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Contact information (Cell) 423-366-4025 - Email: alvaradojva@yahoo.com
Dear Churches and Fellow Saints, February 2011
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope this letter finds you all rejoicing in the grace of God and growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
We are writing to thank you for your continuing support of the work through Charity Baptist Mission. There are new villages all over Bulgaria waiting and wanting the believers to come preach to them. Your support of the work and National Pastors will help get the gospel out to these villages. This past year over 100 new believers were baptized. We are looking forward to the year 2011, praying and hoping to have a greater report to give you all of what God is doing through our National Pastors in Romania and Bulgaria. Many of our believers still get to go into other European countries for work in order to be able to support their families. With them they take the preaching and singing CD’s and DVD’s which we duplicate for them. These are a great and cost effective way to get the gospel out, not only to local villages but to countries abroad.
Virginia, Desere and I continue helping out in whatever way we can with the ministry here at Tri State Baptist Children’s Home. We thank the Lord that He allowed us to take in Desere as our own when she was five years old. She is doing well and will turn 11 this April. Over the years God has used her, to not only be a blessing to our family, but to others as well. We see the Lord working in her life at an early age using the talents He has given her in music. We are very grateful He is allowing us to be a part of her life.
Once again thank you for your continuing support of the National Pastors overseas and for the assistance towards my medical bills. This has lifted a heavy burden from me financially. “But My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.“ Philippians 4:19
We have enclosed an update of one of our National Pastor’s in Bulgaria, Brother Mitko Stefanov.
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To God be the glory in the churches forever. Amen.
Yours in Christ, Brother Joe Alvarado
From: Bulgaria - Mitko Stefanov - January 20, 2011 To: Brookside Baptist
Church and Pastor Mike Nixon
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I trust that you all have been blessed by God daily in any walk of life. The Lord continues to bless us with good meetings and answers prayers. Most of the time new people are coming to the meetings to get all kinds of help, whether it is spiritual or healing or salvation or some problem in life. I praise God for that. Despite the harsh economic situation in Bulgaria, the believers are praising God for answering their prayers and they keep coming to church. They pray for you all and are very thankful for what you have done for them in bringing them the gospel, feeding their children and grandchildren, sending them clothes and flour and oil.
One lady testified that last year her husband passed away and she is only 35. But she said that the loss of her husband led her to come to church and get saved. She said that whenever she got Jesus in her heart she forgot the world. All she thinks about is the Lord. She is thankful that she found the Saviour.
I get invitations from new villages to go and preach the gospel there, but right now my days are filled up with working on the Bulgarian translation of the Bible and going to meetings.
Thank you all for sending clothes and shoes for me and my family. That is a very great blessing and help for us. All the shoes and the clothes are very nice. May the Lord bless you for doing that.
A few days ago my wife's left hand got paralyzed and tomorrow we will go to see a doctor. Please pray that the Lord helps them to find what is wrong with her hand. She also is in a lot of pain. In a week or two she will have a small surgery, so please pray for that also.
May the Lord bless you all. Brother Mitko, Bulgaria
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Dear Churches and Fellow Saints,
July 2010
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for His
goodness and mercy He is showing us. As all of you know we have been in the
states since January of 2008. At that time I had come home for medical reasons
and was diagnosed with a liver disease. I received many treatments and am doing
much better now, but unfortunately I am having severe complications with my
back. I have herniated disks along with a severe degenerative disk disease in
both my upper and lower back. Due to these complications we will not be
returning to Romania and Bulgaria at this time. I am just not able to bear the
physical load that is required there. While here in America we have been staying
at the Tri-State Baptist Children’s Home. There is a great need for someone to
be here with the children to try and show them the Love of God. So, Virginia,
Desere and myself will be living at the Children’s Home, helping out in whatever
way we can.
We would like to thank you for your prayers and support over the years toward
this ministry. Concerning the financial support, it is on my heart to ask that
you please continue sending funds to Charity Baptist Mission in order to help
the National Pastors in Romania and Bulgaria. One of them, brother Mitko, who
presently pastors 9 churches, has faithfully labored with us since the work
began in 1991 when he got saved. He preaches fluently in Turkish,
English and his native tongue, Bulgarian. He is an essential part of this work
as well as our liaison. Not only has he translated the Bulgarian Bible, but he
is willing and able to help in whatever way possible. He desperately needs
financial support for his family and the work. These men have proved that they
are willing to continue with the work in these countries and are worthy of your
support. Please let me know if you decide to support any of these National
Pastors.
Once again we want to thank you for all you have done for our family over these
past years. I would like to mention one request. While being in the states with
no insurance I have acquired several thousand dollars worth of medical bills. We
have always depended upon the Lord for all of our financial needs and I know He
is able. Please pray about this and if the Lord puts it on your heart to help it
will be greatly appreciated.
I would like to continue sending each of you updates of the work through Charity
Baptist Mission. Your address will be added to the general mailing list and you
will receive updates as they are sent out.
May God Bless you all and to God be all the Glory.
Your Brother in Christ, Joe Alvarado
"They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
Psalm 126:5, 6
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Dear Churches and Fellow Saints, July, 2009
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this letter finds you all rejoicing in His eternal goodness.
