Hello,
My second journal will focus upon my second-third week in S0ke, T-rkey. I had many opportunities to learn during the nine days spent in S0ke. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me.
I will start by explaining my anticipation of this time. I was told that these weeks would be the most cross-cultural weeks of our trip and would present many opportunities and challenges. I anticipated a hard and eye-opening experience and was apprehensive of the potential difficulties. I was worried, but I knew that I had been doing all I could do to prepare for this.
I prepared by learning different ways that I could respect the people while here. I researched the norms of T-rkish culture: basics of the language, religion, family life, hospitality, friendship, history of the people and other general norms. I focused on the language because I wanted to be able to learn from the people here. Now, in T-rkey, I have been intentionally placing myself in the position of a student because the past two months have made me aware of the box that I use when I encounter something I don’t understand. I subconsciously constrict people as inferior to myself. This judgment shows my pride and fear of people who might know something that I don’t. I have been working hard to break these constricting judgments. I know that in judgment I limit my own ability to be a man of peace and understanding. I spend time in prayer and have been journaling about my experiences with a goal of understanding and valuing people who are different than me. These preparations have proven very important in the small city of S0ke, T-rkey
S0ke has been specifically challenging because of all the cultures I am around. The workers that we are with are very dynamic and different than what I am used to. The mom is from Uruguay, the dad from Germany and the kids are being raised in an isolated place of traditional T-rkish culture. We arrived Nine days ago and have gone on a crash course of culture.
We started right away on Friday night. We went out to see the town in our respectful clothing (women in long skirts and men dressed nicely), we were looked at in ways that would be slightly inappropriate in western culture and learned about life in a traditional T-rkish town. We arrived at the one small church and found four M-slim men, one whose wife had been recently converted to Christi@nity. It was our first day and to see M-slim men step foot in a church is remarkable. We all greeted in the normal way of touching cheeks and kissing the hands of the elderly, upon sitting we all had our tea and time of socializing. We are learning the unique ways of visiting. In the course of conversation we told our f@ith and explained that we can sing to our L0rd. The men wanted to hear us sing so we did. We had a whole w0rship time for about forty-five minutes and were able to experience the H0ly Spirit in the room. I learned a lot about the r-ligion these men held and learned that one had experienced a dream of J-sus and had seen fire on his head. They had come to the church because of these dreams and also because the man’s wife was urging her husband to come to the f@ith. I have been hearing about this dream frequently over the course of the last months. I hear that many M-slims experience dreams of J-sus over R@madan. I know that our L0rd is hearing our pr-yers and it is awesome to hear such amazing testimonies to our L0rd’s grace.
Saturday morning came and we all awoke to our usual 4:30 A.M. alarm clock, the call to pr@yer. This experience in itself sets the day of on a surreal note that screams, “You are not at home here!” After our morning devotion and worship time we spent the day in pryer and in preparation for the week to come. We prepared for the service we were to have on Sunday and we learned some more about respecting the people, proper ways to enter a household, respecting elders, and respect r-ligion…Etc. The end of Ram@dan was on Sunday and we were preparing to visit about 6 houses. Saturday was a really good day our team really came together in unity.
Sunday morning came and we went to our first house and met a very nice and hospitable family. We spoke about our homes and I observed many statements of friendship and words like I love you as common to visitors. We had learned that the religion of Isl@m values guests highly and requires hospitality. I also know that the culture is relationship based partly because m-slim people believe that all things rely on fate. Thus, there is not a point to living a fast paced life, or at least one that is on a timed schedule, no need to rush a conversation, or a visit. We left our first household with many pleasantries and spent the afternoon visiting four more households. I observed different ways that people view this holiday and I also noticed that some men allowed their wives to shake our hands and some did not, the women were always serving us and the men did nothing. The common topics of conversation were food, our homes, T-rkey, r-ligion, sport etc… Everything was mainly based upon entertaining us. We never had a chance to do our service that we planned, but we did conclude the evening with a lot of singing, prayer and encouragement for our host family and for a lonely local believer. Learning a lot here. The hospitality is inspiring and I love the respect that people show one another, but there is an underlying tension in places.
Monday morning we all awoke with an excitement. We went to see Eph-esus and had a day of rest. I sang “praise G-d from whom all Blessings Flow” in the Ancient ruins of the theater (ep-esus) in front of about 200 people☺. After seeing some of the places that Paul and other apostl-s walked we read Ephesians and Acts and went to visit the Ap-stle John’s Grave. I thought that the place were John was buried was remarkable, very pretty on a hill with many ruins to look at. We finished our much-needed day at a beach swimming in the Aegean.
Tuesday the women went to do home visits with the woman who already works in S0oke and the men worked at the church and then went to do a home visit in the afternoon. I think that we were all very blessed by these visits. Many people opened up to us and we were able to give testimony to our f@ith in every place. I know that we were opening doors for the existing workers. We also learned a lot about the culture and I learned about how to communicate and present myself in a respectful way. I understand some of the T-rkish politics and topics of conversation now. We were also able to play basketball with a member of the Turkish team. It was a great experience and I felt that we made a good friendship with the man we played with.
Wednesday morning we had our usual pr@yer and worhip time and spent time interceding for the work that is being done in T-rkey and also for our teams from Y--A-M through the world. After this time we went to the local park and started our work for the day: pr@yer walking, serving donuts and handing out tracts. We were able to hand out over 500 tracks with the 500 plates of donuts that we served the people of S0ke. It was a great day!
Thursday we spent the day working at the chrch and doing home visits. We spent the day as we did Tuesday. We went to the poor part of town and I was saddened by the way people had to live. We met a man who shared his testimony with us and we prayed for him. I had been looking forward to Thursday night. We planned on going to meet the m-slim men that we had first met on Friday. We went to the Christi@n women’s house (the one who had just been converted) and I found the men to be good company they even gave us a barbecue. We shared our testimonies with them and others who had arrived about 10 in all. We also had a time of w0rship and spent time in pr@yer for the people in the room. I believe that the L-rd used us to plant seeds that will grow and bring people to our faith. (I also ate from a fig tree for the first time, it was great!) We arrived back late at night and crashed.
Friday morning we spent the day doing home visits and then we all worked on the church. We also had our daily devotion and prayer time as a team. Friday night we went to visit the family of the only local believer. I asked the father of this woman if he liked to fish and immediately he said yes and asked, “if I’d like to sleep over and go fishing with him the next day.” (All through the translation of the local workers). I jumped on the opportunity and gladly said, yes. I was in for an adventure. Friday night passed very well. I was able to share the whole g0spel with the family and gave my testimony. After everyone had left on Friday night I stayed up late with the father and mother playing bakgammon, this game is extremely popular here and I was outmatched to say the least.
