But many Central Asians go to Istanbul, Turkey, for shorter or longer periods of time for work, and here we can share God's love with them more freely.
Just before the summer vacation, I was in Istanbul for three weeks with the Danish European Mission. My visit was part of a study that the Danish European Mission conducted on the possibilities of sending volunteers to Istanbul. I had some really cool experiences in Istanbul, which I will share here. I met many people here who taught me a lot and showed me where I could meet people who can speak English. One day I was with someone who took me into a shop in the bazaar. Here we met two men from Afghanistan. One of them we got to know really well. I shared a short testimony with the man and we told him about God's love. We also made it clear to the man that either he would have to pay for his sins one day, or he would have to accept that Jesus had already paid the price for his sins on the cross. He listened, nodded and thanked us for the visit. We gave him some material and a business card for a church. It was just great to be able to share God's love so boldly with someone who may have never heard the Gospel before.
Several churches in Istanbul teach English to Turks or foreign workers. In this way, they create a good contact. One of my tasks on the trip was to teach English at one of these places. I gave a presentation on Danmark, after which there was a dialog in groups. One Friday I attended a prayer night. I found out that one of the people present had met a Christian on the street the previous week. The person had invited him to an English course, and here they had told the man about Jesus. He accepted Jesus immediately and was now at the prayer night. It was amazing to see!
Ask God to open the hearts of Central Asians to Him and pray for boldness, wisdom and love for all those working for the Kingdom of God in Turkey!
