids who have grown up on the street, by the age of 7
or 8 years old, have already had to turn to stealing to get by. Many have
already done drugs, even if it is inhaling a narcotic, toxic stove pipe paint.
For so many, this cruel, uncaring world has already crushed their innocent
spirit. Somehow, the Lord protected Johnny. He is the kindest, sweetest and most
tenderhearted child you will ever meet. He has brought so much joy into our
lives. He is almost the same age as our biological son, Creed. They are
inseparable. Earlier this past year, in one of our church services at the
Children’s Home, Johnny asked God to save him and accepted Jesus Christ as his
Savior. This past summer, I had the privilege to baptize Johnny, Creed and two
other of our kids, Sully and Kelebek, who were all saved around the same time.
If you were to ask what kind of year we had in 2019,
I would have to say, like most years, we had our ups and downs. But to see God
save the children He has given us to raise makes everything worthwhile. I say we
had a wonderful year, Praise His Holy Name!
Our thanks to all of you who have been faithful in your support of our ministry
and our family. I hope that seeing the fruit of your prayers and financial
sacrifices is a blessing to you.
In Christ,
Dave, Dara, Sandy and the kids
---------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends in
Christ,
April 2019
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord has been so
good to us and blessed us so much lately that I don’t know where to begin to
tell you and surely cannot even scratch the surface. But I have to tell you what
I can…..”Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His
wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalms 107:21.
Sunday night we had a wedding in the Children’s Home church. I had the privilege
of both giving away and marrying our daughter Sevgi. She married a fine young
man, Clay Croll, whom we have known for years and spent a lot of time over the
last few years here with us. Dara has known his parents, Jeremi and Angel Hayes,
since she was a teenager playing piano for the Brookside Children’s Home choir.
We thank the Lord He let us take Sevgi as a newborn baby and raise her up in our
Home and in our church. Pray for Clay and Sevgi as they begin their new life
together.
The wedding was on the last night of a 5-day campmeeting here at the Children’s
Home. Our missionary families living in Bulgaria had come up to worship with us.
In every service, there were also personnel from the nearby American military
base. We started on Wednesday and our missionary men, Nathan Reed, Zachary
LeFevre, Larry Leach, William LeFevre and Mitko Stefanov preached some of the
best messages I ever heard. The Holy Spirit could be felt moving in every one of
the services. Saturday morning we didn’t even have any preaching as many started
testifying and crying. The altar filled. No one wanted Jesus to pass by without
them having a chance to touch His garment. Praise the Lord, our 17 year-old son,
Sully, who for more than a year had been wrestling with salvation, said he
wanted to proclaim that the Lord saved him! Dara’s mom Sandy gave Sully a note
from a dear saint that has been praying for Sully for many years. Sandy said
“Miss Lavinia gave me this note three years ago to give you when you got saved.
I’ve been bringing this with me to every church service for three years”. After
the “Praise the Lords” and “Halleluiahs” died down, we spent another half an
hour with one after another telling about how they got saved. Clay, then Sevgi’s
fiancée, stood up toward the end of the service and said that a few weeks
before, alone in the garden at the back of our property; he asked the Lord into
his heart and was saved. Talk about a wonderful service!
We give all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ! Over the five days of this
meeting, there were many prayers answered. Many were encouraged and helped.
Everyone left with a rekindled desire to draw closer to the Lord and a renewed
assurance of God’s desire to hear and answer our prayers.
In June, it will be one year since the Lord took Brother Ralph home. We continue
on with the work here the way he taught us. Before the end of last summer, we
completed the church in Avren, Bulgaria, that he had started building. We have
been having Turkish meetings there and all of us missionaries who are able meet
with our families for English church every Friday night. As I mentioned in
earlier letters, by God’s grace, we will take care of what Bro. Ralph
founded…preaching and starting churches, printing the Bible in Turkish that he
translated, and feeding, clothing and helping those in need through the
churches.
I feel compelled to mention a couple of needs that we have. Praise God, the
Avren church is completed; but we still need to complete the Bible
printing/binding shop and the storage area for coats donated for distribution.
We lack the necessary funds for this work. Also, the Turkish pastor, Alish, who
for years drove Brother Ralph to meetings and then cared for him through most of
his final months, is in need of a vehicle. His current vehicle is beginning to
have problems due to the countless miles going to village meetings. A nice, used
vehicle that would get him to the villages for many years to come can be found
for about $5,000. Please pray about these needs. We thank all of you for your
prayers and continued support.
In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
February 2019
Greetings in the name of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. First and foremost, I want to thank the Lord for being so
good to us and taking such good care of us. He is merciful, kind, faithful and
many, many other things. He is worthy of all our praise and thanks.
The Lord just brought us through a
trial that could have shattered all we have built here in the Children’s Home.
Our Children’s Home building is wood-framed with lots of interior wood as well.
The laws here changed recently and we had to do major fire-proofing or risk not
being able to use this building. This would have meant having to move out of the
only place our children have known as home and the church where they have always
worshipped and many were saved. Without the Home, the children could have been
taken by authorities and scattered among other placement centers, tearing apart
their family and their world. It would have been awful! The work required
involved weeks and weeks of our labor as well as having several specialists come
in to do their part, not to mention a great expense which was unexpected. Praise
God we had many of the saints praying, some donating money to cover the expense.
The kids helped tremendously and even the Chaplain at the nearby American
military base sent teams on several occasions to help with the incredible amount
of work involved. To add insult to injury, the inspectors called one morning and
said they would be here in an hour – weeks earlier than we expected. We didn’t
quite have the house “back together” after all the work….there were smoke alarms
not remounted, fire extinguishers not back in their places and so forth.
The whole time, we could only think,
“This is God’s work. These are His children. He called us to do this. Surely He
won’t let us lose it all.” I have to admit there were times when my faith was
shaken. But Praise God, Jesus Christ is the Rock on which we have anchored our
hearts and our Home and He would not be moved. When the inspector came, he was
very nice (very unusual) and did not appear to be ‘trying’ to find something
wrong (almost unheard of). He only cited us for a couple of minor infractions
which it seems they must do to justify their visit. In the end, I can only
believe that God worked everything out, even down to softening the heart of the
inspector. I know He heard and answered all of the prayers that were sent up on
our behalf. Our prayers do matter and we thank all of you who prayed.
We are about halfway through the
winter now. Thank the Lord it has been quite a mild winter thus far. Many people
in the villages we minister to though struggle without adequate heat and
clothing. We were blessed to be able to provide hundreds of winter coats and
socks to children in our part of Romania. Brother Larry Leach and his wife
Carrie, through their ministry “Coats for Kids”, gave us hundreds of like-new
coats to distribute to some of the most destitute families in villages where we
have churches. Our kids and I gave out over 40 in a terribly needy community
about 45 minutes outside of Constanta. Brother Nathan Reed, his wife Teresa and
their son Jacob gave out hundreds more in a number of villages where they hold
weekly church meetings.
God has been so good to us. We
continue to have great church meetings in our little church here at the
Children’s Home. Today we had five Army and five Air Force personnel from the
American base in church with us. We thank our Heavenly Father that He has let us
have a part in His work and is always watching over and taking care of us.
In a recent service, one of the other
missionaries said that God doesn’t call us to do something for Him, but He calls
us to follow Him and see what He does. That is so true. We give Him all the
glory!
In Christ, The Turners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends in Christ,
November 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. We hope you are all doing well. We thank the Lord for the
prayers that go up on our behalf of which I am sure there are many.
