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)