Update from Elliott Tepper - July 2010

Greetings in Jesus’ name. We would like to thank you all again for your many prayers and very generous support. Our short time in America to attend to Mary’s medical needs and for rest is coming to an end. We plan on flying back to Spain on July 14th.

During our stay in America we have been overwhelmed by the kindness, attention, and personal touch of family and friends in Wilmington. We have been spoiled by Mrs. Prevatt, Mary’s 95 year old mother, who has cared for us in her home. The Myrtle Grove folk regular brought us prepared meals in abundance, so much so, that we almost had to invoke Exodus 36:6 and Moses’ command to the Israelites to restrain their generosity.

David, Naomi, and Gabriel left Betel of America for ten days to be with us in Wilmington. After some initial confusion Gabriel finally was able to articulate the difference between Mum, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother. Gabriel and I befriended all the birds, cats, and squirrels in Great Grandmother’s yard. Following the ministry of St. Patrick to the snakes of Ireland, Gab, the fear less ‘Hunter of Spiders’, drove out all 8 legged pests and restored a spiderless ‘paradise’ to Great Grandmother’s environs. Pray for David and Naomi. They will be expecting another boy in August.

Over the last three months Mary has been thoroughly examined by doctors and taken many exams and tests in Wilmington and also at the Duke University Neurological Center in Raleigh. We are where we started, but have confirmed that Mary has had a very successful surgery in Spain. She is healing well and has retained all her intellect, faculties, bodily functions and remains bi-lingual. She is in the high ninetieth percentile of people who have had similar surgeries. However, she still struggles with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, trembling and weakness—very common post surgical symptoms for surgeries on the left side of the brain. Please pray. Mary still does not feel well. We are believing for a full recovery over time.

Mary and I have been almost ‘inseparable’ since her surgery in April 2009 as I have not felt the liberty to travel. However, at the end of April 2010 I was able to leave her for the first time with her family in Wilmington to spend two days at the Faith Training Center’s Missionaries and Ministers Convention in Walhalla, South Carolina. After the convention Barry Silverback of Australia, Kel Steiner of YWAM, and I were asked to meet with the FTC Trustees. I made the sacrifice to be with the brethren because I felt it was an important time for Faith Training Center and the legacy of A.S. Worley, the founder of FTC and a great missionary Statesman and Apostle to the nations. It appears that God is presenting a ‘Kairos’ moment to Faith Training Center. Kel Steiner, the Deputy Asian director of YWAM, has offered to assume the responsibility for the 50 acre campus and buildings and to start a YWAM School of Discipleship and a branch of the University of the Nations in Walhalla. It will not be easy for the few faithful brethren still at FTC to put their dreams on the altar and let God resurrect Brother Worley’s vision for the nations through YWAM on a far larger scale. My life was changed at FTC. I personally believe that this is the right thing to do. Please believe with us that all parties will hear God’s voice loud and clear.

In May I was scheduled to fly to Thailand to be part of WEC’s two week long INTERCON CONFERENCE where all the leaders of WEC’s sending bases, fields, and worldwide ministries gathered to seek God and plan our future advance. Unfortunately, as the departure date approached it became apparent that Mary’s condition was too delicate for me to leave her with her family. I cancelled and stayed in Wilmington. Lindsay, Myk, Kent, Keith, and Lolita represented Betel. It was a time for WEC to affirm its identity and heritage in God and to look to and prepare for the future. We, on the WEC-Betel Transnational Field, have declared, in faith, that Betel will enter 18 new nations in the next decade—principally in Asia. Betel is presently in 21 nations. Please believe with us for all the human, economic, and spiritual resources necessary for that great advance.

At the end of June Mary was healthy enough for me to fly to Canada to be the speaker for the WEC Canadian Field Conference. Jonathan took time from his very busy schedule to fly into Wilmington from London to be with his mother during my absence. I flew into Toronto to the Canadian headquarters in Hamilton. The next day I appeared on Christian TV on ‘100 Huntly Street’. In the afternoon we went out to see the 43 acre ‘Land of Goshen’ farm that has been donated to WEC Canada by a Canadian Korean couple for a Betel community. Paula and Daniel (WEC Korea) who have served in Betel of India are now living on the property. Canada is one of our 18 declared new fields for the coming decade. Please pray that we will know when God wants us to actually start Betel of Canada.
We are very short of English speaking Betel workers. We have just sent 6 new Betel missionaries (one Spanish couple and 4 British men) to renew the Betel of Australia team which has not really recovered its ‘breath’ since the tragic wildfire that destroyed our Marysville center and took the life of our dear Bian. Also, Betel of America is still struggling with a reduced team of mature workers and new US visa restrictions on religious workers which inhibits sending reinforcements. The US government is now treating ‘Christian’ religious visas with the same jaundiced eye that they use to approve Muslim religious visas—all in the name of ‘fairness’ and ‘political correctness’. Please pray for David and Naomi. They are under much spiritual, administrative and economic pressure because of the lack of good workers in Betel of America.

FUTURE EVENTS

We will hold our WEC-Betel TRANSNATIONAL FIELD CONFERENCE the third week of August and our ANNUAL CAMP MEETING the last week of August, both at our Betania Conference Center. We anticipate having most of our Betel WECCERS with us and 1,500 Betel folks from our Churches and communities around the world. Normally, we invite an outside speaker, but this year I will speak at half the main sessions for the Camp Meetings and Mario (Betel of Finland) and Dimitrij (Betel of Russia) will take the rest of the main sessions. Pray for Dimitrij. Since Putin’s government has ejected Mario, our Betel missionary, from Russia by denying Mario and his family visas, the weight of leadership of Betel of Russia has fallen to Dimitrij and other young Russians. Please pray that their hearts remain bound to our hearts and Russia stays an integral part of the Betel fold. This is one of our motives for honoring Russia and asking Dimitrij to address the whole Betel family at Camp Meeting.

At the end of September we will celebrate our ANNUAL PROPHETIC CONFERENCE in Madrid. We have invited Johnny Enslow of Atlanta to be the principle speaker.

In November we will celebrate BETEL’S 25th ANNIVERSARY in Madrid. We anticipate representatives from the major denominations of Spain, governmental and political leaders, and many of our special friends and supporters from around the world to be with us. We have invited Paul Johansson and Paul Anderson to help us mark this milestone in God.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. Please pray especially for Mary. She is understandably anxious about our return to Spain July 14th. She does find some comfort knowing that we will stop in New York for two days in New York with Betel of America and David and Naomi and Gabriel. When we arrive in Madrid we will find Peter, Michelle, and Sophia in our home. They have accompanied two teams of 40 Oxford young people from St. Aldates for a short-term missionary experience in Betel this summer. We close with this thought, knowing this year more than ever:
‘That if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’. I Corinthians 5:1

Our love in Christ,

Elliott and Mary

PS We have a file with the text of a small booklet we have written called: ‘The Ten Distinctives of Betel’. It will be published soon, but if you might prefer a ‘peek’ before the published version full of Betel photos is available, contact Myrgle Grove office for a copy.

C/Antonia Rodriguez Sacristan 8
Madrid 28044
Spain

c/o WEC International
PO Box 1707
Ft. Washington, PA 19034
USA