Following the devastating earthquakes of February 2023, our Romanian team traveled to Kahramanmaraş with a mobile kitchen and laundry facilities, ready to serve families affected by the disaster.
With the city under a state of emergency, the Turkish military was coordinating humanitarian operations. We approached the military authorities to request permission to establish our relief facilities.
After our initial meeting, we were told that we would receive GPS coordinates indicating where we could set up our operations.
A few hours later, however, we received an unexpected message:
“Ramadan begins tomorrow. Can you provide meals suitable for the Ramadan fast?”
We explained that our volunteer team was prepared to serve the meals outlined in our original proposal, including lentil soup, pasta with chicken, and other dishes that our volunteers could prepare.
The response was direct: if we could not accommodate their requirements, we would have to leave the city within 24 hours. They also warned us that if we did not leave within that time, we would be arrested.
Although disappointed, our team decided to leave Kahramanmaraş. We did not know what awaited us, but we trusted that God had another plan.
And He did.
An Unexpected Open Door
In the city of Adıyaman, new opportunities emerged. We were welcomed and invited to serve earthquake survivors through our mobile kitchen and laundry facilities.
Remarkably, the Turkish military itself invited us to establish a public laundry facility inside one of the camps under its administration.
Shortly after we completed the installation, a large delegation of senior military officials, accompanied by television crews and journalists, arrived to visit the camp.
When they reached our laundry facility, they expressed their appreciation for our work. One of the senior officials made an unexpected request.
He explained that the camp was home to both Turkish and Kurdish families and that disagreements could arise over the use of the washing machines. He asked us to leave members of our volunteer team in the camp to coordinate the laundry operations and help maintain an organized and peaceful environment.
For us, this invitation was an extraordinary blessing.
From the beginning, our desire had been not only to provide practical assistance through laundry facilities, but also to have volunteers present who could build relationships, demonstrate the love of Christ, and share the hope of the Gospel through this simple act of service.
After the delegation left, we asked our Turkish partners who the official was.
To our surprise, we were told that he was Türkiye’s Minister of National Defense.
From Rejection to Opportunity
We had left Kahramanmaraş under threat of arrest if we failed to leave the city within 24 hours. Yet, in Adıyaman, we were welcomed by the military, and a senior national defense official had personally invited members of our Christian volunteer team to remain and serve inside a military-administered camp.
What initially appeared to be a closed door became the beginning of an even greater opportunity.
We thanked God for His faithfulness and for honoring our commitment to serve Him, even when circumstances seemed unfavorable.
This experience strengthened our conviction that God can open doors where human efforts alone cannot. It encouraged us to continue serving faithfully, even in places where Christian humanitarian and missionary organizations face significant challenges.
Sometimes, a closed door is not the end of a mission. It is God's way of leading us toward a greater opportunity.
