Lead Elsewhere
Two workers joined a volunteer team in a city where several of our people group live. We began the day by praying through the market, and trying to identify our people. We then walked through the streets of the city while praying, identifying and meeting our people. After lunch, we headed into the mountains to pray over other villages and to try and establish relationships with those that lived in them.
On several occasions, we tried to find our people but could not. We also tried several times to find the roads that led to some of the villages that we had been into previously, but we could not find the road. It was then that we understood through prayer that the Holy Spirit was leading us elsewhere. There were two other villages that we began to pray about and God led us into a village that *Al, the leader of the group, had never been in before. Upon arrival, with many men gathered around staring, Al quickly began to look for a person of peace and to engage the men that were gathered. Immediately a man pushed through the crowd and took charge. The very first question was if Al was a Muslim. Al told the man that he was a follower of Christ.
The man said that this was not a problem, and Al was able to talk with him and ask him if the team could walk around the village and to learn what it was like to live there. The man quickly agreed and also agreed to show the team around the village. After lessons in mining, tobacco, Ramazan, honey, hardship, toil and poverty the man asked the team if they were interested in coffee or tea. The team was then taken to a little shop that was owned by the new friend.
A soccer match was on the television and the discussion quickly turned to sports. From there the topic of family life in the village was discussed. With time growing short, the team decided that they must return to their hotel. The man invited Al and his family to return to the village, and Al was also given the invitation to come back and help plant tobacco. One of the most amazing things is that Al, in his very limited language, was able to speak with this man, translate for the team, and to develop a friendship with someone all in Turkish.
Al sensed the Holy Spirit the entire time as he was given the ability to speak and understand in ways that he had never previously experienced. God receives all the praise because He led the team to the village, to the person of peace, and for the invitation to come back into the village even knowing that Al is a Christian and the village is entirely Muslim.
