Turkey 2010 – Day 6 – Sunday 15th August
Today’s post is written by Katie. Greetings from Turkey on Day 6 of our trip! Today started rather bleary eyed at 7.30am as we all trooped into Becky’s excessively large hotel room for our daily devotional time. Despite all of us feeling extremely tired after last nights fun and antics at the church, the time we put aside to spend seeking God through scripture and prayer is always so fruitful and encouraging. By 8.30am we were ready to start the day and made a swift exit to breakfast!
I think we were all looking forward to this morning’s service at the church in Yalova and were excited to experience Sunday morning in a new culture. It was lovely to see our brothers and sisters, whom we had been building relationships with throughout the week, and worship together as one. It has been amazing to see how, despite speaking different languages and growing up in completely different cultures, the team and the church have all been united through our love for Christ and our passion to see his name glorified throughout the earth! Not only have we been able to serve the church here and hopefully bring encouragement to all the people we’ve met, but we have been so well looked after in the process! The hospitality of the Yalova church has been incredible and we are all very sad to leave behind all the wonderful friends we have made, as we continue on our way to Izmir tonight.
This afternoon, some of the team and a few guys from the church had a fantastic time at the beach, and arriving back at the church tonight, we all look rather sun-kissed! We managed to brave the jellyfish (hundreds of them, but luckily not stingers!) and had rather a lot of fun splashing around in the sea. We hired out a pedalo and a couple of canoes and, flexing our muscles, got down to the business of having a jolly good time. What a great way to end our time here in Yalova!
Thank-you for all your prayers and support- it makes a real difference knowing that we have all of you back at home cheering us on! We have been so encouraged by everything we’ve seen so far, and God is truly doing some amazing things here.
At 10pm we will be catching our overnight bus to Izmir so your prayers for sleep and refreshment would be much appreciated! We are all excited about the next few days and what we are going to see God do!
Lots of Turkish sevgi (love),
Katie and the team x
WORD OF THE DAY:
The last word of the day was teşekkürler [te-shek-kewr-ler] which means ‘thanks.’ Sorry for the lack of word of the day the last 2 posts.
Today’s phrase is:
Çok güzel [chok guh-zel]
Practise saying this phrase over the next day (pronunciation is in brackets underneath), and wait until the next blog to find out the meaning and try a new phrase! Join us as we enjoy this language challenge…
Turkey 2010 – Day 5 – Saturday 14th August
With yesterday evening off, the team slept in this morning (it is amazing how much the heat and constant language challenge is taking out of us). Half the team then headed to the bizarre to look for more cool (in terms of temperature) clothes and the rest headed for tea and a book by the beach!
A midday walk to the church followed by lunch launched us into an afternoon of planning for tomorrows service (the church has asked to us to present some Turkish introductions and some fun testimonies about ‘Treasure Hunting’ - looking for who God wants to speak to) and the party we led this evening for the church family. We also continued our devotions in the gospel of John and prayed for Darren’s back (he is struggling to sit down for long periods of time without dull aches and pains in his lower back).
The afternoon went really well and we were all set for tonight when Katie had a fall on the marble steps outside the front of the church and jarred and bruised her lower back and shoulders. She has spent the afternoon with aches and pain but is beginning to feel better - the team prayed for her and have sent her to bed! It has been amazing to see her trust God in the situation and for the teams response to be to pray for her healing immediately - mission trips do help us to rely on God more for everything!
Throughout this trip, God has been reminding me that being on mission trips to other cultures is such a fantastic opportunity to get His heart for the world. It’s one thing to have a theology that says that God wants people from every tribe and tongue, it’s totally another to engage with those people and their culture and see directly their and our need for the living God. God is speaking not only to Turks here in Yalova, but also to us as he puts in us His desire to see all people come to know Him- this in turn is making us more hungry to share the good news of Jesus Christ with more and more people and to pray for people at every opportunity.
Some prayer points for our trip so far:
1. That katie and Darren’s backs would be fully healed.
2. That those we have spoken to about the church and Jesus would find the church and meet Him.
3. That the Church in Yalova would be blessed beyond their wildest dreams.
4. That our overnight bus to Izmir tomorrow (Sunday) evening woudl not be too bad and we’d get some sleep.
Thanks for your prayers.
