In October 1969, Mark and Gladys Bliss, close friends of Elam founder Sam Yeghnazar, lost all three of their children in a car accident.
More than 40 years after the tragedy, their memories of Karen, Debbie, and Mark are as poignant as ever. But this is their witness: ‘The Lord has been so good’. And that witness in the midst of such suffering deeply impacted the Iranian church.
Scent of success
Iran 1969. The scent of success was in the air. The Assemblies of God Churches were growing. Street evangelism was happening. New fellowships were being planted. Buildings were going up. Conferences were being organised. A Bible School was being launched. The Iranian leaders, Sam Yeghnazar, Haik Hovsepian-Mehr, were young and dynamic. And in the midst of all this passion were the US missionaries Mark and Gladys Bliss, whose faith in the Lord had already been tested and proved in Liberia where they had looked after lepers. Mark and Gladys arrived in Tehran in 1965 with their two young children Karen and Debbie. Their son Mark junior was born in Iran.
