Doug & Gwen Update - April 2006

Thanks to all who have kept praying.  

How are we doing? Good question. Living as a foreigner in a megacity, bringing up three active children, with some learning problems, trying to keep down part-time jobs, leading a church of very young believers in a country where to stand for Jesus is to risk much, looking after people from all corners of the world who’ve come to serve here…it can have its stresses.

I was encouraged recently reading in Isaiah 41:18-20, where the Lord promises to bring water to barren places. How we need to remember this in our own lives when we go through spiritually dry times, and also as we work in spiritually dry countries – this can be Turkey, or it can be our home countries too. Anyway what struck me particularly was the fact that the Lord promised to place trees in the desert – long lasting plants which take root, and change the soil and the climate. When we look at the desert we think “nothing could grow here, far less a forest of trees”. But God plants trees, makes forests, so that the wasteland is no longer waste. When we see this we will know that it is the Lord who has done it.

Keeping Quiet…

One of the hardest situations we often face is people wanting to keep quiet about their faith. We have mentioned many times about how hard it can be for believers in Turkey to walk with the Lord, but still we want to see them opening up and telling others of their faith, even knowing the cost of doing so. But often they so prefer to stay silent. Maybe for some of us

A few months ago a man (“AO”) called the Bible correspondence course office, received a New Testament, visited the church, and became a believer. All the signs are that he has genuinely trusted in the Jesus – praise God! However AO comes from a very conservative Muslim background and reckons his family could even kill him if they found out. His brother found the New Testament and immediately threw it out. AO realises that one day his family will probably find out about his faith but he doesn’t feel he can tell them. He can’t really come to church as he needs to keep his shop  open and can’t get away for long enough, so can just occasionally pop in for a half hour. He feels lonely and distant from fellowship and is torn by the double life he has to live – “pretending” to be a Muslim to keep his family unaware (even his wife), but at the same time happy to have found salvation. What should we say? – tell all, and risk all? Keep quiet, protect yourself?

“A” is another. Recently back from military service he is keen to walk on with the Lord. One of his first acts on his return was to have “Jesus” tattooed to his arm! But still at home he doesn’t tell his father about his faith. He did tell his mum recently and she took it OK. When folks from church visit they have to stay quiet about where they met. He has no bible at home in case it were found and they took action (a couple of years he was beaten a bit when they found a bible). And his parents aren’t terribly religious.

Another man, “AK”, who we’ve mentioned before when he lost his job as a civil servant because of his faith, has been through a lot and is still struggling. At first when he lost his job and opened a court case to get it back he wanted to say that he hadn’t become a Christian, but had only been visiting and so on. During this time he was divorcing from his wife who was very hostile to him, and then “married” another lady his family found for him. For over a year he kept his faith quiet from her, so again when we met her we couldn’t say how we knew AK. Very awkward.

However now he has become much more open, wants to be clear in court about his faith as the reason for him losing his job and he has told his wife too – and now has married her legally too. (Life and lives are complicated here, believe me!) It is encouraging to see someone coming to the conclusion that it is better to be open and straight than to keep quiet.

However he still has a very low paid job, and is going to find it hard to look after his wife and baby expected in the summer unless he can find something better. He’s bright and hardworking but has found that so many jobs are given on the basis of who you know, and he doesn’t seem to know the right people. Through hard times I’ve had numerous calls from him where he pours out all his problems and frustrations. I usually say little, and have avoided standing in judgement after seeing mistakes made and sins committed, but AK usually does seem to feel better after each call. Being there to talk to is such an important part of ministry. Listen much, say little.

A light under a bowl is either going to fizzle out or else it will burn though anyway. We need to pray that these people who keep quiet will show by their lives that Jesus has transformed them, and at the right time will use them to transform others.

Sickness and health

You will recall that last year Gwen had been experiencing some tummy pains and  eventually had her appendix removed. We are thankful that this has solved that problem.

Gwen and Owen both suffer from migraines and now and then have days when this does slow them down. Owen had seen a doctor a couple of years ago about this, but recently it seems to have been more frequent again - we’ve had several calls from school to say that Owen is in the sick room. He has new medicine so we trust that this will help.

School’s in!

It has been a great encouragement to see that our school here completed its first year successfully, and is well into its second year with an increased roll of students. Emma is thriving in Grade 1, improving quickly with her reading and writing…they say girls are different, and it’s certainly true in our family. At the moment there is no Special Education teacher and so Craig and  Owen  are not getting some of the help they had in the past. It is still hard work for the boys though and their reports tend to be full of “could do better”s

We were really thankful for Melissa who came out fromScotland for the first two months of school to help in this area particularly. She spent a lot of her time with Craig, both in class and on a one to one basis, and she also helped the teachers become more aware of needs that some children have, and some of these even worked to change their teaching styles to address this need better.

Pray especially for teachers for school for next year.

Gwen
Our church ladies’ meeting is still encouraging. Recently one day we had about 14 of us altogether, many of the women coming to be prayed for, and so we have to fit this into the time we have, which is limited as we often need to leave to meet children coming home from school.

Doug
Well I’ve hit the big 4-0. Old age is creeping up! It was a really special time as my family from Scotland had all come out for this and for Christmas, and then Gwen had organised a surprise party for my birthday. It was wonderful to have family, colleagues, neighbours and other friends all in one place. Of course I’m still in the stage of wondering whether I’m over the hill or if life is just beginning.

Summer planning

We plan to be in the UK for a few weeks in the summer. It’s not been possible to get away for the whole summer as we have done on our last couple of visits. However we will be in Northern Ireland for most of July, and then in Scotland for the first  few weeks of August. It would be good to be able to see friends and take opportunities to share about what is happening here, to encourage you to pray. Please get in touch with us about this.