Where to begin.....
We’ve officially been off the good ol’ USA soil for two weeks now, but it feels like only a heartbeat. Seems like “time flies” has been my word to describe this season. Lecture phase in Redding challenged me, shaped me, and stretched me in every way possible. But it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and coming to YWAM in Redding to deepen my relationship with The Lord in order to go into the nations and make Him known was the best decision I’ve ever made. Over these last two weeks, I’ve fallen in love. No, not with some beautiful Turkish man (even though there are MANY here), but I’ve fallen in love with Turkey itself and I’ve fallen even deeper in love with Jesus, and His RECKLESS and RELENTLESS pursuit of His children inThe Middle East. Let me catch y’all up on the literal out of his world craziness Jesus has done over these 14ish days, believe me, you’ll want to read this.
I’m traveling with a team of 8 (9 including my Taylor guitar, Timmy, who has become and honorary member of our team). We started our journey in Kadiköy, Istanbul. What I can explain as a Seattle-like city: right off the water, fish markets, cute coffee shops and delicious restaurants every 10 feet, and lots of younger crowds. Istanbul really is where East meets West. We spent the first few days catching up on sleep, and getting to know the city. Then we stepped into work, helping out our contacts prepare for the upcoming BIGGEST OUTREACH IN THE MUSLIM WORLD - and we got to take part.
We had the opportunity to come alongside hundreds of other believers from around the world on Büyükada island, just a short ferry ride south of Istanbul. Every year on April 23rd, upwards of 100,000 Muslims come to this island to climb to the top of a LARGE hill (and for my Colorado friends, I mean like Manitou Incline type stuff) to pray in desperate hope their prayers would be answered by their God. We split into 15ish large groups after worshipping, and went out to love on people, share the Good News, and let Jesus answer their prayers. Our groups lined the path up to the top with booths for henna tattoos, healing, miracles, and worship. My group made the trek to the top, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever stood and set up camp as close to the top as possible. The amount of people around us was insane. The line to the building (an old church I believe) stretched down to where we were, so people naturally passed us on their way up and on their way down. All tired from the hike up, or drained from praying and feeling nothing but exhaustion as they prepare for the trek down. My group had prayed intensely before hand that God would reveal Himself through signs and wonders — AND HE DELIVERED. The spirit of the Lord was so present and obvious He was revealing Himself to these Muslims through healings. Jesus says to His disciples in Matthew 10:8, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." and Paul also states later on in Ephesians 1:3 - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
We as children of God, have access TO ALL POWER under Christ, even those of miracles.. so we captizaled on the opportunity. We held up a sign in Turkish that translates to, “do you need a miracle?” and hundreds of people responded. Over the course of the long day, we prayed nonstop for about 150 people. Prayers for blessings, wives for sons, husbands for daughters, peace for sleep, freedom from depression, and for financial blessings. We also saw upwards of 70 healings! We lost count after about 50. One of which was a young-teenage Turkish girl who was brought to us by her mother. Her mother began to tell us that her daughter was mute and couldn’t speak. We knew God wanted to heal her and after a few of us prayed for a few moments, heaven fell, we said amen, and asked how she was feeling, the girl uttered in Turkish, “I’m okay”. Her mother jumped up with so much enthusiasm and quickly asked us to bless her as well! We saw the mute speak, broken knees healed on the spot, backs healed on the spot, migraines healed on the spot, disabilities improved on the spot, blind eyes begin to open, and 2 salvations. But overall, lost and hopeless hearts were able to be reminded that they are so loved by a Father who hears our prayers wherever we may be, and in the kingdom of God, there is no striving, we don’t have to climb to the top of a STEEP hill to reach Him because He is already by our side.
I went to bed physically exhausted after walking nearly 8.7 miles and 23,652 steps. But somehow, I still felt entirely energized after being immersed in the presence of The Spirit of The Living God.
This last week we spent traveling to the smaller cities of Bilecik and Sakarya. Time really did fly by, as we were only in Bilecik 3 days and Sakarya for 2, but The Lord still used every moment of the time we did have.
Get this story: Bilecik is a small city, made up of a large amount of local university students. We were staying in a teacher housing complex during our time in the area, the manager of our complex ended up taking quite a liking to our group and offered to connect us to his friend at the local university. Side note: we had been praying and asking God to open doors over our time in Bilecik and he again delivered. Turns out the manager’s friend was the Dean of Students at the nearby university and he agreed to meet with us. We jumped at the open door to possibly talk with students. But that wasn’t the end of Jesus’s plan. The Dean greeted us so kindly with Turkish Coffee and Çay tea (pronounced ‘chai’, this is just black tea but a staple in this country). Doors continued to open as he eagerly wanted us to meet with English teachers, then the English teachers wanted us to go into the classrooms and teach one English season. The topic: LOVE. A complete and total open door to share the gospel. We split into four rooms and spent time laughing, taking photos, answering questions, making friends, gaining so many Instagram followers, and most of all, sharing the best love story there is. The students we’re eager to learn and the teachers openly let us speak. Jesus ate at the houses he ministered in right? So to conclude our amazing afternoon at the university, the Dean offered to treat us all to complementary lunch in the school cafeteria. ENDLESS ANSWERS TO OPEN DOORS.
Growing up in a southern home in the middle of the Rockies, I certainly know southern hospitality. But I’ll tell y’all, the Middle Eastern hospitality is a whole new ballgame. Over the course of our three days in Bilecik, we had the opportunity to fellowship with a Christian refugee family. They opened their door night one and greeted us with again with endless amount of çay and cookies. The next day they invited us over for a home-cooked middle eastern meal and again more çay. We ended up worshipping with them, praying over them, and sharing stories. This family had such a heart after God, our group was so encouraged to hear their testimony and see all God is doing in the nation of Turkey.
Y’all I could talk for hours about the mere 14 days spent here. I’m still processing the grandeur of our God and all He is willing to do when we simply lay down our lives, say, “yes”, and follow His path. Miracles, signs, and wonders become an everyday occurance! He is so so good. Sadly, our time in Turkey has come to a close, as we’re currently sitting in the Paris airport ready to head to our next destination: Northern Africa 🇲🇦 Prayers still appreciated as we step into this new place fully trusting in The Spirit to guide us!
This time in Turkey may only be a memory now, but I’ll be back to make more.
Jesus loves y’all!
- Mads