Turkey

We left Georgia preparing ourselves for the next 7 days of hitchhiking that was being set before us… full of uncertainty but also full of faith, ready to see what God was planning for us.
We took a bus from Georgia to a small town in Turkey called Rize, then we headed off on our journey. This hitchhiking journey, was extremely different to what we’re normally accustomed to, especially because this was basically going to be the last time we get to hitchhike this year and it would be the last high intensity adventurous thing we would be doing.

Needless to say we were excited but also filled with a lingering sadness because the end just seemed to be approaching quicker and quicker. We were determined to savour every last moment.
Each team encountered God in new ways and experienced Turkey differently, but it was an adventure nonetheless and everyone had amazing stories to tell when we finally arrived at our destination.

We spent our last few days in Turkey at a church in Kusadaci where we mostly just spent time as a team, we encouraged each other and spent time reflecting on what this year has meant to us.
Throughout this whole year, we’ve realised the power behind testimony…and even though these are some of our last stories of the year, we know that it is just the start of sharing them with the rest of the world.

We’re so thankful to have seen how God has used the blogs and our experiences to move people on the other side of the screen.

May what we lived and learned this year, be applied as we head back home, so that when we tell our stories, they are not merely distant memories but that they are real experiences that God used to shape and to refine us. May they stir a curiosity in people to seek Jesus and His will for their life, no matter how wild.

Below are a few stories from our hitchhiking experiences. We pray that the Lord would continue to use them to remind every reader about how faithful He is…

Team 1
HAZARD: FAITH REQUIRED

The absolute statement for our time hitchhiking through Turkey. Definitely one of the coolest, most daring and adventurous things I’ve ever done, hitchhiking nearly 1700km in a foreign country where our only real form of communication was using Google translate. I had the privilege to travel with Nyasa and Alicia, who showed me what it looked like to have faith even when it seems like there is no hope. On our last day of travelling we came all the way to Kusadasi (our final destination) late at night and still without accommodation. We decided to walk to a nearby park (almost 2km away). Angry and upset, because we didn’t have anywhere to stay. A random guy pulled up next to us at the top of a VERY steep hill and offered for us to sleep in his house.

The man was actually on his way to the pub, but he turned around and decided to give us a place to sleep at 12:30 in the early morning hours. We had some really good conversations with him and we really hope that God touched his heart in a special way.

God provided for us by protecting us along the way, although it must be said that we didn’t go without physical memories, but God gave us accommodation, food, rides and many other things, showing us the love of the Father.

Team 2

It was such an incredible experience and we are really privileged to get to do this and to trust God through every moment. We need to continue to grow in our faith, especially when it gets tough!

God is faithful.

Rejections left and right, sighs of disappointment, losing motivation to keep going: the thoughts in my head after five hours of standing next to the road. There was a point where I felt as if I was putting my thumb into the void. “Does anyone see me?”, “What is it about me that people are rejecting?”, “God, what did I do to deserve this punishment?”. In the midst of the struggle, my hitchhiking partner Pasha and I asked ourselves, “God, what do we need to lay down at your feet?”. We declared, “God, never let our own agenda be above yours”.

God was teaching us that his plan isn’t my physical well being, or helping me to avoid frustration, but to renew my spirit.

Every trial we faced through the experience of hitchhiking through Turkey was for the purpose of looking more like Jesus.

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

My life is for the purpose of glorifying God. This hitchhike has given a better taste of that.

Team 3

As always, I experienced a great deal of excitement at the idea of embarking on a hitchhike; however, even the best of us would feel at least a bit of apprehension for a hitchhike through a foreign country where English is rarely spoken for a period of 6 days with two young single girls.

Though the task seemed momentous, I trusted God to carry us each of the 1,700 kilometers from the Northwest town of Rize, Turkey, all the way to Kusadasi, Turkey, in the Southwest.

The trip was incredible, and spoiler alert, God kept us safe and provided for us over and over for the entirety of our journey. Not to say that there were not a few trying moments, but God truly spoiled us as His children and there was no point in which we suffered in any fashion. The most trying moment was perhaps when we needed to figure out accommodation in Göreme, a popular tourist destination where over 100 hot air balloons are released into the sky 250 mornings out of the year (sounds like a tough situation right?). After seeing some of our fellow team members there, our group broke away to see if we could stay the night at a nearby campsite.

