Hey y’all! I have now been in Turkey for a little over two weeks! I am currently on Team Shalom! I’ll drop a picture of my teammates below.
From left to right- Shua, me, Ryann, Jacob
Team photo with our new squad leader, Rachel!
Life in Turkey has been going at a very sweet pace. The people here are very friendly and hospitality is above anything I have experienced before. It is common to be invited to have Turkish tea or coffee with people you just met and some will even seat you right outside their shop and make you a pot of tea/coffee right on the spot! We have been blessed with the friendships we have made already.
Most of the people (99% of the population) in this country claim to be Muslim. Considering I grew up in a small west Texas town, I don’t really have much knowledge in the Islamic faith. It wasn’t common where I was from, and majority of the missions work I have done in the past were in regions not populated by Muslims. Therefore, this has all been a learning experience for me to hear about what these people believe and why they believe it. Despite our differences in religion, it has been beautiful to get to love on and be loved by people in another country. They are always welcoming us as if this was truly our home.
Our team is currently living in a small town on the eastern side of Turkey and the house we live in, is also the house we work in! Two days a week we spend time serving our host by cleaning/remodeling this house that will one day be a church and prayer house! So cool! The basement/bottom floor will eventually be the church, the first floor holds the kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms, the second floor holds more bedrooms and bathrooms, and the third/top floor will be an office space in one of the rooms and in the biggest room a house of prayer!
Y’all, when we got here and they gave us a house tour and told us that the top floor would eventually be a house of prayer my jaw dropped. The Lord has been making it so clear to me that part of my future in missions will include prayer house ministry so I was just in awe of how sweet God is to place me here! Even if it’s just to pray for the foundation of that room, it is such a gift to know God is gently directing my steps and bringing more clarity about my future.
Another day of our week we get to go out to nearby villages to visit families in their homes. This is a sweet time to just get to share testimonies, talk about life, drink some coffee and tea, and share the love and words of Jesus! After visiting with the families we will then pray for them and then head back to our town to have a Bible study/devotional with our host. This past week we learned about the significance of unity and learning cultural differences when sharing the gospel in another context.
The last two days of our ministry week we get to ATL! If you’ve been following my blogs for a while then by now ATL is a normal abbreviation for you but in case you haven’t here’s the definition. Ask The Lord. Simply a time of just asking God to be our guide. To guide us in where to go, what to do, and what to say. This looks different on each ATL day but one of my favorite things we have gotten to do as a team so far is have house church together. The first weekend here on our ATL day I got to preach to my audience of four about Psalm 119:165. This past weekend I was asked/challenged to lead a song in worship on the guitar. This was really hard for me to say yes to, because learning the guitar again is very new and I don’t know much at all, but I did it. And the Lord has been revealing to me that it’s something I should continue learning.
Speaking of which… in Albania a friend/mentor had told me to start singing songs to the Lord with the guitar, even if it was just with the little I knew how to play. Well, I told her I couldn’t do that because I didn’t have a guitar, but I remember asking God shortly after if He could provide a guitar at my next ministry location when I got to Turkey. So be it, day one of being in Turkey the host asked if anyone played guitar because in this vacant house that’s being built they have a guitar! Like what! So God! Thank you, Jesus. So now I have been relearning some chords and building up the callouses on my fingertips with the hopes of one day being able to sing many songs to the Lord!
That being said, Turkey has been filled with many incredible moments with the locals and my team already. God has continued to bring clarity regarding my future after the race and I am so excited for what is yet to come.
Though most of the moments here have been filled with much joy, there have been a few days that I have wept many tears. Sickness has been a reoccurring battle for me on the race. It is exhausting and frustrating to be getting sick over and over again. People ask questions like “why do you keep getting sick?” And while I wish I had always had an answer I didn’t, and I would cry out to God asking Him the same thing.
For a week now I have been struggling with sinus infection symptoms again, and even got a migraine that wiped me off my feet for an entire 24 hours. A couple days ago I thought I was getting better and then the very next day woke up feeling the worst yet. In complete honesty, this crushed me. I began to doubt so much, my mind just spiraled down. To say the least, I am confident the Lord has called me to a future in full time missions overseas and that day that specific calling got attacked HARD. Thought after thought was just saying I need to give up on this dream/life because “life overseas will always just be a reoccurring path of being physically sick and if I go home at least I won’t be sick”. Wow. Praise God that the lie Satan was attacking me with was replaced with truth quickly. Shortly after that moment I had this thought/vision in my mind of just darkness screeching (like a ton of demons) and in front of the demons was Jesus. I was upset because I keep getting physically sick, but God showed me in that vision that Jesus was standing in between me and that darkness and He was protecting me from so much more than I could even imagine. So even in the suffering I will still find joy and joy will be my strength.
That same day I spent four hours straight worshipping and praying to Jesus. About an hour in as I was listening to music I started reading some scripture, then started singing to the songs that were playing on my speaker, then started to pray, then started singing simple tunes, and then began singing scripture. As soon as I started singing scripture (with a raspy short breathed voice) it was like I was just alone in the room at the feet of Jesus. I wept. In that moment I was reminded again of the power of worship. And that God is in control, God is giving me strength, and God is guiding my steps, I just have to keep surrendering and trust Him. Every time I worship the Lord, it’s like my physical symptoms of sickness get a little break. While I wish they would be gone completely, I find comfort knowing that God is protecting me and with me. All this to say, being sick has not been easy at all. In those vulnerable moments the lies of the enemy hit hard, but I am now coming to understand the spiritual battle in this and learn how to fight back. Through prayer and worship. Worship is a weapon. If at the very least, right now is preparing me for a future walking out the calling God has given me.
So that’s a little wrap on what’s been going on in Turkey so far and what ministry will look like in the upcoming weeks! In the meantime here’s a few ways you can be joining me in prayer:
- this country and the people we meet face to face
- my health
- my mom (she’s going to be coming to Parent Vision Trip at the end of May to join me in South Asia for a few days!! Pray for financial provision, travel plans, and peace/boldness as she steps out of her comfort zone)
- my future
- more boldness, faith, humility and endurance
Thanks for reading to the end and being a part of this journey with me! Love you!!
