REACH is a missions experience for young adults that includes three months of discipleship training in Columbus followed by six to nine months of cross cultural outreach in locations around the world. Participants serve in a variety of situations, including orphanages, English teaching, and youth outreaches. Currently, teams are serving in Southeast Asia, Thailand, North Africa, and South Africa.

City Challenge is a weeklong opportunity for youth and school groups to experience life and ministry in inner city Columbus. The schedule includes ministry opportunities, creative teaching sessions, and service projects.

Todd Miller, director of RMM’s SEND Ministries, which operates REACH and City Challenge, notes that the current “SEND House” facility is maxed out. “If we would have had one more female applicant for REACH this year, we would have had to turn her away,” Miller says. “And we’ve already had to turn away youth groups that are too big for us to handle for City Challenge. We need a larger facility.”

In addition to the current ministries that are now bearing fruit in our local churches and around the globe, RMM will develop additional training opportunities that have been impossible with the current facilities. RMM President Joe Showalter envisions a training center for missionaries on their way to the field. “We would like to do more to prepare new missionaries before they go to the field. If we’re going to ask them to make disciples in Asia or the Middle East, why not make sure they’re successful at it here before they have the added challenges of language learning and cultural adjustment? This facility will allow us to better prepare people for what they’ll be doing overseas.”

“We believe God has clearly led us in this,” Showalter says. “We’ve prayed all along the way, asking God to open the doors if this is for us. As we’ve moved forward, the doors have kept opening. It’s been exciting to see God answering our prayers.”

The building will need some renovation to bring it up to current code and to make it more energy efficient. Bob Stauffer, RMM property manager, will be giving leadership to the renovation, which will eventually include some space reconfiguration to allow for larger groups to use the facility.

RMM expects to sell the two properties in Columbus that this facility will replace, and will be initiating a capital campaign to make renovation and occupancy possible. Watch for further announcements of opportunities for involvement by groups and individuals. Needs will include a general contractor/supervisor and work teams and individuals for a wide variety of tasks such as painting, plumbing, electrical, and drywall, serving for as little as a day or two or as much as 3-6 months. Gifts in kind and monetary contributions will also be needed. For further information about this project and how you might be involved, please contact Bob Stauffer at bob@rmmoffice.org. You will also soon be able to obtain regularly updated information at www.rosedalemennonitemissions.org.

Please be praying for the people of Uzbekistan.
We are still in some contact with friends in Uzbekistan.

We keep hearing reports that life there has gotten harder and harder. Just living has become incredibly difficult. It has always been a poor country but corruption, ineptitude and cold-heartedness on the part of the government there has made a bad situation much worse. Prices for even basic things (bread, oil and flour) have gone up with 150% inflation in the last 10 months! Flour and oil have become scarce. It sounds like there are some seriously difficult times approaching. The believers have persevered through a lot of persecution and now they face these same problems along with their countrymen.
It is hard for us to know what to do. We would like to look into ways to help the people there. We know of only one person (out of hundreds who have applied) who has received a visa to go back. There are almost no foreigners left in the country. So we may need some creative thinking.

I know we ask for prayer on so many different things, but our hearts break for the people we’ve left behind!

Would you please pray:
- some kind of a break through in Uzbekistan. That the government would change and that justice and peace would come there for the first time!
- Pray that people would find ways to feed themselves and take care of their families. That God would show mercy and save lives.
- Pray that the believers would be salt and light and living water in this time.
- Pray for the marriage of one of the young leaders in the ch. In our former city. He is a wonder young man and responsible for many people under his leadership. He gets married on Monday.
- That God would show us if there is anything we can be doing through relationships there.

The Zimmermans arrived in Albania in March of 2006, where they lived in the capital city of Tirana and studied the Albanian language. Recently they moved to the city of Lezhe (pronounced LASIA).

One interesting thing that they shared was the difficulty in learning the language. Albanian does not derive from any other language—it is totally unique. Consequently, there is nothing to compare it to and learning it requires diligence.

