To Turkey and Beyond

I have been given the INCREDIBLE opportunity to go to Turkey this spring with a team of three other people!  This will be the perfect opportunity to get a taste of Muslim culture and customs to prepare me for work with Muslims in Northern Africa in the future.

Let me first give a bit of information about Turkey for those who still think I'm referring to Thanksgiving dinner.  Turkey is a unique country in a very strategic place in the world.  The western half of the country has been influenced greatly by Europe and Western cultures while the eastern half remains heavily influenced by Islam and other Middle Eastern cultures.  ALthough about 99% of Turkish peoples claim Islam as their religion, the vast majority of them are nominal Muslims, meaning they know very little about Islam and may not ever have read the Qur'an.  

The country is in a powerful place in the world because it is the passageway from Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria to the nations of the European Union.  Many refugees from oppressive countries flee to Turkey and apply for asylum in the United Nations offices in the capital of Ankara.  Because the government in the western half of the country where Ankara is located is more tolerant of Christianity and outside influence, these refugees have the opportunity to seek truth and hear about Jesus Christ while they wait for their paperwork to be processed.

On this trip, we will be ministering to refugee believers in the area of Ankara with local Christian workers and aiding in their outreach to Iranian refugees.  

We will spend most of our time in the capital city experiencing their culture and supporting the full-time workers there in any way we can.  I will be going with a small team of students from my school under the leadership of a friend named Ryan Peters who has visited and worked in Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries before.  

A great focus for myself while on this trip will be absorbing lessons on ministering to Muslim people and praying for God to move and shake things up in the Muslim world.  I am so intrigued by the religion of Islam and see how the most deceitful lies have a portion of truth in them, as Islam has many aspects of Christianity intertwined in it.  The deep truth that Muslims are missing is that God is love and that he sent his son Jesus to forgive them and give them the chance to spend eternity with him.  I know that at least a part of my life will be spent communicating this to Muslims, so I am excited to get a first taste of this mindset and culture.

  I will continue to post more information as I learn more about Turkey and obtain more details on the trip itself.