Hello Everyone.
We left Diyabak-ir, Turke-y about 6 hours ago and it has been the most beautiful drive! It was a really nice week in Diy-bakir. We spent time pr-yer walking and serving the existing workers. I experienced a whole new part of T-rkey’s culture, the K-rdish people are different than the Turkis-h. My favorite parts were experiencing the atmosphere of an eastern city and seeing ancient ruins. We saw some ancient Roman ruins. The best was a bridge spanning the Tigris River. The atmosphere of the city was different because it is predominantly a Kurdish city making it different. I noticed distinguishable differences in how the people looked and dressed. Everyone tried to help us and was very generous in giving us time a similarity I have enjoyed across Turkey . Wednesday night we walked by a very large crowd, over 5000 people, listening to a Kurdish speaker. I don’t know what it was about, but we did pr-y for it in the Wednesday night meeting and I felt that it displayed a difference in culture from other places in Turkey, like Istanbul. Religion and general reception of religious thought were a little different in this city. I can’t say if it is the different people group, but I do know that the culture is affected by the more traditional aspects of eastern Turkey and is also influenced by the size of the surrounding cities.
We arrived on Thursday tired after our 18-hour bus ride. We got to the church and found it to be very nice and comfortable. The Ch-rch in Diy-bakir is very large when taken in comparison to the other churches in Turk-y. They have over 100 members and are actively working to reach the surrounding community and area. It was so encouraging to arrive on Thursday and realize that in this eastern city, where the history is black with persecution, a church is beginning to grow.
We all spent Thursday afternoon resting and preparing for our next day. After dinner we had a team meeting and went to bed early. Friday morning we had a great time of worship together and went into our week on a great note. We had a short briefing on Diy-bakir and then went on a long tour of the city. The workers in Diy-bakir did a good job of preparing us for our week in the city and gave us all the necessary information. Friday evening we stayed at the church and went to bed ready for the next day of work around the church.
Saturday we spent the day cleaning the church and playing with the children from the neighborhood. We were able have a mini camp with over 50 children! The kids were really excited and happy to meet us and were very fun to be around. Saturday night we went to a bookstand and pr-ayer walked around it, while the Turkish Christ-ians handed out Scripture, over 100 Bibles were handed out! Saturday was a great day.
Sunday we went to a picnic with the rest of the church. We had arrived on the week of their fall celebration. We had a service in the park and many people noticed☺. After the service we played many games: dodge ball, soccer, and football. To top it all off we had a barbeque in the park with great chicken.
Monday was our day off, but it ended up being a workday. We had the people we met over the last couple of days over for dinner. My friend from our bus ride to Diyabakir came and I think he was impressed with our representation of Chr-stianity.
Tuesday was spent handing out literature and the others played worship music in the local park. At one point they had about 30 people around them. We handed out over 150 tracts. Tuesday was a successful day and we felt that it was well spent.
Wednesday we finished cleaning the church, went on a pr-ayer walk and some of our group went out and spent time with the friends we had made. I heard that they all listened to the Gospel and were receptive to conversation about religion. I went to a prayer meeting on Wednesday night and spent time with the other believers from Diyabakir. It was great to be around such passionate people.
It is Thursday now and we have spent the day in travel to Capp-dicea where we are doing tourist/hostel work. It is a very beautiful region. We will be staying here for 3 days and then to Kon-ya to do university ministry. Our time in Turkey has been great, but is fastly approaching its end.
Thank you for all of your pr-yers.
In His Love,
Travis
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Blog 4 (outreach)
Hello Everyone,
We are on a bus to Di-yabakir, a long 20 hour ride of relaxation ☺. I have been able to sleep a little, but have had plenty of time to reflect upon our second week in @ntalya. Ant@lya was much more western that the other cities that we have visited here. We were able to connect with some of the local people because of the diminished language barrier and openness to foreigners.
We started our second week in @ntalya on Wednesday, Oct. 7th. We got a great deal in a small hostel in the old town, (about 5 minutes from the harbor and 5 minutes from Hadrian’s Gate.) Wednesday we jumped right in and were able to meet some people at the beach. After our meeting these people I left and went back to our hostel. We had a long time of preparation in the morning and it was already evening. We separated and some of our team stayed back and spent the rest of the day in pr@yer, while some of us went out to explore the city and to meet more people. We shared our first day with one another over a long period of pr@yer and worship on Thursday morning. This time of preparation proved very important for our team. It gave us a foundation to witness from. Thursday I went to the beach and met some really nice students from Slovenia and Finland. We ended up staying out with them swimming in the Mediterranean until around 2 A.M., it was a great opportunity to establish relationships we arranged to meet with them the next day.
