Weblogic

Saturday, January 9, 2010
Day 40, Asian mile 331, Eurasian mile 3136
We are near Osmancik, Turkey on the D100

Hello Praying Friends!
John and I were awakened this morning by the crowing of a rooster and pulled ourselves out of the cozy bed into the cold camper to finish prayer walking this week’s 100 miles. ‘Patient endurance’ (see Hebrews 12:1) is definitely what’s needed to accomplish this task, and neither patience nor continued endurance come naturally in my life, so this is truly a work of ‘God’s grace in action’. I thank the Lord for every mercy!
Although the weather is still cold, we are grateful that we are out of the 'snow zone' that we were in earlier this week. The temperatures had plummeted last Monday night, we wore many layers of clothes to keep warm, ice filled the drain of our little kitchen sink and we had to empty all of the water in the camper lest the systems entirely freeze. For 3 days John had to carefully trudge through miles of snow and ice that covered the shoulders of the roadside as we climbed to the mountain summit of 4147 feet. He wore blisters on his feet with the uneven gait that this caused, however, at the height of the land we discovered a thermal mineral bath and were able to have a wonderful soak to thaw ourselves out.... a much appreciated blessing!
We have since walked into a milder climate zone, with temperatures above freezing during the day at least. The water in the camper is in liquid form once again, so we can relax our heightened winter survival measures, which makes the tasks of daily life so much easier.
Today we are climbing northeast through yet another barren but beautiful mountain range on our way to the city of ‘Samsun’ on the southern coast of the Black Sea. From there we will follow the coast east another 4 weeks or so into the country of Georgia and then will have some tricky decisions to make about the route forward to China. Please keep us in your prayers that we will be guided by God’s hand, that the way will open into the Central Asian countries that He desires us to walk through and that peace will reign in our hearts through all of the complicated preparations to cross the difficult borders ahead.  The Lord willing, we will be soon be able to tell you all about God’s good guidance to us. Amen!
John, who has always sensed a calling to ‘preach’ on his life, has been amazed at the silence he is now called to as he performs this prophetic act of walking across Eurasia. He has been reminded of the prophet Ezekiel, who although anointed to speak to the Jews in captivity, had periods where God also evoked silence upon him.  It does seem that we have been called into a ‘wilderness’ place to spend intimate time with the Lord, and to commune with Him as our number one priority on this prayer walk, something that is much harder to do when surrounded by the clamor of a world that speaks English!
We continue to be blessed by the wonderful, hospitable people of Turkey. We are invited into businesses we walk past for ‘chai’ many times daily and have many opportunities, with our few Turkish words, to share about the prayer walk. We in the west have much to learn from this 'people loving' culture that holds the importance of prayer as a central value. Five times daily the ‘call to prayer’ in Arabic is broadcast over the countryside and whenever I hear it I am reminded to ask God for a visitation of the Holy Spirit upon every heart and home in this marvelous land. I would be so gratified if your heart were stirred to join me in that prayer!
Again, thank you so much, for your letters to us, your financial gifts, your love and your encouragement. It is such a privilege to be walking with the Lord across His earth, and to have your hearts walking with us.
We love you and thank God for you all!
John and Sandy