Survival Turkish

The team received an email from the couple that lives in Turkey. Included in their email was an information sheet with some Turkish phrases. Since I want each of my supporters to feel as connected as possible, I thought I'd share some of my Turkish knowledge with you! Ready? First lets do something easy. We'll begin with numbers:

• Zero – Sifir
• One – Bir
• Two – İki
• Three – Üç
• Four – Dört
• Five – Beş
• Six – Alti
• Seven – Yedi
• Eight – Sekiz
• Nine – Dokuz
• Ten - On

Do you feel educated? Just wait until you try these next phrases!

• Hello – Merhaba
• Thank you – Teşekkürler
• How are you? – Nasıl sınıs?
• I’m good. – İyiyim.
• Where is the toilet? – Tuvalet nerede?
• Welcome – Hoş geldiniz

Now for the real reason we're going:

• God – Allah
• Jesus – İsa
• God bless you – Allah bereketlisin
• God willing – İnshallah
• Praise God – Hamd Olsun
• Come Lord Jesus – Gel Rob İsa
• Come Holy Spirit – Gel Kutsal Ruh
• Fire - Ateş

I hope you have enjoyed this lesson. :) I'm praying that the Lord will give me supernatural abilities of fluency in this language! Otherwise, now you know as much as I do! Lots of Love To Ya!!

Destination: Turkey! - April Update

Spring has Sprung! I'm so thankful that Jesus has risen and given us opportunity for life and love! I sincerely thank everyone who has given a donation at this point towards my mission to Turkey. God is so rich and I'm so thankful that He's been pouring into this ministry opportunity! When I first committed to this trip, I was very specific with the Lord and asked for the entirety of my financial support to be raised by May 1st. As it stands now, I only owe $300 to have my trip paid in full! Thank you again for everyone who has committed to supporting me both financially and prayerfully! Your prayers are of unmeasurable value to my team and I. We've had our first official meeting and were given our research assignments. I chose to research the History of Turkey. Wow, is there ever an abundance of information! This coming Sunday, April 19th, we will be having our next team meeting where we will present our topics to each other. I have a sneaking suspicion that these next 7 1/2 weeks will be flying by! Last night, I had dinner at an authentic Turkish restaurant with my mentor and friend, who went to Turkey last year. I do believe that I was born to eat of this country's cuisine! She shared lots of her experiences and tips on traditions in the country. Every day I grow more and more excited to embark on this journey! God has given me big expectations for what He's going to do and how He's going to use me on this trip! He spoke to me back in November and told me, "I'm preparing you for Turkey, to prepare you for the rest of your life!" I have little clarity as to what the rest of my life looks like through His eyes, yet His promises are rock solid and I'm standing tall! Would you please continue to pray about being a part of my support team? All financial contributions are tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to New Life Ministries International and the envelope (not the check) should be clearly designated with both the trip name and my name. You may include the country/trip name on the memo line of your check but please do not include my name. If the check is designated with my name, according to IRS regulations, you will not be able to use it as a tax deduction. Also, you may make an online contribution through our website at http://newlife.cc/. Because we have to meet deadlines for airfare deposits and other arrangements, I need to have adequate financial support raised as soon as possible. With lots of love, Kristin DePola New Life Contribution Policy: "Contributions to short-term mission trips are tax-deductible; however, in accordance with IRS regulations, these designated offerings are subject to the governing board's control and discretion. When contributions for a particular individual exceed trip expenses, the governing board may redirect contributions to other mission team expenses or to another activity within the missions department." Make check payable to: New Life Ministries International or "NLMI" Donation for: Kristin DePola Trip location: Turkey (For tax benefit, please do not put my name on your check) Mail donation to: NLMI-Dept. of Missions 1244 Thompkins Lane Virginia Beach, VA 23464

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called

Last week I was at a prayer gathering with my mom, my aunt and some of my favorite Naomi’s. When I first got there they ladies were talking about the world and different things the Lord had been speaking to them. As I sat listening, they began to quiz me and test my spiritual discernment. To my credit, I was told that I got an A+. My aunt really encouraged me by telling me that I am in fact hearing the Lord and that I need to begin trusting the Holy Spirit and having confidence in His leadings. More or less… follow my gut.

My intention when being around these women is to glean knowledge and understanding in the spirit. I usually stay quite because I don’t feel I have anything to offer. Apparently, the Lord has been maturing me more than I know because while there, He gave me a very distinct and vivid vision to share with the ladies.

Mom had a word about the reference in Ezekiel 3 where the Lord tells Ezekiel to eat the scroll which will be sweet to his mouth yet bitter in his stomach. She said the Lord kept speaking, “Eat the scroll.” Just after that, one of the other women had a strong sense that there was an urgency to prepare for an upcoming devastation. Hearing this warning made me ask God, “How do we prepare?” and I heard Him answer, “By eating the scroll.” I then felt like that Lord was saying that the scroll in this case was His word and that in order to prepare for anything, we need to go beyond just reading, we need to ingest and digest His words. We need to exchange the world for the word!