Upon arriving at the campsite we found that it was closed as the main tourist season had ended, so they were shut down for the season. A lady who lives near the site offered to let us pitch our tents in her yard, but for a sum of money which we could not afford given our budget.
By definition, it is not illegal to camp most places in the area. It is perhaps frowned upon as is typical to any tourist location where they would prefer that the foreigners pay money rather than utilize a free option, but not illegal. As a matter of fact, another team had decided to walk up to a location with caves and camp in them, they sent us their location in case we decided to join them. Looking around we considered the option of camping just across the dirt road from the campgrounds as the area looked nice enough for a tent ignoring the cold night temperatures. Gabriela, however, did not feel peace about the area and was not comfortable with the idea of pitching our tents there and pushed to go back into town.

Seeking the Lord, Azelle did not feel like she was hearing anything from the Lord but after a moment I felt the Lord tell me to head back into town, additionally I had heard several days earlier that the word for this day was ‘look up’. So with our large bags, we walked the one and half kilometers back to the edge of town to decide what to do next and trying to figure out what God was trying to say to us. At this point the sun was getting quite low and the girls were feeling anxious about finding accommodation.

The idea of joining the others at the caves stood firmly in our minds, after all, if the option was there and we were not hearing anything from the Lord that must be where we should go, right? Yet, I did not feel like we were necessarily supposed to join the others, just because an option is easy and available does not mean that it is the one we are always supposed to take. Some doors are indeed open for us to pass through, but it is foolish to think that just because we can walk through a door means that we should, especially without the Lord’s direction. In everything we need discernment, and since none of us had really felt we had heard from the Lord by this point, I sat down and said that we should wait until we felt confident we heard from the Lord on what to do next.

This was a difficult call to make, it is much easier for me to wait upon the Lord when I am the only one who has to wait; as soon as others are thrown into the mix, I find myself far less willing to be patient in hearing God’s voice. Essentially, I become prideful and decide that the amount of waiting and suffering I can ‘take’ for the Lord is greater than those around me but I do not want to take the responsibility of causing others discomfort on behalf of what might be a spiritual whim.

And so, even though I felt we needed to wait until we heard God’s voice, I was truly tempted to give in and say we should go and camp in a cave. In a mixture of desperation and prompting from the Lord, Azelle, went to ask the owner of the pottery shop we were sitting close to if he knew of any place to stay for the night. I guess we did not need to look up far, only right in front of us because without hesitation the shop owner said we could stay in his pottery shop for the night!

To summarise, we ate dinner with the potter, his wife and son, and his wife decided that we should instead sleep in their house. At their house we played several rounds of Uno with their son and daughter, played worship songs on our guitar, and in the morning he took us to see the hot air balloons set up and launched into the sky. Cave camping would have been a blast, I’m sure I’ll get around to it next time, but is not a direct appointment from the Lord far better.

With God, our decision making process cannot be so simple as looking at what is available, rather, we need to press in and seek the Lord, sometimes in spite of a completely logical option, and see where He is guiding us in that moment. God was very good to us, and even though we had difficulty hearing Him, He was still gracious enough to bless us if only for the sake of trying to hear Him clearly.

TEAM 4

On our travel challenge from the north eastern side of Turkey, all the way to the south west, we were amazed at how hospitable the Turkish people are.

On our first day we started off our hitch hiking journey in the sopping rain. Not long after getting sprayed by trucks passing by, a man picked us up. Originally he was going to take us to a town about 100km away but instead he drove to his house, picked up his family and took us to a restaurant where we enjoyed a traditional Turkish meal followed by Turkish tea, of course. He then preceded to book us accommodation for the night and paid for our breakfast the next morning. Although we only travelled 40km the first day, and it was not what we planned, God provided us with a place to sleep for the night.

On another day, we arrived in a city called Sivas. We arrived as the sun was setting and we had no accommodation but we were not worried because we knew God was going to provide for us. We walked into a döner shop and started up a conversation with one of the employees. We asked him if he knows of a place where we could stay for the night. He kindly offered for us to stay with him. He took us to his apartment, made us clove tea, gave us slippers to keep our feet warm and left to go work until midnight. We were astonished at the fact that this man allows complete strangers into his house while he is at work and treats us with such kindness.

God really blessed us in this time through the generosity of the Turkish people.