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