Turkey was the second and final month with my team, Circle-Makers. It was also one of first hosted months I had had since Albania, month three! As much as we loved listening for God’s voice and learning to trust in Him, to say that we were excited for a host was a massive understatement. We didn’t have to spend any more time that month trying to find places to stay or things to do each day. Upon meeting our hosts, we were even more excited! They were very loving and friendly, treating us as part of their family.
The organization we worked with had a very specific vision. Because Turkey was a big area for the early Christian church, what with Ephesus, Cappadocia, Pamphylia, Derbe, Lystra, Tarsus, and Phrygia. The area known as Asia Minor was one of the cradles of evangelism, where Christianity flourished. However, being in the country now, it is hard to realize that. Those historical truths have all been but erased. This organization, though, believes in a verse found in Job. “For there is hope for a tree, when it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its shoots will not fail. Though its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the dry soil, at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth sprigs like a plant” (Job 14:7-9 NASB). Christianity, like a tree, has deep roots. No matter what the enemy tries, it will never be fully gone. We are called, working alongside the Spirit, to be that scent of the water, that when it hits those roots, they will spring to life once more, causing Turkey to once again be a cradle of Christianity. This completely fired the team up!
On two different Sundays, we helped at a sister church around two hours away. We held services every Saturday night in our host town. Most of our ministry consisted of either “making friends” time or discipling and encouraging the local believers. Our making friends time was a lot of sitting in a local coffee shop, where the two girls on our team had a really good relationship with the baristas.
We struggled a lot as a team, though. Differences of opinions, alternate viewpoints, a difficult schedule that was both light and flexible, but ever-changing, and personal issues made this a hard month for all of us. As a team we had some fights and had to have a few tough conversations. We thought that one of the perks of a hosted month was that we would have a busy schedule with a lot of ministry to do. However, we found that, because of the time we had gotten there, our host didn’t have too much for us. They gave us as much work as they could find, but our workload was extremely light.
All-in-all, this was a month where we had to continually give everything to God, constantly. We had to keep returning to the throne room of God, dropping our problems, expectations, and preferences at His feet. He was so good to forgive us and bring us healing.
One of the biggest things I learned from this month was that even when a team doesn’t see eye-to-eye, they can still love each other and work to further the Kingdom of God. It simply takes a lot of compassion, understanding, and empathy.
Turkey had incredible things in it and moments that I will never forget. It wasn’t a failure and either was this team. I will forever love the Circle-makers and all we went through together, as well as what God accomplished through us.
As always, thank you for your support and your prayers. My time on the race is nearly done, and I couldn’t have made it this far without all of you!
