International Ministries

Pray for: David and Leslie Turley, Okinawa, Japan

November 24, 2007 PrayerCall by Bob Santilli
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Turley, David and LeslieDavid and Leslie Turley, Okinawa, Japan 

 

David works with the Okinawa Baptist Convention, teaching Bible classes, doing pulpit supply, and working in leadership development. Leslie is an administrator at Okinawa Christian School International (OCSI), and also assists with convention activities. David and Leslie returned to Okinawa in 2007 following a three-year hiatus in missionary service for family concerns, during which they were teaching in public schools in their native West Virginia. They write:

 

Okinawa Christian School International (OCSI) is a school with a vision for outreach to the Okinawan and international communities living on the island. With only about 30 percent of the students coming from Christian homes, our goal is to share the Gospel as we strive to teach with excellence. As secondary principal of the school and with responsibility for 18 teachers and 7 grades, Leslie is being confronted with many aspects of administration and dealing in love with students that are the same the world around.

 

Recently, Leslie visited a Japanese jail to see a student there who had been in trouble with the police. This young man had never been a difficult student, but had been led astray by some friends and ended up in jail after stealing a car. His mother, who had attended church but had never made a public decision for Christ, called OCSI in tears as she relayed what information she knew. Our teachers began praying for him as did the Christian family of the young man living in the U.S.

 

On her first visit to her son in jail the mother took a Bible to him. … This special young man read through the Old Testament and most of the New Testament. He says now that the Bible is what kept him going. When he went before the judge at one point he was hopeful the judge would let him go, but the judge gave him 10 more days. Disappointed, our student realized God had a plan for him to witness and learn. He now wants to return to the jail to witness to and thank those who worked with him there. The student, his mother, and his two young brothers will be baptized soon.

 

When Leslie met with him and his mother on his first day back at school, his mother shared a story that gave Leslie an amazing insight into the spiritual battle fought out of sight of our human eyes. There are women shamans in Okinawa whose services are paid for by many non-Christians to divine the future and explain about any bad events or happenings. The maternal grandfather of our young student isn’t a Christian and neither is his other daughter. When this grandfather went to a yuta to help him decide where the family grave should be, the yuta said, “I can see your one daughter and her family, but I can’t see your other daughter or her family. There are people praying to their God and He is keeping me from being able to see them”!