When I last wrote, I told you about the dedication service that we held in Avren,
Bulgaria, which was the realization of Brother Ralph’s dream to have a church
and a printing facility in that village. All the missionary families gathered to
honor Brother Ralph and to dedicate the new building to the Lord by having a
service to praise and worship Him. It was a very good service – some tears, some
laughs – as we remembered Brother Ralph’s many years following God and then
leading us in the way we should go. Again, we want to thank everyone who either
prayed or sent in the support that was needed to complete the church.
On the 2nd of October, we held the first Turkish meeting in the new facility.
One of Brother Ralph’s oldest friends, Brother Gary Armstrong, a pastor from
Massachusetts with his wife, came to celebrate with us the birth of this new
church. Brother Gary told the Turks about working with Brother Ralph more than
40 years ago and reminded us all of how our faithfulness is rewarded with much
fruit. God has surely been faithful to us and has blessed us beyond measure. One
of our Turkish national pastors, Brother Alish, who was saved under Brother
Ralph’s preaching many years ago, also preached. We had a great meeting and are
excited about what the Lord will do in Avren.
Several weeks ago, a young mother who comes occasionally to the Romanian church
I lead, came to the meeting and asked us to pray for her child. I had known this
woman as a beggar who only came to the church when she wanted to ask me for
money. I rarely gave her anything, not believing the stories she would tell
about why she needed money. This time something was different. She didn’t ask
for money, she asked for prayer. Seems her 1 year-old son, David, had been born
with a place in his spine that leaked spinal fluid. There was an open place on
his back where this fluid seeped out constantly and never healed. She had been
told by a doctor that if the child did not have an operation to close up the
place on his spine, he would likely soon be paralyzed from that point down. We
prayed for her child in the service. She told me after the service she had been
getting money together to have the operation done but was afraid it would be too
late. I had a little money with me and I gave her what would be about enough for
the train trip to Bucharest where there operation would be done.
Last week at the Romanian meeting she was there again…this time testifying about
how the Lord had saved her child. Apparently, when she got to the hospital in
Bucharest and checked in, she was told that the operation would cost her twice
what she had understood. She said she broke down crying in the room knowing she
must return to Constanta with her child not having the operation. She said a
woman staying with her own child in the same room had overheard her conversation
with the doctor and told her that they needed to pray. She said this woman
prayed with her in the hospital room. As she was on her way out of the hospital
a nurse stopped her and told her the doctor would do the operation for the
amount of money she had. The operation was very successful and her little boy
was with her at our meeting. She was beaming as she testified about how the Lord
had helped her. I was reminded how the lame beggar went into the temple leaping
and praising God. I am glad this woman saw the Lord has something much better
than silver and gold! I thank Him for answering our prayers, strengthening the
church and putting faith in the heart of this woman. As always, we thank you for
remembering us in your prayers.
In Christ, The Turners
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends in
Christ, September 2018
Greetings in the name of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. So much has happened since I last wrote that I hardly know
where to begin. We have had everything from wonderful experiences seeing the
Lord work miracles in the lives of those around us to heartbreaking loss that
shook us to our foundations.
We have a ‘campmeeting’ here at the
Children’s Home three times a year. All the missionaries in our group, both in
Romania and Bulgaria, meet for five days of preaching, praying and fellowship.
We always hope to see the Lord really move in and do great things. In our
meeting in March, He certainly did! Three of our children (two in the Home and
one biological) got saved! Johnny 9, Kelebek 10 and Creed 8. Sometimes, when
young children get saved, you might wonder “Did they really get it? Did they
really understand?” In the months since the campmeeting, it has been evident
that they REALLY got it. They pray every night and almost always ask the Lord to
save the other kids that are still lost. We recently had a mission group from
Texas visit. After they had been here only a little while, one of the men said
“I really like this place. I wasn’t here five minutes and your boy (Johnny)
asked me if I was saved!” The salvation of our children is something that we
have certainly prayed much about and we want to thank and glorify our Savior,
Jesus Christ that He would do that for us.
In June, we had the bittersweet home
going of Dara’s dad, Ralph Cheatwood. He served as a foreign missionary for over
40 years before going to take up residence in his eternal home. Brother Ralph
was the driving force behind the great work that we are part of here in Romania
and Bulgaria. We learned so much from watching him seek the Lord and not being
afraid to follow wherever that might lead. He blazed the trail that we and the
other families involved with us are following and, by God’s grace, will continue
on. About reaching the Turks he said, “Love them and learn their language”. He
preached to them in Turkish and translated the Bible for them into the Turkish
language. We certainly miss him now. There were, however, already many
believers, whom he called his ‘crowns’, who had gone ahead and were waiting for
him as he entered that Eternal City. Even our own little Noah Cross was waiting
for his Granddad. We thank the Lord for Brother Ralph’s leadership and example
for us to follow as we continue on in this work.
Before Brother Ralph became ill, he
bought an old house with a small cheese factory attached. He had begun working
on converting it into a church and facility to print and bind Bibles and
hymnbooks. In his last weeks, Brother Ralph asked us to finish this project for
him after his passing. We, along with the other missionaries, raised the money
and the work was done this summer on the building. On Sept. 23rd, we had a
wonderful dedication service in the new building with all the missionary
families attending. The church is finished and we have made much progress on the
other parts of the building. This is a fitting monument for a remembrance of
Brother Ralph. He was all about the local church and getting God’s Word out to
the people. We praise the Lord we were able to see this done and thank all of
you who offered prayers and financial support that this vision could be
realized.
Thanks to all of you for your
continued support of our family and this work. May the Lord bless you richly.
In Christ, The Turners
----------------------------------------------
Dear Friends in Christ,
January 2018
Greetings in the name of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I hope all of you enjoyed the holiday season. Dara
and I have been saying that it seems like this has been one of the best holidays
ever for us. After our Sunday service on New Year’s Eve, I think we can say for
sure it is the best. I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.
First of all, I want to thank
everyone who sent money and gifts for all of our kids for Christmas. It could
not have worked out more perfectly. We were able to get the children all we had
hoped for and even more. More importantly, we had several family prayer meetings
during the time the kids have been out of school and it felt like we really drew
together around Christ. It’s hard to explain-- you want your children to enjoy
the presents and yet you want there to be a spirit of thankfulness and worship
toward Jesus Christ and the salvation we have through Him – the most important
gift! This year, more than any I can remember, we have had that spirit here in
our Home. I want to thank the Lord for that…it really has been wonderful!
Our fellow missionaries working
in Bulgaria, Larry and Carrie Leach, once again raised money and bought winter
coats for the children in one of our poorest villages. Not long before Christmas
they brought the coats; and we took most of our kids with us out to this village
to fit every child (over 30 in total) with a beautiful warm coat, each with a
pair of socks in the pocket. Our kids took turns fitting a coat to a village
child, many of whom came with no coat at all, even though the weather was quite
cold. The village children were beaming proudly when we left and our kids were
warmed with that feeling that comes from being able to show Christ’s love to
someone else.
We were able to pray for two
families we know who each lost a newborn child right around Christmas. Of
course, learning of these terrible losses brought back many of the emotions we
felt losing our own Noah Cross. We missed having him here with us for Christmas.
But, thank the Lord, we were also reminded of that wonderful flood of grace that
God poured out on us during that time, now 5 ½ years ago. All of our children
here at the Home went through that loss with us and we were all able to pray
together for these families in a way that many will never know. Paul said to the
Romans “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” I think our short
separation from Noah Cross will not compare to the glory we will share together
with him for an eternity in Heaven.
