"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be..."  John 12:26

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 1^st 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 30^th, 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

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