A little bit after that while we were all in prayer is when the vision came. I saw a picture of a drafting table. There were 2 sets of lines. The line I was in, along with one of the other women in the room with me, was on the right hand side and we were standing in front of a soldier who was seated behind the table. To the left was the other set of lines in front of a man who was standing up behind the table and was dressed in a dark navy suit jacket. This other woman and I, as well as all the others in each line were dressed in camouflage uniforms. The men behind the tables were handing out papers to each person in line. I saw myself standing at the front of the line and the seated soldier handed me a rolled up piece of manila paper and said, “Here are you orders.” I grasped the paper and turned to join a line of people walking away from the drafting table.

I shared the vision with the ladies. We all recognized that the rolled up piece of paper could have easily represented the scroll the Lord spoke about earlier in the evening. After returning to prayer I heard two military ranks, General and Commander in Chief. Not knowing anything about military ranks or what significance it had to the vision, I stayed silent. The next morning while at work, I researched the two ranks. Surprisingly, I found that the General is the highest rank in the military, however the Commander in Chief is the President’s title and who has final say in any military decision.

Shortly after pondering this information the Lord took me back into my vision. I instantly knew that the official looking man to my left was representing the General, and the common looking soldier in front of me was the Commander in Chief. God said, “You are not receiving your orders from the worlds leader, but you are receiving Kingdom orders from your Commander in Chief!” From my vision He also showed me that after I accepted my orders, I was signifying the Spirit of God infiltrating the army of the enemy. At that moment I knew the Lord wanted me to accept my new assignment and devour whatever ‘orders’ He was about to give me. The next day at work, I was definitely given a new assignment, which involves a lot of transition, sacrifice, and uncomfortable movement. A good friend of mine made a comment once, “For every ‘Yes God’, around the corner is a ‘No God not that!”. I identified with that statement more than ever! Honestly, my spirit has had a peace and joy since that evening, but I’ve been keeping my mind in a state of denial because I can’t imagine leaving my comfortable life and schedule.

I’m going to use this cyber world as a place to proclaim that I’m going to accept the assignment the Lord has given me, and I’m not going to let my flesh dictate my emotions. The Lord was specific and He has a strategy that I can’t fathom understanding. I love and trust my Father, and should expect nothing but the best from Him!

So… here’s to a new day and new orders!

Blast From the Past

If someone were to ask me, “How’s life?” I would not hesitate to answer, “Great!” However, I would be lying. Ok, maybe I wouldn’t be completely lying because my life is great! I have a career that I enjoy, I live in an amazing apartment with great roommates, I’m included in one of the best missionary communities I’ve ever known, and I’m going out of the country in approximately 3 months! What more could I ask for? Aside from all of that, it seems that there is something very ugly making itself quite apparent in my life these past 2 weeks. This would be the reason for my not-so-honest answer to the question of how life is going.

ARC has been tremendous in the way God has been working in and through everyone. Yet there is something that came over me a few weeks ago. The only way I’ve been able to describe this thing as, is a nostalgic depression. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not depressed or anything, but I have an acute awareness of how I used to feel when I was struggling with depression previously.

We’ve all been through some serious attacks recently. Personally, I haven’t had anything noticeable hit my life, other than this looming gray cloud that I can’t seem to shake. Tuesday night, one of the ARC girls was sharing a prayer request about her family. My heart immediately felt sympathetic, since I’ve also known endless amounts of family tragedies. Then no sooner could I get the ‘awe” out of my mouth, but I instantly felt jealous and angry. Haven’t I been through a lot in my life? Why are you all not consoling me? Just because I’m on the other side of my crap doesn’t mean it hurts any less. Why aren’t I the one you care about? Why don’t you see my hurt? All I could think was, “Where the heck did these feelings come from?”

Then I began to feel my skin crawl. I was trying to exit the shed as quickly as possible; however, because we were in the middle of class, I was painfully trapped! My mind couldn’t focus on one word anyone was saying. There was an iPod playing in the background. I kept straining my ear to hear the songs, and would close my eyes to escape into worship… this being my one sure fire way to find Jesus in the midst of my insane emotions. Success was not found in this attempt. After searching for my escape route and coming up dry, I gave up. I sat there, miserable and barely able to contain the chaos inside of my body. When we were finally nearing the end, I couldn’t look anyone in the eye. I was sure that someone would notice that there was a sea of hatred welling up in my mind. Once the end was at hand, without hesitation I grabbed my things and bolted out the door. I tried my hardest to ignore everyone’s ‘Goodbyes’ and made a bee line for my car.

While I was driving home, I literally felt my whole body shiver with the most agonizing uncomfortable feeling I’ve experienced in quite some time. I was upset by my own disgusting display of emotions, because they were so unjustified! I love my friend who was sharing about her life. I want nothing more than for her to feel comfort, and who better to help comfort her than someone who’s been through family issues themselves! My mind was searching for an explanation to this unusually overwhelming feeling but nothing was making sense.