Over the last several weeks we
have had some really good church services, and it seemed the Lord had been
stirring our hearts. On several occasions over these weeks we had young military
men and women visit for the first time. We heard that 6 or 7 would be coming to
church on Sunday the 31st, the last day of the year. Everyone was feeling the
Lord might do something great. My mother-in-law, Sandy, said she prayed the
night before that someone would be saved. One of the military men who is a
Christian and has been coming regularly told me when he got here on Sunday
morning that he believed someone would be saved. We had a very good service. The
Lord really blessed as Dara and the kids sang during the service and then
afterward when Dara gave a beautiful testimony of God’s goodness to all of us.
After the service, a few of us
were able to sit down with two of the young men who came and discuss salvation.
One of the men, who had been saved years before, was afraid he had drifted so
far that he had lost his salvation. We were able to show him from the Bible that
it is God, not he himself, who is the keeper of his soul. He now has the Lord’s
full assurance of his salvation and he made a commitment to get back to that
walk with the Lord that had been missing in his life for so long.
The other young man had not
been saved; but as we talked with him and prayed with him, he asked the Lord to
save him and to come into his heart and life. Praise the Lord!! This was the
answer for which we had been praying. Afterward, we sat around singing hymns and
testifying until late in the evening. Someone said to this young soldier,
“Aren’t you excited the Lord did this for you today?”, it being New Year’s Eve.
He said “I am more excited for every day in the next year!” We thank the Lord
for saving this young man and for everything He let us have a part in – not just
on that day but every day. We are certainly going into the New Year with a
renewed excitement for serving our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ.
We pray a blessed new year for
each of you. Thank you again for all your prayers and support.
In Christ, The
Turners
"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my
servant be..." John 12:26
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Dear Friends in Christ, August/September 2017
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are coming to the
end of a very busy summer and (at least most of the kids) are dreading the start
of a new school year. Six of our Home kids are starting high school this year
and our oldest, Meli, is in her last year of vocational school. It doesn’t seem
that long ago when we were feeding them all in a row of high chairs. When we
stop to think about where they came from and the odds that all of them, maybe
any of them, would make it to high school, we have to thank the Lord. More
importantly, they have grown up in a home where Jesus Christ is at the center of
all we do. They know God and have seen His hand on their lives and on our family
and work. Many of them have already been saved and baptized. They are all
becoming young men and women that reflect Jesus Christ’s presence in their lives
and we could not be more proud.
Today we were visited by some of the chaplain team serving at the nearby
American military base. Dara served them lunch and then we spent some time
making plans for groups of the incoming soldiers to come out and be involved at
the Home. Before they left, we took them up to the church and Dara and the kids
sang several songs. It is always a blessing when the Lord opens the door for us
to share His love with others. Several of the soldiers are coming out to be in
church with us tomorrow.
We hosted a couple of big Turkish meetings here this summer. The missionaries in
Bulgaria brought up carloads of Turks from their churches and we gathered
believers from the Romanian Turkish meetings for three day meetings of singing,
praying, testifying and preaching. The national pastors did most of the
preaching and it is so good to see how, over the years, they have grown in God’s
Word. They are truly pastors - shepherds - that are caring for and feeding the
flock that God has given them.
UPDATE - I wasn’t able to finish this letter until after church on Sunday. We
did have a group of military join us for church, five men and one young lady.
Brother Matt Welch was also here with his family and he preached a beautiful
message about Jesus’ meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well. It was one of
those good services where you could feel the Lord moving and even though you may
not have known what it was, you felt like the Lord was doing something. After
the service, we found out that the young lady visiting accepted Jesus Christ as
her Savior. She was beaming with joy and couldn’t stop smiling. We all rejoiced
with her and gave thanks to our Lord who, praise His Name, is still seeking and
saving lost souls.
Again, we appreciate you who keep us in your prayers and who faithfully support
the work here in Romania and Bulgaria. Our prayers are with you as well.
In Christ,The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
January
2016
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is hard to believe
we are already starting a new year. It seems 2015 really flew by! We did,
however, have plenty of occasions to see the Lord work to take care of us, all
of the children, and the work He has let us have a part in for over 20 years.
Bro. Ralph Cheatwood started the Children’s Home over 14 years ago. He felt the
Lord would have us do this as an outreach of the church work we had been doing
for some years already. Several of the Home kids have been saved in the last few
years and we praise the Lord for entrusting these souls into our hands to raise.
Although we only had one more of the Home kids saved during the past year, we
have seen the Lord begin to use these children to share the Gospel in ways we
never expected.
Those of you who follow my wife’s Facebook page (Dara Shae Turner) have seen how
the Lord has blessed our children with incredible musical and singing talent.
They play and sing every Sunday in our English service and also any other chance
they get. They love the hymns, good gospel music and even some bluegrass and
Irish music. Last year, a teacher invited them to bring their instruments and
play and sing for their class. Everyone was so impressed that they were asked to
perform in each of the classes in the school and also for the director of their
school. One of their songs is ‘The Value of One’ which sings about the rejoicing
in Heaven for one sinner saved. The school English teacher was crying when they
finished and asked them for a copy of the words so she could translate it into
Romanian and give it to all the students and teachers. They have since played
and sung many times in the school and were even asked to represent the 7th grade
in the Christmas show put on for the administrators and teachers of their school
district. Several of their schoolmates and even the English teacher have
attended our church. We are so thankful the Lord has given them these talents
and that they are so willing, even eager, to use them for His glory.
We have also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with many American military
personnel stationed at the nearby base. Groups of 4 or 5 to as many as 16 or 18
have come out to spend time with the kids. We had a crowd for both Thanksgiving
and Christmas dinners. We are very happy to be a blessing to these fine men and
women who are away from their homes and families to protect our country and our
liberties. The base commander, Colonel Ellis, who has been out to the Home,
invited Bro. Ralph to preach and the kids and Dara to sing at the Veteran’s Day
program put on at the base for the soldiers. I was so proud to watch our kids up
there singing about how good God has been to them and how blessed they are. They
will probably never really know just how blessed they have been. It was
wonderful to be able so share this with so many of these servicemen and women,
many of whom rarely, if ever, attend church.
The regular church meetings are going very well. Bro. Nathan Reed and his son
Jacob work tirelessly with the national pastors to take care of the believers
the Lord has given us here in Romania. Along with our three English campmeetings
each year with all of the missionary families, we hosted several ‘Turkish
campmeetings’ here at the Home with as many as 100 Turks attending. The
missionaries and the Bulgarian national pastors brought believers from Bulgaria
and we had great times of worship and fellowship.
The Lord truly blessed us this past year. By God’s grace, we will remain
faithful to our calling and see what this New Year has in store for us. Thank
you for your continued prayer and support.
In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
August 2015
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It seems the summer
is flying by and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to share with you all the
things the Lord has been doing over here. Here in Romania, the summer is so
short that you really have to work hard not to miss it. Maybe it just seems that
way since we are from Florida.
In July we hosted a 10-day campmeeting with all of the missionary families in
our group from both Romania and Bulgaria attending. In the evening service of
the 5th day, the Holy Spirit really moved and there were many folks crying and
praising the Lord. The altar was full as several of the missionary children
sought the Lord for salvation and the rest of us praying for their eternal
souls. By the end of the night, 7 of the missionary children had received Jesus
Christ as their Savior – one of these, our own precious Missy. It was such a
blessing to feel and see the Lord working right in our midst and to have the
children testify afterward about the Lord speaking to them and wrapping His
loving arms around them.
