December 8, 2009

With this Christmas season, Ben and I are taking advantage of opportunities to share about our family tradition of celebrating the holiday with our friends ... which of course includes sharing the story of Jesus. This past Sunday night, we invited Zek and Deb over for dinner. I made some lasagna and corn casserole (which Zek and Deb had never had before). Dinner was good and towards the end I shared a little about how my family would spend Christmas Eve with family watching White Christmas and then how in the morning my dad would make sure we read the Christmas story from the Bible before we could open any presents.

So Ben suggested that we read the story together. (Remember that Zek is a follower of Jesus but has not told Deb yet.) We took turns reading it out loud in Turkish - which made me feel like a 2nd grader again. After we had finished, Ben asked what they thought. We were a little surprised by the thing that stood out the most to them. Deb asked if it was true that Jesus was only Mary's first born son. Is it possible that Jesus had brothers and sisters? We told her the Bible says He did (Mt 13:55). Zek and Deb were both shocked by this because they'd always been taught that Jesus had no brothers or sisters. As they talked about it, they realized they didn't even know if it was written anywhere - it was just what they'd been told.

We were initially a little disappointed that Deb especially didn't have more pointed questions about Jesus' birth being Divine or as an answer to so many prophecies about the coming Messiah. But as I thought about it some more I realized it made lots of sense and was most definitely being used by God. In America we can't possibly compare this to anything, but from the time they are in school, religion is taught. Christianity is most definitely taught, but is mainly made a joke of and reasons are given why it's a foolish religion to follow. But no text is used. So when Deb and Zek were able to read the Scripture and see the truth that was there, they were stunned for quite some time. They realized they'd been taught lies, but yet the truth was there and easily seen. I think maybe it made them wonder how many other lies they believed. Or at least that's what I'd be thinking.

Please pray for Deb especially that her desire to study the Bible would increase (she's read it once before). And pray for Zek as well as this is his first year celebrating the birth of Jesus. He still is not attending a church, so we're hoping he will be able to attend somehow to have fellowship with fellow beleivers as we celebrate this truth of Christ's birth.

I recently met with my language teacher, Nancy, for lunch (pictured above). We'd met her hsuband a couple of months ago and she mentioend that he really enjoyed the time with us. So I said that Ben and I would love to invite her and her husband to our home to celebrate Christmas if they want. It turns out that his birthday is Christmas Day! So I'm not sure that it will work out on the exact day, but we'd love the chance to know them better and share this holiday with them.

I'm also planning to make some cookies and deliver them to our neighbors while sharing the reason for this holiday. Please pray for excellent language skills to help us do that and boldness as well. What are you doing this holiday season to reach out to your nieghbors and friends? It really is easy to do since Christmas is about Jesus' birth. I'll bet there are quite a few people in your circle of friends that don't truly understand why we celebrate Christmas. Ask God how He would want you to step out in faith this Chrsitmas season and see Him do a miracle in your life and someone else's.

November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! I've got to tell you - it doesn't quite feel like Thanksgiving here, but we're trying our best to make it so. This time actually coincides with a holiday here of the majority religion: the sacrifice holiday. Families will buy a sheep or larger animal to sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of their sins and will donate the food to the poor. As usual, their holidays last longer than a day, so they'll be celebrating through Monday. The first day of the holiday is an important time to spend with family and then after that, you visit neighbors and friends.

Later today we'll be going to a friends house with fellow Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving. You can order turkey here, but it's not commonly carried in the grocery stores. Thanks to visitors from America, we'll be able to enjoy sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pumpkin pie, pecan pie...it'll feel just like home! Then Ben and I will start getting out our Christmas decorations. I can't wait! Christmas is absolutely my favorite holiday - I wish it lasted for months! :)

Our current STINT team asked to use our apartment to host a Thanksgiving party to teach their friends about this holiday and to have fun with each other. We were so glad they asked - since our desire is for our place to be used for things like this! Most of the STINT team ended up sick with the flu, so instead of doing a full traditional dinner, they made desserts instead. There were quite a few students that came and below you can see a picture of them.

One of the students who came was 'Kurt'. He actually helped us file a report with the police after our home was broken into a few months ago. Kurt had spent the previous year in Montana going to a university there. While there, he met some students involved with CRU and started attending the meetings. He heard the Gospel many times and was interested, but never made a decision. Since returning here, he met some of our fellow staff and started attending a Bible Study with them and other seekers (one of the others attending is Zek-Ben's language helper who became a believer in the spring). It seems that Kurt is close to placing his faith in Jesus and we'd ask you to pray for this friend. He has a gentle heart and if you know him it's so easy to feel that he's a friend.

Well, we hope you have a wonderful time with friends and family this Thanksgiving! This morning before getting out of bed, Ben and I listed a few things we're thankful for and one at the top of our list is YOU! We are so thankful for everyone back home remembering us and praying for us and supporting us so we can live here and be free to minister and study language without having to worry about finances! This is the first time since we've been on staff that we haven't had financial needs as the year draws to a close...and that's because of all of you and our great God! So know that we are praying for you and so thankful for you our friends and partners in this great work!

GOD BLESS!

October 12, 2009

I'm currently writing from a cute restaurant/campground/hotel in Austria. We just said good bye to Ben's brother and wife (Jason & Tammy) on Thursday and then were on our way here on Saturday. When we left it was a sunny 65/70. Now that we're in Austria it's a rainy/snowy 35/40. But we're not complaining....too much. We've had a wonderful time so far visiting castles and enjoying the scenery while driving wherever we want - whenever we want - freedom! Today we went to see our first ice cave - Ben said it reminded him of Star Wars.