Friday morning we all awoke to another beautiful day we had our time in the morning in Pr@yer and shared testimonies from the day before. Like I said some of us met the students, while another went and helped at a Dutch school and found the children to be so happy and excited with her. ☺. We went into the day encouraged and ready. We helped the local workers set up an annual fundraiser and when we finished we all went with a friend of ours to dinner. This friend, Marvin, is the coolest guy. We saw him throughout our time in Ant@lya. He had some great stories and was willing to spend time with all of us and take us to some really cool places. For dinner on Friday night we ate in a tree house in the mountains above Ant@lya about 60 feet in the air! After dinner we drove back to a local bar where we thought there was live music. We met our friends from Slovenia there and ended up leaving because the atmosphere and music wasn’t very good. A couple of us stayed with them late into the night again and found opportunities to share. It was a great time. Saturday morning we all woke up at different times and went to help at the annual fundraiser. We spent the day helping and then the night was spent meeting new people and exploring the city. A couple of the team members were able to talk for quite awhile with a couple of locals from Ant@lya. Sunday morning we went to church (great to have a time to worship and pr@y). After church one of our team members met up with a woman she had met the week before and was able to share a lot with her. The rest of us went to a pizza place and spoke with the owner for hours until late at night. He was very interesting and we were able to share with him.
After our late nights we needed a day to rest and recuperate. We spent Monday exploring the city and doing our various activities (I slept and went running). Monday night I went back to the pizza place and spoke with the owner late into the night once again. I really liked speaking with this man he was a nice guy and was very open to peaceful conversation about religion. Tuesday I met a couple of tourists at the beach and spent about an hour with them. I told them what I believed and we spoke about belief for a while. They were very nice and actually were the ones to approach me.
Tuesday was our last day before Diyabak-ir I went around and said my goodbyes and we had a team recap time on Wednesday morning before the bus ride. We all felt that our open relational work in Ant@lya was a success and that we had made a significant impact. I was very encouraged by the whole week because our team worked very well together and we always did our work out of pr@yer. It was great to see God answer our pr@yers and help us to spread His Kingdom with love.
The Culture in Antalya was nothing like S0ke, but this week in Diyabak-ir I will definitely have many observations to share.
I hope that all of you are doing well.
In His Love,
Travis
We are on a bus to Di-yabakir, a long 20 hour ride of relaxation ☺. I have been able to sleep a little, but have had plenty of time to reflect upon our second week in @ntalya. Ant@lya was much more western that the other cities that we have visited here. We were able to connect with some of the local people because of the diminished language barrier and openness to foreigners.
We started our second week in @ntalya on Wednesday, Oct. 7th. We got a great deal in a small hostel in the old town, (about 5 minutes from the harbor and 5 minutes from Hadrian’s Gate.) Wednesday we jumped right in and were able to meet some people at the beach. After our meeting these people I left and went back to our hostel. We had a long time of preparation in the morning and it was already evening. We separated and some of our team stayed back and spent the rest of the day in pr@yer, while some of us went out to explore the city and to meet more people. We shared our first day with one another over a long period of pr@yer and worship on Thursday morning. This time of preparation proved very important for our team. It gave us a foundation to witness from. Thursday I went to the beach and met some really nice students from Slovenia and Finland. We ended up staying out with them swimming in the Mediterranean until around 2 A.M., it was a great opportunity to establish relationships we arranged to meet with them the next day.
Friday morning we all awoke to another beautiful day we had our time in the morning in Pr@yer and shared testimonies from the day before. Like I said some of us met the students, while another went and helped at a Dutch school and found the children to be so happy and excited with her. ☺. We went into the day encouraged and ready. We helped the local workers set up an annual fundraiser and when we finished we all went with a friend of ours to dinner. This friend, Marvin, is the coolest guy. We saw him throughout our time in Ant@lya. He had some great stories and was willing to spend time with all of us and take us to some really cool places. For dinner on Friday night we ate in a tree house in the mountains above Ant@lya about 60 feet in the air! After dinner we drove back to a local bar where we thought there was live music. We met our friends from Slovenia there and ended up leaving because the atmosphere and music wasn’t very good. A couple of us stayed with them late into the night again and found opportunities to share. It was a great time. Saturday morning we all woke up at different times and went to help at the annual fundraiser. We spent the day helping and then the night was spent meeting new people and exploring the city. A couple of the team members were able to talk for quite awhile with a couple of locals from Ant@lya. Sunday morning we went to church (great to have a time to worship and pr@y). After church one of our team members met up with a woman she had met the week before and was able to share a lot with her. The rest of us went to a pizza place and spoke with the owner for hours until late at night. He was very interesting and we were able to share with him.