Saturday morning I woke up to another sunny day (it has been perfect blue sky weather here since we arrived 15 days ago.) I went with the man and we drove about an hour away to his friend’s place where we picked up a muslim woman her husband and their grandchildren. We spent about an hour at their house where they all spoke with one another and I just smiled and silently said pr-yers. After this time of visiting we went to a local fishing spot and got their nets (200 M.) and took a row-boat around a small bay. We caught many small fish and kept them all. I saw the ancient palace of King Mileto’s on the way back to the man’s house where I learned to clean and cook the fish. We had a quick dinner and then the local worker picked me up. As you can imagine it was a tough day because we couldn’t speak to one another, but at the same time was a great day and one I will not forget. I was told the time I spent with this man and his wife was a great witness and was rewarded by their arrival at our church the next day. After I was picked up on Saturday night we went straight to another home and visited the family friends of our workers (m-slim family).
Sunday morning we got up and prepared for our 2:00 service. We also looked forward to the goodbye barbecue that the workers had for us. The church service went well and we were able to give worship and testimony to about 15 people. We finished last minute work at the church. I spent the afternoon cleaning the small fish and cooked them for the visitors we had. After our barbecue of pork ☺ we left on the bus for Antaly@ at 11:00 P.M. and arrived safely here to a warm welcome from the workers in this city.
Everything is going well. We are doing lots of good work and have been given many blessings as we’ve been here. Thank you for your prayers. I miss you.
In Christ’s Love,
Travis
Hey everybody. This is our blog from week #2.
Saturday we had a short orientation and went over the schedule of the week with our new contacts. The majority of the day was spent preparing for the next day, which was the end of R@madan celebrations as well as the church service. That night we heard the sound of the m0sques at sunset signaling the end of R@madan. The streets went totally quiet as everyone hurried inside to gorge himself. Ironically, though no one eats from sunrise to sunset, 60% more food is consumed during the month of R@madan. Sunday we did many house visits. The celebration called B@yram is like Christm@s/Th@nksgiving/H@lloween. Families reunite from all over the country as they feast at the end of a day of door-to-door candy collecting. It was incredible to go into a city as short-termers and go straight into the Mus1im households to talk as friends with them. These workers have been laying their lives down to build these foundations for years and we were able to just walk in there and experience and build upon it. But, the Trks are incredibly hospitable and every single household we went into was armed with tea/coffee and biscuits/baklava. None of us ever thought we would be tired of baklava until then…The original intention was to hold the chrch service in the evening the service is based on the schedule of the people, who were spending the day with their families, so we had to just cancel the service altogether.
The atmosphere in S0ke was different than the other two cities. It is not a tourist town at all. One man of sixty we met had never even left the city and most people, when we told them we were staying in S0ke for nine days, gave us a big fat “What! Why?” We were having a very cultural experience as we stayed with two workers, one from Germ@ny (Hug0) and his wife from Urugu@y (M@ria). We are also getting a very good picture of Trkish customs and values in the house visits. It was also very interesting to just see how you greet, serve, and converse with guests.
Monday was a highlight of most of our lives. We took a bus to go see the ancient city of Ephesus and the burial place of the Apostle John. The historical relevance for us is obvious; we will never read the Bib1e the same; just seeing the places where the Apostle Paul walked and wrote much of the Bib1e NT letters was an experience that you can only know by experience. Ephesus took a full three hours to explore, as it was a center of trade and re1igion for centuries and is still remarkably large and well kept. There used to be a cathedral over 5t. John’s grave, not five minutes from Ephesus, but it is long since fallen into ruins. There is a castle as well, though we were not able to go in. After a morning of exploring and pondering, it was nice when we went to a beach town called Kush@disi on the Aege@n coast to spend the rest of the afternoon playing in the sea and laying in the sun. The following day was spent doing work projects on the chrch and visits to more friends. We feel it is so valuable to help the existing workers by doing more work in one day than they could do in a month and by building relationships with their friends.
Another day we hired a bakery to bring their dough and some hot oil and make doughnuts in the park for us. As we passed out free doughnuts, we also handed them a piece of paper with, for many people, their first ever scrıpture. Over 500 people came that day. After that we were able to experience the local market, which had most everyone in the town there. It was a huge canopy under which there were hundreds of little shops with everything you would ever want to buy…. we were able to practice the art of haggling and get a weeks worth of groceries for less than the daily cost of eating in restaurants.
Thursday we spent the day working at the chrch and doing home visits. We went to the poor part of town and were saddened by the way people had to live. We met a man who shared his testimony with us and we pryed for him. We planned on going to meet the Mus1im men that we had first met on Friday. We went to the Christi@n women’s house (the one who had just been converted). We shared our testimonies with them and others who had arrived, about ten in all. We also had a time of w0rship and spent time in pr@yer for the people in the room. I believe that the L0rd used us to plant seeds that night…
On the last days we were able to paint the children’s room in the chrch, put in a gutter system on the roof, do some landscaping, build a cover for the baptismal, and bless and pr@y for the workers. The last day we did the chrch service and had a sausage sizzle (BBQ) all together. They actually had bratwurst brought over from Germ@ny to cook with! For all of us, any pork is a huge treat.
It is amazing how we have started to assimilate to the culture. Most of the time we don’t even notice the five-time-a-day pr@yer call, our mannerisms and gestures are becoming more Trkish, and other things that at first seemed totally foreign and different are becoming more comfortable. As we learn more about this culture with our own, we are able to view our own culture with a more critical eye and compare the underlying assumptions of our own cultures and the Trkish culture against the Bib1e.
We as a team have taken some key steps to enjoying each other, making sacrifices, serving, and using our giftings to contribute to the group and the work being done. We also did some real bonding in the Hamams (Trkısh bath house!!). The guys went on Wednesday and the ladies on Saturday. If you don’t know what this is, Google it. It was just amazing. We also value our morning team devotions very much as we are able to pr@y for each other, wrship, do a devotion, and intercede every day. It is also just a time to debrief and tell what we are feeling and how we are doing.
Overall, these 9 days ın Soke have been a time of two-way encouragement between our team and the workers. They are simply inspirational in their commitment in the long-haul and we were able to bless them with our pr@yers and work. Thank you for your prayers and support. Love and blessings!
-TTT
PS. For those of you who want to see photos, please befrıend Jesse Coffee and Jonathan Godsey and check out theır photo albums!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Blog 2 (outreach)
Hello Everyone,
I am writing from S-oke. We are staying with workers here this week and will be able to do quite a bit of practical work for our goals. I am really encouraged by the fruit we have already been seeing in our work.