Turkey 2010 – Day 4 – Friday 13th August
Todays post is written by Becky. Today we’re feeling it. The heat and different climate and the excitement means we’re all pretty tired today. We dragged ourselves down to the tasty-as-ever breakfast and headed out bright and early to church for a day of manual labour! The team were asked to paint a wall, mow the large and somewhat overgrown garden, wash the windows and re-grout the tiles on the roof terrace. We’re very grateful for sunscreen and ‘su!’ (water!)
We ordered fresh ‘laumachan’ for lunch– (tasty Turkish pizzas!) from a local place to be collected at 12.30. Neil and I went to pick up lunch for the ravenous team. We met the friendly baker and through broken Turkish and wild (and comical) gesticulating we established that he knew what we wanted, but he had not made it! He started flinging around dough and flour with flourish (no pun intended) and told us he would be 10 minutes. 40 minutes later we set off with our warm nourishment packed up- but in the meantime we ended up sitting with 2 plain-clothed police officers as they had their lunch! As they uttered odd English words and we our poorly accented Turkish words, we managed to establish that Istanbul was awesome and so was football. Not bad. After lunch Neil led our daily devotion looking at John 4- the Royal official who believes in Jesus enough after hearing about him to journey to find Jesus and seek healing for his sick child. He had heard and believed straight away- this study inspired the team in our prayers, and reminded us of the reason that we are here in Turkey.
All too soon after our lunch, we set out back into the heat to carry on with our tasks. The dingy peeling wall was gradually transformed into an even smooth white border that framed the garden. The building is not a small one – 4 storeys high – and it had a LOT of windows. There was a great amount of leaning dangerously out of windows, climbing ladders and polishing out smears, but finally they were done. The grout was completed (and Chris’ knees were ok!). Ladders were put away, rollers and brushes rinsed, and we trudged back to our hotel around 5.30. What a privilege to serve the church here with doing practical jobs that would have taken 1 or 2 people ages. It’s our prayer that the church continues to shine as a light here.
After showers and rest, the team are enjoying free time tonight and tomorrow morning (yay lie-in!).The team is enjoying banter and games of uno before setting off for a kebap and ice cream on the beach tonight for some relaxation. And who knows what God has planned this starry evening in a town in the lands where the gospel first was spread.
Turkey 2010 – Day 3 – Thursday 12th August
Today's post is written by Ella. After last night's amazing gathering we all slept well (helped by having the luxury of a/c!). After a devotional time together we made the most of a generous buffet breakfast: breads, olives, tomatoes, eggs, cheese, honey, melon etc.... could get used to this!
We then headed over to the church where we again arrived ‘glowing’ and in need of cold water. It was enthralling to hear the story of the church beginnings and to have translated for us the testimony of another church member and his wife. There is such a love of God apparent in all the stories we hear.
A visit to the local Bazaar was scheduled in for early afternoon, as several team members are finding that they don’t have enough clothes suitable for the climate (it is hot here!), and I was able to practise my (limited) Turkish in a few short conversations with stall-keepers. Again and again the people we meet are overwhelmingly friendly and helpful with the language we are attempting to learn. Though many don’t seem to know that there is indeed a church in Yalova, and we have a hard time both explaining and convincing them of this.
With a bit of uncertainty (at least on my part), early this evening we went out to ‘Treasure Hunt.’ How God would use us without a translator was the main question, as few people here speak English, but we knew all the same that God is not restricted with human details like this when he speaks. We headed out in three teams, and each team used our new vocabulary to chat to people, and all had a significant conversation with someone who we can continue to pray for. It’s amazing how much you can communicate without much vocab, but also a continuing challenge we will face daily as it limits the depth of discussions we can have.
Hungrily, after returning to the hotel, we went with Pete and his son to a local restaurant on the shore to have our meal. This is a significant meal time for many here, in that it breaks the fast of Ramazan each evening after sunset. A firework exploding (set off from a cannon) signals the start of this meal all over Yalova each evening for the next month.
A walk along the shore with Pete and a few brothers, seeing the stars and the lights across the water in Istanbul, and taking in the atmosphere, followed by yet another shower and much needed sleep ends the third day.
WORD/PHRASE OF THE DAY:
last blogs was: “memnun oldhum”
[mem-noon old-ham]
this means “pleased to meet you!”
