Calvary Chapel Mission: Central Asia
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November 14, 2006

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Dear Family and Friends,

It has been about a month since we last wrote you, and quite a lot has happened since then. Perhaps many of you have been seeing Kyrgyzstan on the news because of recent protests against the government. Many were afraid that it could turn violent as in 2005 when the then president, Akayev, fled the country and a new president took over. By the time this "revolution" was over, there were a few wounded people and some tear gas fired, but all in all it was relatively peaceful. The streets are quieting down again and business is getting back to normal. It was strange to be in the middle of protests again since it seems not long ago when we were in downtown Kiev witnessing the Orange Revolution there. As far as changes resulting from the protests here in Bishkek, the president remains in power, but the constitution was changed to give more power to the Parliament. This obviously satisfied most of the crowd.

Being a Foreigner Again
It has been 4 months since we moved here. The Lord has blessed us greatly with our home and a smooth transition for the kids. However, I admit that it has been a challenge for me personally to become a foreigner all over again. I knew it would be different here, yet I comforted myself that we at least knew the language and that this was also a former Soviet republic where many things would be similar. Yes, that is true. Yet, Central Asia is entirely different from Eastern Europe, and I often find myself guessing as to what is appropriate to say and do. For example, if I have a guest come to my house, I found out that serving tea here is not at all the same as serving tea in Kiev. In Kiev, I would pour my guest a fairly strong and full cup of tea. Here, the hostess never pours the cup more than half full and the tea needs to be extremely weak. A half cup of tea ensures the tea will always be hot (you keep refilling it for them) and means you are not hurrying them out the door. I am glad many people have grace for foreigners since I have done it the "wrong way" and did not seem to offend the guests... oops. Of course, there are many cultural differences which I am just beginning to learn. For example, men are very much the heads of the families and many wives are put in subjection by beating. Also, a "yes, I will do something.." or "yes, I will come to your house" does not necessarily mean you will ever see that person again. It is just politeness, I think. (Four months here hardly makes me an expert on the culture!) Yet, one has quite a bit of time to ponder these things while waiting at a bus stop or some other place for that person who adamantly said they were coming to meet you but never show….

We have found the Kyrgyz people to be very friendly and also curious about us as foreigners. We are amazed how many people want to learn English, and so we find this to be a great opportunity to meet people. A little more on this later... We also realize that many people assume we are rich. This realization sunk in even deeper when we woke up one morning to take the girls to school and realized we had been robbed. Anna's new bike was stolen and all of the electronics in our van had been ripped out. (We praise the Lord that they did not steal the van). We think someone climbed the wall that surrounds our house (all houses in our area have walls) and then unbolted our gate and carried things away. We were told this is the first time something like this has happened in our region. This all happened while a group of girls from the Bible college in Hungary were staying in our house. We thank the Lord that no one broke in and no one was hurt. Many suggested we buy a dog, preferably a German shepherd, probably the most popular kind of dog sold here. My family will attest how much I have been against getting a dog. I am not a dog lover and have always felt that having children was enough work already. However, after the break in, amazingly enough my heart changed overnight and the idea of having a dog around did not seem so bad after all…. We now have a little German shepherd puppy. So, it will be a few months before the dog barks at intruders. We really covet your prayers for wisdom about whether to take other measures to protect the house or simply wait until the dog grows up. Right now, Jed gets up at night and routinely checks around the house while we also keep our window open to hear any noises.

Bible College Group
What a neat time we had with this group of 6 students from the Bible college. They were a great team, willing to help in any way and were an encouragement in the ministry for us. After spending time in the day passing out advertisements for English movies and discussions with American students (themselves), every week night we saw dozens of mostly students come to our English club. Many got to share the Lord with students and we were thrilled with the outcome. We now continue this English club in the form of English lessons and meet twice a week with many students who want to practice their English. A few have come to the church. One guy told me how he noticed it was special for us to sing to the Lord in church. I asked him what he thought and he simply replied, "We are Muslims." I praise the Lord that he was there and listened to a sermon about having a relationship with God, not just having a religion. He still comes to the club, so please pray for Ibec as he and his sister continue to watch our lives. Frankly, I find being in a Muslim nation much more intimidating in terms of sharing the Gospel. Even though being Muslim for many is simply a matter of being born here and is a label they use for themselves as many Americans might say they are "Christian," sharing here is entirely different than to what I have been accustomed. In Ukraine, if I talked to someone about God, I knew we were talking about the same God. For many, the jump from believing in a God they associated with the Orthodox church to having a personal relationship with this God was not a huge one. Here, however, to share about Jesus Christ means a totally different change in belief for that person. Please keep praying for this country and for fruit for the labors of many missionaries here. We are praising the Lord for these students coming. We desire to see many more touched by the Lord.

