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Asian Journals Qazax, Azerbaijan
Asian Journals Qazax, Azerbaijan
| Qazax, Azerbaijan |
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| Tuesday, 09 March 2010 00:00 |
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Saturday, March 06, 2010 Day 95, Asia mile 1123, Eurasia mile 3919 Qazax, Azerbaijan Dear Friends! What a week we are having! Our son, David, has arrived safely, praise God. He has jumped right in and he and I are taking turns prayer walking with John and driving. What a relief it is that I no longer have to walk back alone along the roadside to bring the camper forward. David is a guy of perseverance and prayer and it is great to have him with us! We were totally blessed by the YWAM folks in Tbilisi, Georgia who briefed us on life in the Caucasus region, allowed us to use their internet, shower, do laundry, took us to church and to pick up David from his 3am flight and then later that day to get our onward visas for Azerbajan. We thank the Lord especially for Judy from Youth with a Mission. As we visited she said that she thought that John was leaving footprints of ‘oil’ as he walked and today he had the impression that the lands that we walk through are being dedicated to the Lord by the oil of the Holy Spirit who is walking the land with us. Go God, Go!!! On the way to get our Azerbajani visas I realized that I had forgotten to bring the cash we needed for their purchase. As we were all going through our pockets to see if we had any money, David remembered that he had an envelope for us from some dear friends at home which contained just the amount we needed. What a relief that was! While applying for the visas we met some young people from Belgium who are doing a documentary on freedom of expression in the Caucasus region. They were very interested in the prayer walk and wanted to include it in their film so they shot a segment with John. We got on great together; the interview went really well and will be on U Tube in the near future. We’ll let you know what we hear about it! We accomplished the 4 hour border crossing on Thursday night, camped by the transport trucks near the border and have been enjoying our new surroundings greatly since then. Azerbajan appears to be a wealthier land than Georgia and the people here don’t seem as oppressed in spirit as their eastern neighbors who are still recovering from the Soviet attacks of 2 years ago. The small roadside shops here have more than just cigarettes and vodka for sale and the buildings that we pass don’t show any signs of the bombings that were evident everywhere in Georgia. We are in a rolling delta area which is just beginning to show spring’s touch of green, with snow capped peaks visible to our south. Surprisingly, most of the roads are in great shape so far and although entering a new country is stressful at first, we are quickly beginning to feel at ease as the Azerbajanis are a Turkic people with similar language and culture to Turkey. We are greeted by calls of “Salaam, salaam!” as we pass the round, dimpled grandmothers sitting by their front gates, David was treated to chai by the fellows that sold him a sim card for the phone, friendly shepherds wearing tall fur hats and surrounded by large flocks walk the roadsides, carts pulled by as many as three small, furry donkeys with white faces pass us frequently and folks have made us feel very welcome as guests in their land. Although political borders don’t reflect this today, historically it is felt that Azerbajan was the location of the Garden of Eden and also was the location of Mt Ararat where Noah’s ark landed after the world wide flood, making this area literally the place where man’s life on earth began. What a privilege it is to be walking and praying for the peoples of the world from this significant country. As our visas are only good for one month and we had to take last Wednesday off to get them, we will keep on walking this week until we arrive in Ganza, about 100 km from here, where we have a friend who will host us while we attempt to get ready for the onward journey. The water pump for our onboard systems has broken totally, we would like to get a roof rack installed, we must purchase ferry tickets for the Caspian crossing, start the process for our Kazakstan visas and John needs to do his taxes! It doesn’t sound as though we’ll get much of a rest when we reach Ganza! We send a huge thank you to our girls and our home church who hosted a dinner for us and to all of you who sent gifts for us with David. We were so encouraged by your loving thoughtfulness and so delighted to look through the packages when he arrived. Thank you too, to those of you who are financially helping us on our way. Time and again a gift of money has come in just when it is needed the most. We are totally humbled by the Lord at the generosity of His people, and so grateful to each of you who respond to His nudge. God is so good! David is writing a ‘blog’ which you can access to read a day by day account of his experiences on this trip. You can find that at DavidMHalvorsen.blogspot.com and you can also see the trip photos which we post on our web site www.worldprayerwalk.org We are doing our best to keep these current whenever we can find internet access. As we walk and pray, may the love of the Lord Jesus Christ be poured out upon His earth! Please keep us in your hearts and in your prayers. You are all in ours! Love, John, Sandy and David |
