The Gospel in a Carpet Shop

Before leaving Türkiye my team decided to make the trip to Kapadokya for a few days. I fell in love with it faster than I could have ever imagined; kind of like what happens with Jesus. We stayed in a little town, Goreme – it has become a tourist trap but the shops are still filled with so much culture and history.

My mentor for the race loves carpets and rugs, so naturally every time I pass by a shop I take a picture for her to enjoy – myself always under appreciating the value of these beautiful pieces of art. That was, until I stumbled upon a little rug shop, a young man and a broken carpet. I saw it laying there, on top of fifty other rugs, in all its beauty. I asked about it – the young man, whom I will refer to as M, replied along the lines of ‘oh you don’t want this one, it is really old and broken. It is about to be sent off to be repaired. The value right now is only 400 USD but after it is repaired I will sell it for 7500 USD.’ I sat in awe of this rug, a hole right through the middle of it, the strings on the ends knotted and torn, dirty and probably had a smell to it, but still it was in all its beauty. I didn’t want it to be repaired, I desperately wanted someone to buy it as it is – but for the price that it’s worth – 7500 USD. I knew the odds of that were very low, and I knew I for sure could not afford to buy this rug. I asked M to hold off on sending the rug to the repair man and I would go home and study and learn everything I could about rugs and the next day I would return and we could talk about it.

I return the following day and M is outside putting the showcase rugs up on the nails, he turns around and is surprised that I came back. “Normally people don’t come back when they say they will” I nod my head and mumble under my breath “yeah but I am not like most people”. I walked in and there it was, even more beautiful this day than the day before. M walks in and points, I kept it for you, 400 USD for you. I laughed, ‘M I don’t want to buy this rug for 400 USD, it is worth 7500 USD’. ‘Not right now, it is broken and so it is worthless basically.’ I knew this was the perfect time to explain what I had studied the night before. I explained how Jesus came when we were broken and paid the full price for us, how He didn’t wait for us to fix ourselves before He bought us with His blood but it was while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

This brought up many conversations:

M asked what I was doing in Türkiye and I explained that I am a worker and a follower of Jesus. He looked skeptical but explained how he had only met one other person like me 2 years ago and they had come in and prayed for his business and he never saw them again, he asked if I knew them. I laughed and said oh I don’t know, probably not but that would be really cool. Later that night I sent my mentor a message and I asked her if she was in Kapadokya 2 years ago and prayed for a guy in a carpet shop for his business. “THAT WAS LITERALLY ME.” I told M that I knew the girl who prayed for him and he was just as shook as the rest of us. Incredible how the Lord works.

I asked M if he knew that Muhammad had sinned. He argued for a second and I told him that I could prove it to him with the Quran, he laughed and said that if I could do that then he would give me a pillow cover for free. Surah 47:19 a part of the Quran written specifically to Muhammad “know that there is no god but Allah, and ask forgiveness for your sin, and for the believing men and believing women. Allah knows your movements and your resting place.” He said okay you get a free pillow cover, but explained that Jesus probably sinned too and that if he found where Jesus sinned then I had to pay for the cover. I laughed and agreed knowing that he wouldn’t find anything. I glance over at his phone and he is on gotquestions.org a Christian website defending Christianity. He laughs and says I think you are right, okay.

We talked about how synthetic dye for the wool sucked and how M would much rather it be dyed naturally because that is how it was meant to be.

I sat and talked with M for two whole days while working in the rug shop, hanging up new showcase rugs and shipping out rugs to the states to sell. I learned so much about rugs and carpets and how they are made, and how to tell a machine made and a hand made rug apart. We talked about my dreams, and his dreams. We talked about how it is hard to believe something different than your family. We talked about how money is stupid and how his uncle is too caught up on money to care about the health of their family, or the actual business itself. We talked about family and how his brother started reading the Bible a few years ago, but took it when he opened his own business in town. I told him I had looked for a Bible in his language but I couldn’t find one – as Türkiye is predominantly Muslim. He agreed and said he would even read an English Bible if I had one. Luckily, I had mine in my backpack – he takes it and opens it. He started reading and sat in awe of the words on the pages. I explained to him how it was a NKJV and might be a little difficult to understand, and he shared how maybe it would make his English better…

I was invited over to M’s parents house that night for Iftar – the meal after the last call to prayer during Ramadan. M stayed at the rug shop while I got in a car with strangers who didn’t speak English in hopes that I was actually going to dinner. I sat for about 3 hours not understanding a single word being said but in awe of how I had ended up there. M comes after he closes the shop and drives me back to the town – he thanks me for coming back to the shop and spending the last couple of days explaining Jesus to him. How he hopes that I am right and that when he reads the Bible he will understand what I believe and that he would also believe.

I hadn’t experienced a deeper friendship on the race than that of M’s. Just two people desperate for the Truth, falling deeper in love with carpets every time we pull one down, and looking to live in the simplicity of life. I will keep up with M for as long as he will let me, asking him if he sold any carpets that day, and asking him what he read in the Bible.

How can you be a part of what is going on in the ME?

• You can pray with us! Pray that they would have dreams of the Messiah. Pray that the Lord would give them visions of Him. Pray that they would encounter a believer that is willing to share the Good News with them. Pray that they would be receptive to the words that are spoken in the Gospels.
• Some of the squad is continuing to support raise for the Race – if you would like to partner financially, you can reach out and I can get you their account information
• Pray about continuing to financially support me specifically – this will help cover the cost of daily personal expenses you can do this on venmo @alyssanphllps

Stay connected! You can reach out via email [email protected] or download WhatsApp and connect with me on there +14092000085 Instagram is where I stay most updated with weekly recaps @alyssanphllps13 there is also a podcast called Unscripted Reality on all streaming platforms – this is a platform to share and hear stories of how the Lord is working in and through P Squad!

AP