“God placed Turkey on my heart; we didn’t know if we were going to go on a short-term outreach or long-term placement, moving our family thousands of miles away from home. But God knew and went ahead of us, every step. What an exciting adventure!” said Charlotte*, who moved with her family from the UK to Turkey at the beginning of 2021.
In 2020, as the world locked down, preparations sped up for Charlotte’s family. “It was a busy year, working full time and exploring our calling as a family, squeezing in training calls and meetings, and also trying to learn the language. All in the midst of a global pandemic,” she recalled.
Fundraising seemed especially challenging. But as the family faithfully prayed together each morning, God responded through people they knew. Each new commitment bolstered the family’s faith.
Before they knew it, it was time to go!
Charlotte had always been interested in missions, but she wasn’t sure what that would ‘look like’ for her—or how it would fit in with her family. Prior to joining OM, she got involved in youth work, and through that, fundraising and project development. Her husband qualified as a teacher and gained experience in school leadership and coaching team members.
“We were generally quite in the background in our church, helping out a little with preaching and technical aspects, and the youth work, but nothing that would make you point at us and shout ‘missionary!’” she said.
Then the family joined a short-term outreach to Eastern Europe with OM. “Much more rewarding than our usual holiday experience, it brought us together and strengthened our faith as a whole family. We made great friends, learnt a new culture, even picked up a few phrases and enjoyed trying to recreate the meals at home,” she described.
In 2019, the family joined a ten-day outreach in Turkey. In contrast to their previous outreach, “this time there were no locals on the team, and it felt really weird,” Charlotte explained. On the last day of their trip, the OM leader in Turkey told the family about an initiative to raise up more locals and bring them into missions.
“And there was our vision,” Charlotte stated. “If we can do something to help locals get involved in missions—it’s our calling! From that short trip, we felt this was what God was calling us to.”
*name changed
