Heart for the Lord

Today we had our new weekly discussion group at the Kultur Evi (Culture House) which is the building the local church uses for meetings and sunday school.  We never know who will come especially with the culture here.  Our friends say they will come but don't.  They only say they will come to not hurt our feelings. 

There are 2 people though that always come! They are 2 young men who are believers.  One is 27 and the other 17.  These two are so excited and encouraged to see young college students come and discuss things of the Lord.  The 17 year old definitely has a heart for the Lord and for his people to know Him.  During one of our ice breakers we were sharing something that maybe not many people know.  He was the second person to go and chose to share his testimony! What a brave young man! Its so encouraging to see him take steps of faith and trust the Lord to use his life even among our friends! Praise God! Its good for us to see with what we're doing now and what our the Lord may do with our work in the future with our friends! 

Vision

For the past 4 days we had a group of students from the US come visit during their spring break! Its always fun to have visitors, especially Americans since we don't see very many of them besides ourselves.  Not only is it refreshing, it is always encouraging.  

For one reason or another God brings people to this country.  Sometimes its just out of curiosity, maybe a mentor or bible study leader has asked them to check it out, or maybe God has laid this 

country on their heart.  In this last group there were 3 men and 2 women.  One guy is on staff, Vince, and used to serve in Turkey for 6 years 6 years ago.  He and his son, Reed, came who is just about to start university. These two came to see what ministry looks like here especially since we're pioneering a new city.  The staff guy especially was excited to learn and understand more of what God is doing here because he as spent time serving in this country and understands the longevity of working here. The other guy, Scott, is a junior in college and he came on this trip because he heard about Turkey and just wanted to check it out.  The two girls that came are both from the U of M.  One is an intern, Elizabeth, the other a freshman, Lia.  Adrienne and Elizabeth are really good friends and it was fun for Elizabeth to see her and to see what overseas ministry looks like compared to serving on a college campus in the States.  

Lia heard about Turkey and when she was researching things to do over spring break God wouldn't let her forget Turkey.

As you can see each person came for different reason, however God did something in all of their hearts! Last night we had a sharing time and the people on the trip shared about their 4 days in our city and their time spent with students and on campus.  Scott and Reed went out by themselves and found some english speakers and they both got to have really great conversations and were able to share the gospel clearly.  Its so encouraging knowing that they might have been able to share with someone who just heard the Truth about Christ for the first time, but Lord willing they have planted a seed! Vince shared how he again was struck with the need for workers to come here and share Christ.  All of this sharing has just made me realize what a privilege it is to serve here and to be a part of what God is doing.  It also made me think about the reality of the spiritual climate in Turkey.

We live in a city of about 2 million people with somewhere around 70 known believers and almost half of those believers are workers! This is just a tiny glimpse of what its like all over this country! God knows the need and He is still working through dreams and visions to reach these people but He still chooses to use us and wants to use us, to bring us into His work! I'm so thankful to be here and for this moment, this year in my life, there's no where else I'd rather be.  The center of God's will is a good place to be! There are challenges and struggles just by living here but the comfort of being held securely in the Lord gives me more than enough strength, courage and endurance to continue to "run, with perseverance, the race marked out for me." (Hebrews 12:1)

Merry Christmas! Noel Mutlusi!

Merry Christmas from our "family" here in Turkey to yours!  I can't believe its already that time of year where we specifically celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Being away from all the hustle and bustle of the christmas season has allowed for many opportunities of relaxation and reflection.  It has been a fun time to focus completely on why christmas is celebrated in the first place and to really praise the Lord for sending His Son.  

When you take away presents, family, general christmas spirit, festivities around the town, caroling, church pagents, etc., the only thing left is the true reason, Jesus Christ.  I'm thankful for the time God has given me to focus on Him and truly celebrate His son.  He's shown me how much joy can be experienced through truly and sincerely celebrating the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ and through joining with the saints and angels in giving thanks for his gift to us.  A gift that was given to a completely undeserving earth, but through the Love of God he lavished goodness on His creation.  Praise be to God.  

Some fun things the Lord has allowed our team to experience this christmas season have been:

1.  Noel Kutlama.  This was a christmas conference we could invite our friends to and that people from around the country attended.  It was sweet to see his followers from around this country, both national believers and other workers, celebrate his birth and learn more of why we celebrate this time of year.

2.  SNOW!!! Noel Kutlama was on Uludag (pronounced Oo-loo-dah) which is a ski resort.  It actually looks quite similar to a ski resort in Colorado or other mountainous states in the U.S.  When we arrived there was absolutely no snow and it wasn't even cold enough to snow.  It was a little disappointing but we resolved that during our free time we'd find something other to do than ski.  Well on Saturday morning when we woke up there was about a foot of snow on the ground! It was like waking up to a fresh blanket of white snow on Christmas morning.  It was so fun and an answer to prayer which was cool for new believers and seekers to experience; to see that God even cares about little things!

3. A feeling of family with each other.  This christmas will be very different for everybody on our team.  It is the first time we've been out of the country during this time of year and away from family.  But God is good and has knitted our team together in unity as a small body of Christ, like a family.  We are buying presents for each other, having a Christmas day "feast" and singing Christmas songs to celebrate the birth of our savior!

I think it is fair to say that this year God has truly shown all of us how to truly rejoice and celebrate Christmas.  He has blessed all of us and given us each other as family for this time and place to celebrate the birth of His son, to celebrate Christ humbling himself and coming to Earth as a baby to save men from their Sins.  Being here, sharing the Love and Light of Christ in a place full of darkness has made Christmas all that more important for all of us!

Friends Galore!

  We have currently been in the country for almost 12 weeks and time has really flown by! I know we all have been overwhelmed (in a good way) with the goodness of God! We expected making friends would be a fun experience and challenging at times (however, it turns out being American is an advantage here in the area of making friends).  But God has given us friends in abundance. 

  When we arrived we were given contacts from the summer team that was here in the summer for a short time.  The summer team left us letters and pictures to deliver to their friends so we spent the first month and a half working hard to meet all these students, give them the letters and pictures, and being developing a relationship with them.  Many of these friends have been open to spiritual things and conversations and clearly some are searching for purpose and significance in their lives! I was talking with one of the summer contacts, Fiona, and she was showing me some of her coursework.  At the bottom of one of the page were a few notes. They were:

   1.  Astrology

   2. Zodiac

   3. Fortune telling

This friend also believes in the importance of dreams and believes one can learn from dreams. She is such a seeker who is wanting to research the Zodiac and astrology wondering if there's truth in these things!

   There are many others like Fiona and we are looking forward to more conversations and pointing our new friends to the True God, the only One that can put to rest their searching giving peace and satisfaction.

   We've also been busy meeting new students in cafes and lounging around campus.  The Lord has led us to key people doing this as well! We've made so many more friends by asking God to lead us to people who are searching, interested in spiritual things and that can speak English! 

   With Thanksgiving being this Thursday we all wanted to celebrate this holiday in some way while were here so we decided to turn it into an outreach type event.  We have invited all our friends to join us on Wednesday to celebrate! For most of them this will be the first time of having Turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy and pumpkin pie! So it will be fun to share this with them and experience their reactions with these new foods! We are excited to share this holiday with them and hopefully explain why we are thankful to God and what we have to be thankful for in Christ Jesus!

Signing off for now, 

Dana

Welcome!

Hos Geldiniz! 

We are so excited to share up to date experiences and stories of our lives with you! All six of us will be posting stories, pictures, and prayer requests for you to read, enjoy and comment on.  We hope you will find this site helpful in staying connected with us and what God is doing here.  

Until all have heard!

Revelation 7:9 -- "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb."