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Text Box: J. Darrell Turner    PO Box 256    Palmer, TN 37365 wharvest@blomand.net

 

                     

Text Box: The Bread of Life  I recently returned from one of the most heart stirring trips of my missions ministry.  The small country of Armenia is surrounded by hostile Muslim countries.  In the early part of the last century, the Turks massacred over a million Armenians.  During the 1980’s an earthquake killed over 100,000.  After the fall of communism the economy has been in shambles and hundreds of thousands have migrated to Russia, Europe, and the United States, trying to find jobs.  Recent statistics say 90% of men are out of work in Armenia. During my trip I visited with our friend Veronica Hunanyan, who runs a ministry called “The Bread of Life”.   She takes care of the School of Christ property there in Vanazor, and also runs one of the greatest outreaches I’ve ever witnessed.  The city of Vanazor has a population of 170,000 and is located in the mountainous region of the country where the winters are cold and bitter.  Her ministry feeds and cares for 150 elderly people inside the city.  Three days each week they bake bread in a large commercial oven and then give the bread out to the widows and the elderly.  Some of these people are blind and crippled; all of them live in abject poverty.  Many walk for miles just to get their allotment of bread and it’s known that many of them actually live off the bread, having nothing else to eat.  They even walk in the winter snows, some with broken down, busted shoes, one elderly lady walked in the snow with ten pairs of socks on her feet because she had no shoes.  I visited numerous widows in their homes, which were almost uninhabitable.  In one home, the husband and wife were both blind, yet the wife was able to get out and gather sticks and wood for heat and cooking.  Her husband had been stricken recently with a stroke.  Almost all were in tears, not knowing how they were going to make it through the rest of the winter, as most had little or no wood.  Many of these people are home bound, and most have no children around as they have left Armenia and no longer contact their mothers and fathers.  One elderly mother was trying to take care of her mentally ill son.  The fortunate live on eight to ten dollars of social security money per month.  We found one lady walking bare foot in the snow; she had five children with her.  She was nursing a five year old child because she had nothing else to feed the child.  We are now getting her help from Veronica’s Bread of Life ministry; she still needs more help for her children.  Before I left, I gave the Bread of Life Ministry money to buy wood for several of the widows and the blind, it was enough to get them through a little of the winter.  Widows can make it through the winter on three cubes of wood at a cost of $20.00 per cube.  When I return home I hope to send enough money back to buy wood for 100 of the worst cases ($6,000.00).  We also bought them a pasta making machine that will enable them to give food out other than bread. I know that there are individuals who could surely sacrifice something for these needy people.  You ask; what does this have to do with the gospel?...Of all the old people that have died under Veronica’s care, not one has died without Christ!  She fed them, and then told them about Jesus, and they believed!  In His harvest, J. Darrell Turner  We will be going back to Ecuador, where we have a school.  We will be sending support to other countries where we support pastors who have pioneered new churches in South America and Russia.                                                                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            

 
 
 
 
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