Today’s word is:
teşekkürler
[te-shek-kewr-ler]
Practise saying this phrase over the next day (pronunciation is in brackets underneath), and wait until the next blog to find out the meaning and try a new phrase! Join us as we enjoy this language challenge…
Turkey 2010 - Day 2 - Wednesday 11th August
Before we get into on all the amazing things that have happened today, yesterday had a pile of treats all of it's own!
Tuesday:
Having done some tourist activities (visiting the ‘Aya Sofia’, location of the ‘Great Schism’, and the Blue Mosque), the team were heading to the ‘Grand Bizarre’ to buy some cooler (heat not trend!) clothes and experience some haggling. On the way there, whilst some of the team were in the toilet, Neil and Stephen were chatting about whether or not to go and speak to a poor man begging in one of the gates to the Blue Mosque. Neil approached the man and talked with him. The man called over two tourist guides he knew to translate for him. Neil was able to pray for healing for the man who had been crippled since birth. We are unsure if anything happened there and then, but the conversations Neil and I had with the tourist guides afterwards were fantastic, dealing with questions of eternity and God’s goodness to heal men and women here and now. The whole episode seriously built our faith for seeing God move in the unexpected in a country and culture we are so alien too.
We then had an awesome time with the team leader from the future Istanbul church plant as he shared his story with us, and helped us to engage with the reality of: 1) the sacrifice of going to another nation to build God’s church (not just to the leader individually but also to the whole family), and 2) the sacrifice of family, status, job and honour a new believer in Turkey makes when he or she chooses to follow the Lord Jesus Christ (Rab Masih Isa).
A tiring day was finished - and a hot sticky night followed - a record 5 showers in one day for me!
Wednesday:
Devotions (looking at John 3) on the lawn between the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, breakfast (bread, boiled egg, olives, cheese, jam) over looking the Bosphorus, and a ferry ride over the most beautiful still sea i’ve ever been on, led us to Yalova: the next city on our Trip.
After a long walk we arrived at the church building where we met Peter, one of the church leaders who has lived in Turkey for 11 years, speaks fluent Turkish and loves his country. Peter welcomed us with cold drinks and food before leading us through some language and culture basics.
In the evening we were given an amazing Turkish meal and spent the evening with the most welcoming, loving people you ever could meet. We talked and prayed for each other before one of the ladies in the room who has been spending time around the people in the church for the past few weeks decided she would like to give her life to Jesus. It was such a joy and privilege to be there and pray with her and our Turkish brothers and sisters as she chose to turn from her old ways and we welcomed her into the family of God (“Hosh-geldiniz!”). A brilliant and really encouraging time spent with the church here.
A gentle walk home, shower (fourth today) and bed.
WORD/PHRASE OF THE DAY:
Yesterdays phrase was: Tuvalet nerede lütfen? [too-va-let ne-re-de lewt-fen?]
Which meant: Where is the toilet please?
Try this one today:
memnum oldhum
[mem-noom old-ham]
(we used this a lot today)
Practise saying this phrase over the next day (pronunciation is in brackets underneath), and wait until the next blog to find out the meaning and try a new phrase! Join us as we enjoy this language challenge…
Turkey 2010 - Day 1 - Tuesday 10th August
The incredible elation of arriving in a new country is always preceded by 'the journey'. I write this first of many 'Turkey 2010' blogs from the 6.30am easyjet flight bound for Istanbul having traveled by car from Leeds to Gatwick yesterday and then slept for 4 hours in a travel lodge - I can safely say that the team are tired but very very excited - and not just about the 35deg heat that awaits us!
Mosaic mission trips (Durban, Paris, Belfast) have been some of the most amazing experiences of Mosaic members’ lives over the last few years as we as a family of believers continue to trust God not only in our own country, workplaces and families, but in different cultures, countries and contexts around the world and seek to love God, each other, the city, the under-priveleged and the nations of the world.
Today we head to Turkey. Today, as with everyday, we trust God - but somehow being on a ‘mission trip’ it feels slightly different. Over the past few weeks I have realised that so often I am asking God about the big things (what happens next? where will we go next?) and not reaching out to Him in the little things, the prayers and petitions for the here and now. Mission trips enable an opportunity to trust in God for every second and hopefully learn something of His providing nature that will stay with us as a team well on into the future.
Over the next 10 days, we, as a team, will be blogging as often as we can our thoughts and feelings, stories and testimonies, prayers and worries. Our hope in doing so is that we will be in your thoughts and prayers, you will be filled with faith for the here and now, and you’ll join us in praying for the difficulties we face daily in a country where none of us know the language or the culture.
