On behalf of Gabe, Rodney, and myself I want to give my heartfelt thanks to the Lifespring family for sending us to Turkey over the past week. There was so much that God did on the trip, and we look forward to sharing these stories with you all in the coming weeks and months.
To give an overview of what we did, we traveled to Turkey with the intention of exploring the possibility of refugee sponsorship and spent about a week with a Persian church. For the first four days, we participated in a trauma care workshop run by Amecet. The idea was to provide the people from the Persian church with tools and training to provide trauma care for others. In the days after the workshop we spent time visiting the homes of some of the members of the church so we could build a more personal relationship with its leaders and congregation. All of this culminated in the Easter Sunday service, where Gabe spoke for Sunday worship. There was an amazing time of ministry at the end of service where we had the opportunity to pray for people personally as well as worship together as a community. There was a genuine and tangible sense of unity between our team and their church that was felt on both sides.
One of the most significant parts of our visit were the stories we had the privilege to hear. All of the people in the Persian church were refugees who had to flee their home country for different reasons. A common story was of people needing to leave Iran because their faith had put them in danger. Other stories were about ongoing issues people faced when they settled in Turkey. For example, one person we met had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. They had traveled to another city in Turkey to compete in a competition, and won. However, because they were a refugee they were denied the trophy for winning the competition, and the prize was given to the next best competitor. This is just one of many stories of the kinds of challenges people face.
Personally, while the trip was fulfilling for many reasons, one of the most exciting things was the fact that Lifespring’s work with the Persian church is only just beginning. Of all the tasks we completed on the trip, the most important was to build a relationship with the Persian church, both with the congregation and its leaders. It excites me to think that our trip was laying the foundation for what I believe will be a long and fruitful relationship with the Persian church.
Before we left for Turkey, one of the words Andrew heard from the Lord for the team was, “This is the right time because it’s My time” (see it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/XCi4M4oNimo?).Having been to Turkey, met the people, and prayed and worshipped together with them, I can truly say that God is up to something amazing. My prayer for Lifespring today is that as a family, we would be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us as a body in this moment. May God’s voice be so clear to each of us as we’re led along this new journey.