Blog 5

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