InAsMuch Newsletter

In rememberance of Sue Bates

Sunday, October 14, 2007 Anno Domini

Dear Friends, Loved Ones and Family Members of Billie Sue Bates:

Early Saturday morning, God Almighty took His servant, Billie Sue Bates, to her true home in Paradise.

Missionary, wife, mother to four sons, “Mama Sue” to hundreds of God’s poor young lambs, Sue Bates came to Romania seventeen years ago with her husband, Ron Bates. Through the years the service of Ron and Sue Bates included a preaching ministry to Rroma (Gypsy) churches, printing the Braille Bible for the Romanian Blind Society and for Russian Christians, funding basic medical services for the needy, distributing gifts from European and North American Christians to churches, schools and the homeless, and overseeing homes for almost one hundred single mothers and street orphans. Her and her husband’s ministry always sought to live out Jesus’ command in Matthew 25:40,

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

In addition to a medical diagnosis of diabetes, Sue also recently carried a burden of grief from the loss of her husband of over 45 years. Billie Sue Bates is survived by four sons: John Michael, born August 7, 1962; Dana Matthew, born August 30, 1968, Robert Jason, born June 19, 1970, and Ronald Barton, born August 12, 1971. She was also blessed with a daughter-in-law Brandi Anderson Bates and daughter-in-law Briana Bates, born May 29, 2005.

Sue Bates was born in Tyler, Texas in 1943 and raised in east Texas. It was her wish to sacrifice a more comfortable life in the United States to offer every ounce of her strength, every moment of time to give what she had to those who had less.

The ministering team of Sue and Ron Bates served almost half a century in Japan, across the United States, parts of Europe and finally, Romania. As she wished, she will be buried next to her husband in the Rroma village of Goloshei, Romania.

Our friend, our blessed mother, may you, your husband and the saints who’ve gone before rest from your labors in the eternal rays of His Radiance.

Billie Sue Edwards Bates – January 2, 1943 – October 13, 2007