On Sunday night we arrived in I-stanbul and were able to stay in a 20 ytl a night hotel (about 13 USD). Monday morning I woke up quite early because of jet lag and my roommate Clayton and I went into T-axim Square. We spent about 3 ½ hours looking around and trying to get a feel for the place. It is not possible to understand a culture in 2 months, but we are trying to observe the norms for communication, hospitality, market place, religion, and so on… That first morning was a success. I was able to orientate myself, or at least I became more aware of the unique nature of T-rkey: the places, sounds and people. I spoke the limited T-rkish I already knew and found that the people really appreciated my attempts at their language. I was able to communicate enough to get a haircut from a T-rkish barber. He did a great job for a very inexpensive price.
After getting the haircut and buying a T-rkish coffee Clayton and I went back to our hotel and met our team for w0rship and Pr@yer. After this time we all went out into the city of Ist@nbul and spent the day seeing the sights and getting over the initial effects of jet lag. We went to the Gra-nd Baz@ar market place and I saw the Blue Mosq-ue from a distance. We had some funny stories from this first day. My friend Jesse and I explored the Grand Baza@r and we both had experiences with T-rkish salesmen.
After our day on the town we went out to eat at a small restaurant for an inexpensive dinner of Doner and Kebab (2 ytl). I went to bed early in an attempt to prepare for the coming day of briefing for our work in T-rkey,
Tuesday morning we woke early had our Pr@yer time and then met our contact for briefing. We went to his place. This required a ferry from the E-ropean side to @sian side of I-stanbul it was really fun to be crossing onto another continent. On Tuesday we learned a lot about history, culture, religion and had an inspiring message for our work. After our morning session we spent time in the local markets. I was able to learn more about the people and practiced speaking more T-rkish. After 1 ½ hours we reconvened in our meeting place and spent the last part of the day continuing our study. On the ferry ride home we saw some very beautiful views of Ist@nbul. Lots of mosques and I even saw a couple of palaces. Upon our arrival in Eur-pe ☺ we went back to “our” restaurant (we took ownership of the place) and had more Doner and Kebab. After dinner I went to the local hostel and spoke with a person from Australia. I was also able to get Internet access in this place and was able to talk to my dad and girlfriend for a little while. It was nice to talk to them because there has been so much happening lately. It was a welcome reprieve from the new things I am experiencing here. I went to bed encouraged and ready for a full day of work on the streets of I-stanbul.
Wednesday morning we woke to a day of handing out tracts, books, and pr@yer it was an adventure. We had a successful day. It was another day filled with work. I know that our team is being watched over and I have seen the L-rd’s blessing on our work. I will share testimonies later in this message. I was able to explain the truth to two men and was able to pr-y with both. Wednesday evening we spent time with our brothers and sisters from Ox-ford and took them to “our restaurant”. It was nice to have some time to say goodbye to them and to see them established in a location in T-rkey. After our time with them we took the ferry over to the Asi@ side and got on our overnight bus to Ch@nakalle (Tr0y and G@lipoli are located here).
We arrived at 6:30 and went to the hostel that we planned on staying in for the day. After checking in we had our time of w0rship and Pr@yer and decided to see Tr0y. We went to Tr0y with a focus to do our work. We were able to meet a man named Louie and took him to dinner and he stayed in our hostel with us. I also meant another man named Travis and we were able to share what our work is with both of these people. I know that Thursday was a successful day and Tr0y was great.
Friday morning we took another bus to S0ke. On our travel days we spend a lot of time in Pr@yer and dev0tion. The bus ride was 9 hours of very cool sights. We drove through the locations of Perg@mum and Smyrn@ and saw many very pretty sights of the Aege@n coastline. Upon our arrival in S0ke we moved into the places we will be staying and went for a walk around the city. After our walk we came back to our place, the Ch-urch, and found four visitors (three of them have not found our truth and one has) we spent time with them in prayer and worship. It was an amazing night and was very important to the workers here. I went to bed very encouraged and in awe of our Lord and His work through us.
Saturday morning we woke to another beautiful day and spent a lot of time as a team in prayer, worship and intercession for this place. I went for a prayer walk and we all spent time seeking the Lords direction for the day. We took a short break and listened to M@ria as she gave us our work schedule for the week. Saturday was a very special day for our team. We all looked forward to Sunday. We are going to give a Ch-urch service and will be visiting many T-rkish families to celebrate the end of R@madan with them.
It is Sunday now and I have already had more B@klava and T-rkish coffee/tea than I thought I could eat. We have had a great day. The morning was spent in prayer, worship and intercession and now we are visiting families and meeting the people. Tonight we will be giving a service. The atmosphere is different than the other two cities. It is not a tourist town. We are having a very cultural experience as we are staying with two workers H_ugo and M@ria. H-ugo is from Germ@ny and M-aria is from Ur-uguay. We are also getting a very good picture of T-rkish customs and values.
I am very excited for our team. Some testimonies of G-d’s goodness: We have not been sick or hurt past a bearable point, we are coming together as a team, we have been late for a bus and everyone pointed us to the right bus without even knowing what and why they did. We have seen G-d make appointments for our team. We have felt Him as he protects us and we have been able to overcome the spiritu@l darkness of this place in His love. I have seen him opening doors and I am sure that our G-d is before us.
In His Love,
Travis
P.S. This is a blog from my friend Jonathon.
Hello Everyone!
This is Jonathan writing. I will be giving the updates for our team during the next two months. It has been so amazing already and we are only one week in!
Last weekend we spent three days of travel. Saturday we flew to Auckland for an overnight stay before flying 11 ½ hours flying to S-eoul, Korea for the second overnight stay. That was the craziest 20 hours I have ever experienced. An early evening arrival took us to our complimentary hotel, which, for most of us, was the best hotel we have ever stayed in. An unbelievable dinner with unlimited seafood and espresso was good fuel for the night to come. After oo-ing and aw-ing over the heated toilet seats and automated rooms we left for a crazy night on the town, including an extended visit to the prayer room of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest church in the world with 830,000 members. Since we were traveling with the other T-urkey Team, most of us stayed out all night, before returning for breakfast, which was the best meal I have ever eaten, other than dinner the night before, of course.
I go into so much detail to try to communicate the shock we had when a twelve-hour the following day took us to I-stanbul, T-urkey, Midd1e E@st. It was contrast if there ever was such a thing. But we loved it! After most of us have spent two winters in a row playing in the snow, we found the humid Mediterranean weather pretty hot. Even on the drive from the airport to our little hostel not far from the bridge from Europe to Asia, we could see the remains of millennia of empires in the buildings and architecture…kind of reminded me of home. NOT!
Our first few days we met with some of the existing workers there. We had a two-day orientation and did some work in a very religi0us sector of the city passing out g0spel tracts and pr@ying for people. The workers here are so amazing. They are so outnumbered and so overwhelmed but they just walk in love in wisdom, pouring out their lives for the people and are seeing fruit. They are truly an inspiration. We also did pr@yer walks and I went inside a m0sque during the evening pr@yer time to do warfare.