First of all we want to give honor to our late Pastor, Rev. Fred Potter who went home to be with our Lord Jesus Christ. He had been our pastor for the last 15 years and we are very thankful for the time we were allowed to sit under his preaching. He will be missed! Along with being the Pastor of Brookside Baptist Church, Preacher Potter was also the founder of Charity Baptist missions. Just recently the Lord has raised up a young man, Brother Mike Nixon, to fill the Pastoral position and to be director of all the work through Brookside Baptist Church. We thank God for what He has done.
I want to thank all of you for being so patient with me while I have been sick these past several months. As many of you know I came in from the mission field last year to seek medical help because I had injured my back. While doing blood test the doctors discovered that I had a liver disease and I began a 52 week medical treatment plan. After five months of treatments the test showed that they were not helping, in fact the disease was getting worse and the doctors took me off the medicine. The treatment I was taking had several very severe side affects, depression being the main one. For the last several months I have not been able to do anything physically because of my back problems and I could not do much mentally because of severe complications from the medications the doctors had given me. To better my health I have started a strict diet for my liver and physical therapy for my back.
But the main reason I am getting better is your continual prayers to God. It has been a tremendous help hearing from our supporting churches and individuals letting me know they were praying for me.
While here in America we have been helping out at the Tri-State Baptist Children’s home, staying with the boys and doing what we can to be a help there. Please continue to pray as I recover that the Lord will give me a date to return to the mission field. We are thinking it will be some time in the next few months as my strength returns.
Many Pastors have contacted me over the past several months asking me to come to their churches, but I was not mentally or physically able to come. I am well enough now to travel and visit if you would like and give an update of the work. Thank you once again for the many prayers and for your continual financial support.
The work overseas is going very well. We receive frequent reports from our fellow missionaries that the Turks ask about us all the time. They say “they are praying for Brother Joe to get well and return overseas.”
I am also sending a few pictures and testimonies of the
work with the Muslim Turks in Bulgaria. May God bless you all! To God be the
glory in the churches forever, Amen.
Brother Joe Alvarado
(Cell phone) 423-366-4025 (Home phone) 828-682-9842 (Church phone) 423-878-8131
Email address: alvaradojva@yahoo.com
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm
126:5,6
Prayer Letter August, 2006
Dear Churches and Fellow Saints,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope this letter finds you all fairing well in the goodness of God.
Our Bulgarian residency visa has finally came through. We are now in Varna, Bulgaria. It was a long wait, but thank God we are here and will not have to leave the country to renew the visas. We can now do them yearly from here in Varna. God is so good!
When we left Tri-Cities Airport in Bristol TN, we were over weight on all our bags and even had an extra check on bag. We checked right through with no problems and with no extra charge for the baggage. Also the boarder crossing into Bulgaria went well with no problems. Upon our arrival here in Varna we were able to see two of the Turkish Pastors, Brother Ahmet from the church in Dabravino and Brother Ishmel from the church in Novi Pazar. They both were happy to see us and were excited about us now living in Bulgaria.
Virginia and Desere are doing fine and are very excited about being here. We have settled into our apartment here in Varna and are adjusting to the culture. We’re very anxious about getting out to the villages to see more of the Turkish believers. We will be looking for a vehicle as soon as possible. Please pray that the Lord will help us choose a good one. We thank you all for the prayers and funds to be able to buy the vehicle, it will be a big help to the ministry here.
We thank God for what He has already done and we’re looking forward to seeing what more He will do with the Turkish people in Bulgaria. We thank God for the privilege to preach the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ to regions beyond. Bless His Holy Name.
Again, thank you all for your prayers and support for the ministry to the Turks in these countries.
To God be the Glory in the churches forever. Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Brother Joe Alvarado
"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Psalm 126:5,6
December 2003
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray this letter
finds you all doing well. Once again we are writing to you from the United
States. While being here these past 10 months God has truly blessed us
abundantly. First we would like to thank God and share with you what all God has
done for our daughter Amanda. It has been her heart’s desire and prayer that
God would send her a husband. While visiting a church in Burnsville NC she met
and fell in love with a young man that loves the Lord and has answered the call
to preach. The young man is Raymond Phillips and on December 6th Raymond and
Amanda were married. Please pray for them both as they begin their lives
together. They both feel that as for now the Lord will have them to stay in
Burnsville and serve the Lord there.
The work in Romania and in Bulgaria is going well. Hearing reports from our
fellow missionaries over there lets us know the Lord is blessing and new
meetings are being started. We received a letter from Brother Zack LeFevre
today. He wrote that he, Brother Ralph Cheatwood and a few of the Romanian
Turks went down to Bulgaria over the weekend and got in on the camp meeting
there. In his letter he said that they arrived around 5:30 and the meeting had
already begun around 4:00 that afternoon. He wrote that Brother Ralph preached
to them about Jesus being the one sacrifice for their sins. He wrote that the
church was filled, maybe around 200 souls there! He wrote that the meeting
closed out around 10:00; they ate some food and then they started the meeting
again and it went on through the night with singing, preaching and testifying
until around 8:00 the next morning. To God be the glory!!
We are planning on returning overseas the first week of February, 2004. If
you would like for us to visit your church before February please call us at
(423) 383-6115. Please pray for us as we return to the field of these two very
special countries where God has called us to labor.
We would like to say to you all Merry Christmas and we pray you have a blessed New Year!
Yours in Christ,
The Alvarado Family
“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalms
126:5,6