On the Sunday at the end of the campmeeting we had a baptism service with four
being baptized, including our son in the Children’s Home, Aslan, who got saved
in November last year.
It seems we have had visitors almost non-stop since school got out in June.
Several visitors from our supporting churches spent anywhere from one day to one
week with us. Many of the American servicemen and women stationed at the nearby
base have visited. We even had an Army major who was here last year return with
his family to be with us for their vacation this summer. We are so proud of the
children and it is a blessing for us to share them with others. The children
love to sing and play the hymns and spiritual songs. It is amazing the talent
the Lord has given them and wonderful to see them using it for His glory.
After months of prayer and work, we finally received the container of building
materials we need to work toward the completion of the unfinished house here at
the Children’s Home. The Lord overcame so many obstacles in our path to make it
a reality. We appreciate all of the prayers and all of the donations that made
this possible. Up until the day we actually cleared customs and brought the
container out to the Home, we were told we may have to pay a huge amount of
customs and sales taxes. Even the lady at the Romanian shipping company who was
helping us said “you had better pray” when we were told by the officials at the
port that we would, in fact, have to pay it. However, at the last minute, the
Lord intervened as the regional customs officials overruled and said we would be
exempt from these taxes. This had to have been the Lord’s intercession to make
these officials go against their colleagues and even the letter of their own law
to help us. We are glad we can declare our God’s goodness and testify that He is
indeed in control.
We praise the Lord and thank Him for all He is doing, especially the saving of
our children. Thanks to all of you for your continued prayer....we truly
appreciate it.
In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
December 2014/January 2015
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I started out trying
to write this letter right after Christmas. I can’t believe it is now the end of
January and I am just getting it out. We have been so busy, but I do want to let
you folks know what has been going on.
We had a wonderful couple of days celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is our tradition to open presents with the Home kids on Christmas Eve
morning and then have our big Christmas meal at the Home in the afternoon. The
kids were thrilled with their gifts. We are so blessed to have brothers and
sisters in Christ who are faithful to send toys and clothes to our kids and give
them a day as special as any child could hope for. These are children who, but
for God’s grace, would be lucky to have any meal, much less the feast we all
enjoyed. They would have had no hope of getting new clothes and toys. But most
importantly, they know the true meaning of Christmas because we have been able
to teach them and preach to them their whole lives. Our children know we are
celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and what that means. We are surely most
blessed.
We were able to share our Christmas dinner with 10 soldiers from the US military
base as well as another missionary family from a nearby village. The soldiers
were grateful to have somewhere to go on Christmas. Several told how much they
appreciated having a ‘family’ dinner after having been away so long. After
dinner, the children sang some hymns and were able to testify about what the
Lord has been doing and how good He has been to us. It was a special time for
all of us.
In the middle of January, we had a 2-day Turkish meeting here on the Children’s
Home property in Romania. We brought people in from our churches in surrounding
towns and villages. We even had some believers come up from Bulgaria to worship
with us. Bro. Ralph was here and preached through the whole book of Colossians
over the course of the meeting. Everyone left on Sunday afternoon refreshed and
filled from the good services. Bro. Ralph left without his voice after so much
preaching!
The village meetings are going well. Please pray for one of our national
pastors, Ali. His health has been poor and he has lost a couple of the workers
that normally go with him to the village meetings. Praise the Lord, he remains
faithful. When I asked him whether he thought he would be able to continue to go
to the meetings, he said “There are still people going to hell. I have to go.”
Please pray the Lord will give him health and strength and the words to speak to
lift up Jesus Christ in these villages.
The Home kids are at the end of their first semester of school. It has been hard
on all of us! But they are doing well and the Lord has given us grace to get all
the homework done, get them back and forth to school and everything else
involved.
Once again, I can’t say enough how thankful we are to those who helped make
Christmas so wonderful for the children. Thanks also to those who continue to
faithfully support us, the Children’s Home and the work we are trying to do
here. God bless you all.
In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
August 2014
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for
the wonderful summer we have had thus far. Two weeks ago, we held a baptism in
the river near one of our churches in Dobraveno, Bulgaria. The baptism was part
of a weekend of meetings. Two carloads of the believers from here in Constanta
made the trip down to share in the joy of the 32 new believers who were baptised.
Aslan, one of the boys in the Children’s Home, got saved recently and is waiting
to be baptized with the new believers here in Romania. Lord willing, we will be
having more baptisms over the next few weeks.
Three times a year we have a campmeeting here at the Children’s Home in Romania.
All our missionary families from both Romania and Bulgaria bring their families
and spend five days of meetings and fellowship. Our most recent meeting in July
was different this time. We had services twice a day from Saturday the 12th
until Sunday the 20th – nine days! In many of the services, we were joined by
American military personnel from the nearby base who often attend our regular
Sunday morning service. Since this was our first ever 9-day meeting, we expected
to be exhausted by the end, but the Lord really helped us. It seemed we were
more refreshed, both physically and spiritually, at the end than we are after
our normal five-day meeting.
Thanks to all of you who prayed for our little church in the village of Eforie.
A few weeks ago, the mayor’s office gave the family who held the meeting in
their house a “container” to live in. This is a converted 8 ft. x 20 ft.
shipping container which has 1 door, 1 window, 1 light fixture, 1 electrical
outlet and an electric heating unit. Several of the other families who either
came to the church or sent their children to eat at the feeding center were also
able to move into the little ‘container village’ on the outskirts of town.
Praise the Lord, we should be able to continue to meet with them weekly and,
hopefully, continue to feed these poor families as well.
All of our kids will soon start school. We really dread the 3 hours of homework
every day! Dara helps the Home kids with their work in addition to homeschooling
our boys. Pray the Lord will help all of us.
We know that many of you, both churches and individuals, have felt the pressure
of the difficult economic times we are living in today. For us on the field in
Romania, it has been felt even more so. Even with the faithful supporters who
have sustained us over these 22 years, as the work has grown; it has been
increasingly harder to keep up with the rising costs each month. We understand
that many may be stretched to their limit trying to take care of their own
obligations as well as helping others like us. We do, however, want to make a
plea to anyone who might be able to begin supporting the work monthly or
increase their support. Please read the enclosed update of the Home here in
Romania and pray about helping us meet the needs of the children in the Home as
well as the churches and feeding centers we are involved in here in Romania.
In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
June 2014
Greetings in the name of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. We are all well here and the work continues on. We
appreciate all of your prayers and support. The Lord has truly blessed us and
we do not want to miss the opportunity to thank Him and praise Him for being so
good to us.
The Home kids finally got out of school
for the summer. They usually go until June 15th, but this year they
had to make up for a week they took off for snow in January. We ended up going
to the 19th. The kids did very well. I could not begin to guess the
number of hours Dara and I worked on homework with them over the year. It did
pay off, however. All of the kids ‘passed’ and two actually got awards for
having grade averages over 9.0 (out of 10). We are proud of all of them.
We are expecting a group of soldiers
from the American military base this afternoon. They want to come out to the
Home and put a fresh coat of stain on our wood fence, but we have had so much
rain lately that it would not soak it up. So they will come out and play with
the kids today. We have been blessed to have them visit so often. The kids
really enjoy their visits and we have had many opportunities to share the Gospel
with these servicemen and women.