After four days in I-stanbul, we left on a night bus to Ch@nakalle, the first leg of the trip to S0eke. We were only able to spend one day there, so we went to see the ruins of Tr0y, which was really an amazing experience. Reading the history, seeing the ancient aqueducts and seeing how they lived life was quite an experience for all of us. While there, we met a backpacker from England named Louie. We ended up showing him where we were staying and taking him out to dinner. He was a really cool guy. Clayton N. and I also had a good long talk with a Mu5lim man at a grocery store and were able to share the G0spel with him. We concluded by exhorting each other to seek truth and gave each other a copy of our H0LY B00KS.
I think we are all over jet lag now and would agree that the highlight of our trip was our first day here in S0eke, and town of 100,000 and only five believers. After an eight hour bus ride down the beautiful Aegean coastline, past the regions where Perg@mum and Smyrn@ were located, we arrived to meet with two amazing co-workers, Hugo and Maria, who have been here for three years. After an amazing home-cooked meal and a walking tour of the city, we returned to the Lord’s Home where there were waiting for us four people: three Mu5lim men and a very recent sister. We saw it as a fun opportunity to talk with some locals and maybe share our testimony, but what we did not realize was our co-workers had been building relationship with these people for months and this was a pivotal point for them. The recent sister was married to one of the men, but had disowned him until he became a believer. One of the other men had recently had a vision in which he had met and spoke with the Lord! Now the woman and these three men were here to ask questions about God. We were able to share a couple testimonies, lead a w0rship session, and read passages in the Book together. It was incredible! What was intended to be a relaxed night of resting had turned into an amazing work of the 5pirit.
Spiritu@lly we have been under attack but through that I have been seeing tangible growth in our team as we have seen the issues and confront them in a spirit of pr@yer and humility. It is very dark here, especially as we have been here during the last week of R@madan. Tonight we heard the final pr@yer call and release to eat, as well as the sound of silence in the streets as everybody rushed inside to gorge themselves in the beginning of the feasts. But we are ever growing closer as a team and learning to work together in decision-making and encouragement. I am pretty sure we have the best team ever…
If you are pr@ying for us, we have some requests. Pr@y that we would:
-Have wisdom on where to go for the remainder of our trip
-Continue to grow in love and unity as a family
-Be affective in our ministry in such a dark land
-Stay healthy and injury free
-Have wisdom on how to handle our finances and provision for all our needs
Thank you so much for you prayer and support!
-TTT (Turkey Travel Team)
I am writing from S-oke. We are staying with workers here this week and will be able to do quite a bit of practical work for our goals. I am really encouraged by the fruit we have already been seeing in our work.
On Sunday night we arrived in I-stanbul and were able to stay in a 20 ytl a night hotel (about 13 USD). Monday morning I woke up quite early because of jet lag and my roommate Clayton and I went into T-axim Square. We spent about 3 ½ hours looking around and trying to get a feel for the place. It is not possible to understand a culture in 2 months, but we are trying to observe the norms for communication, hospitality, market place, religion, and so on… That first morning was a success. I was able to orientate myself, or at least I became more aware of the unique nature of T-rkey: the places, sounds and people. I spoke the limited T-rkish I already knew and found that the people really appreciated my attempts at their language. I was able to communicate enough to get a haircut from a T-rkish barber. He did a great job for a very inexpensive price.
After getting the haircut and buying a T-rkish coffee Clayton and I went back to our hotel and met our team for w0rship and Pr@yer. After this time we all went out into the city of Ist@nbul and spent the day seeing the sights and getting over the initial effects of jet lag. We went to the Gra-nd Baz@ar market place and I saw the Blue Mosq-ue from a distance. We had some funny stories from this first day. My friend Jesse and I explored the Grand Baza@r and we both had experiences with T-rkish salesmen.
After our day on the town we went out to eat at a small restaurant for an inexpensive dinner of Doner and Kebab (2 ytl). I went to bed early in an attempt to prepare for the coming day of briefing for our work in T-rkey,
Tuesday morning we woke early had our Pr@yer time and then met our contact for briefing. We went to his place. This required a ferry from the E-ropean side to @sian side of I-stanbul it was really fun to be crossing onto another continent. On Tuesday we learned a lot about history, culture, religion and had an inspiring message for our work. After our morning session we spent time in the local markets. I was able to learn more about the people and practiced speaking more T-rkish. After 1 ½ hours we reconvened in our meeting place and spent the last part of the day continuing our study. On the ferry ride home we saw some very beautiful views of Ist@nbul. Lots of mosques and I even saw a couple of palaces. Upon our arrival in Eur-pe ☺ we went back to “our” restaurant (we took ownership of the place) and had more Doner and Kebab. After dinner I went to the local hostel and spoke with a person from Australia. I was also able to get Internet access in this place and was able to talk to my dad and girlfriend for a little while. It was nice to talk to them because there has been so much happening lately. It was a welcome reprieve from the new things I am experiencing here. I went to bed encouraged and ready for a full day of work on the streets of I-stanbul.
Wednesday morning we woke to a day of handing out tracts, books, and pr@yer it was an adventure. We had a successful day. It was another day filled with work. I know that our team is being watched over and I have seen the L-rd’s blessing on our work. I will share testimonies later in this message. I was able to explain the truth to two men and was able to pr-y with both. Wednesday evening we spent time with our brothers and sisters from Ox-ford and took them to “our restaurant”. It was nice to have some time to say goodbye to them and to see them established in a location in T-rkey. After our time with them we took the ferry over to the Asi@ side and got on our overnight bus to Ch@nakalle (Tr0y and G@lipoli are located here).
We arrived at 6:30 and went to the hostel that we planned on staying in for the day. After checking in we had our time of w0rship and Pr@yer and decided to see Tr0y. We went to Tr0y with a focus to do our work. We were able to meet a man named Louie and took him to dinner and he stayed in our hostel with us. I also meant another man named Travis and we were able to share what our work is with both of these people. I know that Thursday was a successful day and Tr0y was great.
Friday morning we took another bus to S0ke. On our travel days we spend a lot of time in Pr@yer and dev0tion. The bus ride was 9 hours of very cool sights. We drove through the locations of Perg@mum and Smyrn@ and saw many very pretty sights of the Aege@n coastline. Upon our arrival in S0ke we moved into the places we will be staying and went for a walk around the city. After our walk we came back to our place, the Ch-urch, and found four visitors (three of them have not found our truth and one has) we spent time with them in prayer and worship. It was an amazing night and was very important to the workers here. I went to bed very encouraged and in awe of our Lord and His work through us.
