Hi hi hi it’s me, your friend KAILEY !!!
Things here in Turkey have been going well. The unity in my team is incredible & I feel genuinely close with each person here. It’s such a GIFT! We are cooking meals together several times a week, sharing clothes, building each other up through constructive & affirming feedback, praying together each day, taking turns leading morning worship, and studying the book of Isaiah together too.
This is COMMUNITY! This is AWESOME! It’s like a 24/7 house church going on. Learning to do communal living well can totally have it’s challenges here and there, but man, I can’t tell you enough how much I have grown from experiences like these. I will look back on this year & can bet it will be one of the most foundational years of my life. I could not have done this without your love & support so I thank you again, very much.
The town we are currently living in has a total of two believers to be known so far-both people in which the hosts we are currently staying with, helped lead to the Lord. As far as we have been told by the hosts, the nearest church (besides the apartment we are living in that they privately use as a church) is over an hour bus ride away. After that, we’ve been told the next nearest church is over 200 KM away. This has blown my mind, once again. There are so many people who haven’t heard the good news of the gospel, yet. The hosts we are staying with are working hard to share the love of Jesus Christ to those around in such a way that will not cause trouble, but true connection with one another. It’s a humbling thing to be here with them, partnering through prayer and intentional relationship building too.
How do they do this you might wonder? First off, tons of prayer. Tons of relationship building. Here & there, these two men are going out together & placing biblical materials in strategic locations like bus stops, benches, etc. Will they ever meet the people who pick up that bible on the bench? Who knows. God has a cool way of bringing people together at the perfect timings. As they go about daily life, they also carry a back pack of biblical materials, packaged to be presented as a gift. As they go about their daily lives, they are intentional to engage in conversation that lead to faith conversations. At the end of their time, before they part their ways, sometimes they ask if it’s okay to give that person a gift of Biblical Materials. Often times, the individuals that engage in conversation are glad to receive such a gift & feels cared for. These men are people of peace, I cant tell by their daily actions & heart to serve others around them. They give & present these Biblical materials out of the overflow of their heart. (Might I add they are also first generation Christians. Maybe in one of my next blogs I will share with you a glimpse of their life story! It’s so cool!)
I saw this for myself last week. My friends & I had an opportunity to go with our hosts into several different small towns-in effort to build new relationships and hand out various Bible materials. These are cities where the populations are majority Muslim. I chose to walk with them & talk & ask ALOT of questions (typical me, asking a lot of questions haha!). I watched the way they connected with people & built them up with encouragement & affirmation, & left off with a gift, planning to return in about a month to follow up with them. During that time they even bought me Turkish coffee! It was delicious! It was also a glorious time prayer walking with them, it reminded me of a summer internship I did one time in MN (shout out to Firebase movement woot woot!)
It’s two simple men (& of course their families!) with extraordinary dreams to see the country of Turkey flourish with the name of Jesus Christ being known. They desire to see wholeness in people’s lives. They desire to see healed hearts, & restoration over people’s lives. How much more should this propel us to have the very same ambition & hopes for the country we currently live in, where there is so much freedom to speak up or freely participate in faith beliefs in a public manner!
Mathew 28:19 says: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Though here in this city of Turkey, there are only a handful of believers, they are doing their very best to share the Good news of the Gospel to those they meet along the way. How awesome is this. Please partner with me in praying for the country of Turkey & these two wonderful hosts that have dedicated their lives to making the name of Jesus Christ known in a place that has so much of Biblical history, yet few actually know the meaning behind it all.
Looking forward…at the end of this month we will be participating in a baptism ceremony for several new believers in the city. I am thrilled for this day too. One gal in particular, my friends & I have been spending time with just about every other day. Whether it be helping to teach english, learning how to make turkish coffee, walking around town, or just laughing together really, it’s been a blast I I really hope this new sister in Christ has been encouraged. This is our aim-for her to feel cherished and totally loved by her new sisters across the world. Alsooooo, Several days ago, we also had an opportunity to tour a few of the historically biblical cities in the country.
This time was UHHH MAZING! Please see the photos above. A vlog of that time will be coming around soon (when time permits LOL!)
One more Plug…Something I have really come to love about the World Race is the limitless opportunities and possibilities. Adventures & missions WANTS us to experience the beauties of the country & they also WANT us to experience the beauty of the people within too. It’s a journey of humbling, awe inspiring, captivating, and beautifully challenging experiences. I will never think of this world as I once did before. I will never be the same & I thank God for the people at Adventures in Missions who have also dedicated their lives to making such life changing experiences possibly for young adults. Man, God is one the move everywhere, it’s wild!
I feel like everywhere I go, something awesome is happening. Hearts are being re-awakened, people are coming to know their true identities, individuals are experiencing the Agape love of the creator of this universe. It just makes me want to put a million of !!!!!!!!’s after every sentence!!!!!!! 😉
Thank you again for tuning in, I so look forward to sharing the next vlog with you on glimpses of the biblical history in Turkey. In the meantime, I’ve also got a lot of research to do!
Lot’s of love sent your way,
Kailey
