Last post in Kurdistan?

Hello World!

During this trip, I have found that it takes quite a while for me to blog. Since it is only on the special occasions that I have free time with peace and quiet to refocus my thoughts, I have not been able to blog as much as I have wanted to. Many of the times I have blogged, I have had to confine myself to my uncle's study in the hopes I would write. Little has changed for this blog. Thankfully I have my journal to look at and copy from because it seems that it is even hard to remember what we did the previous day. Actually just this morning Kevin thought one of the things we did occurred Friday when in fact it occurred on Wednesday. So like usual, I will try and fill you in on what all has happened this past week.

We begin with Thursday of last week. Kevin and I both woke up with a burning desire to go out and just walk, to see where the spirit would lead us, praying the whole way. We ended up walking all around the bazaar and the back streets of Soran, hoping and praying that God would highlight certain people for us to pray for and to help but nothing really happened. So we kept walking, praying and blessing the people who walked by us. After several hours of this we sat down at a park which was located in a round-a-bout and just began to talk. We talked about our hopes for the day and we came to the obvious realization that prayer walking here is far from being a boring task. True we didn't see any "action" but by praying and blessing people, action will occur. You do not receive the things you do not ask for. We saw that praying over this place and these people was such an important role in the spreading of the gospel and the transformation of this city. God brought us here to work for Him. Whether we think it is big or small, work is still work and it will bring about mighty things. So we felt really encouraged that God was doing so much good here.

Later that day Kevin and I had the blessed opportunity to meet two very short Iranian sisters who have allowed God to work, resulting in thousands of conversions all over Iran. As we sat down with them, I could just tell that both had endured so much. I could see two miracles of God. Both were converted back in the 70's while attending universities in America and several years later received the call to go back to Iran to minister to their friends and family. This was during the revolution of Iran while thousands of Christians and non Christians were being killed, but this meant nothing to the sisters. Well knowing they could be tortured and killed, they went because God had called them and would protect them. I was in shock with the stories they told me. For sixteen years they walked throughout Iran with Gospels of Luke(penalty of 3 months in prison for each), Bibles(penalty of death), and several Jesus films(penalty of 80 lashes in public), and for sixteen years, guards would check the people of front and behind them, but never them. Not once were they caught. Talk about being fearless and having complete trust in the Lord. They went on to describe pastors who stood firm even when they were warned that if they should keep preaching, they would be captured, tortured and killed. Many of those pastors were indeed, captured, tortured, and killed, along with thousands of other Christians who were willing to give up their life for the sake of spreading the Gospel.

 I remember when I was younger, I would laugh at the idea that God could ever use a guy like me. Actually... still even today I often wonder why God would ever use me. I am in no way qualified to do any of His work.  But the words of Isaiah describe it perfectly. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." I see a weak man with little faith. How can one like myself be used? God sees me and says "Just what I need! I choose you!" What seemed an humorously impossible thing a couple years ago, God has provided to make it a possibility.  I think small, God thinks big... Just as we see these Iranian sisters: They are short women in patriarch society. None would ever consider the idea that they can be the tools to bring in thousands to Christ. But the same goes for you. You can do what these women did. You can cause change! You must stop thinking small and begin to ask and expect for big! Expect big things in your life! You think you may not have much to offer, but it is the opposite! God has huge plans for all of His children. Throw down your desires and your traditions. Be open-minded to His desires. Fill yourself with the Spirit and transform the world.

The sisters went on to say that now there are over a million believers in Iran. But this is a different batch of believers. My mind went back to America. Oh how I wish that we could compare. There is so much lukewarmness, complacency, and apathy in believers in America. Sometimes I just wish we had major persecution because then we would have something to lose (like our lives) for the sake of believing in Christ. How many are willing to be tortured for Christ? I dug deep into my heart to find an answer. The sisters brought so much good news, but with that good news came sad news about our own generation in America. Transformation needs to happen. 

I feel the reason why so many people, teens especially, fall away from church is because they never encountered the power of the Holy Spirit. You go to church, you sing your songs, pray, hear the word, maybe sing more songs and then leave. So with each of those things, the Holy Spirit needs to move. So this means for worship, instead of standing there, looking at the words and mouthing them, you lift your arms, close your eyes, focus on the Lord and sing loudly. Cry out to the Lord! Maybe even dance! Or dig into scripture and pray thankfulness to Him. And for prayer, instead of repeating the words, actually read and study the words. Cry out to God!! Get on your knees, and stop saying words in that monotone voice! How in the world can we worship and pray without being overwhelmed and awestruck with God?? Pray with one another, confess sins with one another. Pray that people may be healed in the expectation that God can heal instantly! As for preaching, take notes! Soak in what the pastor is speaking so that you may speak afterwards with those around you and marvel in the things that God has spoken to you. After Church, instead of leaving, commune with one another! Go to the prayer room and cry out to the Lord with one another. And after Sunday school (where you encourage and sharpen others), go to down town or a park in groups and talk with people! Love anyone and everyone that passes you. Meet people where they are at and share the gospel with them. Pray with them. Pray for anything on their heart. Then invite them to Sunday evening service! And when Sunday evening service rolls around, sit with those who are new. Try to find a time to meet with them during the week to help them with any questions they may have. Just love them! Those of you who are on fire for Christ, give your all for the furthering of His kingdom. Step out, be uncomfortable, change believers, change churches, change traditions, change hearts, change lives. We must truly be living sacrifices, tapping in to all the blessings and power that God has for us. It would be worthless to go into a battle without armor and a sword. You can do nothing apart from Christ.