But apparently, God speaks Albanian quite well, as a movement of God among the churches in Albania is happening. In fact, Leon will now be the pastor of a congregation in Lezhe. He shared with the RMM staff that there are not many Albanian church leaders—most of the pastors and elders are Western missionaries. Consequently, his focus will be to help the congregation grow to maturity and to identify and train leaders who can lead the church into the future in a uniquely Albanian way.

The Zimmermans also shared how their children have been especially effective witnesses in Albania. They have picked up on the language well and formed many relationships through sports and other activities. This has encouraged Leon and Naomi that they can all have an impact for the Kingdom of God in Albania.

The Zimmermans have now returned to Albania to continue their work. Please join us in prayer for the Holy Spirit to move in a great way in Albania and in the ministry of the Zimmermans, and that many Albanians would be trained to lead the church for the glory of Christ.

Get Involved
Pray in specific ways for Albania.
Give a financial gift toward RMM's work like this around the world (this links to RMM's mailing address where contributions can be sent).

“One of my goals (in going overseas) was to see how God could use me, or artists in general, in missions,” she said. What she found was that God can use artists in many ways. “Art opens up so many doors that I couldn’t open up if I were teaching English. This was just so different. I said I was an artist, and (Middle Eastern people) immediately had interest and were curious about it.”

She also was able to contribute to many art projects, including design for theater productions that presented the Gospel, mural painting, teaching art lessons, and more. Those opportunities allowed her to meet many Middle Eastern people and build relationships that pointed toward Christ. “It was great to see God break down the walls of (Middle Eastern peoples’) views on Christians. They thought I had something neat going on, and people were drawn to it.” She sees this as an advantage in missions: “Art provides me with a way to build relationships and have a legitimate way to live my life in another country,” she said.

She also saw God’s plan and provision unfold. “I am just amazed at how many doors were opened through the arts, and I know God provided those doors,” she said. Seeing God work in this way has convinced her that He will continue to do so in the future, no matter what the next step is in her life. “God has proven to me that I can use my gift wherever I am, wherever he puts me. He’ll provide the opportunities. Art isn’t something you typically think of as a form of ministry. But God used art in the Middle East. Five years ago I would’ve never said that. I have seen God’s faithfulness.”

Please join with us in prayer for more artists like Esther to answer the call to be the “Gospel incarnate” to the unreached peoples of the world, and for the Middle East. Also pray that the next steps of God’s plan would be revealed to Esther, and that she and RMM would continually say, “We have seen God’s faithfulness.”

Get Involved
Pray for unreached countries in the Middle East.
Go to the Middle East with RMM.
Give toward the work in the Middle East (this links to our mailing address).

*Name has been changed for security reasons.

Tour Coordinator – Ed Bontrager
TravelVenture Tours
Guest Lecturers – Richard & Jewel Showalter
From Eastern Mennonite Missions

Excellent Turkish Guide – Resat Suthan

Visiting Istanbul, Troy, Troas, Pergamum, Ephesus,
Sardis, Symrna, Philadelphia, Patmos, Cyprus, Perga,
Antioch, Tarsus, Cappadocia, and much, much more!

Good Price – Great Opportunity
Call Ed at 540-438-8304
Harrisonburg, VA

Ask for brochure with complete itinerary!

Please continue to pray for peace and religoius freedom in Turkey and strength and love for the believers there.

Unfortunately there are very different rumors circulating about brothers Tilmann and Necati. It has been said that their noses, lips, and ears were cut. These rumors do not reflect the truth. I telephoned our brother in Adana because I knew he had seen brother Tilmann’s body. I asked him about the knife wounds on brother Tilmann’s body. He said to me, “Brother, I came across three or four knife blows in the chest area. I didn’t see his back. On his face I can’t say there were knife wounds, but scratches, maybe from hitting his face when he fell down.” I knew that another brother from Ankara had seen bodies. I asked him which bodies he had seen and he said, “I saw the chest area of both Tilmann and Necati. I saw purple [from bruising] on Necati’s lips and chin, but I did not see knife wounds. I looked at brother Tilmann’s chest, but I did not see knife wounds.” These are the statments of those who saw the bodies of these two brothers.

