You Will See Hoopoes

By Lenna Lidstone

Looking at mission at the turn of the 21st century, this is the story of church planting in Turkey, probably the largest unevangelised country in the world. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1850783705
• ISBN13: 9781850783701
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Authentic Media
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A wonderful life experience of a missionary couple

About a year ago, my friend Dave introduced this book to me, and I borrowed the book from him to read. It is a book talking about a life experience of a missionary couple in Turkey. It is such a wonderful book. Now I am rereading it., and I would like to share something from the reading with you. For missionaries, perhaps one of the hardest struggles is with the language. The missionaries might had classes that filled them with grammar. They might had types of drills and books which required more discipline and dedication that they could muster. Julyan, the husband of the missionary couple, with his linguistic ability and joy of study, was making such progress that he was able to pray and preach quite adequately after only one year. How about Lenna, the wife of the missionary couple? After two years of learning the foreign language, the progress was poor. The sense of failure was almost too hard to bear. From a new language learning approach, Lenna learned a catchphrase: "Language-learning is Relationship is Ministry." Relationship was surely the key. In order to have a good relationship with others, she needed to be a good listener. Bad listeners make bad language-learners. In every relationship Lenna would be at the listening, learning, lowly end. Perhaps it was there that people would find Jesus. During one visit a neighbour was very distressed about a number of family problems. Lenna wanted to tell a story of Jesus calming the storm to her neighbour and other ladies. This was tricky as she couldn't remember the words for boat, sea, or storm. It became a game of charades as she acted it out. Her Turkish friends were so patient, but the joy and relief when someone guessed right and the story continued. At last the point was made. They sat still and quiet for a few moments as God seemed to come down with his peace. Inwardly, Lenna still groaned down over her level of language but she also marveled that God could do so much with so little. He cared enough to bless us all despite our feeble efforts and surely these ladies wouldn't forget a story they helped to tell. In the early years God was teaching Lenna about the humble path of being a learner. As people entered someone's home they took off their shoes, a custom common throughout the Middle East. Lenna learned that this gesture wasn't just to keep her host's carpet clean but to say, "This is your domain and I'm treading lightly. I have left the symbol of my own authority outside." Only the police march into a home with their shoes on. And as the host clothed Lenna's feet in slippers like her own, Lenna would understand: "My home is your home. Welcome." My dear friends, perhaps in our hearts we need to take off our shoes. Perhaps like Moses before the burning bush, this attitude is the path to divine authority for mission.