I really don't have a good transition from that so I am just going to move on with Friday. Friday was a pretty solid day. We spent the whole day with Jesse and Bobby which was such a blessing. We went around in the bazaar, spent time with some Kurdish friends, then got ready for the night. Jesse's dad, Paul, asked several Kurdish guys over that evening to discuss God and Christianity. It was great. Two of them were not very religious, while the other claimed to be very religious. It was wonderful to see God work in all three of their hearts. The one religious guy put up quite the wall, but we showed nothing but love to him and by the end, he was asking to come back again. What a blessing. So keep in prayer for these three guys.

Saturday... What a day! We spent the last night over at the Tillman's so during midday we headed back to Billy's. I spent some time with my little cousins, playing risk (I totally dominated. Showed no mercy). At five is when things began to get interesting. Kevin and I met up with Fuad, Saman, Farhad, Fackere, and their friend Shamal who we had never met. We headed out to Gorhan Park. Shamal and I got off to a great start. Our conversations quickly moved to Christianity and Islam which lasted almost an hour. It was so wonderful. He is a very religious Muslim, but he was so curious about Christianity and what I believed. So I attempted to explain the gospel to Him and Lord willing, God planted a seed. Around ten thirty we arrived back at their dorms and Kevin headed back to the house. I decided to stay and I am glad I did. As others were cooking food, Fackere and I began to talk about Christianity, specifically the Holy Spirit. He had many questions and I truly hope they were answered. God has been blessing this time here. Over and over again He provides many ways in which we can show Christ's love.

Sunday came quickly and since I had stayed up till two, my mood was not the greatest. I had a really hard time with getting into my prayer, worship and studying that morning so instead of going out with Kevin and Jesse, I stayed back, spending even more time with the Lord in the hopes that He would change my mood. So by the grace of God, my mood did change and soon after we headed over to Jesse's for church. It was a wonderful time of fellowship... It is sad for me to leave it. At the end Kevin and I thanked everyone for putting up with us and encouraging us throughout this time, but I guess they wanted to keep encouraging us cause then they prayed for us. I really am thankful for them. They have sacrificed so much to reach these people. What a blessing it is to have people answer the call of God. I do hope that more will have the conviction to go out.

Finally comes today. Finally. Today was a day by ourselves. Billy and Dawn went with the kids to Hawler to renew their residency, so Kevin and I were home alone. PARTY! ha no. Well kinda. If you call singing worship songs loudly for several hours a party then yes, we did party. we partied hard. But after the party we ate my new favorite meal ever. Shwarma. Soooo goooood. After lunch our friend Jihad came over and we went with him for a cruise around the country-side. It is so beautiful here. The mountains now have a golden look to them from all the dried grass and the cliffs are simply breathtaking. For a couple hours we drove around. When we arrived back, we had just begun to relax when Fuad called to ask if we could see them. So after some hesitation, we went over to the dorms for a short while. They really are a wonderful group of guys. I am so blessed to have met them. It is sad to leave but I do hope to one day I can see them again. My prayers will remember them.

So there you go. That is a summary of my recent life. I only have tomorrow, Wednesday and part of Thursday here. Tomorrow is going to be kinda a chill day... spending much of the time with the Lord and the family. I will miss them so much. Seriously Uncle Bill and Aunt Dawn have been just the best. Aunt Dawn has not once cooked food that wasn't amazing and Billy has been such an encouragement to me. Both are just on fire for the Lord and are so blessed. I know God is working through them and I am so blessed to see first hand the life of a missionary. Their three boys, Peter, Andrew, and Jonathan are adorable. They have been the cause of so much joy in my life. Kevin and I have spent lots of time playing games like ninja, sandwich and tacos (where we would wrap them up and eat them), battle ship, pillow fights, monkey in the middle, risk, soccer and many more. I am so excited for the day when I can raise boys of my own to love. But thankfully until then, there are plenty of kids who are of need and love. Such as the ones here. Being able to love them and put smiles on their faces has been such an emotional event for me. As much as I love to have deep theological discussions with older kids, I will never pass up the opportunity to love a child.

As for Wednesday, our plan is to hike the tallest mountain here. It will be a wonderful "mountaintop" experience, so I am super pumped about that. Maybe in the airport on our way back we will post some of the pictures! Our plan is to leave the afternoon of Thursday, spend a night in Frankfurt, then get home at 8ish pm on Friday. So I'd like to thank you all that have read my blogs. Your feedback has been most encouraging. So thank you much. I hope to keep blogging even while being back in Ohio... Sharing my thoughts and what God is doing. So you can keep checking them out if you want. Well it is again, very late. So I must retire for the night.

Goodnight all!

-Jake