Please pray for our church meeting in
Eforie, a small town about 30 minutes south of here. This is the place where,
back in the fall, the city bulldozed the neighborhood of shacks where we were
having a meeting and feeding the poor children. The city did allow these
families to stay the winter in a condemned building and we were able to help
with coats, shoes and food for the children. In spite of the hardships, the Lord
held the meeting together. I understand that now the city wants these families
out of the building and soon they will be forced to leave. I am told that some
will be moved to some converted shipping containers on the edge of town. These
containers are about 8 feet by 20 feet with a door, a window, one light fixture
and one electrical outlet. I’m sure the ones fortunate enough to be given a
container will have to share the space between 5 or 6 members of their extended
family. Pray the families in our church will not be scattered and will have a
place where they can be comfortable and safe and where we can continue to gather
them together and preach the Gospel.
There has been more rain this spring in
Southeast Romania and Northeast Bulgaria than most can remember. The end of
last week was filled with particularly heavy rain storms. In Varna, Bulgaria,
over the weekend, there was a devastating flash flood in a Turkish Gypsy
neighborhood where we have had a church for around 20 years. One of our
national pastors who was there to help said the water was 15 or 20 feet deep as
it came through taking houses, cars, and anything else in its path. He said 12
Turkish people lost their lives and as many as 50 altogether including
Bulgarians. Our church is up the hill a little from the worst hit area and,
Praise the Lord, as far as we know now, there are no church members among the
dead. Many in the neighborhood lost their homes and all their possessions.
Please pray for the families of this
neighborhood as they cope with the loss of loved ones, homes and everything they
own. Pray our church and its people can be a lighthouse in this storm offering
hope though Jesus Christ and a shelter of grace and peace in the aftermath of
this tragedy.
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Dear Friends in Christ,
April 2014
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We want to thank Him and give Him the praise, honor, and glory for all He has
done and continues to do for us.
The preaching of the Gospel in the village meetings
continues to be the bedrock of all the work over here. These churches are
lighthouses of hope in this cold, dark day we live in. Praise the Lord, we are
still seeing lost souls finding salvation through Jesus Christ, the light of the
world. They come to these meetings praising Him who has called them out of
darkness into His marvelous light.
The second week of April, we had a 3-day Turkish meeting
here at the Children’s Home in Romania. Over 100 former Moslem Turks, now
believers in Jesus Christ, worshipped all day and long into the night. The
majority came up from the churches in Bulgaria along with our American
missionaries and national pastors who take care of them. There were times
in the meeting when, for hours at a time, one after another would stand and
testify. No one wanted the meeting to end without having a chance to tell
about how the Lord had saved them, or how He had blessed them, or how He had
answered one prayer or another. As this was just a week before Easter,
many who preached spoke about the glorious resurrection of our Savior and many
testified of the Lamb who had risen in their own hearts. It was a
wonderful time of worship and fellowship, and the churches are strengthened as
these folks go back to their villages, filled with rekindled joy and a renewed
desire to see their brothers, sisters, and neighbors saved.
There is an American military base about 25 minutes from
us outside of Constanta. Over the last several years, between the
downsizing of some other European bases and with the increased tensions in the
region, it has grown considerably. In recent weeks, we have had several
servicemen and women visiting the Home and some attending our church service on
Sunday at the Children’s Home. After church, we serve everyone who attends
a home-cooked meal and then they usually spend hours playing with all the kids.
I met with the Protestant chaplain last week and he wants to try and get regular
groups of soldiers coming each week to our church. He said he really felt
love here and cannot imagine a place he would rather his men and women attend.
Many of those who were here expressed that they were truly blessed by our
service. One soldier from a large church in Texas, said our 16 kids
singing together sounds better than the 50-strong youth choir back at his home
church.
The Lord seems to have opened the door to another ministry
that we can share in. When we started the Children’s Home more than 12
years ago, we saw it as just an outreach of our mission here to preach the
Gospel. We have been faithful to raise these children in our little church
and to try with our whole hearts to lift up Christ when we get together.
Now we are seeing God use our children and our church to reach these men and
women, some of whom, we understand, have never been to church. For this we
are thankful beyond words. Please pray with us that the Lord will send in the
servicemen and women that need to be here and that we will be able to share
Christ’s love with them and preach His gospel with boldness.
In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
January 2014
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we enter into
the new year, we can be encouraged looking back at how the Lord continually
cares for us, provides for us, and even, unworthy as we are, blesses us daily.
If the coming year will be anything like the last, we have much to be excited
about.
As I mentioned in our last letter, in addition to the many new Turkish believers
who accepted Jesus Christ and professed their faith through baptism, we saw
several children in the Children’s Home saved and baptized, including our oldest
son, Grayson. For us, to see God reach down and rescue people whom we love and
pray for makes it all worthwhile.
Grayson, who is 16, has been studying the Turkish language and shows a genuine
interest in the work. We couldn’t be happier and pray the Lord will direct him
as he decides the course for his life. Please help us pray for him.
In the fall, Bro. Ralph got on his heart for us to look at ways to more involve
pastors and their churches in the work here in Romania and Bulgaria. He
believes many pastors and/or missions directors would be interested to visit us
and see the work here in conjunction with a trip to Turkey to visit the seven
churches of Revelation and other Biblical sites. Bro Ralph, Grayson and I,
along with several of our other missionaries, made survey trips driving from
Bulgaria into Turkey to visit these sites and to learn more about putting
together a ‘missionary journey’.
We really enjoyed these trips. Some of these places are spectacular - Ephesus,
Sardis, Pergamos – and are rich in both Biblical and ancient world history. We
also visited sites like Troy and Assos which are mentioned as places that Paul
visited in his travels. Having our own vehicles, speaking the Turkish language,
and not being on someone else’s timetable, we were able to make the trips
uniquely personal. We spent time where we wanted, sometimes preferring to foray
into the Turkish countryside rather than visit a popular tourist spot. We found
many hotels and restaurants with true Turkish flavor and hospitality that is
found no where else. On our way home, we stopped off in Istanbul where
Biblical, Islamic, and world histories have been made for thousands of years.
Overall, it was a great blessing to see and be in the places where Paul and many
of the apostles actually walked and stayed.
We are putting together information in hope that we may host several trips a
year to see these sites in Turkey. At the same time, we would like visitors to
see our work here in Bulgaria and Romania -- surely the largest movement among
Islamic Turks in the world. We are also proud of our Children’s Home in
Romania. The Children’s Home church has become the hub of all the work over
here and the other missionaries in our group come many times a year and have
their place in the church.
I will write more soon regarding these trips. Please pray with us about these
‘missionary journeys’…we don’t want to miss this if the Lord is opening a door
for all of us.
Please pray for our daughter Shalyn and our granddaughter Aria. They are back
in the States and it weighs heavy on us. We miss them and ask the Lord to
protect, direct and care for them.
This month we had 2 vehicles break down (not worth the cost of repairing) and
didn’t know how we were going to make due. In the course of a weekend we were
able to sell the broken cars and with the help of some dear saints of God, we
have been able to order a new 7-seat vehicle to replace these others. God
delivers again! We thank Him and those precious friends He used to fulfill our
great need.
Thank you for your prayers and continuing support. We love and appreciate you
all. In Christ, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
March 2013
Greetings in the name of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As always, we want to thank God for allowing us
to be here in Romania to share the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ and to show
His goodness by loving and helping His children.
We
thought we had escaped with quite a mild winter this year. It was starting to
warm up and even some of the trees were budding out. We were mistaken.
Yesterday the wind blew all day at about 30 miles per hour and the temperature
dropped down to 17 degrees. We are expecting snow over the next few days.
After that (fingers crossed), it is supposed to warm up again and maybe we can
enjoy the beginning of spring.
