Due to the sensitive contexts that our missionaries serve in, their personal information will be kept anonymous.  Please keep checking in as we will update with monthly updates we receive from them to keep them in prayer and support.  We look forward to being able to start sending teams to our missionary partners in 2024.

(Update received November, 2023)

The 4th Earthquake Area Relief Ministry
We went to the 4th relief ministry from November 12th to 15th during the vacation period at Turkiye Elementary, Middle, and High School. Except for J, who remained in Ankara due to his young children, all team members joined, a total of 14 people, including 6 of our family members. Although the weather was very windy and rainy, we could carry out outdoor activities such as children's ministry and family visitation without much difficulty, thanks to the intercession of many people.

Nine months after the earthquake, the earthquake areas looked much more organized and clean than expected. Although it is only containers, many new buildings have been built, and much effort is being made to revive the city. However, due to a lack of jobs, safety, and numerous casualties, a large portion of the population has left the city, so it seems impossible for a long time to return to the way it was before. It is said that the husbands of most of the families we met also left to work in places such as Saudi Arabia.

This time, we prepared about 230 gift packages ahead of Christmas. Seeing the children happy to receive gifts filled with school supplies and snacks made us even more joyful. In particular, we cannot forget the faces of mothers who were more excited than their children after receiving the gift packages (luxurious aprons, candles, napkin containers, cosmetics, etc.) prepared for female adults.

During this trip, we were most grateful for the news that the restaurant building, which we worked very hard to clean during the second relief mission last April, is now being used as a place for worship every Sunday; hallelujah! About 30 people gather on weekdays and Sundays for meetings and worship, most of whom are female seekers who do not yet believe in Jesus. Please intercede for D, the Spanish minister who leads this meeting.

In addition, we donated a washing machine to a household of 7 people without a washing machine, a bed to an elderly person without a bed, and diapers to an elderly patient suffering from a lack of diapers. We want to thank the many sponsors and churches who donated to the Earthquake Relief Ministry, which made these ministries possible. New Members of the Leadership Strategies Team God has sent four new members to our team. G and E are the parents of T, whom you all know well. They served as a staff for more than 20 years and did ministry work in multiple fields. While doing LS ministry in I, they heard about the A team's situation and joined our team with the intention of helping. The picture of one family working on the same team is still awkward for everyone, but I believe that God has a plan for this as well.  J and H are a family that was sent to A from C three and a half years ago. They went to study at one of the best universities in B and then believed in Jesus and dedicated themselves through our mission organization. The children are still young (5 and 2 years old) and their language skills are limited, but their hearts for souls are great.  God is giving encouragement and strength through these people to my wife and I who are feeling very weary due to various incidents. Please pray for all of our team so that we can carry out the mission given in one mind and one Holy Spirit.

Korea Turkiye Friendship Choir resumes.
The Friendship Choir, suspended for about a year due to the circumstances of the Korea Cultural Center, will resume again. With the help of the Ambassador, Turkiye Hyundai Motor Company became the main sponsor of our choir. Everyone is happy about the new beginning, including recruiting new members and preparing new uniforms (hanbok). Please pray that the 35 members (23 Turks and 12 Koreans) will be well-prepared and go beyond A to the entire Turkiye region and become a tool to convey friendship and love between the two countries through music.

Future plans - Visa issues and purchasing a house
We have been sharing prayer requests for a long time regarding the residency visa, which we must carry like a cross. Amidst the negative news about constitutional amendments to residence visas that are becoming more and more stringent and the subsequent involuntary withdrawals, many workers have recently purchased houses and are receiving guaranteed residence visas. If we have to purchase a home anyway, we decided to do it before house prices skyrocket. We found a suitable house near the area where we currently live (the law has recently changed so that you can only get a residence visa if you purchase a home worth more than $200,000). Progress is being made toward purchasing it with a loan in the United States. It may be sudden, but it is a time when we feel the comfort of God encouraging us, who have been very tired over the past few years. We are now looking forward to planning our future ministry with a little more stability and relieving the enormous burden of rent, which is skyrocketing. I share this prayer topic with a grateful and humble heart, believing it will proceed smoothly if it is God's will. Please intercede for us.