Saturday morning we woke to another beautiful day and spent a lot of time as a team in prayer, worship and intercession for this place. I went for a prayer walk and we all spent time seeking the Lords direction for the day. We took a short break and listened to M@ria as she gave us our work schedule for the week. Saturday was a very special day for our team. We all looked forward to Sunday. We are going to give a Ch-urch service and will be visiting many T-rkish families to celebrate the end of R@madan with them.
It is Sunday now and I have already had more B@klava and T-rkish coffee/tea than I thought I could eat. We have had a great day. The morning was spent in prayer, worship and intercession and now we are visiting families and meeting the people. Tonight we will be giving a service. The atmosphere is different than the other two cities. It is not a tourist town. We are having a very cultural experience as we are staying with two workers H_ugo and M@ria. H-ugo is from Germ@ny and M-aria is from Ur-uguay. We are also getting a very good picture of T-rkish customs and values.
I am very excited for our team. Some testimonies of G-d’s goodness: We have not been sick or hurt past a bearable point, we are coming together as a team, we have been late for a bus and everyone pointed us to the right bus without even knowing what and why they did. We have seen G-d make appointments for our team. We have felt Him as he protects us and we have been able to overcome the spiritu@l darkness of this place in His love. I have seen him opening doors and I am sure that our G-d is before us.
In His Love,
Travis
P.S. This is a blog from my friend Jonathon.
Hello Everyone!
This is Jonathan writing. I will be giving the updates for our team during the next two months. It has been so amazing already and we are only one week in!
Last weekend we spent three days of travel. Saturday we flew to Auckland for an overnight stay before flying 11 ½ hours flying to S-eoul, Korea for the second overnight stay. That was the craziest 20 hours I have ever experienced. An early evening arrival took us to our complimentary hotel, which, for most of us, was the best hotel we have ever stayed in. An unbelievable dinner with unlimited seafood and espresso was good fuel for the night to come. After oo-ing and aw-ing over the heated toilet seats and automated rooms we left for a crazy night on the town, including an extended visit to the prayer room of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest church in the world with 830,000 members. Since we were traveling with the other T-urkey Team, most of us stayed out all night, before returning for breakfast, which was the best meal I have ever eaten, other than dinner the night before, of course.
I go into so much detail to try to communicate the shock we had when a twelve-hour the following day took us to I-stanbul, T-urkey, Midd1e E@st. It was contrast if there ever was such a thing. But we loved it! After most of us have spent two winters in a row playing in the snow, we found the humid Mediterranean weather pretty hot. Even on the drive from the airport to our little hostel not far from the bridge from Europe to Asia, we could see the remains of millennia of empires in the buildings and architecture…kind of reminded me of home. NOT!
Our first few days we met with some of the existing workers there. We had a two-day orientation and did some work in a very religi0us sector of the city passing out g0spel tracts and pr@ying for people. The workers here are so amazing. They are so outnumbered and so overwhelmed but they just walk in love in wisdom, pouring out their lives for the people and are seeing fruit. They are truly an inspiration. We also did pr@yer walks and I went inside a m0sque during the evening pr@yer time to do warfare.
After four days in I-stanbul, we left on a night bus to Ch@nakalle, the first leg of the trip to S0eke. We were only able to spend one day there, so we went to see the ruins of Tr0y, which was really an amazing experience. Reading the history, seeing the ancient aqueducts and seeing how they lived life was quite an experience for all of us. While there, we met a backpacker from England named Louie. We ended up showing him where we were staying and taking him out to dinner. He was a really cool guy. Clayton N. and I also had a good long talk with a Mu5lim man at a grocery store and were able to share the G0spel with him. We concluded by exhorting each other to seek truth and gave each other a copy of our H0LY B00KS.
I think we are all over jet lag now and would agree that the highlight of our trip was our first day here in S0eke, and town of 100,000 and only five believers. After an eight hour bus ride down the beautiful Aegean coastline, past the regions where Perg@mum and Smyrn@ were located, we arrived to meet with two amazing co-workers, Hugo and Maria, who have been here for three years. After an amazing home-cooked meal and a walking tour of the city, we returned to the Lord’s Home where there were waiting for us four people: three Mu5lim men and a very recent sister. We saw it as a fun opportunity to talk with some locals and maybe share our testimony, but what we did not realize was our co-workers had been building relationship with these people for months and this was a pivotal point for them. The recent sister was married to one of the men, but had disowned him until he became a believer. One of the other men had recently had a vision in which he had met and spoke with the Lord! Now the woman and these three men were here to ask questions about God. We were able to share a couple testimonies, lead a w0rship session, and read passages in the Book together. It was incredible! What was intended to be a relaxed night of resting had turned into an amazing work of the 5pirit.
Spiritu@lly we have been under attack but through that I have been seeing tangible growth in our team as we have seen the issues and confront them in a spirit of pr@yer and humility. It is very dark here, especially as we have been here during the last week of R@madan. Tonight we heard the final pr@yer call and release to eat, as well as the sound of silence in the streets as everybody rushed inside to gorge themselves in the beginning of the feasts. But we are ever growing closer as a team and learning to work together in decision-making and encouragement. I am pretty sure we have the best team ever…
If you are pr@ying for us, we have some requests. Pr@y that we would:
-Have wisdom on where to go for the remainder of our trip
-Continue to grow in love and unity as a family
-Be affective in our ministry in such a dark land
-Stay healthy and injury free
-Have wisdom on how to handle our finances and provision for all our needs
Thank you so much for you prayer and support!
-TTT (Turkey Travel Team)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Outreach Kick Off (Letter 10)
Hello Everyone,
I am updating this blog from S-eoul, K-orea! We left O_xford on the 11th stayed in A-uckland, NZD on the North Island and then left for S_eoul at 9 A.M. on the 12th. We flew twelve hours and arrived in S. K_orea at 6 P.M. The K_orean airline that we flew on has given us seven hotel rooms for seven people! It’s GREAT! I am going to explore S_eoul.
I did not sleep at all last night ☺ Seoul is a crazy place. We got to see the largest church in the world with 830,000 members. We flew into S-eoul at 6 P.M. and went directly to the hotel and FOOD, which was provided by Korea Air. The hotel was really nice. We had a buffet with Lobster, sushi and all kinds of authentic K-orean foods (I have no idea what I ate, but it was good). After the dinner we took the subway for an hour ride into center city of S-eoul. We found the church and spent time there talking with a man who was preaching and praying outside. After we spoke with some more people we went into one of the 24 hour prayer/worship meetings that the church holds and spent about an hour there listening to prayer and worship in a different language. Some of my team members were bored, but I really liked observing the different ways that the people of S. K-orea pray and worship. I saw that they do not stand or kneel the way some others do and also observed the different attitudes in worship. There was an intensity/focus in this meeting that I have never seen before.
