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)