Please join us in praying for the nation of Turkey and it’s people, that we would be a blessing to this great nation, and “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give [us and the people we meet] the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know Him Better… ...[and] that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened in order that they may know the hope to which He has called them, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe”. Ephesians 1:15
WORD/PHRASE OF THE DAY:
Tuvalet nerede lütfen?
[too-va-let ne-re-de lewt-fen?]
Practise saying this phrase over the next day (pronunciation is in brackets underneath), and wait until the next blog to find out the meaning and try a new phrase! Join us as we enjoy this language challenge…
Praying with Jesus
We kicked off our 3 week series entitled "learning to pray" by sitting at the feet of Jesus and watching his prayer life and listening to his teaching (from Luke's Gospel, especially 11.1-13) and this is what we learnt...
Firstly, prayer has to be learnt (vs1). We should never assume that we can suddenly “just pray” and we shouldn’t feel embarrassed if we can’t pray. But we should be willing to learn to pray. However, if we struggle to pray we should not feel guilty (that is from the devil and not God). Jesus’ 12 didn’t know how to pray and then they couldn’t stay awake in Gethsemane to pray, but they were still Jesus’ followers and God still used them dramatically. Don’t be burdened down with guilt thinking “I am a bad Christian…I can’t pray…” but come to God eagerly and say “teach me to pray”
So what did we learn?
(1) The motivation for prayer is the privilege of being with your father in heaven (vs1). Jesus reiterated this in his teaching on the sermon on the mount (Matthew 6.5-9) as well as his own life (2.49, 4.42, 5.15-16, 6.12, 9.18….22.39). In a certain place for a certain time, to close the door and be alone with your father and marvel that you can even call him father since he is the “Holy One of Israel.” To remember that he is “good but he is not safe” and to let our boldness and intimacy be matched by our awe, wonder and reverence. He is our “Abba Father” (Romans 8.15). But he is also “Righteous Father” (John 17.25) with.
(2) The Importance of prayer is due to our dependence on God (we need his stabilising and empowering presence). We saw this demonstrated in two ways in Jesus’ life. Firstly, as his public ministry increased, his private devotion increased. Why? Because he wanted to do the will of the father and not be buffeted around by people’s-expectations (Luke 4.42-43) Secondly, before times of great testing or great decisions his private devotion increased. Before choosing the 12 in Luke 6 he spends a whole night in prayer and before the cross in Luke 22 he goes to Gethsemane with his disciples to pray. He needed to hear his father’s voice, gain his perspective, receive his direction and be filled with his power. Ultimately he wanted to be able to say “not my will but yours.” And he was able to go to be with his father in the crises because he had learnt the discipline previously, so when the trials hit he could draw strength from being with his father and not be toppled. Jesus was dependant on God and taught us to pray “give us today our daily bread.”
(3) The means of prayer is to wrestle with God (vs5-13). Jesus tells two parables which teach us to pray, to be persistent and to be bold. To keep going (Luke 11 + Luke 18). Persistence shows real hunger and desire. Persistence shows we are serious. And it is through persistence that God teaches and moulds us. It is a mystery as to why he delays and why we need to be persistent since he is a father who longs to give us good gifts but it seems that all the great saints have wrestled with God - Abraham, Jacob, Job, Jesus, Epaphras…Terry Virgo. Here are two great PT Forsyth quotes which help us understand prayer as wrestling
God loves a holy war….cast yourself into his arms, not to be caressed but to wrestle with him….he may be too many for you, and lift you from your feet. But it will be to lift you from earth, and set you in the heavenly places which are theirs who fight the good fight and lay hold of God as their eternal life”
Lose the persistence of prayer … lose the real conflict of will and will, lose the habit of wrestling and the hope of prevailing with God, make it mere walking with God in friendly talk; and precious as that is, yet you tend to lose the reality of prayer at last.”
Discussion Questions
(1) Look up the references above from Luke’s gospel, what do you learn about Jesus’ prayer life?
(2) From Luke 11.1-13.
—Why do his disciples ask him the question they do? Do you feel in a similar place to them? If so why?
—If the Lord’s prayer is a pattern for us (we don’t just recite it but see it as a model), what do we learn about the content of our prayers? What is each line saying? Do your prayers reflect the same content?