After this time we went on another adventure (as you can imagine 14 foreigners in the middle of huge city with trouble communicating). We asked around and found out the place to see was a part of S-eoul called S-ungChong. So we then tackled the feat of finding cheap transportation and after about a half hour communicated with a couple of taxi drivers and got very good rates ($2 American per person). Upon our arrival in Sung-Chong (not sure on the spelling) we walked around and encountered university party life at it’s best. We did our best to love and to avoid the places that were not safe and evil. We ended up taking a ton of pictures and then setting up on a busy corner and playing soccer with a stuffed animal that one of my friends won. It worked great. We were able to attract some people and I heard that one of my friends got to share his testimony and faith with a man.
Around 3:00 A.M. we took another cheap taxi back to the church and attended the prayer meeting for another half hour (I could feel the Lord’s presence in the room). At 3:30 the main sanctuary opened and we went to see what it looked like. It was beautiful and huge. I spent about an hour praying and sleeping there. At 4:30 we decided to make the trek back to the subway and on the way we saw about 150 people praying in a circle in the middle of a street! Wow, what a crazy night. I knew that the Lord was guiding us and I am happy to say that I know we spent our time here in S. K-orea well. Even though we are all tired it was worth it. We will be able to sleep on our upcoming 12-hour flight. I know that the spiritual and eye opening experience that we had strengthened members of my outreach team and myself for our ministry in Turkey.
Now to continue our story we arrived at the subway at 5 and found out that it didn’t open till 5:30. After transferring from one train we waited for an hour until 6:30 to start our hour-long journey. This second train was full and I have one of the funniest stories from it. I was sitting next to one of the only open seats, well a Korean man about my age sat down next to me and immediately fell asleep. He ended up sleeping on my side for most of the trip. It was hilarious because he couldn’t even open his eyes he was so tired so I just had to sit there, while he slept on me, drooled and made himself comfortable. My friends thought it was hilarious. I have many pictures and videos from this ride.
Upon our arrival back at the hotel we ate another fabulous meal on the Korean Airlines. I proceeded to enjoy the hotel and it’s luxuries (Workout room, Sauna and nice shower for the next hour.) I am excited to get on my flight to Turkey and SLEEP!
This experience was an answer to prayer for me. I had been praying for truth and a time to fill myself up before outreach. Well, even though it wouldn’t seem that staying up all night would be the best way to do that. I know that the Lord arranged for it because I was forced to focus upon him in new ways for the entire night. This helped to open up some of the boxes/lies that my worldview, beliefs, and enculturation put on the God of the Universe.
We leave for I-stanbul at 2 P.M. (another 12 hour flight) ☺ LOTS of stretching. I am very excited to arrive in T_urkey. We will be staying in Istanbu_l for 3-4 (13th – 18th) days getting acclimated and doing various types of ministry and then we will head to Sok_e (19th-26th) we will be doing cross-cultural ministry there. Sok_e is going to be very interesting there are very few believers (only 7). From Sept. 26th-28th we will be in S_elcuk (Ephesus) we will be touring the ruins of Ephesus and focusing on friendship ministry with tourists.
From S_elcuk we will head to Antalya (Sept. 28- Oct. 7th). Focusing specifically on friendship ministry with tourists, but in all of these places, except Selcu_k, we are staying with existing believers who will also point us to practical ways that we can serve the people (cleaning, building, service etc…).
After our time in A-ntalya we do not has set plans, but some potential places are: T-arsus, A-ntakya, D-iyabakir, Ne-vsihir, A-nkara etc…
I am very excited to be in T-urkey continuing the Lord’s work. We had a great send off in NZD we spent the week in prayer and worship. We also had a commissioning ceremony and we were all prayed over and blessed. A man from the North Island, Matt, came down and spoke to us about team work and important principles of being a team member. I know that we all learned a little from him and were reminded of a lot of important lessons about being polite and selfless as a member of a team.
I think our team will work well together. We are growing together and have spent quite a bit of time in prayer and worship together. Some of our team verses are: Colossians 4:2-6, Hebrews 13:15-16, 18; John 13:34-35; Colossians 3:12-17; 1 Corinthians 15:18; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:31b-33; Isaiah 35:1-2 (The Joy of the Redeemed).
Our team vision: We will remember our first love. It’s all about love. It’s all about family. We will be devoted to purity and holiness. We will be faithful to the Lord and to each other. We will bear one another’s burdens and seek the good of others. We will be intentional in our actions and in our words because our lifestyle is our witness. We will be wise with outsiders and do good to them. Our conversations will be full of grace and seasoned with salt. We will encourage the discouraged. We will seek out the chance to encourage our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and will share the love of God with travelers. We will burn for Christ as we have passionate, strong, intentional times with Him. Our eyes are fixed and focused on Christ as the author and perfector of our faith. We will be an OVERCOMING team. We will be free! We will acknowledge, honor, and know the Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit). We will move as the Trinity moves. We will use the word of God as our foundation and sword of the Spirit, which brings life, joy, hope, and peace. We believe that the wilderness and desert will be glad! And finally, we will ENJOY THIS JOURNEY and ENJOY GOD and ENJOY EACH OTHER!
It is obvious how great this time serving the Lord will be if we keep these principles. Please pray into our team as we reach out into a very dark place in our world.
Sincerely,
Travis
P.S. Everyone please wish my girlfriend, Bethany a happy birthday!!! (Sept. 12th)
I am updating this blog from S-eoul, K-orea! We left O_xford on the 11th stayed in A-uckland, NZD on the North Island and then left for S_eoul at 9 A.M. on the 12th. We flew twelve hours and arrived in S. K_orea at 6 P.M. The K_orean airline that we flew on has given us seven hotel rooms for seven people! It’s GREAT! I am going to explore S_eoul.
I did not sleep at all last night ☺ Seoul is a crazy place. We got to see the largest church in the world with 830,000 members. We flew into S-eoul at 6 P.M. and went directly to the hotel and FOOD, which was provided by Korea Air. The hotel was really nice. We had a buffet with Lobster, sushi and all kinds of authentic K-orean foods (I have no idea what I ate, but it was good). After the dinner we took the subway for an hour ride into center city of S-eoul. We found the church and spent time there talking with a man who was preaching and praying outside. After we spoke with some more people we went into one of the 24 hour prayer/worship meetings that the church holds and spent about an hour there listening to prayer and worship in a different language. Some of my team members were bored, but I really liked observing the different ways that the people of S. K-orea pray and worship. I saw that they do not stand or kneel the way some others do and also observed the different attitudes in worship. There was an intensity/focus in this meeting that I have never seen before.
