More from Our Trip

So just to remind you this is news about a trip my partner and I took to the south of the country. Just as God was with us when we went and visited our first city, he was with us on the second. At first, I thought we would not get to meet anyone on the second leg of our journey. I couldn't contact anyone who was actually in the city we went to visit. We decided to visit Tarsus. The home of the Apostle Paul. The information they gave about Paul was very accurate. We visited his well and the supposed area where he lived. Don't ask me how they know this. So it wasn't until the morning that we were on our way to the next city when I got a call from a man we wanted to talk with. Our friend from the church we had met in the previous city had given a local pastor my number. He met us in the city we visited and talked with us and answered our questions. This city probably has a population over 650,000 people and has a university that has 23,000 students. Many people migrate from the east of the country, so the culture is a mix of ethnic Turks, Kurds, and even Arabs. This is definitely a city that needs more work in it. The highlight of the trip was to be able to sit down with 3 young Turkish believers. These were teenagers from 17-19. We sang hymns, prayed, and even played UNO with them. Talk about so weird UNO rules, they had them. We asked them some questions. I asked particularly if they thought there was a fear among their countrymen to even ask questions about the Gospel, Bible, and Jesus. They said that there is fear. Fear that they will lose their job, be disowned, or general persecution. This fear can be so hindering that they feel it is better if they just don't talk about it. The exciting thing is that there are those who despite fear, God has gripped their heart and they step out and find the truth that is in God's Word. Pray for us. We desire to be in the city where God wants us.