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Sorry I haven’t written in a while, we just got off a two-week media fast.  Our ministry this month is ethnography, or the study of people groups.  There is an organization here coordinating outreach in the city, but there are whole districts of the city that are unknown.  No one knows who lives there, what languages they speak, if they are reached, etc. so our job is to go to these un-mapped regions and have conversations with people.  During these conversations, we are supposed to gather some specific information from them regarding their nationality, family background, age, languages spoken, etc.  All of this however, can serve as merely a stepping stone to the deeper levels of conversation in which we can share the gospel. 
 
I have found two problems with the ministry so far this month.  First, I would estimate that the number of people that speak English in the neighborhoods to which we’ve been assigned to be somewhere in the region of five percent.  Secondly, as my mom will quickly tell you, I hate talking to strangers.  Needless to say, I have been a little apprehensive about this month’s ministry.  Still, I decided that all I could do is give it my best effort and see what happens.  Among many other interesting stories, my favorite is chronicled here.

One night Geoff and I, along with a contact from here named Jeremy, met up with a man from Turkministan named Nurgeldi to play some soccer.  Unbeknownst to me, the apparent normal time to play soccer here in Turkey is the middle of the night.  We played from about 11:30pm until 1:00am or so in about 35 degree weather.  Afterward, we went back to Nurgeldi’s apartment and ate sunflower seeds and cookies on a newspaper spread on his floor.  We talked about Islam and Christianity until about 3am.  This time was good, but I wondered what good it did.  Nurgeldi is a dedicated Muslim and although he seemed open to the ideas of Christianity, I wasn’t sure what difference our sharing really did.

About a week later, Geoff and I met up with Nurgeldi again to go to some classes with him at his University here in Istanbul.  During our lunch break, one of Nurgeldi’s classmates approached him to see if he could ask Geoff and I some questions.  We went to get some tea and the man, named Yunis, another devout Muslim, began to ask question after question about Christianity.  Yunis speaks no English, so Nurgeldi did his best to translate as we shared the gospel with this Turkish man.  Although Yunis did not make a decision at that moment we gave him a Bible and he went on his way.  As we were leaving, it hit me.  God had just provided a non-believer – a Muslim – to be our translator as we shared the gospel with another Muslim.  It should have been so obvious to me.  So what if no one speaks English?  God is big enough.  So what if I don’t think I’m good at talking to strangers?  God is big enough.  God is going to use me to bring himself glory.  He is big enough.  He used Nurgeldi, and Nurgeldi didn’t even know it, and I hope that He’s used me when I haven’t known it.  All I can do is live my life in the Truth and share that with anybody that will listen.  This could be Nurgeldi’s only chance to hear the story of his own redemption.  That could have been Yunis’s only chance, and if I had decided not to go or not to share because it made me uncomfortable, that opportunity would have been lost. 

Geoff and I are meeting up with Nurgeldi again on Tuesday to hang out all day, play some football (soccer) and watch the Jesus film in Turkish.  Please pray that Nurgeldi’s heart would be softened and that he would discern the truth.  Thanks for all your prayers!