Sunday, June 12, 2011

Morning activities were as usual, though I’m having great times in the Scriptures. I’ve continued to memorize one or two Scripture verses each morning as the Spirit leads me so. They are proving encouraging and useful throughout the day in keeping me built up as well as for Kingdom prayer. I had some coffee for breakfast – I was too focused to eat. Soon after breakfast was over, we left to pick up some nearby sisters whom we dropped off at the church with Penka before heading on to Tolga’s village. After picking Tolga up we headed for the church, needing to pick up no one else. At the church we met and greeted brothers and sisters who had already arrived. Those whom we had dropped off with Penka were serving, and so Tolga and I just sat around while women practiced worship music and a couple of youth worked on the PowerPoint and showing pictures from the picnic and our travel to Tolga’s friends’ village. I don’t think Tolga knew anyone either, because she just sat by herself, and so I had her come over and sit by me (I had chosen a seat by Penka’s father who suffers from memory problems – I’ve been living in the art studio apartment which he lives in as well). The three of us in a row was probably hilarious because none of us could communicate with each other very well. I used my iPod touch calculator to display numbers and found out that Tolga is 15 years old. I may have mentioned that elsewhere, but maybe not. I took some video of the worship practice and a little during the service also. After a little while (still prior to the service’s start) I took a walk around the church building and prayed. Then, as the church was filling, I went back inside and took my seat among the brothers. With singing from Penka and the women, “church” began. Prayer ensued soon afterward, and this was followed by a little more singing and then Pastor Hari presented the morning’s message – at least part of it. He called me up to present a testimony, and I shared a similar message to the one I had in the Turkish house, but I also shared a message the Lord prompted me to give through my Scripture readings, experiences that week, and the pictures on the wall (Penka illustrated a Bible that the BL published, and the pictures are on the walls of the church – I have a video of them). One picture in particular struck me – that of Esther. Given the women I have met and their position as spiritual leaders by circumstance, I shared how I believe there are many women among that church who will be like Esther in their communities, saving their peoples through bold proclamation of the truth and steadfastness in the faith no matter the trials. I called upon the men and Hari to be like Mordecai’s toward our sisters, encouraging them to do hard and bold things that require courage and trust that God will be with them wherever they go. I know that God will answer this call through my brothers and my sisters there. Before I had gone up to give my testimony, I was praying about the new brother and sister in the Lord who were supposed to have come to the church. I wasn’t disappointed; instead, I prayed that God would not let the enemy steal away the good word they received (we had prayed that previous evening and at breakfast for the Lord’s mighty hand to hold back the darkness that hates this transformation of men and women from death to life, from the power of Satan to God, from the dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of the Beloved Son). Immediately after I prayed again, they walked in the door. I was sitting in the back, and so I moved over a few seats so they could join our row. When I saw Peter, I burst into a smile and gave him a hearty handshake as I was a few seats away. You might find this funny, but I shared with the brothers before I spoke that I felt glad like a child among them, because I could show my love like a child and not like an adult. I could make noise and gestures and hug and kiss, but I could not speak and be understood or understand much more than their own gestures and physical touch. After I sat down, Pr. Hari had Tanya(ja) share her own testimony. She’s the MBB that I spoke to at the picnic. She was a little embarrassed sharing and stood where she sat. The brothers were encouraged her afterward with good words. Then, Pr. Hari embarked on a new plan for the service. He had us break into groups of six, moving our chairs into circles for the purpose of examining the Scriptures together. This was to engage in good, small community, but also to test and see the hearts of the brothers and who has the same vision in their heart for reaching the lost in the region. The responses from different groups were telling (I only know this by translated word of mouth). Acts 2:37-41 was our text. After we had shared among each other and shared with the large group through a spokesperson, we shared our needs and prayed for each other. Finally, we shared communion in the small groups. When the service had ended, we hung around and spoke with one another before taking people home. The older sisters were very loving toward me and the brothers as well. One brother I sat next to in my group seemed very nervous, and I realized this and put my arm around him and gave him some hearty pats on the back and shakes and hugs. I later found out he was a new believer, and was glad to be able to share with him the openness we have with one another in the Lord, as a true new family. I told Tolga to read Esther soon. In the van, on the way home, I showed an older sister some pictures of my family when I hit a wi-fi hotspot. Then, after dropping Tolga off at her home, we returned to the apartment and I worked on uploading pictures and videos and bullet-pointing an update. Hari soon came in and called me over for lunch, and so I left my work and we had some great food. I will stop telling about all the food because it’s very unique and incredibly tasty, and I cannot spell it. Penka has skills in everything that creativity can transform into art. We decided to rest after the meal, though I went back to working on uploads and figuring out if I might be able to find more space on the internet for uploading pictures. Eventually, I decided to rest. Around 7pm Hari woke me up and apologized, seeing I was “out.” I was glad to be awake, however, and quickly readied myself to go out with he and Penka to first visit his mother (she has been experiencing pain in her foot and so we prayed over her and Hari planned to take her to see the doctor the next day at her request, but when he called her Monday morning, she said that God had healed her and she didn’t need to see the doctor anymore, though Penka wanted her to do some foot exercises and have her shoes checked to see if they offered enough support for her ankles, praise the Lord, Christ Jesus) and then to take pictures of sunsets from mountains where they love to paint landscapes. This we did, and this is the trip on which I took the footage of the shepherd who sang to his sheep. Some of you have expressed the difficulty hearing the song. It’s not a song embedded into the video, and the man is not singing with great tune or in a language you probably understand. About 15 seconds into the video, he stops whistling and behind the bells you can hear him singing, almost chanting. It’s a guttural song, but the sheep move to him. Do you see why David was such a great musician and such a great shepherd? The sheep knew his song. The people knew his song, and he was honored in song (David his tens of thousands). On the way home, Hari stopped beside the road to show me some special stones and he and Penka help me collect some. There are some beautiful ones in my possession that I might be able to have cleaned, polished, and crafted. Anyone have ideas about this? Upon finishing our treasure hunt, we went to a pizza restaurant for dinner. It was located next to a dance club, and so I heard lots of familiar, American music – music to which the world dances. The Pied Piper of the younger generations leads them away from the faith of their forefathers. Money is power? Music too. Beware what you listen to little ears. Your heart will be ensnared like a bird that doesn’t watch where it’s going and alights on the trap. We drove home after dinner and Hari and I looked at pictures, one specifically of a shepherd with his sheep and some scriptures superimposed upon it. And later, the three of us watched some of Spielberg’s Amistad. But, instead of watching it through, I mentioned needing to get one specific report completed before heading to bed, and so we adjourned our evening.