—What is Jesus trying to teach us in the parable? How does he do that? What is surprising about the parable? How does Jesus then apply it (vs9-13)
(3) Read John 17 - what do you learn about (a) the way Jesus prays + (b) the content of his prayer? What is his manner? What are his priorities in prayer? What does he focus a lot of attention on? What can you learn about prayer for this?
Application and Prayer
(1) How do you find prayer? Why? What Questions do you have regarding prayer?
(2) What motivates you pray? Does Jesus’ motivation match yours?
(3) If you don’t plan to pray, you won’t pray. Do you plan to pray? If not, how could you start to?
(4) Do you recognise your dependence on God for everything? Are you grateful for every good gift he has given you? In what ways are you self-sufficient and working from your own strength?
(5) Have you ever thought of prayer as wrestling with God? How does this help you and encourage you? Where do you need to keep on being persistent in what you are praying for?
(6) Spend time praying to your father, using the Lord’s prayer as a guide, especially focussing on wrestling with God for “his kingdom to come.”
Through the week
(1) Read John 17 every day and join Jesus in his prayer
(2) Memorise Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians - Ch3.14-21 - which is the passage for next week.
Further Resources
Two sermon’s by Terry Virgo which are just fantastic. Here are the links
(1) http://vimeo.com/5294550 (this is in two parts)
Two great books to buy by Ben Patterson if you want to learn more about prayer
(1) Deepening your conversation with God (learning to love to pray)
(2) God’s prayer book (the power and pleasure of praying the psalms)
A great blog post from Tim Keller about his prayer life - http://redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=198 (what is particularly helpful is his thoughts on meditation which he has spoken about at length in many sermons - http://www.redeemer.com)
SPIRITUAL GIFTS - I CORINTHIANS 12-15
Ressurection - 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 There are many different beliefs about life after death in our culture: Annihilation: There is no afterlife Buddhism: after death you lose your identity into the ‘formless’ and ‘nameless’ beyond Traditional Christian/Muslim: Paradise or heaven awaits Reincarnation. Believing in ‘karma’ means that one must return in a different body to pursue the next stage in ones destiny. How you do in this life determines how you will return. Spiritualism: Ghosts, spirits and contacting the dead.
However 1 Cor 15 says RESURRECTION is the central affirmation of Christianity after death – it’s why Paul, who writes this letter is so clear. 1 Cor 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
If there is a weakest link in the chain of Christianity – here it is. The Resurrection of Jesus. Because our faith and hope for the future stands or falls on whether or not it happened. The bible even affirms that fact. 1 Cor 15:17 “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”
One only need to provide the bones of Christ, and all of this collapses like a house of cards. If Christ stays in the tomb, then nothing has been achieved, a good man has died and that’s it. But if he rises and still lives – then no one has ever done that and that proves a whole ton of things about the Christian faith has massive implications for everyone.
Historical Evidence for the Resurrection:
1) Resurrection was Totally Unexpected.
2) The Witnesses were Women!
3) Mistaken identity:
4) Empty Tomb.
5) Jesus didn’t die:
6) Jesus only appeared to people who believed in him?
7) The accounts were biased or incorrect.
8) No shrine:
9) the Sabbath Shifting
The best historical explanation is that Jesus of Nazareth having been thoroughly dead and buried, was raised to life on the third day with a renewed body (not just a resuscitated corpse) and appeared to many different people. Now, I realise it is still possible for you to say, “I don’t have a great explanation for the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances but I still maintain my belief that people don’t rise from the dead and so something else must of happened.” That’s fine, but can you see, your putting your faith in something other than the logical facts or evidence of the events. That may be a shock to you but are you sure your putting your faith in the right things?
Christians have this wonderful hope that is far bigger than just going to heaven when you die.
God is interested in this life, this world.
All Christians are called to bring resurrection and restoration to this dying, decaying world and look forward to the job getting completed at the end of time. If Christ really does rise again, it means the worst that life can throw at you - Hardship, trouble, evil, even death, has been defeated. If you trust him, you get to benefit both now and in the future.
Questions:
What are the most commonly held beliefs about life after death with your friends?
What happens when a Christian dies? Where do they go and where do they end up?
How does Jesus’ resurrection impact your life?
What do think of the evidence for a physical resurrection?
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