After our late nights we needed a day to rest and recuperate. We spent Monday exploring the city and doing our various activities (I slept and went running). Monday night I went back to the pizza place and spoke with the owner late into the night once again. I really liked speaking with this man he was a nice guy and was very open to peaceful conversation about religion. Tuesday I met a couple of tourists at the beach and spent about an hour with them. I told them what I believed and we spoke about belief for a while. They were very nice and actually were the ones to approach me.
Tuesday was our last day before Diyabak-ir I went around and said my goodbyes and we had a team recap time on Wednesday morning before the bus ride. We all felt that our open relational work in Ant@lya was a success and that we had made a significant impact. I was very encouraged by the whole week because our team worked very well together and we always did our work out of pr@yer. It was great to see God answer our pr@yers and help us to spread His Kingdom with love.
The Culture in Antalya was nothing like S0ke, but this week in Diyabak-ir I will definitely have many observations to share.
I hope that all of you are doing well.
In His Love,
Travis
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Outreach Blog 3
Hello Everyone,
My team has just completed our first week in Ant@lya, T-rkey. We have 9 more days here and then we will be heading onto Diy@rbakir. Ant@lya is a place with many workers, or at least many workers compared to all the other places in T-rkey. I think there are about 100 workers here in Ant@lya and they have a few churches running through a local center. We have been blessed by a couple from Minnesota they have provided a great place for us to stay for the last 7 days and will house us for the next two days. These two have kept us busy, well fed and rested. It has been great to have someone helping us with planning while we’ve been here. Our host also has two cookbooks and cooked some great food from home ☺ it has been very nice.
Monday we arrived at their home and rested for about 3 hours and had our briefing and tour of the city. After this we had a pr-yer meeting with about 100 other Christi@ns in the area at the local center. The meeting was great and I felt so blessed and cared for because we were able to start our week on a great note. The Lord has been taking care of us as His children and is providing for us as a team. After the pr-yer meeting on Monday night we all crashed at the house, none of us had slept much the night before on the bus ride. (I have an excuse for my last update, I wrote it at 4 a.m.). Tuesday morning we woke up to a great T-rkish breakfast and to a comfortable morning of time as a team and in devotion to our Lord. Our team was able to encourage one another and grow together through a great time together. After our time together we started our work. We went on a scavenger hunt in the afternoon. This scavenger hunt entailed 3 teams of 2. The winner was to receive a prize so we all went out with high hopes. We did this to learn our way around the bus system and as a ministry. The teams went to the mall across town, the police station even farther across town, and my partner and I went to a local tourist place “the waterfalls”. We were told to take pictures of various things: camels, waterfalls, buses, people, and stores. We took all of the pictures and fulfilled our other requirements by talking with 3 people and listening to them, while telling them about what we were doing. We were able to pr-y for a man. Lastly, we all were supposed to do a pr-yer walk around a school or mosque, well everyone did, but we didn’t. We had trouble finding one. Most of us spent about 4-5 hours and arrived back at the house around 7, except for Jon and Clayton who got lost and then took advantage of their position to jump in the Mediterranean and to talk with many people. Wednesday morning we woke up and shared our stories, It was fun to hear about the different ways that the Lord used our team just in a simple game like this (we all received a prize of a chocolate stirring spoon.). We all had a chance to do something significant by our faith. After our time of sharing in the morning we had another team time it was a great preparation for our day on the town doing work by pr-yer and faith. We all went out and focused upon pr-yer and intentional sharing with those we could talk too. Some went to the park and played Frisbee and played worship music (I hear that everyone was interested in what they did.). Jon, Clayton and I went to the beach in an attitude of prayer and I was encouraged by a time we had with two Iranian men. We were able to bond; you know guy stuff, burying each other in the sand…so on. I learned a lot during that day about always being in an attitude of prayer and how important it is to have the Lord’s purposes on mind throughout the day. Wednesday was special to me because as I was swimming in the Mediterranean (for the first time!) I had revelation into how many ways we can worship our Lord throughout the day. Wednesday night I attended a Bible study. It turned out to only be me with the worker from Minnesota. I was happy to have this night because I think that we both enjoyed each other’s company and we were able to encourage one another and have a nice night together. One of the intentional ways that my team works here is by encouraging the workers that we stay with. We want to help those we are with. Wednesday was a great day.
