Gateway/EPIC Prayer Requests from Turkey:
January 19, 2010
Peace to you all, may the Lord bless you all and give you the strength to stay firm until the end,
Beytel East begins first ESL ministry in Sodom: In December 2009 we launched a free English class as a Second language program. It has been a success! Our intern, Zurafa has been the primary teacher along with E. They have accepted poor students who could not afford to learn English from private courses. These students come faithfully to the lessons 5x per week. Many of them walk 1-2 hours just to go to the lessons as they cannot even afford public transportation!
Two testimonies from the ESL ministry:
-During a recent class the subject of Christianity came up, they began to ask E. and Zurafa questions and the English lesson got cut short. The students said, “We want to learn about Christianity this is much more interesting, we will hold off on the English lesson till tomorrow”. E. began to explain the difference between the Bible and the Qur’an and why Christians are not Muslims and why Christians believe what they believe. The first seeds of the Gospel were planted that evening.
-Each person in the class was shocked to see how quickly Kenan recovered. Kenan was able to use this opportunity to share his faith and how the Christian world is a family and they pray and help each other!
Prayer requests and needs for the ESL class:
1. Zurafa is only in the East short-term. We need others who will come and take his place. By April we need someone who is willing to come and live at Beytel East and take over teaching these lessons 5x per week. Please pray that someone will be called up to take his place and be in the East by April!
2. Pray that God would open the hearts of the students, and that many may come to know Christ through this ministry.
See pictures of the class and Zurafa in action by going to our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049039&id=1376664116&saved#/gatewayeducationalservices?ref=profile
Potential Honor Issue at Beytel East:
Kenan spoke with his mother at great length about his faith and even invited her to come to Christ. His mother and family are at a point where they must decide to accept their son and his decision, accept Christ, or attempt an honor killing of either E. Z. and or Kenan. Honor killings are very common in this country and many have been killed for much less than a change of religion. We are planning for the worst right now, but praying for the best. Please pray for the protection of our brothers out in Beytel East, pray also for a spirit of courage and joy, and not a spirit of fear. Pray that Kenan’s mother and family would have soft hearts and come to the King and the peace and salvation that He offers them.
Preparations for a Kurmanji Service:
J. from Istanbul has been working with other Kurmanji speaking brothers to prepare a worship service in their language. We have now gathered 6 Kurdish speakers that have said that would join this! Pray for this as we are looking for a good location to meet at. Pray that our first service would be Spirit filled and that this would be the seed for even a greater work. Those who are planning this with J. have told him that this will be the largest fellowship in the country. There is great excitement on their part to finally worship Christ, pray and listen to God’s word be spoken in the mother tongue.
ASET: Advancing Special Education in Turkey:
ASET is a new group whose focus is to help develop and promote special education in Turkey. You can learn more about this new Facebook group started by L. from Gateway :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=241526049239&ref=mf
A few weeks ago L. met with the academic coordinator at her school and shared the importance of developing a special education program. She was very open and had already been thinking about the idea. The wheels are turning albeit slowly! L. prepared two Individual Education Programs (IEPs) for a child with ADHD and Emotional/Behavioral Disorder. The academic coordinator approved them and the next step is to work with the guidance counselor and the classroom teachers to implement them after our school break. Pray that this develops and God allows L. to make an impact in the lives of the children at school who are in desperate need of special education services. In the first grade alone there are children with ADHD, Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, Asperger’s Syndrome, Mild Mental Retardation, and learning disabilities.
Thank you for your prayers and support:
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