By Kaohsiung News Group, Formosa (Originally in Chinese)

With territories that span from Asia to Europe, Turkey has a population of 68 million people, among which 16 million reside in the country’s largest city of Istanbul. On May 26, Golden Year 3 (2006), 16 Formosan initiates headed towards Istanbul with 50,000 Alternative Living flyers printed in Turkish , after completing their flyer distribution work in Athens, Greece.

From a local guide named Yusuf Burak, we learned that a permit from the City Hall was needed before we could start the distribution. After we obtained the permit, we found to our amazement that the local people, including the students, were pure and simple-hearted and were highly receptive to receiving the flyers. Some foreigners living in the local area were also very supportive and even offered to show us the most populated areas where we could distribute flyers.

Since we only planned to stay in Turkey for two and a half days, we divided into smaller groups to act simultaneously. One group was comprised of the group leader and the local guide, with the main mission of contacting the local agents who specialized in obtaining permits and distributing flyers. The other group was further divided into three more groups who would each distribute flyers in the most populated areas that were not covered by the local agents. We also planned to look for bookstores located in the busy areas where we could place the flyers. With the help of a local guide, we were able to find a flyer distribution agent who had excellent efficiency and business reputation, in the last minute before the holiday started. This agent also offered the best price.

The night before the distribution, some initiates placed the flyers in front of Master’s picture and meditated, praying that Master would lead them to the most populated areas. According to their wish, the next day that group was assigned to the busiest new downtown area of Taksim Square. This area was so packed that one could easily feel lost in the sea of the crowds. The demand for the flyers was so great that we couldn’t keep up with the speed. Some local people decided to help themselves by taking flyers directly from our left hands. The crowdedness in a few areas was beyond description, and we had to walk backwards for distribution. Seeing our actions, passersby could not help but smile. In the end, we simply held the flyers in our hands and let the people pick them up on their own.

After reading the flyer, one bookstore owner praised our actions. She said she felt such heartache that Turkey had to kill so many birds because of bird flu. Therefore, she wanted to share the message with more bookstores. A young girl who received the flyer said that she loved animals very much and except for nutritional purposes of taking meat occasionally, she was almost vegetarian. We explained to her that from plant-based food alone, she could obtain very good protein. We also invited her to visit the websites listed on the flyer for more nutritional information and cooking recipes. From the conversation, it was clear that this girl was very delighted to meet people who shared her own ideals.

Some initiates stood in the middle of the road to give flyers to the drivers of vehicles passing by, in the hope that the drivers would bring the Alternative Living message to every corner of Turkey. As it turned out, some drivers even rolled down their windows to ask for a flyer. On the way back to the hotel, whenever we saw more crowds, we immediately took the opportunity to distribute more. Two initiates distributed almost 3,000 flyers in less than two hours. Even the flyers blown off in the wind were picked up by people right away!

In order to keep the environment clean, we also picked up any flyer that was dropped on the road, which touched the hearts of the local people. They praised us with their thumbs up and said “Good, good!” Some even volunteered to help distribute the flyers; while others took out the folded flyers from their pockets to show that they were kept nicely. One local child, under the encouragement of his family members, collected the flyers received by his family and started to imitate the initiates’ action to distribute them on the road. He was so innocent and lovely just like a little angel.

As one bus full of young students passed by, they saw the flyers and waved to initiates to ask for them. Once they received the flyers, they were all overjoyed and studied them carefully. Meanwhile, an interesting interlude happened as well. Due to different ideologies, some people reported us to the police. But when the policemen read the contents of the Alternative Living flyer, they were very supportive and even had their pictures taken with flyers in their hands. Another interesting thing was that some shop owners insisted that we stand in front of their shop to distribute flyers. Some of them asked for flyers so they could help with the distribution. When the police and shop owners saw that we had been working under the scorching sun for long hours, they even offered us ice water and Coca-Cola.

At the bus station, all the drivers were willing to allow us to board the bus and distribute flyers. When some Westerners got on the bus and saw that everyone else was reading the flyer, they came to ask for English versions. One driver not only gave us a free ride but also explained the contents of the flyer to the passengers.

Despite being in the middle of the crowds, we felt surrounded by God’s love. Under the protection of this love, we didn’t feel tired, but instead distributed each flyer with more devotion and sincerity. At the same time, we also quietly prayed for the recipients and in return, received thankfulness from the local people. With such blessing power, our faith was no longer wavered by little setbacks. No matter whether people took the flyers or not, we would still pray sincerely for God to bless them instead of feeling let down when we encountered refusal.

While working, we all felt the protection of God along the way and deeply realized that all the people in the land of Turkey were our brothers and sisters. One initiate had even felt God’s blessing power immediately pouring into Turkey at the moment the airplane landed and was full of tears.

During this trip, God also sent various angels to assist us. Some came to tell us the shortcut to reach a certain destination when we were lost, while others offered guidance even before we opened our mouths to ask. The local tour guide, Yusuf, also surprised us. At first, everyone thought he was only an ordinary guide until we saw how effective he was in making arrangements. Later we also learned that he actually had a PhD in archaeology with a full-time job as an interpreter for foreign academic groups. With God’s incredible arrangement, he became our guide and helped us solve many problems.

The night before we left Turkey, we gathered together to share experiences and thoughts from this trip. The gathering was filled with laughter and touching tears. By doing God’s work, we all realized that we are the ones who benefit the most. We not only learned of the miracles created by positive thinking, but also received boundless blessings and love.