After this time we went on another adventure (as you can imagine 14 foreigners in the middle of huge city with trouble communicating). We asked around and found out the place to see was a part of S-eoul called S-ungChong. So we then tackled the feat of finding cheap transportation and after about a half hour communicated with a couple of taxi drivers and got very good rates ($2 American per person). Upon our arrival in Sung-Chong (not sure on the spelling) we walked around and encountered university party life at it’s best. We did our best to love and to avoid the places that were not safe and evil. We ended up taking a ton of pictures and then setting up on a busy corner and playing soccer with a stuffed animal that one of my friends won. It worked great. We were able to attract some people and I heard that one of my friends got to share his testimony and faith with a man.
Around 3:00 A.M. we took another cheap taxi back to the church and attended the prayer meeting for another half hour (I could feel the Lord’s presence in the room). At 3:30 the main sanctuary opened and we went to see what it looked like. It was beautiful and huge. I spent about an hour praying and sleeping there. At 4:30 we decided to make the trek back to the subway and on the way we saw about 150 people praying in a circle in the middle of a street! Wow, what a crazy night. I knew that the Lord was guiding us and I am happy to say that I know we spent our time here in S. K-orea well. Even though we are all tired it was worth it. We will be able to sleep on our upcoming 12-hour flight. I know that the spiritual and eye opening experience that we had strengthened members of my outreach team and myself for our ministry in Turkey.
Now to continue our story we arrived at the subway at 5 and found out that it didn’t open till 5:30. After transferring from one train we waited for an hour until 6:30 to start our hour-long journey. This second train was full and I have one of the funniest stories from it. I was sitting next to one of the only open seats, well a Korean man about my age sat down next to me and immediately fell asleep. He ended up sleeping on my side for most of the trip. It was hilarious because he couldn’t even open his eyes he was so tired so I just had to sit there, while he slept on me, drooled and made himself comfortable. My friends thought it was hilarious. I have many pictures and videos from this ride.
Upon our arrival back at the hotel we ate another fabulous meal on the Korean Airlines. I proceeded to enjoy the hotel and it’s luxuries (Workout room, Sauna and nice shower for the next hour.) I am excited to get on my flight to Turkey and SLEEP!
This experience was an answer to prayer for me. I had been praying for truth and a time to fill myself up before outreach. Well, even though it wouldn’t seem that staying up all night would be the best way to do that. I know that the Lord arranged for it because I was forced to focus upon him in new ways for the entire night. This helped to open up some of the boxes/lies that my worldview, beliefs, and enculturation put on the God of the Universe.
We leave for I-stanbul at 2 P.M. (another 12 hour flight) ☺ LOTS of stretching. I am very excited to arrive in T_urkey. We will be staying in Istanbu_l for 3-4 (13th – 18th) days getting acclimated and doing various types of ministry and then we will head to Sok_e (19th-26th) we will be doing cross-cultural ministry there. Sok_e is going to be very interesting there are very few believers (only 7). From Sept. 26th-28th we will be in S_elcuk (Ephesus) we will be touring the ruins of Ephesus and focusing on friendship ministry with tourists.
From S_elcuk we will head to Antalya (Sept. 28- Oct. 7th). Focusing specifically on friendship ministry with tourists, but in all of these places, except Selcu_k, we are staying with existing believers who will also point us to practical ways that we can serve the people (cleaning, building, service etc…).
After our time in A-ntalya we do not has set plans, but some potential places are: T-arsus, A-ntakya, D-iyabakir, Ne-vsihir, A-nkara etc…
I am very excited to be in T-urkey continuing the Lord’s work. We had a great send off in NZD we spent the week in prayer and worship. We also had a commissioning ceremony and we were all prayed over and blessed. A man from the North Island, Matt, came down and spoke to us about team work and important principles of being a team member. I know that we all learned a little from him and were reminded of a lot of important lessons about being polite and selfless as a member of a team.
I think our team will work well together. We are growing together and have spent quite a bit of time in prayer and worship together. Some of our team verses are: Colossians 4:2-6, Hebrews 13:15-16, 18; John 13:34-35; Colossians 3:12-17; 1 Corinthians 15:18; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:31b-33; Isaiah 35:1-2 (The Joy of the Redeemed).
Our team vision: We will remember our first love. It’s all about love. It’s all about family. We will be devoted to purity and holiness. We will be faithful to the Lord and to each other. We will bear one another’s burdens and seek the good of others. We will be intentional in our actions and in our words because our lifestyle is our witness. We will be wise with outsiders and do good to them. Our conversations will be full of grace and seasoned with salt. We will encourage the discouraged. We will seek out the chance to encourage our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and will share the love of God with travelers. We will burn for Christ as we have passionate, strong, intentional times with Him. Our eyes are fixed and focused on Christ as the author and perfector of our faith. We will be an OVERCOMING team. We will be free! We will acknowledge, honor, and know the Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit). We will move as the Trinity moves. We will use the word of God as our foundation and sword of the Spirit, which brings life, joy, hope, and peace. We believe that the wilderness and desert will be glad! And finally, we will ENJOY THIS JOURNEY and ENJOY GOD and ENJOY EACH OTHER!
It is obvious how great this time serving the Lord will be if we keep these principles. Please pray into our team as we reach out into a very dark place in our world.
Sincerely,
Travis
P.S. Everyone please wish my girlfriend, Bethany a happy birthday!!! (Sept. 12th)
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Answer to Prayer
As all of you know my school was short a lot of money ($81,004.40 USD) needed to complete our work here in New Zealand and in the respective nations that each team is going to.
I am writing this short note as a testimony to God's faithfulness. He has blessed our school. Through prayer and by His servants we have been able to raise enough money to send everyone here on outreach!
Please take this as an inspiring testimony to the way our God provides for His children.
There are and will be many more stories to come about how God has used us as his messengers and has brought people to the faith through your generous gifts and prayers. I will be sharing some of these stories upon my return to the States in December.
Glory to God,
Travis
Hello Everyone,
I ask that you consider giving more money towards my team. As a school we are 120,000 NZD, at the current exchange rate that is 81,004.40 USD, under what we need in order to send everyone on outreach. My team is in need of 17,888 NZD, equivalent to 12,075 USD.
Many came without funds needed for outreach. My initial reaction was to judge them and consider it a burden that they unnecessarily put on us who have been responsible. Who am I to judge, but I can assess these men and women of God. I have found many of them to be wholly devoted to God and His calling in their lives. In their personal outreach I know that they will reap fruit for the Kingdom of God.
Our calling as living sacrifices for God's will is being sought after and is burdening us. Know that I am putting in my work here.
As I have been praying it has been made obvious that, time and time again, I am blessed and am only here because of God's love. I am not responsible for this opportunity, but blessed by God through all of you. Therefore, I am RESPONSIBLE in using it and have been and will work hard every day as I am here to bring God's kingdom to earth. I will bring your money to fruition for His kingdom and am excited to share the testimonies of God's work through me and others here. Know that I have considered the power of God's body and believe that he will reap one hundred fold from what you give.