In spite of the gloomy weather,
our spirits are high and we are rejoicing. Last week, we held the campmeeting
we host at the Children’s Home in Romania three times a year. The missionary
families from Bulgaria join us for 5 days of preaching, fellowship and, of
course, eating. During the Thursday evening service, the Lord really moved in
and our oldest son, Grayson, was saved along with Niki and Sheker, two of the
girls in the Children’s Home. We could not be more blessed and happy to have
the Lord do this for us. We are fortunate to be in a work where we see many
coming to know the Lord; but, when it happens in our own house it is especially
sweet.
Lord willing, these three will
join our other new believers in baptism this summer. Last summer, Shalyn, our
oldest daughter, and Meli, the oldest girl in the Home, were baptized along with
about 170 other new believers.
All of the meetings are going
well. We are happy that door is still open for us to preach the Gospel among
the Turks in Romania and Bulgaria and they continue to believe. It still amazes
us that Moslems are hearing about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and are opening
their hearts, through faith, to receive His salvation. The Gospel of Christ is
truly “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…”.
We thank all of you who
continue to faithfully support and pray for the work. It is increasingly
difficult to take care of everything with the rising costs here. I have to
remind myself that this is God’s work, these are His children and He will
provide, as He always has, everything we need. All I have to do is look at how
He is saving our children and I realize he knows exactly what He is doing.
We
thank the Lord so much for saving our children and we give Him all the glory!
In
Christ, The Turners
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The Turners (one of our missionaries
in Romania) recently had their newborn infant called home to be with the Lord -
Please click on the link to read about the journey with
Noah Cross Turner
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Dear Friends in
Christ,
December 2012
Greetings in the
name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we come to the end of another
year, we want to thank the Lord, once again, for His goodness and grace which
have sustained us without fail. We can hardly believe we have now been on the
field over 20 years. It has gone by so fast and we realize how little time we
really have to do all the things we want.
Of all our years on
the field, this year we have surely seen more “ups and downs” than in any
other. On May 29th, the Lord took home our little boy, Noah Cross
Turner, only 8 days after his birth. Although this was certainly the low point
in our lives, we were able to draw closer to the Lord than we had ever been and
had the privilege of knowing His comfort and grace in ways we never imagined.
We cherish our short time with Noah Cross and the testimony we now have of God’s
touch on our lives and those around us.
Our daughter,
Shalyn, gave us our first grandchild in June. Aria Rhay Turner is so sweet and
beautiful and has brought so much joy to our lives in the months since her
arrival.
Shortly after
Aria’s birth, Shalyn got saved and added to our joy. Our whole family went down
to Bulgaria where Bro. Ralph was holding a baptism for the new believers in the
Turkish churches. Bro. Ralph and I, grandfather and father, baptized Shalyn at
a beautiful spot in the little river just below the Turkish church. A few weeks
before, I took Meli, our oldest girl in the Children’s Home, down to be baptized
at another of the several baptisms held this year. In all, I believe there were
over 150 new believers from our churches who followed the Lord in baptism this
year. We are so blessed to have a part in the work where souls are being saved
and our own children are hearing the Gospel preached and coming to know Jesus
Christ as their Savior.
Although we had a
very nice fall, the winter is upon us in full force now. There is snow on the
ground and the temperatures have been well below freezing. Yesterday, I went to
a village where we have a church in a very poor Turkish section. I took candy
and stuffed animals to about 25 children who normally come to the meeting and
who we feed through the feeding center there. Many of them came to the church
without coats, hats or gloves. Last week, the lady of the house where we meet
told us her young daughter said, “Mommy, I heard from some of the other children
that Santa Claus is coming to bring us candy and presents”. The woman had no
money for presents, not even for piece of candy or two. She told her daughter,
“No, honey, Santa Claus only comes to the rich kids. He doesn’t come to us
because we are too poor”. Before I gave the candy and gifts out to the kids, I
was able to tell them that even though they are poor, Jesus loves them just as
much as the other kids and He wanted me to bring them these things. I told them
they have been given an even better gift - God loves them so much, even the poor
kids, that He gave His own Son so they could go to Heaven and have eternal
life. I can not express how wonderful the feeling is to be able to show God’s
love to these poor children who feel so unloved and neglected.
The meetings
continue to go well. More and more are coming to know the Lord and the meetings
are filled with testimonies of God’s blessings and goodness, even in these hard
times.
This year has been
a little tough financially for us as prices continue to rise. I am sure many of
you have also felt the strain of the economic conditions. Dara and I want to
thank all of you who have been faithful to support the work, even though it
surely has been a sacrifice. We greatly appreciate it and the opportunity to
continue to serve and share the Gospel.
Thank your for your
prayers. In Christ, The Turners
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Dear
Friends in Christ,
August/September 2012
Greetings
in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. With Fall quickly approaching,
we are truly thankful for all the Lord has done for us this Summer.
Last
month, our daughter Shalyn got saved. She wants to be baptized, so we will go
down next week to the baptism being held in Bulgaria for several of the Turkish
churches there. When I went down for a baptism at the beginning of July, there
were almost 70 new believers who followed the Lord in baptism that day. We were
also able get a passport for Meli, the oldest girl in the Children’s Home, so
that she can go with us to Bulgaria and be baptized as well. We are truly
thankful we are seeing the Lord continue to touch hearts and save sinners,
especially when they are our own children!
Again,
Dara and I want to thank you for your prayers for our family since our baby,
Noah Cross, went to be with the Lord on May 29th. We have seen the
grace and comfort of the Lord multiplied many times over for us and we are truly
thankful and give Him the glory for all He has done.
Having
seen the Lord work in so many ways during Noah’s short life and the time since,
Dara and I do not want to let the remembrance of the things God did for us fade
into a distant memory. We would like to keep alive the memory of Noah Cross as
a tribute to the faithfulness of God’s promise that we would not be left alone,
but that He would send the Comforter to abide with us.
Bro. Ralph
suggested we create a fund for feeding poor children through one of our village
churches. We already have many places in both Bulgaria and Romania where we do
this, but this one would be established in Noah’s name that we could thank and
glorify God from now on. Each week we buy groceries and take them to a family
in the church who is willing, each day, to prepare a hot meal for the poor
children in the area. The children sing hymns and pray before having, for many,
the only meal they will have that day. We have seen so many children from these
church feeding centers grow up to be believers understanding that God loves them
and cares for them. Showing these children the love of Christ, as we preach the
Gospel in their village, has consequences that are eternal.
The “Noah
Cross Fund” is being established through Central Missionary Clearinghouse and we
will use all of the funds to feed poor children. I know there are many churches
and individuals who already support the feeding centers in Bulgaria and
Romania. We ask that you please not “move” any support you many already be
sending to this fund. The feeding centers we already have are equally as
important and need all the support you are sending. We thought that those who
learned about Noah Cross’ struggle through Facebook and our other
communications, and who do not currently support the feeding centers, might want
to help us remember. The Lord did so much – not only for us, but for so many
who followed and prayed for Noah and our family – that it would be a shame for
us not to use this opportunity to honor our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus
Christ.
If you
would like to support the Noah Cross Fund, please make the donation to “C.M.C.”
for “Noah Cross Fund” and send to:
Central
Missionary Clearinghouse
P.O. Box 219228
Houston, TX 77218
Thank you
and may the Lord bless you.
In His Service, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
July 2012
Greetings in the name of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. We hope you are well and enjoying all the good things
made available through His finished work.
Thank the Lord, we have been having an amazing summer so far. A little
over a week ago, I went down to a baptism service held for several of our
Turkish villages in Bulgaria. I was accompanied by five of the Turkish
pastors who work with us in Romania and several believers from the churches
here. We arrived early at the church for the late afternoon baptism.