(Update received January, 2024)

Dear EPC Mission Team,    

"Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal." (Isaiah 26:4)
 
OUR MINISTRY:
December was a very busy month because of all the different Christmas events, but praise be to the Lord that we have had a wonderful end to 2023. We would like to share with you some good news.
The first good news, A, a freshman of Medical Department from G University who had been attending the Derin Yasam meeting for almost 2 months and M, also a freshman majored in Russian Language of G University became believers. I will share with you their stories in details later. We also baptized our disciples, E and E. Fortunately, both were available on our baptism day, and we were able to baptize them without any hindrances. Another amazing thing that happened this year is that we set a record for the number of students who attended our Deep Life Christmas Celebration. We started our Deep Life meetings about 13 years ago and we have had hundreds of meetings. However, for the first time 180 students attended our meeting. It was very crowded, and we had such a wonderful time. I invited our Church Pastor  to be the main speaker. He shared gospel through the Christmas message. 78 new students came to our Deep Life meeting for the first time. Some curious students talked to our Pastor privately after the message and asked him many questions. In the month of December, a total number of 87 new students attended our Deep Life meeting for the first time and heard the gospel.

We are currently organizing a three-week seminar for spiritual seekers where we will engage with them in discussions on topics that they are interested in. We will also address questions about "Who is Jesus?", the Trinity, and why we should accept Jesus. During these seminars, we will provide insights and answers to their inquiries. On Tuesday evenings, we are continuing our Bible studies and prayer meetings. On Wednesday evenings, we are also continuing our small group Bible studies for men. M started baptism classes with a lady, whose name is E.

This month, through our company in Korea, a group of 30 students is coming for a visit. We plan to organize a Cultural Night at our Deep Life meeting with them to share the gospel. Additionally, at the end of this month, our company will hold its annual staff conference. Please keep this conference in your prayers. I also have my annual heart checkup this month. Sometimes, I feel pain in my heart. I am hoping that there is nothing serious with this. I would appreciate it if you could pray for my health as well.

We are eagerly anticipating what the Lord will do in 2024, and we hope it will be a year of heartfelt and joyful service. We hope to honor and glorify the Lord as diligent workers. We want to express our gratitude to all of you for your prayers and support throughout 2023.
 
E's STORY:
E is 19 years old. She is a 1st year college student studying Public Relations. While she was in high school, E began researching about different beliefs and religions, including Christianity. She even wore a headscarf for a while but preferred living her life as an agnostic. I first met E about ten months ago at our Deep Life meeting. She came to our meeting through an invitation from one of her friends. While she was researching Christianity, she could not find a Bible. We gave her one when she visited our church one day. She experienced how great God's love and mercy is while reading it. She was so deeply touched by God’s love that she became a believer about seven months ago. E now comes to our church regularly, attends our Tuesday evening Bible studies, and is growing in the Lord. I finished our baptism lessons with her, and praise be to God that we got to baptize her last month. Her family does not know that she is a Christian, but E explains to almost all her friends that she is a believer. She shares the gospel with her friends and brings them to church and to our Deep Life meetings. M, whose story we shared with you in our September prayer letter, is one of the students who has come to our Deep Life meeting through E. Praise God that the Lord is using her. She is very smart. She is currently studying and working to earn money. Sometimes, she cannot come to church because she is very busy. Please pray for E that she will be more comfortable on the weekends so that she can make time to be able to attend church on Sundays.  

Prayer Requests

1. May 2024 be a year of the Lord’s favor. May the Lord bless and continue to use us as a family. May our health, our needs, and our ministry be filled with the Lord's blessings. Please pray that the Lord will bless our son's exams at the end of this year. Pray that J will get good scores.  
2. Please pray for the Korean Culture night at our Deep Life meeting this month. Pray that many spiritually seeking students would come, that the gospel would be heard, and that the students who attend would come to know the Lord.
3. We want to see revival on many campuses this year. Please pray with us about this. Pray that the Lord will be at work and that the 2024 will be the year where we see the largest number of students coming to faith ever.

Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel.

