"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." Psalm 118:23
Our praying friends and family in the Lord,
We have begun our series of summer Turkish meetings. This month's meeting took place in Dabravino, Bulgaria. More than 200 souls came out to sing, pray, testify and listen to preaching. Last month, in Romania, was our first big gathering of believers for the year. We met for three days and two nights at facilities belonging to our children's home. The property is the former residence of the mayor of Constanta, who was no friend of the gypsies. It is a blessing to behold the handiwork of the Lord and to witness these poor, despised, and most neglected members of his constituency worshipping God in the former mayor's living room. We were able to bring more than 40 souls up from Bulgaria, each missionary making two trips. It was a long day of driving, fetching people to the meeting, but the joy that filled their souls that weekend repaid any toil on our part.
One of the believers that rode with me to the meeting was a middle-aged woman named Ihtsaniye. Though faithful in church attendance, Ihtsaniye had never, ever testified or indeed said much of anything in church other than "hello". On our way home from the meeting, I couldn't believe the change the Lord had made in her. She was freely praising the Lord, singing for joy without a care in the world. Since returning from Romania, she has testified at every meeting we attend and often begs to carry our bags to and from the services.
During a break between services, at this first meeting, I was conversing with a small group of people. A couple of them remarked at my progress in the language and said they had been praying for me. One woman in particular, Narchis by name, said she prays night and day that I learn good Turkish. She is a Romanian-Turkish believer. She said that several years ago, before Zachary moved down to Bulgaria, she overheard him listening to a sermon of an American preacher. She said she couldn't understand a word of English, but something moved her heart at the preaching. She asked who it was, and Zachary replied, "My brother." She said from that day on she began to pray that God would bring me to the mission field. And now she prays I learn Turkish that I might preach to her.
The last two months we have been engaged in mission work of another kind. Once a week, as many men who are free meet together with Bro. Ralph to proofread the New Testament. We have only the gospels remaining to proof, and then we'll begin putting together New Testaments and gospel portions for distribution. In addition to proofreading, we have been hand-making hymnals. A few days before our most recent meeting, we gathered to put together and hand-sew more than 150 hymnals. We hope that, by the end of summer, every believer in every church will have his or her own hymnal and, soon, his or her own Bible.
Remember to keep us in your prayers. Hannah and I recently celebrated five years of wedded bliss. Pray that God gives us many, many more. Remember us also as we begin again the task of renewing our visas. Our attorney has already contacted us to begin paperwork to be filed in October. I suppose it takes that long to navigate the halls of bureaucracy, obtaining the same permissions from new government officials. The Lord knows all about it; he certainly knows more than anyone else in Bulgaria about visas, and we trust he will see to their supply. God is so good.
Because of a living Saviour,
The William LeFevre Family
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