National pastors began arriving with believers from their villages and when it
was time to go down to the nearby river, we were stunned at the number of people
who had shown up. A couple of people counted and we came up with somewhere
between 200 and 250 people.
The river was very high and the current was strong. It looked almost like
whitewater rapids. I wasn’t sure we would even be able to attempt the
baptism. None of the new believers, however, were to be denied. They
began to enter the river one after another following the Lord in believer’s
baptism. I had no idea how many were planning to be baptized and was
astounded as eventually 68 souls left the safety of the shore to brave the
raging water. Many of these Turks had never even been swimming and it was
obvious they were terrified. God gave them grace and I think many of them
felt when they came back up out of the water that they had “really” been risen
to new life. Many could only stand there waving their hands and praising
the Lord as the men who were in the water helping were trying to pull them back
to the shore. I think we could have let them float down the river and they
wouldn’t have cared. They were getting a glimpse of the other shore!
This past week, the missionary families from Bulgaria came up to the Children’s
Home in Romania to have campmeeting with us. Altogether there were about
50 of us including children. We had great services from Wednesday until
Sunday. On Friday afternoon, our daughter Shalyn got saved. This is
of course an answer to prayer that began before she was even born. Shalyn
gave birth to our first grandchild, Aria, a little over a month ago. As
she was sitting in the service, praying the Lord would one day save her little
baby, the Holy Spirit spoke to her heart and Shay asked Him to save her.
We can’t thank the Lord enough for saving our ‘baby’ girl and we give Him all
the glory and praise!
Lately, time and time again, we have been left speechless seeing the Lord’s hand
in our lives and in the lives of those around us. We are truly blessed to
have churches, our English church at the Home and the national churches, where
God is worshipped in spirit and in truth and His presence can be felt as we
gather together.
Thank you again to those of you who have kept us in your prayers since our son,
Noah Cross, went to be with the Lord. The Comforter has truly been close
and His grace and comfort have been abundant. God has been so good to us
throughout this time and we thank Him for caring for Noah Cross until we are
reunited.
In His Service, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
May 2012
Greetings to all of you in the
name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have been having a very busy spring
so far. The Lord has blessed and we have really seen His hand in so many things.
Before this month is over, praise
the Lord, Dara should give birth to our 6th child. After one girl and 4 boys in
a row, we thought maybe this time we would have another girl. Seems it is not to
be….the ultrasound confirmed boy number 5! We are thankful and happy and Dara is
doing well, although getting a little uncomfortable. We haven’t been able to
decide on a name. Hopefully we can come up with a good one before he gets here.
The meetings continue to go well.
We had a Turkish “campmeeting” here at the Children’s Home last month. The
missionaries living in Bulgaria brought up Turkish believers from their churches
and we had a good crowd of maybe 65 or 70. They stayed three days and we had
meetings on and off the whole time.
During the same week, we had
visitors from a church in New York. Three men and three women came and stayed
here for 6 days during which the men worked on the unfinished part of the
Children’s Home. We are hoping to get some rooms ready to use by the fall. The
visitors were a great blessing and got a lot of work done. They also went to
some of the Turkish meetings while they were here. They were so impressed with
how thankful the Turks seemed to be in spite of the hard life they have here on
this earth. Many of the Turkish believers testified how by coming to know Christ
as their Savior, they are now rich in joy and love and will one day have homes
in Heaven.
Last month we also had a
campmeeting with all the American missionary families coming up from Bulgaria.
It is always a great time for all of us, especially for the children who get to
spend the week with all their friends.
Our children have finished their
homeschooling for the year. The Home kids have to go until June 22nd. Shalyn,
our oldest, graduates from high school this month. We are so proud of her!
Between teaching our younger kids and helping the Home kids with their homework
every day, Dara had to let Shalyn work mostly on her own. Shalyn worked hard and
did a great job. We are happy she has chosen to stay here on the field with us.
She is a great help and a wonderful ‘big sister’ to the children in the Home.
Thank you all for your prayers and
continued support of the work here. May the Lord bless you all.
In His Service, The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
August/September 2011
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am glad to be able
to write and tell you about the great things the Lord continues to do here in
the work.
The last week of August we had our first baptisms of the year. First, Bro. Ralph
had a meeting in Bulgaria to baptize new believers from several villages. He
invited the national pastors from Romania to come and share in the joy of seeing
these converted Moslems follow the Lord. There were 28 baptized at the river
near the church. After the baptism, the meeting started again and went until
after 1:00 in the morning. A few days later, we had a baptism here
in Romania for the new believers in the Romanian village churches. We met at a
beautiful spot on the Danube River. Bro. Ralph, who had come up from Bulgaria
with some of the American missionaries and Bulgarian national pastors, preached
the service before 20 souls gave testimony of their faith through baptism. We
rejoice in the Lord to see these folks who have risen to new life with Him. If
the good weather holds out, we hope to have services to baptize the many new
believers in other villages.
A couple of months ago, Dara and I met some American servicemen in the Navy
Construction Battalion who were stationed at the military base a few miles
outside of town. We invited them to come to our English service on Sunday
morning. Usually it is just our family, the Reed family, and the Home kids. Four
men and two women came that Sunday and worshipped with us and stayed for lunch.
They then went outside and played with the kids until almost dark. They came
back every Sunday until they shipped out a few weeks ago. Before the next
Sunday, we met three Marines who came to church with 4 or 5 others. They have
been back every week since for church. Each week, one of the missionary families
has come up from Bulgaria to be in the service with us, as well.
Pray with us as this new ministry opens up to us. We have been told that in
October, over 300 men from the US Army will be here for two months. The U.S. is
using this base for training with other Eastern European militaries and will
rotate different units through here regularly. We would love to be a blessing to
these men who are away from their families and their churches in service of our
country. They seem to really enjoy being in church and also the fellowship
afterward.
Last weekend, eight of the guys brought materials out to the Home and spent 2
days building a two-story wooden play fort for the kids. They did it with their
own money using their “liberty” time off. The last two weeks, the base Chaplain
has come to the service as well. He said he would like to bring the base
commander to meet us. This could continue to grow and we really need your
prayers for our little Children’s Home church. The soldiers say they love the
home-cooked meals Dara prepares for them each week. Our desire is that the Lord
will bless in the services and their spiritual hunger can be quenched as well.
Thanks to all who sent money to buy a new vehicle for the Children’s Home. I
ordered it in May and they say it will be delivered in the next week or two. I
have been frustrated with the long wait, but it is getting here just in time for
the kids to start the new school year. The Lord’s timing is always right!
Brookside Baptist Church in Bristol, Tennessee, is getting together a container
to send us soon. We have an unfinished house attached to the Children’s Home and
Bro. Ralph believes now is the time for us to get it completed. The outside is
completely finished, including windows and roof. Only the inside remains to be
done. As the kids are getting older, we will soon need the additional space. I
sent a list of construction materials needed to the church and they are going to
fill the container and ship it. If you or your church would like to help in this
effort, please contact: Charity Baptist Mission at (423) 878-8131 or Pastor Mike
Nixon at (423) 646-1352 for items still needed.
Thank you for your support and
prayers. In His
Service, The Turners
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Dear Friends in
Christ,
January 2010
Greetings in the
precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord has been so good to
us. We see His hand every day as He works in our lives and in the lives of
those around us. Many are hearing the Gospel preached and are receiving Jesus
Christ as their Savior. Many prayers are being answered and many are getting
help that is much needed. 2009 was a great year for us and we look forward to
what the Lord will do in the coming year.
