Short Stories in Türkiye: Clowning Around

I know it’s been awhile since I was in Türkiye but so much happened there it would be wrong not to talk about it more.

This story takes place in Mersin, Türkiye. We spent some of the last of our days in Türkiye there. When we left Cappadocia for Mersin we had no official ministry to work for so we tried to find our own. The first night the team and I had no place to stay but thanks be to God the friends we had made back in Cappadocia set us up with a place at their families house. And in proper Turkish fashion this family who har never met us welcomed us in like their own family. I was so grateful that they were Christians and encouraged by talking about their church.

As we talked more we found out that that church was having a event the next night. We told the lady we were staying with that we would love to help out if they needed it. So the next night we found ourselves headed to church with her not knowing exactly what kind of event we were headed to, how many people would be there, or if we would really be helping or participating. But as you find on the world race information about what you are doing is overrated and all you really need to do is just go.

So this small group of American women arrive at this little church somewhere in Türkiye with open hands and no expectations. We find ourselves at a kids event, full of excited kids. Someone on the team catches wild about there being a clown coming to this event. None of us are thrilled about this fact, some you might even say dreaded the news of the potential appearance of a clown at this event. Sure enough the clown shows up and I have never seen more excitement from the kids.

So there the 6 of us were, thinking this is kind of random and a little weird. As the clown starts his show he starts speaking in English and Spanish and the pastor (who funny enough was from Mexico) translates everything into Turkish. Unexpected to say the least. So this Spanish speaking clown does what you might expect a clown to do. Makes the kids laugh, asks for volunteers, rings bells, makes funny noises…etc. Typical clown things.

And then all of a sudden this clown starts talking about his heart. And then how his heart is in need of a savior. And before you know it the clown does a whole gospel presentation. It was very unexpected.

Afterwards me and some of my team, full of curiosity, go talk to this clown. It took a minute to get used to having a normal adult conversation with someone wearing clown makeup and outfit. But as we talked we found out that this man had been traveling the world for many years being a clown for Jesus. He was from Puerto Rico and He had been in 10x more countries then anyone else and he had been in numerous war zones just doing clown shows where ever there was a need for hope. He said as soon as he had heard about the earthquakes in Mersin he knew he had to go. He does prison ministry and kids ministry and he said he was trained by the best. We told him where we were from and what countries we had been to and he had been to them all.

Just goes to show that God really can use whatever you do to glorify himself. Something that seems silly to one person could be a lifelong ministry to someone else.