But I'll tell you more about Austria later. Now I want to talk about our time with Jason & Tammy. We had a great time with them - a very full schedule - but still a great time! It was a welcome break for us too from our daily schedule to do some 'tourist' stuff. We took them to our favorite restaurants and shared our favorite views of the city with them...we drank cay (tea)...took lots of boat rides...and did a lot of walking. One night we went to the southern part of the country to tour Ephesus. We've been there many times, but it was great to see their excitement over seeing a place as old as Ephesus. One new thing we did was visit a part of the city recently uncovered where the rich would have lived. There were marble walls and mosaics floors everywhere....a very beautiful place and amazingly in good shape for its age. Unfortunately 2 of Jason & Tammy's kids got sick while they were with us, so I think it was difficult for them towards the end to be so far from them. But they're glad they came and we're so glad too! It kind of met our eomtional need for time with family for a while and we don't take that privilege lightly. Below is a picture of us at the end of our tour of Ephesus near the theater that is talked about in Acts 19.

October 1, 2009

Back in the middle of August, we took a short vacation with some friends that we work with here. We decided to head to the northern part of the country along the Black Sea. We heard that it was a nice part of the country and the water was clean. So we found a small town that had some hotels and made some reservations. The place we stayed at is actually a dorm during the school year, but used as a pansion during the summer months. It was pretty nice - like a small apartment with 2 bedrooms - perfect for us! The beach was a 5 minute walk from our place. It was a pretty full beach, so we decided to drive around a bit to see if there was a better spot.

And did we ever find 'thee better spot'! It was a pretty secluded beach, pretty clean and HUGE! So we spent most of our time at this beach. We parked in someone's driveway...it was a small farm with lots of chickens and a dog that checked everyone out who parked there...and then walked for about 10 minutes to get to the beach. We loved it so much, we're considering making it an annual trip...and we hope the beach remains hidden. The water was not as salty as the ocean and very wavy and just right temperature-wise. The locals warned us about the under tow and we could understand why, but it made it fun to 'play' in.

One day, the boys did some exploring while the girls hung out at the beach. It was a very hilly place and the views were beautiful! After being in the city for so long, I forgot how green our world can be...

In the evenings we'd play games or walk along the 'main drag'. They had the typical festival-type activities. You could buy souvenirs or snacks or sun dresses for the beach... We even found an area where you could rent a tent on the beach. It was about the same price as our pansion though and the tents were only 10 feet apart from each other....if that much. And in front of each tent, was a refrigerator for your convenience.

Also, just a short walk from our pansion was a mini-amusement park. They liked to play dance music, but thankfully stopped around 11pm each night. The guys really wanted to check out some of the rides. So one night they convinced us to let them buy some tickets. They decided to ride this one that rocked back and forth and eventually rocked over the top and could tip you... We thought they were crazy and decided to keep our feet on the ground. No joke - 3 minutes after they got off the ride, the power went out in the park. We were so glad they weren't still on the ride!

We really enjoyed this time with our friends. We'd never done a vacation before where we didn't plan out something to do every day. It was a bit of torture for Ben, but overall he enjoyed it too! We were able to do a lot of reading and I even managed to memorize an entire Psalm! (Ps 103 - one of my favorites! It holds so many wonderful truths about who God is!) It was also invaluable in helping us to develop stronger relationships with people here. This couple has been a great source of encoruagment to us as we struggle through many of the same things and we thank God for sending us these friends!

September 1, 2009

As we mentioned before, we are now in the midst of Ramazan - a Muslim holiday that requires them to fast from food and drink while the sun is up. Once it's down, they can feast on a meal they call the iftar (eef-tar)! And then a few hours before sunrise, a 'kind' soul will walk through the neighborhoods banging on a drum to wake everyone up so they can eat one last time.

Ben was talking to our water guy about this a few days ago at his shop. It turned out that his family participates in the fast (though not all Turks do). Since we'd never been to an iftar before, he invited us to join his family. But he asked that we respect them by fasting as well. So that's what we did last night. Here are some pictures of us all.

We actually ate the meal at their shop (where they sell water, pop and tea). In the pictures above, the father is on the right and it's his son and daughter in the pictures next to us. Osman is a father of 7, but we're not sure where his wife is. We think she may have died a few years ago. It was a great night for us to work on our Turkish some more and there was much we didn't understand. Our host Osman also knew quite a lot of English, so I think he was excited to show what he knew to us.

Once the call to prayer went off letting us know the sun had set, we started the meal with a red soup that tasted a little like fish. Then we had a type of beef patty with potatoes and rice and salad. To wash it all down we each had a healthy portion of watermelon. Then for dessert we had tea and something Ben and I brought - gulac. It's a milky cake. It wasn't sweet, but it was still pretty good. They said that normally they take turns eating with different neighbors. There's no set meal, but everyone eats til they're full and then some.

After the meal, Osman brought out a saz. It's like a guitar but has a higher sound to it and more strings. His was a little old and damaged, so he did what he could. He sang as well some old folk songs and even some he'd written himself. It was a lot of fun! We felt so cared for by this family and are really thankful for the opportunity to learn more about this culture and feel more a part of it! But today it feels really good to be able to eat.

I think Osman said one of the reasons they do fasting at Ramazan is because they're to remember the poor and hungry at this time and give what they can to them. And in order to understand what they go through every day, they must fast and go hungry for the day. I thought it was interesting. I definitely spent a lot of time praying for the people of this country yesterday every time I longed for a piece of chocolate or a glass of water.

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