(Update received October, 2023)

Dear EPC EM mission team
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33,36)

I realize every day that it is a blessing and grace to kneel before the Father and live in His presence and guidance. I believe and am thankful that God is glorified through all the families of faith who pray for the mission field and missionaries and join us with powerful devotion.

Thank you for your prayers.
The Adult Word Retreat (August 15-17) and Youth Retreat (August 21-24) ended gracefully. Through the retreat, I feel that the believers are gradually maturing in the Word. I pray that believers will be raised as witnesses of the gospel in God's time. The youth retreat was truly a festival. We went to restaurants, bowling alleys, and beaches in the city that the children had never been to before. We were so happy to see them so happy. We held worship services and studied the Bible every morning and evening at our lodgings.
Seeing everyone participating so earnestly, I was convinced that if we sow seeds like this, God will one day bring forth fruit. One girl loved our accommodation so much that she said, “I wish I could fold up this house, put it in my pocket, and go home to use it as my home.” It broke my heart to think that she didn't want to go back to her shabby house. It was a precious time to show the children the wide world and enable them to have a vision in Jesus Christ. Thank you for prayer.

And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

We are bold because of the horses and chariots of fire that surrounds us. We give all the glory to God who does not withheld the request of our lips and gives us peace and boldness through the accompanying of the Holy Spirit. We always thank you for using us and the EPC EM mission team for the precious ministry in which the gospel of salvation through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is testified and the glory of God is proclaimed in this land.

Please pray for us.

1. Reading the Bible, Thanksgiving Service:
   Since last week, we have been distributing Bible reading charts and have believers read three chapters of the Bible every day until Christmas. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will touch the hearts and minds of believers as they read the Word of God. We will hold a Thanksgiving service on Sunday, October 29th. Please pray for a precious worship service in which the Holy Spirit is present.
2. Please pray for members of church:
   We believe that the most important task we will do on this earth is to help the souls sent by God through prayer and to establish them as people of God. We sincerely ask you to pray with us by calling on the names of the saints. M & S – a married couple. They can't get rid of alcohol, so they come to church for a few weeks and then get drunk again and again. Z, she is the mother of W (15 years old). Her leg disability prevents her from finding other work, so she does easy jobs at church and receives a living stipend. She always breaks our hearts because of her drinking and drugs. W was sent to orphanage twice because of her mother. She wanted to come back home even though her mother beat her when she drank, so we took her from orphanage. Every time we pray for Z, He gives us the words He told Hosea to embrace the prostitute Gomer again. Please pray for Z and W.
3. G – She is a deacon at our church. Although she is almost 70 years old and lives as a cleaning worker, she truly serves God and the church faithfully and serves as an example for believers. Since last year, She has been unable to see well and her eyes have become inflamed. So we are looking into hospitals in the city. Please pray for her eyes to heal well.
4. A - Just like Z, M and M were sent to orphanage twice because their mother was addicted to alcohol. But by the grace of God, She quit drinking from February of this year, and quit smoking three weeks ago. Since last spring, on Sundays, She has been serving in the church cafeteria with missionary Y and preparing meals for the congregation. From spring until now, she has been preparing lunches for people doing building repairs. Her family lives on wages paid by the church. It will soon be winter and there will be no construction workers, so please pray for A so that she can find a good job. 
5. S & L – These are new believers . They are actively attending worship and are adapting to the church. Please pray for us to be raised as children of faith. Above all, please pray so that they can meet God personally, be born again in the Holy Spirit, and live a life as witnesses of the gospel.
6. The exterior wall construction of the church, which started last April, is approximately 3/4 completed.
   1) Repaired cracked and broken parts of the building.
   2) The entire exterior wall was framed with wood and all heating materials were installed.
   3) The entire perimeter of the building was dug out with an excavator and a pipe through which water could flow was planted to prevent the building from being corroded by melted snow or rainwater. Now all that remains is to attach the exterior material to the final building. Since the weather here has been below freezing since the middle of this month, we need to buy heating coal.  It is difficult to proceed further due to lack of construction funds, so please gather your hearts and pray together.

Until now, God has guided us in amazing ways. I hope that from now on we will not waver in our faith that God will do it.

From God's servants.