Searching, Saved – SENT

This one had been 15 years in the making.

That’s how long Omer* had been hearing God’s voice, feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit on his heart, and even seeing Jesus in his dreams but had no idea who He was or what He was trying to tell him! He had questions about God that he couldn’t ignore but hadn’t found the answers to. Despite digging deeper into his Islamic roots, Omer felt like he was only moving further away from the truth and peace he was so desperate to find.

One day a question popped up in Omer’s mind that terrified him: What if he had been looking in the wrong place? The consequences of asking a question like this were dangerous: It would go against and challenge a very powerful authority over his world! It could potentially damage and destroy some of the most important relationships he had! Not to mention it would mean that he’d just wasted half his life!

Then an even more dangerous question entered his head: What if it was worth the risk? Was finding the truth worth putting all that he knew on the line to step out in a new search? There was only one way to find out.

Scrolling through the results of an internet search for resources about God, Omer came across a site that offered free Bibles. A few quick clicks and his order form was filled and sent. About two weeks later, he received the Bible and was amazed by what he read! Some of it was familiar, very similar to things he’d already heard and been taught. But it opened an entire new world for him – not that he was instantly getting all the answers he wanted from this Bible, but for the first time, Omer felt like he was in a place where he could encounter the real God for himself!

However, Omer still wanted to be cautious. This was new, foreign, and he didn’t want to get sucked into some lie. He’d been warned about that sort of thing his whole life! How could he know this was true?

Not long after receiving the bible, a Christian man from the organization who sent it contacted Omer wanting to know if he had any questions or would like to talk more about it. Omer and the Christian began writing messages back and forth, discussing verses, the validity of the Bible, and contrasts between this and the traditional Muslim religion that he had followed for most of his life.

“I’ll be in your city next week,” wrote the Christian man one day. “If you like, we could actually meet face to face and talk more.”

Omer agreed and almost right away started preparing all the questions he would ask his new Christian friend. Who exactly wrote the Bible? When was it written? Was it all true? Even these things about Jesus? Was He the man in white who Omer had had dreams about?

A few days before the Christian man was to arrive, Omer had another dream. It was a bit different this time, but there was no mistaking it had some meaning. He wrote his Christian friend the very next morning.

“I had a dream last night,” he typed, “that a tall man, about 180 cm, with blonde hair came to me and handed me a golden cross. He wasn’t the man in white, who I’ve seen before in dreams. This was someone different, someone I don’t know. Do you think it means something?”

But the Christian man didn’t reply right away. Omer could see that his message had been read, and a few times the three little dots would pop up signifying that his friend was typing, but it would always stop with no response sent. It wasn’t until later that day that the Christian finally replied.

“Let me think about this. I’ll see you in a couple of days. We can talk more then.”

The day came for their first meeting and Omer was ready! He put his Bible and Quran in his bag, plus a number of other questions he had prepared. He wasn’t planning on being aggressive or argumentative, but he also wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be easily tricked into accepting some fairy tale! He knew the Bible was different from the first time he opened it; he could feel it. But that also alerted him to be more cautious. Just because he was hungry for the truth didn’t mean he should devour just anything put in front of him!

Omer entered the coffee shop and scanned the room. The Christian man had told that he was a foreigner, plus the coffee shop wasn’t that crowded so it should be easy to spot…

Omer froze. He felt his limbs go weak and nearly dropped his bag when he looked across the room and saw the man on the other side. It felt like an eternity had passed before he was able to pull himself together enough to walk over to the table where he sat.

As he approached, the man looked up and stood to greet him. He was tall, almost six feet – about 180 cm…with blonde hair…

“Are you Omer?” The man asked.

“It’s you!” Omer gasped, still in shock. “You are the man I saw in my vision!”

The man, his Christian friend whom he had never met in person before, began to tear up and shake as well. Nodding in praise and reverence at this moment, he wiped his eyes and reached out to Omer.

“Well, I do not have gold or money, but what I do have is a calling. Jesus is calling you to Himself and into His Kingdom!” he said.

Omer gave his life to Jesus that day, and his search became a calling to live and share the Gospel with others.

Note: This story is not directly one of our own, however, we have had the privilege of hearing this testimony (and many others) from other workers who are involved with the Bible Correspondence Course in Turkey. This year – 2021 - we estimate over 20,000 Bibles were ordered and sent out in this country alone.

*Names have been changed.