I respect and trust you all in your gifts of prayer and money. Understand that if nothing comes in, or if a ton comes in I have put my faith in Him. I am asking you to prayerfully consider this request and to do as you see fit according to the Lord's promises. I will be accountable for what you give.
Please lift us in prayer that we would handle this with respect and understanding of God's will.
Hebrews 11. By Faith,
Travis Piepho
I am writing this short note as a testimony to God's faithfulness. He has blessed our school. Through prayer and by His servants we have been able to raise enough money to send everyone here on outreach!
Please take this as an inspiring testimony to the way our God provides for His children.
There are and will be many more stories to come about how God has used us as his messengers and has brought people to the faith through your generous gifts and prayers. I will be sharing some of these stories upon my return to the States in December.
Glory to God,
Travis
Hello Everyone,
I ask that you consider giving more money towards my team. As a school we are 120,000 NZD, at the current exchange rate that is 81,004.40 USD, under what we need in order to send everyone on outreach. My team is in need of 17,888 NZD, equivalent to 12,075 USD.
Many came without funds needed for outreach. My initial reaction was to judge them and consider it a burden that they unnecessarily put on us who have been responsible. Who am I to judge, but I can assess these men and women of God. I have found many of them to be wholly devoted to God and His calling in their lives. In their personal outreach I know that they will reap fruit for the Kingdom of God.
Our calling as living sacrifices for God's will is being sought after and is burdening us. Know that I am putting in my work here.
As I have been praying it has been made obvious that, time and time again, I am blessed and am only here because of God's love. I am not responsible for this opportunity, but blessed by God through all of you. Therefore, I am RESPONSIBLE in using it and have been and will work hard every day as I am here to bring God's kingdom to earth. I will bring your money to fruition for His kingdom and am excited to share the testimonies of God's work through me and others here. Know that I have considered the power of God's body and believe that he will reap one hundred fold from what you give.
I respect and trust you all in your gifts of prayer and money. Understand that if nothing comes in, or if a ton comes in I have put my faith in Him. I am asking you to prayerfully consider this request and to do as you see fit according to the Lord's promises. I will be accountable for what you give.
Please lift us in prayer that we would handle this with respect and understanding of God's will.
Hebrews 11. By Faith,
Travis Piepho
Letter Ten
Hello Everyone,
The second to last week here in New Zealand went well. We leave for Turkey this Friday. I am really excited, but am going to miss this beautiful country and I know I will miss the people I have meant. I am glad that I will be able to continue to talk with the friends I have made here.
Last week we had a speaker named Dalton from the I-HOP of New Zealand (International House of Prayer). I was inspired by this man he is very passionate and had a lot of the Bible memorized. He painted the Gospel in a different light than most and gave us very inspiring messages based on the character of God. Basically we read Scripture all week and focused on the different attributes of God. The book of Revelation was a big part of the teaching he gave us. If you’d like to see the notes from this week they are all posted on Dalton’s Site www.daltonlifsey.com.
The biggest thing that I got out of it is a new drive to try and understand God’s plan and His character from Scripture that I would burn (be passionate) for Him and then shine to those around me.
Monday I spent the day in worship, lecture and then we washed cars for a while. My usual service project was changed this past week. Monday night we had another lecture. Tuesday morning we woke up and had our usual prayer time and then we had lecture. I finished lecture and then went to complete some things I had to do for the school over here. After that we had an outreach meeting. Our flight plan is very cool. We will be stopping in Auckland, NZ and then in Seoul, Korea. I’m excited to see both places. I am really excited about the trip I know that we will show God's love. I’ll be keeping this blog updated over the course of my trip.
Wednesday morning (First Day OF SPRING!!) we found out that we would be skiing at Porters. I decided that I would stay back at the base and rest and do some woodwork. It was nice to relax and recuperate.
Thursday we had prayer time for our outreach team, during this prayer time we got many words and pictures from the Lord about what this team will do and needs to prepare for on their trip.
Friday morning we had worship and then lecture. Friday afternoon outreach was really good I meant a man named Raphael and we spent the night talking about God and life. It was a good time.
Saturday we all went into town and went to a beach called Sumner Beach. It was awesome and I had a lot of fun. I saw some people jump off a huge cliff and meant some fun New Zealanders and hiked with them for the afternoon. I got back from the beach.
Today I just went to the Farmers Market and meant some nice people from around the town of Oxford and now I plan on preparing for my trip to Turkey.
I hope you all have a great week. Thank you for your prayers as I have been over here.
In Christ's Love,
Travis
P.S. Please see the Answer to Prayer post.
The second to last week here in New Zealand went well. We leave for Turkey this Friday. I am really excited, but am going to miss this beautiful country and I know I will miss the people I have meant. I am glad that I will be able to continue to talk with the friends I have made here.
Last week we had a speaker named Dalton from the I-HOP of New Zealand (International House of Prayer). I was inspired by this man he is very passionate and had a lot of the Bible memorized. He painted the Gospel in a different light than most and gave us very inspiring messages based on the character of God. Basically we read Scripture all week and focused on the different attributes of God. The book of Revelation was a big part of the teaching he gave us. If you’d like to see the notes from this week they are all posted on Dalton’s Site www.daltonlifsey.com.
The biggest thing that I got out of it is a new drive to try and understand God’s plan and His character from Scripture that I would burn (be passionate) for Him and then shine to those around me.
Monday I spent the day in worship, lecture and then we washed cars for a while. My usual service project was changed this past week. Monday night we had another lecture. Tuesday morning we woke up and had our usual prayer time and then we had lecture. I finished lecture and then went to complete some things I had to do for the school over here. After that we had an outreach meeting. Our flight plan is very cool. We will be stopping in Auckland, NZ and then in Seoul, Korea. I’m excited to see both places. I am really excited about the trip I know that we will show God's love. I’ll be keeping this blog updated over the course of my trip.
Wednesday morning (First Day OF SPRING!!) we found out that we would be skiing at Porters. I decided that I would stay back at the base and rest and do some woodwork. It was nice to relax and recuperate.
Thursday we had prayer time for our outreach team, during this prayer time we got many words and pictures from the Lord about what this team will do and needs to prepare for on their trip.
Friday morning we had worship and then lecture. Friday afternoon outreach was really good I meant a man named Raphael and we spent the night talking about God and life. It was a good time.
Saturday we all went into town and went to a beach called Sumner Beach. It was awesome and I had a lot of fun. I saw some people jump off a huge cliff and meant some fun New Zealanders and hiked with them for the afternoon. I got back from the beach.
Today I just went to the Farmers Market and meant some nice people from around the town of Oxford and now I plan on preparing for my trip to Turkey.
I hope you all have a great week. Thank you for your prayers as I have been over here.
In Christ's Love,
Travis
P.S. Please see the Answer to Prayer post.
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