After a plane ride and three train rides, the team and I arrived back in Germany yesterday morning (from Turkey). We all are super tired, and exhausted, but are also very excited and encouraged from the short amount of time we had in Istanbul.We decided that our time while we were there would be strictly guided by God and not by our own plans. Each morning we worshiped and had prayer time to hear where God wanted us to go. Some of us would head to the house of prayer, and some of us would just go and see where God let us end up. The only things we carried with us were our cameras and guitars.
A place we found ourselves quite often was Kadicoy. Kadicoy is a beautiful part of Istanbul where you can see ships coming in and where a lot of Turkish people seem to be enjoying the beauty of the country. We always ended up coming back to the same place in Kadicoy.
Its incredible how much the Turkish people love hearing music and guitar and how much they like having their picture taken. The two things we brought were our means of connecting with people. Every time we went out people just seemed to flock us.
While some of us were out, there were others back at the house of prayer praying for opportunity, strength, discernment, and praying whatever else they felt impressed to pray. It is incredible how accurate some of these impressions were. They would write down any impression and prayer and at what time it occurred. It’s cool to see how accurate their impressions were in relation to the events that took place with those of us out in the city. At the end of the day, both groups would debrief and hear the stories of how God used them.
Some examples:
On the third day, Yvonne got the impression that there would be too many people for Sean to take a picture of. People would be lining up. The picture below is in Kadicoy; Sean and Corey are shooting Polaroids.
There was an impression of René playing his guitar with children. The photo on the left is Friday afternoon in Kadicoy.On Tuesday, I was q-tipping my ear, and went completely deaf in my left ear. At 2:00pm, I decided I wasn’t going to go into Kadicoy but asked Sarah if we could go and ask the contacts we met if they knew anyone who could help. At the same time, Rene and Corey prayed that I would have discernment and know what to do to fix my deafness. I went to the contacts and they called a friend who came and fixed my ear. Apparently all it needed was to be flushed out with some olive oil and something that look like a really small Turkey baster.
There are plenty of cool stories of how god worked, but if I were to tell them all, I would be writing for too long. But there is one that stands out which I want to share.
On our first day to Kadicoy we did a ton of walking around… though nothing seemed to happen. No opportunities and very little contact with the Turkish people. We finally sat down, and allowed God to take control. We decided to just sit down, play some guitar and just hangout. Eline took out her guitar and started to play and the rest of us either took photos, had a snack, or just chatted. When it was time to go home, Eline had talked to an old man for two hours, I had fed the birds with a young boy, took some photos of him and his father (and got his fathers email address) and the girls had a lunch date with a girl the next day. It’s crazy how God works. We didn’t have to go to anyone, they came to us EVERY TIME.
One verse that comes to mind is “be still and know that I’m God”. When we attempted to reach out to people on our own strength, it was an epic fail. He really just reminded me that when we just allow him to do His thing, He does it, and does it well.
I’m super excited to be back in Herrnhut to see the rest of the students and hear their testimonies of each of the short term outreaches. We are back in Germany for a month and then head to our main outreach at the beginning of May.
I am suppose to go to Ethiopia but for some reason I keep doubting that is where I am suppose to be. I would love it if you could pray and just ask for direction or peace for Ethiopia
A mosque in the european side of Istanbul
Rene playing for some locals at a park.
Night time in Istanbul.
Turkish tea (called Chai in Turkish)
The squatty potty; Sean wasnt too impressed.
As far as my bible reading the bible in Chronological order, this is where I’m at
Genesis 1 - 22,Job,Genesis 23 - 50,Exodus,Psalm 90,Leviticus,Numbers,Deuteronomy,Psalm 91,Joshua,Judges,Ruth,I Samuel 1 - 16:13,Psalm 23,I Samuel 16:14 -19:11,Psalm 59,I Samuel19:12 - 21:15,Psalms 34, 56,I Samuel 22:1, 2,Psalms 57, 142,I Samuel 22:3-23,Psalm 52,I Samuel 23,Psalms 54, 63,I Samuel 24 - 31,II Samuel 1 - 7,Psalm 30,II Samuel 8:1-14,Psalm 60,II Samuel 8:15 - 12:14,Psalms 51, 32,II Samuel 12:15 - 15:37,Psalms 3, 69,II Samuel 16 - 20,Psalms 64, 70,II Samuel 21, 22,Psalm 18,II Samuel 23, 24,Psalms 4 - 9, 11 - 17, 19 - 22, 24 - 29, 31, 35 - 41, 53, 55, 58, 61, 62,Psalms 65, 68, 72, 86, 101, 103, 108 - 110, 138 - 141, 143 - 145,I Kings 1 - 4,Proverbs,Song of Solomon,I Kings 5 - 11,Ecclesiastes,I Kings 12 - 22,II Kings 1- 14:25,Jonah,II Kings 14:26-29,AmosII Kings 15 - 25, Psalms 1, 2, 10, 33, 43, 66, 67, 71, 89, 92 - 100,Psalms 102, 104 - 106, 111 - 125, 127 - 136, 146 - 150, I Chronicles 1 - 16,Psalms 42, 44 - 50, 73 - 85, 87, 88,I Chronicles 17 - 29, II Chronicles 1 - 21,Obadiah, II Chronicles 22, Joel, II Chronicles 23 - 26:8,Isaiah 1 - 5, II Chronicles 26:9 - 23, Isaiah 6, II Chronicles 27 - 32 I saiah 7 - 66,Hosea,Micah,Nahum, II Chronicles 33,34, Zephaniah, II,Chronicles5, Habakkuk, Jeremiah-6,11,12,26,7-10, 14-20,35,36,45,25,46-49, Jeremiah 13, 22-24, 27-29,50,51,30-33,21, 34, 37-39, 52, 40-44, Lamentations, II Chronicles 36: -8, Daniel, II Chronicles 36:9 - 21, Psalm 137,
and I am on Ezekiel
