We have a student missionary here who has chosen the pseudonym Joseph for himself. It’s a good name for him as he excels in purity and has a fine work ethic. Needless to say, we are glad to have him on our team.

Joseph has been pining for a village experience. Not far from the madness of our city, simple, humble people live a lifestyle much like Jesus might have known growing up in the villages around Galilee. I wanted to find Joseph a place where he could chop wood, pick olives, plow with a horse, and makes lots of village friends.
Joseph’s desire to work shoulder-to-shoulder with field laborers fit my goals for him. I’ve assigned him to gather targeted insights regarding Turkish customs and culture. He is to find cultural tidbits that he perceives may help to unlock the gospel story to Turks as I build Bible lessons. Certain jobs, beliefs, and traditions lend themselves naturally to parables readily understood by Turks, who find many Bible teachings hard to grasp without a cultural analogy.

A few months ago, I’d made a friend in a quaint mountain village a couple hours’ drive away, so Joseph and I loaded up our car and set out. It was my intent to leave Joseph there, but God had a different plan. En route to the village, we picked up a young hitchhiker who was eager to show us his village. He introduced us to a few tobacco and olive farmers with hands like 80-grit sandpaper. They sat us down on stumps, put a big platter of food in front of us, and made us feel like heroes. People were swarming around, and we knew something was up. Little did we know it, but we had walked right into an engagement party. The father of the bride invited us to come back for the wedding in two weeks.

The original village we were headed to was snowed in, so Joseph didn’t end up staying there after all. Our hopes were not totally dashed, as we felt that the wedding invitation was providential.
Two weeks later, with wedding gift in hand, Joseph, my Turkish Adventist friend Burak, and I headed back to see our new village friends again. We had a great time. It was a wedding celebration like none other I have been to, complete with horses, rifles, drums, the sacrifice of a goat, and lots of food. (I know you may be pondering why you only had a unity candle at your wedding when you could have had a goat sacrifice!)

Throughout the wedding day, we worked hard to try to find Joseph a host family. While the youth were dancing to oboe music (only the young men dance), Burak and I were talking, trying to find someone to house Joseph.

Soon, the bride emerged from her house dressed royally in red! After two more hours of singing and dancing in the dirt street, the wedding ended. The sun was setting, and Burak and I had not succeeded in convincing anyone that an American really wanted to do physical labor in a Turkish farming village.

As the wedding party dissipated, a man named Sevret came up beside me and said he wanted to take us all to a fish restaurant for supper. We weren’t too keen on fish, but we were excited to follow this serendipitous hospitality and see where it might lead. Though only 45, Sevret looks like he might be 65. He has a sparkle in his eye and a kind spirit. On the way to the restaurant, Sevret took us out to his gardens, his olive groves, his honey houses, and his little fish pool. As he told about the amazing God-given instincts of his bees, I realized that God had sent us a man of strong belief.
At the fish restaurant, a cold, hollow, concrete shell of a building with plastic tables and chairs and a giant pile of recently harvested peppers in the center of the room, we watched as they netted six medium trout from a tank, clubbed them, and then gutted them. The vegetarians—Burak, Joseph, and I—stared curiously at the fish as they still flopped a bit even without innards! Blech!
Turning to Burak, I said, “You know, I have a feeling that this man really wants to be with us for some reason. Let’s see if there is something serious he wants to talk about.”

Fifteen minutes into the meal, Sevret said, “Several weeks ago, I and some men were coming back from the forest. We had worked all day, and it was nearing dark. As we made our way back to the village, we suddenly saw a ball of light. It was very bright and moved horizontally in the air above the tree line.” (Later, I asked him how fast it was moving, and he said, “About the speed you would see a helicopter move across the sky.”) “It traveled for a good distance toward us and then exploded in a bright burst and disappeared. Strangely, the explosion made no sound.” He then asked, “Do you know of any natural, scientific phenomena like this?”
I mentioned ball lightening, which I had read about. Sevret said that it was not a rainy or overly humid day. I mentioned meteors, and he reiterated that the light traveled horizontally above the ground and did not fall. “I just don’t know,” I finally said.
“About 20 of us men saw it,” Sevret continued. “We all believe it was some sort of holy sign from God.”

Burak prompted me, “Why don’t you tell him something from Israel’s experience that maybe would help him?”

I told Sevret how the angel of the Lord guided Israel out of Egypt into freedom by a pillar of fire every night. He nodded in agreement, obviously having read of this in the Quran. Then, I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to say, “Also, there was once a group of shepherds who were out in the fields watching their flocks at night. Suddenly, there was a bright light that burst open and it was filled with angels. The angels directed the Shepherds to the Messiah. The shepherds followed the light and found Jesus, the Messiah, had been born.” Sevret’s eyes were big and expressive as he listened with rapt anticipation. Carefully measuring my words, I continued. “Often, God gives signs like this in preparation for something. Perhaps, like He did for those shepherds, He is preparing your village to meet the Messiah.”

“Yes, possibly,” he said nodding.

“Wow!” I thought, “That pill went down easy.”

We talked about the coming of Jesus. I mentioned how, when Jesus comes again, there will be a great resurrection of the righteous people. I said, “You know, I do a lot of reading of the holy prophets. Also, over the last couple weeks, I have been reading the Quran, and in one place it says, “Those who follow Jesus will be above those who disbelieve on the day of resurrection” (Surah 3:55). I told Sevret that I have chosen to put my hope in Jesus. He received this with contemplation. I told him that, if ever he wanted to have a Bible, I could find one for him. He said nothing.

Just then, another man came and sat at our table. Sevret immediately told the man all about me, starting out with, “This man has a lot of knowledge about religion.” Generally, that isn’t the first flag I wave here in Turkey, so Sevret’s zeal to tell all made me reflect on Jesus’ experience: He said, “Don’t tell anyone who I am,” but everyone immediately went and told all they knew.

Well, after spending the whole day trying our methods to find Joseph a place to stay, it was God’s turn. Within 10 minutes, the man who’d joined us volunteered to host Joseph. Burak and I were delighted. It was getting late, and we had Joseph’s bag packed and waiting in the car. So we went out into the darkness and gave Joseph his bag and a hug. Then with handshakes and a promise to return in a week, we gave Joseph to the man and drove off into the night! I felt a bit like Simeon and Judah must have felt after selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites!

Anyway, we praised the Lord all the way home. I’m certain that that our spiritual conversation was on Sevret’s mind all week. Certainly, Joseph’s hard work, smile, and character embellished that sermon and gave room for the Holy Spirit to preach even though Joseph can’t speak Turkish.

What was the light those men saw? Perhaps it truly was a sign in preparation for Jesus’ arrival through our team’s words and witness. I don’t know. But I do know that Jesus is coming soon.

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