Dearest Friends,
Yesterday
Yesterday and all of last weekend, I was in Galatia. This is the heart of old Ankara where PAUL wrote the letter to the Galations. I love Galations 1:10 where he writes, " If I were trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Jesus Christ." I was so amazed that I was in a place that I had so long read about. I was in a place where Hitites once lived.
More, the Temple of Augustus was near by. There is not so much left of the place where they once worshiped the emperor , but there is a very important wall there that lists his accomplishments. Until the mid 20 th century, unbelieving people dismissed Luke 2:1 as a false statement. Then, they read on the wall that Caesar Augustus took a census of the whole world. They realized they were wrong. I remember reading that scripture as a little girl and never doubting its truth. I did not need the wall, but it is interesting. There is so much history here!
New chapters are being written in the lives of believers in this area as they deal with new attacks against their faith. Many churches in this area and in Istanbul have received threats from terrorists. Some choose to close and others stayed open. I did a program at a children’s festival last weekend which some people refused to attend because of their fear. Some called and tried to urge others to leave. Still , God planned for some children to hear about His rescue plan and nothing ever stops the Father.
I made wonderful new friends that we were able to give storytelling supplies and plan to fully equip them next year as a puppet team! Please pray for those we trained and all of the children who heard about Jesus. Please pray for the believers in the Turkish church where I shared mission stories. They are under fierce attack!
Today
Now, I have returned to Istanbul. I crossed the Bosporus Sea on a ferry today, but I was so happy, I felt I could have danced on the waves. Today, I began training our first puppet director named Mohammed. He was as happy as me. He will be focusing on the refugee community and this is awesome! Please pray for him! Please pray for me to be able to solve a few small problems with the equipment that we are giving him. Please keep praying as this is not the safest place, but certainly the place the Father wants me.
Tommorrow
I am spending the entire day with Mohammed. We are working on drawing and storytelling skills. He was a Muslim who once visited a church where he understood only one word of their language. It was the word "love" and he heard it many times during the service. He concluded that Christianity was all about love and that began his faith adventure. Please hold him in your prayers!
In Jesus, Linda for many friends who must go unnamed