Isaiah 54: 10 "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace removed." Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

Positive Press

It has been a month of feeling like all hands on deck at all times, but we know this is just a season for now. We have had regular groups from Germany and Moldova coming in to help with setting up tents and delivering food and other aid.

We have had groups from S. Korea, Italy, The US, Canada and other parts of Europe coming. We have a team 24/7 stationed out in the earthquake zone and we rotate that group regularly. Many of our young men have really thrown themselves in and are out there quite often. It has been so encouraging to see all the different countries and groups coming together in unity to serve those who are needing help.

This is a long term project. While the emergency has subsided, there are still many families without a home and without access to food. We are setting up many semi permanent tents that people can live in for months at a time, until homes and cities can be rebuilt. We are thankful we are close enough to this area to be able to drive out regularly.

For many years we have been praying for some of the small villages and towns that have no witness. They are places we have never been able to go because it was too suspicious and dangerous to go to those areas without a reason. We now have a reason to regularly go into these areas and share with people.

There have been many accounts of Im*ms on social media talking about how thankful they are for the Chr*stians coming in and welcoming ch*rch groups who are bringing relief. We are praising the Father for this opportunity to have a reason to bring the love of J*sus to these people who have never heard the good news.

This has also been a season of challenges. While the 2 major earthquakes have passed, we continue to experience aftershocks. We have tremors almost daily and at least weekly we have a larger earthquake that the whole city will feel without a doubt.

Turkey has registered over 13,000 aftershocks in this past month-many of them fairly large. As a result, many people are still scared and fearful. Many people are still sleeping in their cars as they are afraid to be in their apartments in case another earthquake happens. Earlier this week, at 2:45 in the afternoon, our city experienced 4 earthquakes in close succession to each other, all registering at least 4.5 magnitude. Schools were evacuated and kids came home early.

There has been no loss of life in our city but many buildings have been damaged and will need to be demolished and rebuilt. Even this morning, we were woken up around 530am to a 4.9magnitude earthquake. (this is strong enough to rock cars and break windows-we were lucky but some business in the city were not). There were a number of buildings damaged again today.

Please pray that people would not live in fear but that they would embrace the love of the father. It is very disconcerting to go through these quakes over and over and never knowing if more will come but we trust the father for what he is doing. We want to see our friends, neighbours and others come to trust the father with their lives, no matter what might happen.

Ch*rch Update

Despite all the work and business that comes with active and ongoing relief work, the normal rhythms of life also continue. All the normal things we did before still continue. A was able to give a young man discipleship lessons this past week and he along with 2 other young people have given their hearts to the Father during this past 2 weeks. We will be baptizing one of the young men this coming Sunday. We are so thankful for these 3 who have chosen to entrust their lives to the Father. Muammer has also been extra busy and he cannot keep the pace he is at forever so please pr*y for rest for him and that he can find some balance with all the responsibilities he has.

Laundry Mat

Our Laundry Mat facility has been temporarily suspended as we have had to use that space as a warehouse to store all the aid and supplies for the earthquake. We are hoping to rent a separate facility nearby to use as a warehouse to store earthquake related things and be able to get our laundry mat up and running again. Please pray that the owner of the other space we want to rent, will allow us to rent it for the time we want. (We only want to rent it for 6 months to a year but he wants a 10 year agreement).

Family Update

We are thankful that our family and our house have all been ok. The kids are anxious about another earthquake coming and they hear many (untrue) rumours of things that people say that can be a bit overwhelming or scary. Many of their friends have lost family members, and it is easy to panic when everyone around you is crying and screaming when an earthquake happens at school.

We are thankful they have not been to scared but please pray for peace for them and their friends and teachers at school. Also please pray for me (R) as I discovered that I have bulging disks in my back and have been having back pain for a few weeks now. A has been very busy with balancing all the groups coming and going as well with regular day to day life stuff that still needs to happen. We are still trying to figure out some new healthy rhythms as we try to balance everything.

Praise

• For the new believers and the upcoming baptism.
• For the opportunities to share with some of the isolated towns and villages.
• For all of the groups that have come here to serve.
• We are thankful that all of our friends have been ok and their houses have remained intact.
• We are thankful to be part of the body serving together in unity.

Requests

• For finances to cover the costs of all the earthquake relief supplies (this is an ongoing need).
• For Peace for the people of our city and country.
• For healing for Rs back.
• For us as a family to find balance with all of the things that need attention.
• For Muammer and Nurgul also to have some rest.