Alyona’s Update

Here is an October Newsletter from Alyona, our missionary in Turkey, I received it a few days ago and would like to share it with you. It exciting to know what the Lord is doing in Turkey and how He uses Alyona for His glory. I hope you’ll enjoy this news as well as I did! Natasha

"Dear friends, Greetings to you from Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the third largest city in the world. As many of you know, for the past year I have been praying and thinking about serving in Turkey. Last December I heard of a wonderful opportunity to serve in Istanbul in a Christian school. I started to pray about this opportunity and corresponded with the school Headmaster. Meanwhile the Lord gave me a job in Moscow that led me to Turkey for a short time in June and I had a chance to see the school and meet the teachers and students before moving here. For the past few months God has been faithful in leading me here through doubt, unbelief and temptations. The hardest thing was to face the questions from both believers and unbelievers who kept asking: do they pay there well? Do they provide the airline tickets and the insurance? Do you know where you will stay? But just like a couple of years ago, when I left my career to go to a Bible college, I was confident of God's will for me. I packed my 30 kg of weight permitted by Aeroflot and flew in. The school I am teaching at is a Christian school founded 2 years ago by the Istanbul Protestant church and a British enthusiast who has been living in Istanbul for over 30 years. Registered as Turkish "School of Tomorrow" in England, the school is called The English Club here for it is not officially recognized in Turkey. Certain laws prohibit Christian or any "different" curriculum to be used for teaching to Turkish children . School education is a very important element of control for the Turkish government . Since education reforms in 1995 when mandatory school education was changed from 5 years to 9 it had become an organization with uniform, strict discipline and a special emphasis on patriotism which often includes a message of how evil and wrong Christianity is. The English Club is a unique educational institution. Along with good education in English based on ACE curriculum it provides a safe environment for the children of Christian parents and Christian workers here. Although Turkey is not as strictly Islamic country as, for example, Iran once you step out of your home you are bombarded with Islamic ideology. The Club is a place where kids are nurtured and taught the truth about God and Bible, good attitudes and manners. Our Turkish students ( there are also children of the Christian workers from Korea and Romania ) have to start Turkish school at the age of 7 , therefore, after 2 years of pre-school at the Club, they attend both schools doing twice as much work as their Muslim classmates but by God's grace they manage to be the best students in their Turkish schools. There are 6 teachers at the Club and just like our students we come from different countries: US,England,and, surprisingly, Peru and Russia! To keep the cost of the English club affordable ( students only have to pay a small fee to help with the rent) all of the teachers are volunteers and usually come to serve for one year. Our constant prayer is for more stability and also for another English Club on the European side of the city since some children have to travel 1,5 hours to get to the Club. Having lived here for 1,5 months I begin to realize the importance of Christian education here. Every day I talk to different people: Christians, Muslims, atheists. Also, I talk to my Turkish flatmate who has been going to church for 2 years yet can't trust the Lord with all her heart, and I understand that their doubt and antagonism to Christianity has a deep root that goes back to their childhood where everything they heard about God was that He is there to punish you for the wrong doings and does not care for you once you are outside of the mosque. The children at the English Club have Christian parents but they still live in Turkey, watch Turkish TV and visit their Muslim relatives. They need to be fed spiritually and prayed for more than any other children. They are the future of the Turkish church and the hope of all the foreign workers here who, like our pastor from Spain, have been struggling through visa process for 24 years praying for the Turkish Christian leaders to rise and witness to their nation about the living and loving God who died for them.
Please pray for:
*safety of the Club ( after the murders last year an alarm system has been installed but we know that Lord is our shield)
*my Turkish friends Osman and Arzu who I can call open minded atheists, Arzu even came to church twice
*healing of my little student Connie who broke her key bones yesterday and will not come to school for a few weeks
*my language studies : time and finances *financial provision for my rent
*spiritual and physical health

Thank you for reading my newsletter and for your prayer support. Please pray.. we need it here. If you would like to support the school or the teachers please contact Beryl Simsek beryl11148@gmail.com or Rosa Orriols romaorma@hotmail.com In Christ Alyona "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers" 1Pete 3:12"

Mira’s page

Dear friends and family I would like to introduce a new addition to our blog – it is Mira’s page. As some of you already know from our previous posts that Mira is a Jews for Jesus staff servant and she is writing monthly reports and updates on her ministry in Moscow. If you are interested and want to know about this ministry, please follow this link, which you will also find in the sidebar of this page.
We will try to keep Mira’s page as up to date as possible. I hope you’ll enjoy reading and keep Mira’s and Jews for Jesus ministry in your prayers.
May the Lord bless you as you read. Natasha

Fall is here

We are having a beautiful fall here in Moscow.

SFM update

Spiritual Freedom update: SFM ministry here in Moscow enrolls inmates into a Bible correspondence courses (see link) in the month of October SFM received 431 new student enrollments. 1019 students continued their studies. 1450 courses were mailed out in the month of October and 1249 courses were graded. 580 personal letters of encouragement were sent to the students. Every letter received from the prisons is personally responded to. This ministry for over 15 years has reached out to 100,000‘s of prisoners. The last year has been a pretty bumpy road for the ministry but God continue to show His faithfulness to SFM. Please pray for the future work of SFM that all needs will be met, and for more and more new requests to enroll in the Bible correspondence courses. And also pray for the staff and for Alexey the director for wisdom to lead SFM.

God's word will be preached to the ends of the earth

Geno, whom many of you know, is the leader of a fellowship in the prison in the Arkhangelsk region in far north Russia. We recently sent Geno an MP3 player and Pastor Chucks MP3 teaching on the New Testament translated in Russian. Geno asked if we would pray to see if the teachings could be aired on the prison radio station inside the prison that reaches about 800 inmates. Well, less than 2 weeks later Pastor Chuck's Bible teaching were being aired 3 times a week. It caused quite a stir with the Moslem and the Hare Krishna’s wanting equal time. Geno said that several guys were trying to sabotage the speakers in the prison yard. Please pray for the teaching to be aired 3 times if not more a week. It is a real miracle that the teaching are being played. Also the fellowship received a new brother in Christ, Mikale (in the middle) Sergey on the right shared with Mikale who is from the same city Sergey is from. (Picture: Geno is on the left)

The celebration of new birth

In 1977 over 200,000 Russian Jews immigrated to Israel. In 1988 to 1993 over 600,000 Russian Jewish immigrated to Israel. But many more Russian Jews remained in Russia. Here in Moscow, Jews for Jesus have had seen many of them to come to know Jesus Christ..

During one recent street outreach many Jews received Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Recently Jews for Jesus held a celebration for those who made decisions to follow Christ. Many more attended that had not made a decision. It was an evening filled with songs and teachings from the Bible. Please pray for the work of Jews for Jesus here in Moscow. God is doing a good work among the Russian Jews' community here in Moscow. Please pray for Max, Mira and Ilya - all are on the JFJ staff.