The End to Turkish Tales

To tell of all the Lord has done the last two months in Turkey would take many blogs. Honestly I could write a book on what I have seen, experienced, and felt. However, I am going to keep this post simple and share a touch of Türkiye with you.

This is what a typical week of ministry would look like for me and my team.

Sunday: ATL (Ask The Lord)

Monday: ATL

Tuesday: work day in the house

Wednesday: village ministry

Thursday: work day in the house

Friday: Sabbath (rest day with the Lord)

Saturday: team adventure day

Most weeks we would begin ATL day 1 by having church together as a team. Since we lived in a small town where there are no current believers (from our understanding), and were living in a house that will one day be a church, and did not live with our host, it meant that our team was the only Christian community we had during this time. Some days it seemed isolating to not have other believers around, but honestly God really grew my reliance on Him alone during this time and my transparency with my team.

Other ways that ATL days looked similar would be going out into the center area downtown and seeing our local friends. We would stop by their shops, get lunch at their restaurants, or just chat in the streets. These relationships soon went beyond downtown and gave us an invitation into their homes. We would get to share meals with them, drink tea and coffee with them, and talk about our life stories and beliefs with each other.

Outside of downtown ATL ministry we also spent some time by our house with our neighbors. Talking with the mothers while they were at home during the day, playing with their kids outside, or kicking a soccer ball at the field. These relationships also led to deeper conversations getting to know one another. We were truly blessed by our neighbors. As God used us to bless them, we were deeply blessed by them in return.

By the end of our stay it seemed like we were no longer cooking meals because of all the invitations to eat with families, and we had no reason to be hungry at home because of all the snacks and goodies our friends would randomly drop by. The children who were once scared of the strangers next door soon became our little friends who would run and play from floor to floor while we worked during the day. We no longer felt like foreigners in our small town, we were family.

Work days still consisted of the same work I described in previous blogs. Scraping paint off floors and scrubbing the remains off with acid. Eventually we got a sweet little break from scraping the floors and got to paint the walls. All in all, these days gave me lots of time to reflect on my thoughts, pray, and talk with my team while working.

Ministry in surrounding villages was always a fun adventure. We got to meet with families for coffee who were questioning Christianity, pray over the grounds of different parts of Turkey, and hand out Bibles and Christian books to those God placed on our hearts as we walked and prayed.

Sabbaths have became one of my favorite days of the week. Not because they’re pretty chill, but because it’s a day I don’t have to schedule anything. I just get to be present with the Lord. I would spend hours worshipping by listening to music, praying, playing the guitar, or writing. I would listen to podcasts and sermons. I would read my Bible, commentaries, and other books. It was always so restful to get to just sit in the presence of the Lord and have no other distraction or focus other than to just be still, listen, and seek Jesus’ face. Having a sabbath day is so important to us as believers, and this is something I plan to implement in my life for the rest of my future.

Adventure days were super fun this past country. My team and I got to travel to many different cities and see many different things. One of my favorite adventures that I recently wrote about in my last blog was our adventure to see the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation in the Bible. We rearranged some of our schedule to make this work out, squeezed in extra work hours, and set out to experience some biblical history. One of our hosts went with us and for a few days we just got to immerse ourselves into the ruins of ancient cities and churches and talk about each letter written in Revelations chapters 2 and 3. This adventure redeemed my relationship with history and gave me a new desire to learn more about biblical history and history as a whole.

That’s a wrap for my teams time in Turkey. Leaving our small town was tough, it really did start to feel like home, but I know God has so much more ahead. We are now off to Nepal for a month of ministry hiking in the mountains to travel to unreached people groups in the mountain villages. Pray that I would be able to rely entirely on the Lord when it comes to physical strength. I am nervous about the strenuous treks daily, but know that the Lord will carry me through this time. Our squad will all be together for this month so it’s going to be exciting to reunite and learn from each other as a whole again. Thanks for adventuring with me through this! God has been changing many lives already and I know there is much more to come.

Talk to you soon when I’m in Nepal!