And Then There Was That Other Time…

Danny and Jon* sat in the coffee shop, looking over notes and schedules for the next couple of days. They were on the road together this particular week, following up with contacts who had ordered bibles online and wanted to meet with someone to talk more about how to read it. Although it was basically the same routine every time, it was never dull! It was inspiring – even fun, as contacts discovered that this bible was not only in their own language, but they were invited to fully interact with God through His Word and His Spirit! After reading a portion of scripture together, Danny (or whoever was leading the meeting) would ask four simple questions: 1. What does this tell us about God? 2. What does this tell us about mankind? 3. What do I need to do to obey this? 4. Who can I share this with? This structure was not only a catalyst for a person to discover God’s Word for themselves, but also repeatable so they were able to share and teach some one else in the same way.

Today Danny and Jon were waiting to meet with a new contact – Muhammet.** Up until now they had only ever communicated by text messages. They’d had lengthy discussions about the origins of the Bible, it’s authenticity, and who Jesus really was. After weeks of these back-and-forth discussions, Muhammet wanted to experience God’s Wordfor himself and start the “Creation to Christ” study from the Discovery Bible series. He invited Danny out to meet him in his hometown, and Danny, as usual, invited another local believer from nearby to join them. This helped to create a sense of community and encourage the seeker that there are, in fact, other local believers for them to connect with. Plus, having a native language speaker took a lot of pressure off Danny to do all the talking in a meeting that was in a foreign language to him! There were still moments, after years of studying, that it seemed his grasp on the structure of this language was as sturdy as a house of cards! Even a subtle change in topic could affect it like someone opening a window and letting in a breeze!

Despite this being their first actual meeting, in many ways, Danny already felt like he knew Muhammet. They’d shared their stories, and struggles. Muhammet had asked for prayer about some situations in his life, Danny had prayed and written out prayers back to him. They’d even sent gifs to each other! Why, they were practically old friends at this point! Still, Danny was a bit nervous to be actually meeting Muhammet for the first time face-to-face. In his head, he practiced his Turkish greetings and sayings, went over a few pronunciations of tricky words, and tried to remind himself of all the unspoken, cultural postures to be mindful of. Jon carried on talking about past and future meetings with contacts, travel routes, and other related plans, and Danny did his best to focus on the conversation. Between sips of coffee and nodding, his brain continued to run pop quizzes: What was the word for “share?” Was it “peynir?” … No, that means cheese. And did Muhammet say “sari” or “sali” in his message? One means yellow and the other means Tuesday – but which was which again?!?!? Come on, Danny! These are simple terms! How can you be forgetting this now?

BZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

Danny almost jumped when his phone started buzzing on the table. It was a message from Muhammet.

“I’m here at the mall,” it read.

“Great!” wrote Danny, “we’re sitting upstairs in the Starbucks, right by the door.”

“See you in two minutes then,” followed by a thumbs-up emoji was the reply.

“He’s on his way,” Danny said to Jon, and they both turned their focus to the door.

Moments later a man came in. He paused, scanned the room, and made eye contact with Danny.

Danny rose from his chair.

“Muhammet?” He asked the man.

“Yes,” the man answered.

Danny walked around the table, arms outstretched, and put them around Muhammet.

“Welcome!” He said and gave him the traditional kiss-on-each-cheek greeting. Sure, usually it was a type of greeting reserved for family or close friends, but after the months of conversations they’d already had, it was definitely appropriate.

“Uh, thanks?” said Muhammet, looking a little awkward.

But before Danny could say anything else, a voice came from the back corner of the coffee shop.

“Muhammet!” another man called out, “We’re back here!”

Muhammet waved to his friends and looked back at Danny.

“Okay – well, you have a good day, sir,” and continued passed Danny and Jon’s table to the back corner, joining his friends.

Completely bewildered, Danny turned back to Jon, who instantly burst out laughing – nearly falling out of his chair!

“That was the wrong Muhammet!” He howled!

“What? How? Huh?” Danny stuttered, still bewildered.

“It is a very popular name, my friend,” said Jon, wiping tears from his eyes.

Just then another man entered the coffee shop.

“Are you Danny?” He asked Danny, who was still standing there in shock.

“Uhhh, yeah?” He answered, trying to regain his composure.

“I’m Muhammet,” the man said and then, giving him a kiss on each cheek, smiled. “It is great to finally meet you!”

This sent Jon spiralling into laughter all over again! Gasping for air, he gleefully shared the previous encounter with the real Muhammet, sparing no details. Soon they were all roaring with laughter!

“Muhammet is a very popular name,” commented Muhammet.

Although they never fully recovered from the whole ordeal and spent most of the time laughing and sharing more stories, the bond of friendship was strengthened. At the end of their time, they all embraced once again, kissing each other on the cheeks, and, of course, made sure to wave goodbye to the other Muhammet with all his friends in the back corner. (Who awkwardly waved back.)

“I can hardly wait to tell my wife!” Danny commented to Jon as they left. “She’s gonna love this one!”

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Romans 16:16 NIV

*Names have been changed.

**Names have not been changed. Muhammet is a very popular name.