2015 is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli when Australia fought and surrendered to Turkey. Ataturk, Father of the Turks, said back in the day that Australia’s sons are Turkey’s sons, thus welcoming relationships between the two countries over the last 100 years.
We partnered with a group of 40 Australians who came to Turkey to commemorate
ANZAC Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) and a century of peace. But more importantly, our collective purpose was to share how to have lasting, true Peace with God.
The Australians brought many great musicians which made up 5 different bands performing various styles, including Reggae, Blues and Pop. On stage throughout each show, an artist painted beautiful art, shared the meaning of the picture with the audience and gave away her painting at the end. Katie and an Aussie lady danced and of course, Dustin’s unicycling was a highlight and he shared clearly and openly during almost every event.
We started the week with a few street shows around Istanbul before hitting the road for performances in Bursa, Bandirma, Canakkale, Izmir, Kusadasi and Selcuk.
Canakkale was a highlight. The Australians were especially moved to be performing in this area where the Gallipoli Battle happened and so many of their ancestors gave their lives. During the shows, they emphasized that 100 years ago they came with guns but now they have come with music and God’s love.
In Canakkale, we did a show at the University then 4 shows on the seaside next to the horse used in the movie Troy. Since we were in the area multiple nights, we had the privilege of connecting with a few people in-depth. Various members of our team had tea with a couple individuals on different occasions to talk about God and these interested individuals even joined us for a service on Sunday for the first time. Please pray these people will see God clearly and boldly follow Him.
A local TV station filled their entire 53 minute program with our show and interviews of our team members.
Click here if you want to check out some of it.
The weather didn’t cooperate for our 2 scheduled shows in Kusadasi. The first day we didn’t even set up since it was so cold and windy. The second day we pushed ahead in faith. As we were setting up, the sun began to warm things up a bit. After 2 hours of set up we made it 20 minutes into the show when everyone and everything was literally blown away! The wind was crazy and started blowing things over on and around stage, damaging some of our equipment. We had to tear down quickly as it started to sprinkle rain.
Fortunately we had one last hurrah in Selcuk (Ephesus) and it was actually warm, people were out and about and they responded to our performance and message of God’s love. Many indicated interest in learning more about what we had shared.
Please pray that the thousands we had the privilege of sharing God’s love with will experience His lasting Peace. Next up…stay tuned for Albania UniShow tour…
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| Street Show in Istanbul drew a great crowd. |
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| Street Show in Istanbul. |
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| Dustin's new friends in Bursa. |
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| Bursa. |
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| Dustin sharing a message of hope in Bandirma. |
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| University in Canakkale. |
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| One of the great Aussie bands we performed with. |
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| Performing next to the horse used in the movie Troy. |
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| Canakkale. |
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| Interview for Canakkale TV show "The Microphone is Yours". |
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| Final show in Selcuk among ancient ruins and castles. |
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| Final show in Selcuk among ancient ruins and castles. |