The work
continues to grow and, as the doors are opened, new meetings are being birthed.
We have 4 new meetings here in the Constanta (Romania) area alone. During
August and September, we had several special meetings where we also held
baptisms. Between the churches in Bulgaria and Romania, we had a total of 155
new believers baptized. There would have been over 200 had all those in the
farther villages been able to come in to the meetings. It is such a blessing to
us to be able to witness these people, mostly former Moslems, emerging from the
water with their hands raised thanking and praising their newfound Savior, Jesus
Christ.
The children in
the Children’s Home here in Romania are doing great in their new school. Six
have started 1st grade and Meli, the ten-year old, is in third. The
three smallest kids will not start this year. During the summer, most of the
kids started going in groups of two or three with our ‘team’ to the village
meetings. They have learned the Turkish hymns and enjoy going. Every day there
was a ‘discussion’ about who gets to go to the meeting. We are so thankful we
are able to raise these children where they can see the Lord moving and
working. We know God gave each of them to us for a reason and we cannot wait to
see what He has in store for their lives.
Our family is
doing very well. On October 30th, we welcomed our new son, Tristan
Michael Creed Turner, into our family. Dara gave birth at home (third time
now). She and Tristan came through great and continue to do well. The Lord
answered so many of our prayers regarding the birth that I cannot even retell
them all now. We just want to thank Him and give Him the glory for working
things out so miraculously and giving us the desires of our hearts.
Our other kids,
Shalyn, Grayson, Ransom and Race, are doing home school dvds and this works
great. In addition to running the Children’s Home, Dara is kept busy overseeing
our kids work and grading their papers, as well as supervising the Home kids’
homework every afternoon. It is a busy time for everyone but we are enjoying it
greatly. We are thankful the Lord has given us a spirit and closeness of one
large family with our kids and the Home kids. It is a blessing for all of us.
The past year was
somewhat difficult for us financially. The dollar is very weak against the
Romanian currency which translates to very high prices for us. Although our
support has thankfully remained stable, our costs have risen greatly. Once
again, I thank the Lord for always providing what we need when we need it.
Thanks also to
all of you for your prayers, gifts and financial support. May the Lord bless
you richly in the New Year.
In His Service,
The Turners
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Dear Friends in Christ,
February 2006
Greetings in the name of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. First of all, I want to thank God for his
ever-present, ever-sufficient grace. For the last 6 months or so, it seems we
have been plagued with one trial after another. Right before Christmas, Dara’s
sister died of cancer. Since the first of the year, we have had epidemics of
both measles and chicken pox that affected almost all of our 16 children
(including our own and those in the Children’s Home). Two of our own boys had
complications with the measles and ended up with pneumonia. In the midst of all
of this, Dara had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery due to an
acute abdominal infection. This happened on the coldest night of the year (13
below zero) and none of our vehicles would start. We had to call a taxi driver
friend from in town to come to the village where we live so we could take Dara
to the hospital. Through all of this, the Lord was nearby to offer the comfort
and peace we needed. Several times it seemed more than we could bear,
especially in the Romanian hospital where conditions were terrifying. But the
Lord was faithful, answering our prayers and seeing us through.
We have made it through the
storms. Now we can only thank and praise God for His goodness throughout these
last few months. There are certainly valleys ahead for us but we have seen
God’s hand and He has given us the faith to trust Him for the trials to come.
Throughout all of this, the
Lord has continued to bless in the meetings. We have seen believers in the
village meetings praying for us with tears in their eyes. The Lord had given
them faith for us when ours was almost exhausted. We recently had a campmeeting
in Bulgaria in the village where Bro. Ralph lives. Bro. Nathan Reed took a
van-load of believers from here to attend the meeting. Turkish believers had
come from villages all around and there were over 400 who met from
late-afternoon until daylight the next morning. Bro. Nathan said the singing,
testifying, praying and preaching was about the best he had ever been around.
These were at one time Moslem Turks who knew nothing of Jesus or the true and
living God. Now they are standing up and testifying of how Jesus died for their
sins and saved their souls from hell. We have done nothing but preach the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to them and God has performed a miracle in the hearts of
these people who most believed could not be reached.
I do have one request for
prayer. We have two vans here in Romania. One is used for bringing the workers
to and from the Children’s Home and for going to the village meetings. The
other is used for taking the food around to the feeding centers and for going to
meetings. Both have over 150,000 miles on them and we have trouble keeping them
running. If we miss just one day, there may be over 100 people who will not get
to hear the Gospel preached that day. The children are also depending on us to
bring the food so they can eat every day. It is not a small responsibility we
have to fulfill. We need your help to get these two new vans. I know God can
provide what we need. This is His work. I just ask you to pray with us
regarding these vans and to follow the Lord if He lays it on your hearts to
help.
Thanks to all of
you who have been faithful to pray for us.
In His Service,
The Turners
Dear Friends in Christ,
July/August
2003
With great joy and thanksgiving we announce the birth of our son, Race Yancy
Turner. He is perfect and Dara is doing wonderfully since the birth. We were
blessed again to have the birth in our home. This was an answer to prayer.
Ransom’s birth was such a marvelous experience for us, we asked the Lord to
allow the same with Race. It could not have been better. From start to finish
was less than an hour and a half. Race weighed 8 pounds, which is our largest
so far. We thank the Lord for blessing us with four beautiful children.
We are planning to baptize our new believers this month both in Bulgaria and
Romania. It is difficult to estimate how many there will be this year because
there will be new believers coming from most of the 93 churches. We usually
gather the believers, both old and new, from several villages at a time and have
the baptism at a lake or river in the area. The fellowship is always sweet as
we rejoice with the new believers who have received Christ and been made part of
His eternal family.
Everything is going well at our Children’s Home here in Constanta. Several of
the babies have recently had their first birthdays and Mellie, our oldest, just
turned four. The Children’s Home has become a place where the missionaries
gather to hold the babies, fellowship and sing hymns together. It is a blessing
to be able to raise these children in a home where the Spirit of the Lord is so
real and so sweet. After Race was born, hardly two days passed before Dara was
back at the Home. Pray with us that we will hold on to this spirit the Lord has
put in the Home so these babies will grow up knowing who He is and the sweetness
of His presence.
Any day now we should be receiving a container sent over by Brookside Baptist
Church in Bristol, TN. They have gathered clothes, shoes, blankets, and other
items for us to distribute to the needy for the upcoming winter. I understand
there are thousands of blankets, shirts, socks and over one thousand pair of
shoes. We thank the Lord for showing these people, for whom it seems that none
else cares, that He loves them and wants to help them. Our thanks to all of you
who sent in items to be included on the container or who have sent in money to
help.
It has been over four and a half years since our family has been back to the
States on furlough. The work has been growing so much we have not felt liberty
to leave. Although the work support is as great as it has ever been, however
probably because we haven’t been back, our personal support is lower than ever.
With a baby just born, our responsibility to the Children’s Home, the growing
number of church meetings, and our daily feeding of the poor children, it will
probably be a while before we can return. I just felt that I should make all of
those who pray for the work and our family aware of our need. The Lord has been
so good to us these 11 years on the field. We came with two suitcases and no
money but the He has never left us lacking. On the contrary, He has blessed us
beyond all we could imagine. Please pray about this need and I’m sure the Lord
will provide as He always has.
In His Service,
The Turners
"If any man
serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall
also my servant be..." John 12:26