HI EVERYONE!

The past week has been SO encouraging to my faith. Turkey hold such a special place in my heart already! Here is a little, brief recap of some highlights this past week!

• We have met so many new friends here in Biga, Turkey!!! It’s so so exciting. The Gospel of Jesus has been sown in so many conversations in so many cool ways. 1-800-ASK-A- FARMER is SOWING SEEDS FOR THE KINGDOM!
• One group of friends shared with us an authentic Turkish meal in the park and we talked with them for around 6 hours! We talked about life and our faith! We were in the company of two who are professed muslims (not actively practicing), one who is an atheist, one who is a deist, and another who is agnostic. We sat as learners of their beliefs as they asked about our beliefs! We were able to share about how our Jesus is such a relational God and it was really sweet to learn about their beliefs too. I introduced the Bible App to one of them and they are excited to learn more about Jesus through it!
• I met a sweet girl in a diner/cafe as I made a quick pit-stop to find some food on my Sabbath! Clearly, God had a plan for me stepping foot in this place… not just for food. I ended up striking a conversation with this sweet girl as she brought me to another place that would sell me a sandwich for my lunch. We stood in line together and in the first 10 seconds of us standing next to each other, she asked me if I could teach her english! SO, I was able to connect with her over text and planned a day we could get together.  My friends and I we were all invited over her sister and brother in law’s place for a Turkish breakfast. This was SUCH a sweet, comfortable, organic and lovely time. I’m telling you- I will forever remember this day. After walking 40 minutes to her sister’s place, I saw my new friend come out of the apartment a little ways down the street and we RAN to embrace each other!! I’m telling you- God has something really special for this girl and I can’t wait to continue to be friends with her here. Leaving this town has already saddened my heart because these friendships have been so sweet to sustain. As a team, we are going to meet the rest of her family this next week and we hope to have them over the apartment! Thankful we can invite people over to show them the hospitality of the Lord. Please be praying for my team and me as we lay seeds for Christ (with her and her family) and build friendship through food and laughter in the coming days and weeks!

Testimony Time!!

Today, I wanted to share with you something that happened in Albania, along our time of journeying down the coast of Albania while asking God who to talk to and where to sleep every night!

Along our pilgrimage down the coast of Albania I met a man who we will refer to as Simon. I met this man on the bus driving from Durres to Vlore on our way to our final destination during my time with team STCKD!

I got on the bus after leaving the house of Kyle and Lacey, a couple who God had put in our path who became friends with us and who took us into their apartment to house us seven girls! It was truly a miracle and a blessing. We got on this bus after we took a few other forms of transportation, going every which way trying to find a bus that went to Vlore. Even though our journey was riddled with many unanticipated twists and turns, I know that this was not an accident- there are certainly no accidents in the Kingdom of God!

I sat next to Simon, a man in his thirties. It was going to be a 45 minute ride and at this point in my life and on the World Race, I know that every place I choose to sit, stand, or walk is an opportunity for God to stop someone in their tracks and meet them in a personal way, with a personal encounter!

I started off asking his name, where he was going, and what brought him on this bus. We got talking and I learned that he worked in the computer engineering field (if I remember correctly) and that he was traveling for vacation. We got talking about life, what he hopes for in this life, and just about the future. I didn’t come right out and say I was a missionary during this conversation. And, honestly, that’s what God has been teaching me since being in Guatemala: how to pursue relationship and friendship with people, not forcing God on people but allowing the Holy Spirit to create the spaces in conversation for His love to transform the hearts of the people I meet. And so, learning and listening was what I was hoping to do during this conversation. Always trying to notice when God gave me a moment to step out and share a little piece of His character with him.

Our big bus stopped off at a gas station now. I remember this clearly because that is when our conversation shifted and changed. At this point, I had shared about what I was doing, traveling around the world to share what Jesus had done in my life with the hope that others would experience Him too. I asked him if he ever thinks about the future. He had shared that he doesn’t like to think about the future. He hopes for a family, good work, and to earn money but he doesn’t want to think about what comes after in this life or in eternity. It was around this time that my friend, Tris, leaned over and shared her testimony of trying every ‘temporary’ thing that this world has to offer, and how none of it could match the fulfillment that Jesus has given her in this life.

As we kept talking, we went down a ton of rabbit trails and it was so cool to find so much enjoyment throughout this conversation with a stranger! God gave me an urgency to share Jesus with him… in the form of patience and a listening ear. Woah. That kind of feels like a conundrum. How can we have urgency but also patience at the same time? Hm…

Anyways, the Lord dropped something in my spirit to ask him. I asked him this:

What if a decision you make today would affect not only your today but also your future AND your past? That a decision apart of your present life, not a futuristic decision, is a decision that could VERY MUCH affect your future life and honestly, change your past? Just writing this sounds crazy! What could change my past- history that has already been written, give me hope and joy and peace for today, and secure my eternity in a place I’d want to be… FOREVER!?

I don’t remember him responding with anything other than the fact that he thought it was a good question, kinda chuckling. I said: “have you ever heard of Jesus?” And he said yeah. I said, “oh! What do you know about him?” He began to explain Jesus to me. That he came on the earth and that the Romans killed him … but then stopped. He said, “maybe you’ll know the answer to this.” He proceeded to ask me why Jesus needed to die? He knew the Romans had put him on the cross but just didn’t understand the whole extent of the cross, the blood shed, and why he needed to die.

OKAY. Let’s just take a moment and freak out together!!! Is this not the most exciting question a follower of Jesus can be asked??! It surely excited me to the core!!

I then got to share with him the salvation story! How we needed a perfect man, God himself, to die on a cross for us. That he needed to die in order for us to have a repaired relationship with God the Father because our sin separates us from Him. That not one of us could be good enough to be in relationship with Him. I shared how we could never do enough good works to get us into heaven, how they are actually seen as dirty rags to Him (Isaiah 64:6). How everything is so temporary on this earth, all the things we strive for and have (work, money, fill in the blank with any earthly thing or relationship) but the Lord came to help us experience HEAVEN on EARTH. WOAH. That He not only changes our future, but also our present life, and forgives us of our past- He creates a new life for those who believe in Jesus! Completely new and different! Now, I have HOPE, JOY, and LIFE!

We talked about his reservations about God, that maybe he would believe if he experienced a real-life miracle. And we talked about more of his questions. At the end of the day, I remember him walking off the bus, shaking my hand and saying “I hope we both remember this conversation.”

This statement struck a cord within me. At the start of the conversation, he made it clear that he doesn’t talk about the future because, why worry? Just living in the moment is what he desires. But, now, he was willing to remember this conversation, a conversation marked by a personal encounter with the living God speaking through an ordinary human being like Tris and I.

I can not thank God enough for this conversation. This was truly a conversation that was marked by God. One of seed planting, watering, and prayerfully in the near future, a harvest!

If you remember Simon, please pray for his soul and his heart, that he would know the precious love of Jesus here on Earth!

Prayer Requests:

• This upcoming week, we have a lot of organic meet-ups with friends and new connections that we have made! Pray for more opportunities to share the Gospel with those who we are forming friendships with.
• Please pray for our Muslim friends who we have met here. They have become near and dear to our hearts. Pray that the Father will soften their hearts to know and experience Jesus in a personal way. My friend on ASK was even able to give a Bible to one of our new friends (after I saw this new friend jaw-drop when she saw a Bible and said how she had never seen one before!)
• Please pray for my friends back in Rochester, NY. I love them dearly and want them to know how much I love them, even though I am far away!