Thursday morning we all awoke to a day of pray-r walking with another worker from Minnesota (not the ones we are staying with), it is so nice to see people from home here. We started the day with another great breakfast, Biscuits and gravy! After our very nutritious breakfast we went into a team time and devotion in preparation for our day. The worker arrived and we went with her to the part of @ntalya with the University. A goal of the workers here is to cover the entire city with prayer, walking on every street. I spent the morning walking around the streets by the university with my teammate. After this initial pr-yer walk we had a meeting and then went onto the housing side of the streets and I was teamed up with the worker. We went around and lifted up the students and asked for freedom from the many oppressive spirits in the area. Halfway through we had a hotel highlighted to us and we decided to go in. We went in and got to spend about 45 minutes practicing English with a beautiful, energetic and smart little girl. We were able to talk with 6 women and Eda, the little girl, sang for us and we were invited back to spend time with Eda. It was really cool because I know the worker will be able to spend time with her and hopefully get a chance to tell her the Gospel. It was a productive day and we all went back to our house happy and ready to rest and get ready for Friday. Friday morning we woke up early and went to a workers home to help with practical work. I did some fencing for him, organized some outdoor equipment, and scrubbed his front patio and walk. I know that we really helped him and his wife and as he put it, “we did months of work for them.” He also shared some of their stories and really encouraged us in what we are doing. Friday night my team went to a T-rkish youth service and encouraged those who were there. I remained at the house and finished our financial budget. Saturday morning we woke up to another beautiful day and time together as a team. We all were preparing for the pr-yer meeting during the afternoon. We meant many T-rk-sh believers for a meeting in the afternoon and attended mainly to support their church. After this meeting my friends and I went to some cliffs and cliff jumped into the Mediterranean. It was so much fun. There were caves to swim in and we got to jump while the sun was painting the sky red and orange over the mountains. It was a great night. We returned to the house and went to a party that our hosts were holding for the Minnesota and Wisconsin college football game. There was real American pizza, cool people, and we even went go carting later into the night. We got to spend time with a man who is attending the church in Ant@lya while his yachts are being worked on. He is a captain for a fleet of yachts and he is also a pilot. This man was fun to listen to and we spent the night go carting with him too. Saturday night was great. After a short sleep we woke up and helped with church. We were the worship team for the international service on Sunday morning. It was great. Now I have spent this afternoon resting and getting ready for our next week of work.
I am very thankful for the great weather here and I have seen our team growing together. It has been great. I also am very thankful that we have been able to learn and work for our Lord in this past week. I know that He is helping us and we are making an impact. Thank you all for your prayers.
I hope that everything is going well at home and I really enjoy reading any of the updates you send.
In Christ’s Love,
Travis
My team has just completed our first week in Ant@lya, T-rkey. We have 9 more days here and then we will be heading onto Diy@rbakir. Ant@lya is a place with many workers, or at least many workers compared to all the other places in T-rkey. I think there are about 100 workers here in Ant@lya and they have a few churches running through a local center. We have been blessed by a couple from Minnesota they have provided a great place for us to stay for the last 7 days and will house us for the next two days. These two have kept us busy, well fed and rested. It has been great to have someone helping us with planning while we’ve been here. Our host also has two cookbooks and cooked some great food from home ☺ it has been very nice.