It is true that our brothers were knifed and tortured. But it was not to the extent of statements such as “too many wounds to count, beyond description.” Apparently our brother in Adana looked more carefully than I did. He saw three or four knife wounds in the chest.

No one saw brother Ugur’s body because on the night of the same day the murder happened, around midnight, his family took his body for burial.

I believe that brother Ugur had knife wounds similar to those of our other two brothers. It has been said that Ugur was stabbed all over his body, including his genitals. I do not believe this. You may ask why I don’t beleive this. I think someone stabbed this much would die on the spot. Ugur would not have been able to remain alive until 5:30 PM if he had been stabbed so much. That nothing abnormal happened to Ugur can be understood [from the fact that] exaggerated statements have been about our other two brothers, too.

Therefore we reach the following conclusion: yes, these brothers were tortured, but not to the extent that has been explained.

We are sons and daughters of the truth. Unfortunately unfounded news reports and media exaggerations have now gone out all over the world. Our brothers and sisters and people sensitive [to such news] have been misinformed. We do not intend to offend anyone. But whether the true facts are, let us report them without exaggeration. Let people everywhere think about the plain facts.

Who started these exaggerated facts [about the Malatya massacre]? We purpose two possibilities:

1) Those who perpetrated the crime planned this [the spreading of exaggerated facts] from the beginning and the murderers were simply tools for these people [who had planned to blow the murder into exaggerated proportions]. The goal of those who planned this murder and the exaggerated claims was both to frighten the Christians living in Turkey, causing them to shrink back and be timid, and to humiliate Turkey as a country that invites and causes such bloodthirty massacre, thereby damaging Turkey’s chances of entering the European Union and making matters worse in the country. Furthermore, [the planners of this massacre] wanted to give the government and our people the impression that Christians distort and exaggerate everything.

2) In every situation we see that the media either totally disregards something we say or totally exploits it. We investigated the bloody clothing that was submitted to the public as the underclothing of our brothers. None of this clothing belonged to our brothers. That clothing had been taken off the bodies of people shot to death weeks earlier. But what did the media do? They took this clothing and presented it as freshly removed from the bodies of our brothers. Is there anyone who does not yet know about the exaggerations and sometimes boldfaced lies of the media?

Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we do not explain the true facts to you our hearts will not find peace. I have written this report because I have read exaggerated or unfounded facts in news both home and abroad. The true facts are those in this report.

May the Lord bless you abundantly.

Some of what I wrote yesterday was from newspaper reports and was apparently exaggerated, particularly related to the torture involved. An autopsy report reported 20 knife wounds for the German brother, Tilmann, not 150. Fingers and ears being cut may also be fabrications.

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We received the following update on Saturday from a source in Turkey. The writer asks, "Is this the watershed we have been yearning and praying for these many years?" Let’s continue to pray that it is.

Many of you will have heard the most recent news of the torture and murder of 3 of our Christian brothers in Malatya, eastern Turkey.

This afternoon, the German brother Tillman was buried in Malatya. His wife and four children have decided to stay in that city. Nejati's body was flown to Izmir and we have just returned from the funeral. Over 250 believers, the provincial governor and mayor of a part of Izmir were present.

This event has shaken the country. It is one thing to be shot down and killed instantly but as details emerge on Turkish TV of terrible torture (Tillman's body has 156 stab wounds) before their throats were slit, many many Muslims in this country are in total confusion.

Pray that God will turn this around for His greater glory and more fruitfulness than we ever could have imagined.

As Nejati's wife said at the funeral this afternoon… " my husband was as Jesus to me, and now he is with the Jesus he loved so much. I am deeply honored to go on serving that same Jesus on earth…"

Is this the water-shed we have been yearning and praying for these many years?

The two Turkish victims were employees of Zirve, a Christian publishing and distributing company. Four alleged attackers were apprehended while still in the Zirve office, reportedly still in possession of their weapons. A fifth accomplice was captured outside after jumping from a 4th story window in an attempt to escape.

While none of our workers live in this city, some of them knew these brothers; they will be missed. Pray for the wives and children left behind. Pray for the several thousand Turkish believers. Pray that the peace that Jesus promised would be with all his people, local or foreign.

Click here to read a news story about this tragedy.