Youth Club
In this same place where we meet for English, we will now soon have a youth club. It will be a place for young people to come and hang out, play ping pong, and hear the Word. This place we rent is very accommodating. We have plenty of room and are allowed to fix it up as we like it. We hope to see this place used to touch many lives in the community. A few young people in the church are already helping fix it up and are ready to receive youth that come.

School of Ministry
The School of Ministry is still going full force (with one night canceled due to the political protests). Jed, Paul and my Dad are all involved in teaching there twice a week. It is encouraging to see consistent people and those who have a hunger to learn His Word.

Life in the Gourley Home
Life in our home has been far from monotonous lately. The girls have had a week-and-a-half long fall break. They have enjoyed it, yet they are asking when they will get to go back to school. It is nice to be in that stage when they are excited about school!) They just learned how to play "Candy Land". That was an all-day affair yesterday. Anna, now 7, finally showed me a store in our area she had found while exploring with a friend. She is our social butterfly and will definitely make sure that we get out and meet people in our neighborhood. She loves school and is making the adjustment from Ukrainian to Russian pretty well. She is speaking more and more Russian and even teaching me Kyrgyz! She has been intrigued by this Turkish language and loves to bring home her notebook to teach me the words she learned from her Kyrgyz lesson. The language situation is very interesting here as some people speak Kyrgyz at home and some speak only Russian. Elizabeth, now 5, is soaking up everything she learns in school. She is in a prep class for first grade and enjoys being challenged with new things to learn. I love to watch Joshua, now 2, play and observe how different he is from the girls. He is getting into cars and helicopters and even legos now. He likes to wrestle with his dad and can even pin Lizzy to the floor! He still loves his guitar as well and often I hear him singing songs around the house. His favorite is the Veggie Tale introduction song, and he also likes quoting from these cartoons. When I put him to sleep sometimes I have to tell him not to sing so he will not bother the girls. We are all looking forward to Christmas when the baby (they say a girl) will be born. I have begun to go to a clinic here, a birthing home, where I see a doctor regularly. Please pray that the pregnancy and birth will be safe. We are also praying for people to come and help during this time since my parents and Paul and Melanie need to be in the States for various reasons during the month of January.

I think of many of you now as soon we will celebrate Thanksgiving. We hear that because of the American military presence here, some people do sell turkeys. Finding one will be next on our to-do list.. I want to say that in our move to Kyrgyzstan, your prayers and support have been so uplifting. Many of you have written that you are praying. It is hard to describe how much your support encourages us to keep moving forward even when things seem slow at times. We thank God for you, our brothers and sisters back home, who are holding us up in prayer. We love you and pray His blessings overwhelm you.

Love, The Gourleys

Please pray for:
- Wisdom and boldness in sharing the Gospel.
- Speedy church registration so that we can share more openly with the people.
- English students to be drawn to Christ.
- Even more hunger for His Word on behalf of the Church
- Healthy pregnancy and delivery

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SUPPORT ADDRESS IN USA:
Jed & Renee Gourley - Kyrgyzstan Base
c/o Shepherd's Staff
P.O. Box 27220
Albuquerque, NM 87125-7220
tel: 760-839-9214 fax: 760-839-9286 email: ssmfi@shepsstaff.org

MAILING ADDRESS IN KYRGYZSTAN:
P.O. Box 1980
Bishkek -- 720000
Kyrgyzstan
tel: +996-543-97-87-22 fax: 1-801-315-5711 email: GGour@aol.com
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