Persecution

I experienced a tiny taste of persecution yesterday while handing out flyers for the church. An elderly man was very upset and yelling at us. He roughly grabbed the flyers from myself and my friend. We tried to explain that we didn't know what he was saying but he only yelled louder.

Another man appeared out of nowhere and defended us in Turkish and told us to go. We walked very quickly away and didn't come back to that area.

It was scary enough for us, but we have the comfort of knowing that in a few months we will be back home and can scream Jesus name in the streets if we want too. I can't imagine living with this reality every day and having your own friends and family angry and threatening.

Please pray for the Turkish Christians who face this and much greater persecution every day.

Istanbul (not Constantinople)

We've been here for two weeks and are finally starting to settle into a schedule. We have been trying to get into english clubs where people just chat to practice their english. It's a great way to meet people and have a reason to talk to them. We have gotten into a few but I haven't had a chance to go yet. They can only take a certain number of people and there have been multiple miscommunications and cancellations.

There has been a lot of confusion because there is another YWAM team here. They have a larger travel budget and so can take on more "jobs" that we can't get too.

Last week we had some teaching on evangelism and handed out tracks in the street (this is apparently not illegal). We also spent a day at a mosque hearing from the head Imam and had a tour and explanation of the first verses of the Qu'ran.

The next day we were warmly received at a Cem Evi (Shi'ite Alevi). They prepared a board room for us with water, tea, notepads and pens, homemade Baklava and other Turkish pastries. They explained their beliefs to us and the Dede (literally Grandfather, who is a descendant of Mohammed's nephew Ali) was a very sweet older man. Their beliefs are more about equality between men and women. Both genders worship together and participate in the Cem Evi (theoretically), but the women made food and served tea while the men talked with us.

Got to go now, but will write more later.

Leaders

Please pray especially for our outreach leaders. They shoulder a lot of responsibility and look after everyone else. Please pray for a special protection on them and their families.

Zac

Hannah

Michele

Video for Turkey Team