Jan 18- 24, 2015
Central Asia Team
Hello friends and family!
We are at the end of our third week here in the capital, and this week has been incredible! We saw the Lord do amazing things last Sunday. Our team partnered with a few other teams here as hit the streets to proclaim the gospel. Two girls on our team, Samantha and Ruth, who are a part of the Arts in Ministry track in this DTS, got to perform a dance they learned during lecture phase. We simply plugged a phone in to the speaker and hit play, within ten seconds 100 people had already created a crowd. So the girls performed, and then immediately following the performance, another student from our team, Brandon, went forward to share his testimony and preach the gospel. Nearly everyone in the crowd stayed to listen to him as our translator translated every word into Turkish. It was so powerful!
He called out for whoever wanted to be physically healed in Jesus’ name from a sickness or pain, and nobody moved. Then, one elderly man stepped out from the crowd and said he needed healing. Brandon started to talk with him through the translator about what was wrong with his body. The crowd then gathered around this conversation. We prayed and the man was not immediately healed. He walked away laughing at us and laughing at our “made up God.” But our team kept praying for his healing while Brandon prayed and saw five other men physically healed. A knee problem, an elbow that couldn’t bend properly, a man’s hand who had no feeling due to nerve damage, all were healed and more! Suddenly, the guy who mocked us came running back and said he got healed!! He was exclaiming things like, “How did that happen?! All the pain left my body!!” And they all asked how to give their lives to Jesus.
We went to two other parts of this city to dance and preach, and both times saw people encounter the Lord!! Sadly, no one gave their life to Jesus on the spot, but please join us in praying for breakthrough!! Samantha and Ruth got to share their testimonies and also pray with two girls who were saying “you’re so joyful! Something is different about you… how?! What is it? It’s amazing! You’re glowing!” And when we all prayed for them they became extremely excited because they felt the tangible love and presence of the Holy Spirit!! They felt warmth on their hands and were laughing so much, they got so much joy from the Lord!! It was so fun! Hundreds heard the gospel, many were healed, and hearts were opened to the Truth!!
We have gone out to proclaim the gospel every day this week, and here’s another incredible story that we would love to share. Wednesday we went out to street preach with one of our friends in ministry here. We proclaimed the whole gospel at least six times publicly, and each time led us into hours of conversations with people who heard. It was amazing! People were extremely responsive and there were some very soft hearts who genuinely wanted to hear all about who Jesus truly is and how to be saved.
Thank you all for your love, prayer, and support! We are incredibly honored by you all!
Blessings,
YWAM Redding Central Asia Team
Explorers Team
Hello friends and family! Central Asia has been amazing so far! Our team arrived Sunday morning of last week and was excited to reunite with our other YWAM students and staff who have been here in Central Asia since the end of December. We jumped straight into things and joined in on some street ministry with a local team that does puppet shows, art, and choreographed dance to gather crowds of people. Alyssa B had the opportunity to perform a dance routine with a few of our other YWAM team members, and Jaiden and Meghan both had the opportunity to share testimonies with the crowds through a translator. We were thankful that God gave us an incredible amount of joy and energy to make it through a day of ministry after nearly forty hours of travel!
During the middle of the week, our team traveled to an apartment in which a local church hosts hundreds of refugee families through a variety of ministries. The first one we had the privilege to be a part of is called “Moms & Tots”. There were thirty (or more) kids, plus moms and babies that we served lunch to and connected with through the little bit of Arabic we picked up in the Middle East, as well as through the long term workers who kindly translated for us. The second program our team volunteered in later in the week was called the “Tea House”. Entire families of refugees visit the apartment in the afternoon for coffee, tea, fruit, and cookies, and get to sit down and relax and play chess and card games and chat with each other and us volunteers. It was a joy to serve them and connect with them, and there were even a few opportunities for some of us to share the entire gospel with those who spoke English! Alyssa B connected with a seventeen-year-old girl from a closed country who had questions about the Bible and about Jesus. She was extremely open to and interested in the gospel, and was at a point in her life where she was seeking truth. She was able to connect well with the testimonies Alyssa felt lead to share with her, and said she was very thankful for the conversation they had! God is doing a lot in the lives of these families and we are so grateful to have been a part of that.
On another outing we went with another local team to pass out tracks and bibles in a completely unreached neighborhood, an opportunity arose for us to also meet the president, as well as the head pastor, of an Alevie temple (a small sect of Islam that is separate from traditional Islamic beliefs) and for our contacts to make connections there. Towards the end of the day, one of our contacts set up his sketch-board and used paper and paint to communicate the gospel to the crowd that gathered. A few of our team members shared a quick testimony at the end of each sketch, and both received a lot of positive responses. One woman came forward and asked for healing from pain that was caused by a surgery a couple weeks prior. Some of the girls from our team prayed for her and she thanked us and left. After we were packing up, however, she came hurrying back to inform them that she was physically completely better, and had felt a peace since they prayed that was unlike anything she had felt before! Also during that time, Patrick, one of our leaders, was able to talk to a man who decided to give his life to Jesus! We saw God’s first salvation for our team in Central Asia!