Blog 6 (outreach)

Turky Travel Team: Final Blog

Written by Clayton Neufeldt

Greetings all family, friends, and supporters:

Our apologies to all of you for the lateness of this blog, as we have been very busy and doing a lot of travelling as of late. We are currently in Istan-bul enjoying our last few days of debrief here in Turky. We are spending four days here before heading back to New Zealand on November fourth. Since arriving in Istan-bul, we have even been able to bring out all of our rain jackets and sweaters for the first time in Turky. It is safe to say we all would have gladly left our jackets un-used in the bottom of our bags.

Since our last blog, we have spent more time in Antalya, gone out east to Diyar-bikar, enjoyed the beauty of Cappad-ocia, and spent a week with a family in K0nya. It has been incredible how the father has guided all of our travels and kept us safe through many a late night bus adventure. So much has happened in these past weeks, but I will do my best to pick out some of the highlights and what the Father has been doing in and through us.

Our second week in Anta-lya was a significant change of pace for our team with Alison departing for a p@storal visit to Burrsa, and Jesse taking on the role of team leader. We moved out of P@ul and Le@’s apartment and spent the week in a hostel located near the city center. Basically our entire week was open to “Hizzy Spizzy” (H0ly 5pirit) style ministry in whatever form it came. Because of this open schedule, we all had very different experiences throughout the week, and a few of us developed some interesting sleeping schedules. Some definite highlights included Johnny and Clay sharing testimonies with some very open Slovenian tourists, and our relationship with a local pizza shop owner producing multiple 2am discussions about the Father and life in general. Eline especially enjoyed the week with a visit from her Dutch boyfriend, Nick, and her numerous fruit-full talks with Ezzra, a local woman who was saved but in desperate need of discipleship. Even with these and other significant relationships that were built, one of the biggest spiri-tual breakthroughs came in our own team. During the week we all found a new appreciation for spending time in the word and seeking the father first. We spent extra time becoming filled before overflowing to others.

Much to the surprise of the bus driver, travel agent, and our friends in Anta-lya, our next stop was in the far eastern city of Diyar-bakir. We quickly learned that this city had quite a reputation for Kurd-Turk conflicts and more Isl@mic extrmists. But despite all of the warnings and shocked responses, the Father showed himself to be with us right from the start. Even on the bus ride from Ant-alya we struck up a friendship with a local who showed us around and later came to the church for dinner. We spent the week staying at a prominent Trkish Chrch. There is an American couple on the leadership team that got us involved in the life of the chrch. We also had the pleasure of adding Kenny, Alison’s friend, to our team for the week. Our first few days in the city were largely spent with the chrch where we participated in their spring cleaning, children’s program, and pr@yer meetings. The last few days were spent doing more Hizzy Spizzy style ministry and were incredibly fruitful despite all of our warnings. We had wrship jam sessions in the park, met university students, and handed our tracts throughout town. All of these activities were met with genuine interest from locals, and the Father clearly led us to make multiple relationships in which we were able to share our faith and plant seeds to be watered. For many of us, including myself, Diyar-bakir felt much like Jonah’s Nineveh where we didn’t particularly want to go, but where we specifically felt the Father had called us. Our time in Diyar-bakir taught us to trust the Father even when others thought we were being foolish, and that the best place to be is in the Father’s will.

The last leg of our trip was split between backpacker minist-ry in Cappa-docia and staying with workers in Konya. We spent a short time of 3 days in Cappa-docia where we were awestruck by the Fathers creation and enjoyed it through hikes and mopeds. We were able to converse with a few other backpackers in the area but we were disappointed that we weren’t able to connect in a deeper way. We did, however, get to know a traveler from Italy and a few others in our hostel. Sickness also became a huge limiting factor for a few members of our team during this time.

That brings us to the last five days spent in the city of K0nya, where we were blessed to stay with a family of six from New Zealand. Thankfully, we once again enjoyed home cooked meals and tried to bless the workers in turn by spending time with their young children. The family is some of the only believers in the city, which is known for being the most religious place in Trkey and the centre of the “Mevl@na” sect of Isl@m. Our focus during this time was making relationships at the huge University on the outskirts of town. The father once again led us to make relationships in surprising ways. The guys were led to a young man named Joseph and through him a group of about 10 Trkish friends. We enjoyed getting to know them through football, computer games, and Trkish coffee. Personally, this was one of my favorite times in Turky as we spent three days in a row getting to know the group of students and being able to share some of our faith with them more naturally. The girls were also able to make friendships with some of the students on campus, and especially with the English director and her assistant with whom they met in the city as well for a meal and hanging out. Alison also had an open invitation to speak and share in the English classes, but unfortunately we had to leave this city before the next English class was happening. Our time in K0nya was the perfect way to finish out-reach satisfied and ready for debrief.

That brings us to our present debriefing in Istan-bul, and the end of our team’s minist-ry here in turky. On behalf of everyone on Turky Travel Team I would like to thank everyone who supported us, both through your prayers and donations. There is no way we could have been here without all of you, and our whole team would like to express heartfelt gratitude. The last few weeks have undoubtedly been a huge learning experience for us all, and we have seen the Father moving in tremendous ways inside the team and out. This was an experience, which I am sure none of us will forget and will shape both those we have met here, and our own walks with the Father.

- Clayton N & the rest of the TTT (Alison, Jonny G, Eline, Travis, Clay L, Jesse)