The Power of Interruption

Merhaba! We’re back! We want to share some more detailed testimonies about our time in Turkey.

If you read our previous blog post, you know we were in a small town called Ayvacik. We quickly realized that people don’t speak English in this town. Everywhere we went we had to be prepared to either use gestures, google translate, or the handful of basic Turkish words we knew.

We had initial fears surrounding the language barrier and were wondering how we’d be able to build relationships – but, as always, the Lord provides!

One day, we were standing on the street corner trying to decide on something (common scenario for our team 😂). We heard people come from behind and begin talking to us in English!

It was the week of Ramadan so families were home for the holiday. There were four girls (ages 16-24) with their mom. Two of the girls were home from college just for the week but they both spoke English. They invited us girls over to their house the next day for tea.

We were able to eat Turkish foods and drink tea with the family. One of the daughters that spoke English engaged in conversation with us, telling us about their family’s faith in Islam.

After learning that we are Christians, she began asking us a lot of questions about Christianity. While she is a devout Muslim, she was very open to discuss our faith and had many questions for us. She even had a New Testament Bible that someone had given her at college!

Another time, my teammate and I (Adam) were going to the grocery store and encountered a group of university students. They are in their first year of college, most of them studying ‘Hospitality’, and are wanting to learn English better!

After a short encounter, we left to continue shopping but then realized we should’ve gotten their numbers. Surprisingly, we weren’t worried at all and even said “I have a feeling we will see them again.” We briefly prayed, asking that God would put them in our path again. A couple minutes later, the group of guys came walking into the store! They walked straight up to us and asked for our phone number! Thank you Jesus!

We ended up connecting with these guys and their friends throughout our time in Ayvacik. They invited us to do a lot of fun activities such as soccer, volleyball, and horseback riding! It’s crazy to think that so many opportunities were created by this seemingly random encounter. We learned the importance of being interruptible because you never know what might happen!

Finally, we want to mention the times we were completely blown away by Turkey’s generosity! Walking home from the gym one day, we ran into a man we had dinner with previously. He was in his truck about to leave on a multi-hour road trip and just bought fresh donuts. He saw us and immediately reached to give us the bag! He JUST bought them and we tried to refuse, but he didn’t take no for an answer!

On our seven churches trip, we were eating and started interacting with three Turkish boys who were eating their lunches nearby. After talking with them for some time, one of the boys gave us the rest of his donuts!

It blew us away that a people group that doesn’t know Jesus are out-giving most of the Christian church today. It convicted us to be more open with the things we have and showed us the power of generosity.

Please pray for our friends in Turkey. Pray that Jesus would encounter them, specifically in dreams and visions as He is doing throughout the Muslim world.

Pray for us also as we have entered the last stretch of the race. We are in our last country and will be back in the US before we know it.

Pray for us to be fully present for all that God has for us now in the Republic of Georgia and for Him to be preparing our hearts to return home soon also.

Love,
Adam & Adrianna