Monday we arrived at their home and rested for about 3 hours and had our briefing and tour of the city. After this we had a pr-yer meeting with about 100 other Christi@ns in the area at the local center. The meeting was great and I felt so blessed and cared for because we were able to start our week on a great note. The Lord has been taking care of us as His children and is providing for us as a team. After the pr-yer meeting on Monday night we all crashed at the house, none of us had slept much the night before on the bus ride. (I have an excuse for my last update, I wrote it at 4 a.m.). Tuesday morning we woke up to a great T-rkish breakfast and to a comfortable morning of time as a team and in devotion to our Lord. Our team was able to encourage one another and grow together through a great time together. After our time together we started our work. We went on a scavenger hunt in the afternoon. This scavenger hunt entailed 3 teams of 2. The winner was to receive a prize so we all went out with high hopes. We did this to learn our way around the bus system and as a ministry. The teams went to the mall across town, the police station even farther across town, and my partner and I went to a local tourist place “the waterfalls”. We were told to take pictures of various things: camels, waterfalls, buses, people, and stores. We took all of the pictures and fulfilled our other requirements by talking with 3 people and listening to them, while telling them about what we were doing. We were able to pr-y for a man. Lastly, we all were supposed to do a pr-yer walk around a school or mosque, well everyone did, but we didn’t. We had trouble finding one. Most of us spent about 4-5 hours and arrived back at the house around 7, except for Jon and Clayton who got lost and then took advantage of their position to jump in the Mediterranean and to talk with many people. Wednesday morning we woke up and shared our stories, It was fun to hear about the different ways that the Lord used our team just in a simple game like this (we all received a prize of a chocolate stirring spoon.). We all had a chance to do something significant by our faith. After our time of sharing in the morning we had another team time it was a great preparation for our day on the town doing work by pr-yer and faith. We all went out and focused upon pr-yer and intentional sharing with those we could talk too. Some went to the park and played Frisbee and played worship music (I hear that everyone was interested in what they did.). Jon, Clayton and I went to the beach in an attitude of prayer and I was encouraged by a time we had with two Iranian men. We were able to bond; you know guy stuff, burying each other in the sand…so on. I learned a lot during that day about always being in an attitude of prayer and how important it is to have the Lord’s purposes on mind throughout the day. Wednesday was special to me because as I was swimming in the Mediterranean (for the first time!) I had revelation into how many ways we can worship our Lord throughout the day. Wednesday night I attended a Bible study. It turned out to only be me with the worker from Minnesota. I was happy to have this night because I think that we both enjoyed each other’s company and we were able to encourage one another and have a nice night together. One of the intentional ways that my team works here is by encouraging the workers that we stay with. We want to help those we are with. Wednesday was a great day.
Thursday morning we all awoke to a day of pray-r walking with another worker from Minnesota (not the ones we are staying with), it is so nice to see people from home here. We started the day with another great breakfast, Biscuits and gravy! After our very nutritious breakfast we went into a team time and devotion in preparation for our day. The worker arrived and we went with her to the part of @ntalya with the University. A goal of the workers here is to cover the entire city with prayer, walking on every street. I spent the morning walking around the streets by the university with my teammate. After this initial pr-yer walk we had a meeting and then went onto the housing side of the streets and I was teamed up with the worker. We went around and lifted up the students and asked for freedom from the many oppressive spirits in the area. Halfway through we had a hotel highlighted to us and we decided to go in. We went in and got to spend about 45 minutes practicing English with a beautiful, energetic and smart little girl. We were able to talk with 6 women and Eda, the little girl, sang for us and we were invited back to spend time with Eda. It was really cool because I know the worker will be able to spend time with her and hopefully get a chance to tell her the Gospel. It was a productive day and we all went back to our house happy and ready to rest and get ready for Friday. Friday morning we woke up early and went to a workers home to help with practical work. I did some fencing for him, organized some outdoor equipment, and scrubbed his front patio and walk. I know that we really helped him and his wife and as he put it, “we did months of work for them.” He also shared some of their stories and really encouraged us in what we are doing. Friday night my team went to a T-rkish youth service and encouraged those who were there. I remained at the house and finished our financial budget. Saturday morning we woke up to another beautiful day and time together as a team. We all were preparing for the pr-yer meeting during the afternoon. We meant many T-rk-sh believers for a meeting in the afternoon and attended mainly to support their church. After this meeting my friends and I went to some cliffs and cliff jumped into the Mediterranean. It was so much fun. There were caves to swim in and we got to jump while the sun was painting the sky red and orange over the mountains. It was a great night. We returned to the house and went to a party that our hosts were holding for the Minnesota and Wisconsin college football game. There was real American pizza, cool people, and we even went go carting later into the night. We got to spend time with a man who is attending the church in Ant@lya while his yachts are being worked on. He is a captain for a fleet of yachts and he is also a pilot. This man was fun to listen to and we spent the night go carting with him too. Saturday night was great. After a short sleep we woke up and helped with church. We were the worship team for the international service on Sunday morning. It was great. Now I have spent this afternoon resting and getting ready for our next week of work.
I am very thankful for the great weather here and I have seen our team growing together. It has been great. I also am very thankful that we have been able to learn and work for our Lord in this past week. I know that He is helping us and we are making an impact. Thank you all for your prayers.
I hope that everything is going well at home and I really enjoy reading any of the updates you send.
In Christ’s Love,
Travis
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