Gateway Update and Prayer Requests from Turkey: May 15, 2010
ESL Program expanding: Three new ESL teachers from Northwest Arkansas arrived in Turkey today! They are now on the plane out to Sodom[1] to work with E. and meet up with “G.” our other ESL teacher from NW Arkansas! “G.” and these three are all from the same fellowship and we are grateful to them and to their answering God’s call to go and serve in an unreached land! They had a brief layover in Istanbul before heading to Sodom and they brought bags for Zacchaeus projects with them as well. Pray as we are considering sending them out in teams to “Crazy Man” province and “Thousand Lakes” province to start ESL programs and to shine as Ambassadors for Jesus Christ there. Pray for their safety, cultural adjustment, health and for a spirit of boldness and unity. I will begin to refer to this NW Arkansas ESL group as the Arkies.
Historical Kurdish meeting in May: E., K. S. and J. will be heading to another province to join with Kurdish brothers from all over the country. The goal is to see a network of Kurmanji churches started all over the country! Right now we are working on the first Kurmanji praise book and we are looking forward to meeting other like-minded Kurdish speaking brothers. Please pray for the safety of our travels, for God’s Spirit to guide us during this time, pray also for protection against forces and groups that do not want to see this take place.
Update from a small village in Syria: A Gateway Country J. has shared the Gospel in and that we plan on sending national workers to.
Recent Honor Killing in Syria: A woman’s life is worth 6 months in prison. Today I had a very saddening conversation with a Kurdish Syrian friend of mine. He told me the recent news of the latest honor killing in his village. A village where I have visited and shared the Gospel and have been praying now for over 6 years. Some question the work of missionaries and are even belligerent against those who are called to carry the message of Christ to other cultures. Some say, “they already have a religion and culture why would you want to change their way of life”. Let me explain just one example that you won’t hear on your local news about what goes on in these areas. Just this year in this small Kurdish village in Syria, a woman was caught by her husband in the very act of adultery. After much yelling and fighting he told the situation to her family. They took her outside of the village and executed her. This was done by her own family; the murderer will only serve 5-6 months as the Syrian laws look at honor killings as a necessary evil. Thus a woman’s life is worth 5-6 months jail time. On the other hand the man that was with the woman during the act of adultery is free and no one touched him. Why? Because if he would have been killed or harmed in any way that would have triggered a war between his tribe and the tribe that harmed or killed him. The woman was the scape-goat, the one that “dirtied” the family and to “cleanse” their honor she had to be eliminated. Unfortunately the majority of the village agreed with this decision.
Please pray for this village called “Tree” in Syria and that the Lord would send His laborers here.
J. from Istanbul
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[1] For those of you that are interested in why we call Sodom, Sodom J. has written a cultural article on Sodom and the depravity of the area. Respond back to this email requesting the article and he will send it.
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