All of these feelings I was dealing with in the days before were just memories of something I felt in my own hard time of life. I knew that nothing going on presently in my personal life was actually causing me to feel depressed or heavy. Of course there is always the ‘spiritual attack’ reasoning, but I was convinced it was something else. Over the years, I’ve grown from completely bottling my emotions to becoming transparent in a healthy fashion. Every once in a while I will become overwhelmed with life or the circumstances presenting themselves and I tend to shut down for a short period of time until I can figure out how to smooth things over. Sometimes I involve a friend or family member to pray with me, other times I keep it to just me and God. With this situation, a very small part of me was whispering to expose the feelings I had been having, and the larger part of me was saying to run away from everyone and keep this locked inside. Unfortunately, I chose the later. I was planning on working things out just me and my good friend Jesus, but then the story progressed. I had some extra time before I had to go to work Thursday morning. While relaxing on my bed I decided to check my MySpace account which I had not done in ages. To my surprise, there were several messages from someone that is directly connected to the largest attack the enemy had ever had on my life years ago. I checked the date the message was sent, and it was sent on the exact day that I had begun having this unnatural heaviness plague my spirit. Right at that moment I knew the enemy was out to ruin me. There were several minutes of confusion and a large portion of my morning spent crying. I praised God that I was not struck with a spirit of fear. I’d like to credit that to the freedom He’s allowed me to experience while ARC has been doing the outreaches in slightly rough areas of Norfolk. However, I knew 20 minutes of crying wasn’t going to be the end of Satan’s scheme.

We recently had a visitor to ARC advice the group that, while our closeness is a gift from God, beware because the enemy may be causing dissention in the group. I fully believe the jealousy and anger I was feeling are quite accurate to this warning. After having a heart-to-heart with my mother the morning of the messages, she said that the emotions I was feeling could have been God’s way of preparing me for this to happen. I fully believe that in the midst of all the glory God is getting, the enemy is digging as hard as possible to corrupt us.

It has been over 4 years since I had to be faced with the people that contacted me. Again, God’s been breaking the fear of man over my life and He’s also been ministering great healings in my life. But I still dreaded the day when something like this may happen. This surprise was definitely not pleasant, but I do have a sense of relief. I’m not glad that I was contacted by any means; however, this brings clarity to the oppression I’ve been feeling and, it brings light to places in my life that God is asking me to surrender.

Now, why do I feel it’s necessary to explain these things? Because, knowing what I’m facing gives me traction in the fight against Satan’s attacks. Also, I want to do anything possible to derail the enemy’s plan against me, and partnering with everyone in prayer is a vital key in this process. I can’t be completely sure what the enemy is trying to do in my life, but I can be welded as close to the Lord as possible until there is victory. If you feel led, please join with me in prayer for this situation, and also pray for a covering for all of the ARC members.

To God Be the Glory!!

Destination: Turkey! - March Update

Happy March Everyone!

Hopefully each of you has received my original letter, and I pray that this update finds you well!

As I mentioned previously, God has placed a call to worship on my life and a strong desire to see His miraculous healing flow through worshiping Him. During the first weeks of January, God placed His healing touch on my own body. This experience released countless amounts of revelation and brought me to a new depth in His love! My prayer is that God would use the touch He placed on me to minister to everyone I encounter both here at home and in Turkey!

I sincerely thank everyone who has given a donation at this point towards my mission to Turkey. God is so rich and I'm so thankful that He's been pouring into this ministry opportunity! As it stands now, I have received $1,600 towards my trip out of the required $2,900. I'm over half way there, Praise Him! The finances are definitely a need, but please continue to cover my team and I with your prayers because those are priceless!

We will begin having team meetings shortly, and when more details are given to me, I will joyfully pass them onto you! My heart longs to see the kingdom of heaven come to earth. Thank you again for everyone who has committed to supporting me both financially and prayerfully!

Would you please continue to pray about being a part of my support team? All financial contributions are tax-deductible. Checks should be made payable to New Life Ministries International and the envelope (not the check) should be clearly designated with both the trip name and my name. You may include the country/trip name on the memo line of your check but please do not include my name. If the check is designated with my name, according to IRS regulations, you will not be able to use it as a tax deduction. Also, you may make an online contribution through our website at http://newlife.cc/. Because we have to meet deadlines for airfare deposits and other arrangements, I need to have adequate financial support raised as soon as possible.

With lots of love!



New Life Contribution Policy: "Contributions to short-term mission trips are tax-deductible; however, in accordance with IRS regulations, these designated offerings are subject to the governing board's control and discretion. When contributions for a particular individual exceed trip expenses, the governing board may redirect contributions to other mission team expenses or to another activity within the missions department." Make check payable to: New Life Ministries International or "NLMI" Donation for: Kristin DePola Trip location: Turkey (For tax benefit, please do not put my name on your check)Mail donation to:

NLMI-Dept. of Missions 1244 Thompkins Lane Virginia Beach, VA 23464