To be honest, I have no idea what we’ll be doing today. I mean, I have a general idea of the types of things we might be doing the rest of the trip, but I don’t actually know what we’re doing or when. Thankfully, I can be flexible, especially on a trip like this.  With that in mind, please pray:

* For flexibility, patience, and good followership.

* That God will open our eyes to the needs around us, whether we’re in the big city or in a smaller one.

* That God will break our hearts for these people.

* That we’d continue to be an encouragement to those we serve.

* That God will give us opportunities to talk to those who he wants.

Updated Sunday – We’ll be here in the city both Wednesday and Thursday getting to know the neighborhoods of our friends.

The theater where Acts 19 may have taken place

This morning (remember, we’re 7 hours ahead of the East Coast) we’ll be wrapping up our retreat.  Once we pack up, our team will be heading off to visit  the ruins of Ephesus.

This really is a neat trip, to visit a place where Paul lived.  It is my third time though, so I’m not excited about it, but I am excited for our teammates who’ve never been to experience it.  Afterwards we’ll likely be stopping by for some Turkish culture by going to a nearby gozleme shop (gozleme is like a quesadilla, but the bread is thinner).

That gozleme shop last trip was my first experience with a squaty potty…and I enjoyed it! (click the link if you want to learn more)  They are really more sanitary when you are in public.  We’ll likely still run into Western toilets  in a lot of places (including the places where we’ll be staying), but public toilets are more frequently of this Eastern style.

We’ll end the day back in our host city.

Please pray:

*The retreat will wrap up well and we will all be energized and encouraged for the tasks still at hand.

*Eyes open, that we’ll seize any opportunities we may be given to love the Turkish people.

*That we’ll not conform to the stereotype of typical American tourists but will be kind, considerate, and respectful of other cultures.

Thank you for praying!

Today we’ll be retreating again, the only full day of the retreat.  Continue to pray:

* That we’ll be sensitive to the needs of those we seek to serve

* That the fellowship will be sweet

* That are hearts will be softened

Pray also for the children that we’ll be able to love on them and provide them with fun activities and opportunities to learn!

The trip so far as been incredibly uneventful, which is amazing! Though it’s hard to type on this Turkish keyboard, I wanted to let you know that I’m safe and having a good time.

All our bags made it except 1 that had gifts for our friends.  We all slept well last night and surprisingly woke up a bit early this morning (as you all were going to bed).  We’ve enjoyed our time so far and are catching up.

When we were flying to our final city, I looked out the window at the Turkish mountains and my heart ached for this land.  I’m thankful to have this opportunity to be here and love our friends and the Turkish people.

Mausoleum of Ataturk, the founder of modern-day Turkey

As this is posted, it is 7 AM Sunday morning in Turkey (midnight on the East Coast).  My teammates and I are likely waking up this morning a bit out of it, it we were able to get much sleep at all.  I tend to have a slightly better than average time of transitioning time zones, but I would ask that you pray for my 7 teammates who have made the 7-time-zone jump with me (our 8th teammate most recently was in Africa).  Pray that we’ll continue to be gracious towards one another as we adjust and continue to operate while tired.

This evening (your late morning/early afternoon) we’ll be starting a 3-day retreat with our friends.  I’ll be teaching the older children (there are 2 8yos) while the adults are in their session.  Please pray that as we serve we’ll be mindful of the needs of those we are serving and that God will guide us as to what to teach and do.  This retreat is to be a time of teaching and a time of fellowship for our friends, as they get to hear some great teachers and spend more time with native-English speakers than they’re used to.

About now (7 AM on the East Coast, 2 PM for us) we should be landing at our final destination.  We will spend the rest of today resting up (hopefully not sleeping until bedtime to help the jet lag!), settling in to the guest house we’re staying in, and probably getting our first taste of Turkish cuisine (for the 5 people on the team who are visiting for the first time…the rest of us get to re-experience the great food!).

Prayers that we’ll be coveting today (and really, all week) are:

* A smooth transition.  Since it’s a short trip, we won’t want to spend too much time getting used to the tasks at hand.

* Team unity: that we will work together and not against each other.  We’re all used to various leadership positions in the States, so pray we’ll be good followers.

* Wisdom that we will know how best to love the workers and reach out to those in desperate need of the Truth.

Thanks for your prayers…they’re vital!

Photo by rexipe

Today at 1 PM we’ll be boarding our first plane on our way to Turkey!  I won’t be able to update as regularly while I’m gone as I’d like (though I’ll try), so I’ve scheduled posts each day of what our original plans were for that day so you’ll know how to pray for our group.

We’ll be traveling from noon Eastern today until 7 AM Eastern tomorrow (2 PM at our destination).  Please pray for smooth sailing (metaphorically only, I hope not to see the ocean that intimately!) and an easy trip through both of our connecting airports, especially since our connection at JFK is tight.  Pray also that God will provide us opportunities to show His love to those we come in contact with and that we will recognize and take advantage of them.

I look forward to updating you further.  Remember as I tell you our schedule, we are 7 hours ahead of the East coast (8 ahead of Central, 9 ahead of Mountain, and 10 ahead of Pacific), so we’ll be starting our day about when you go to bed the night before.  Obviously, that will give us a bit of jet lag (okay, that’s generous…jet lag can be a bear!), so that’s another prayer request: that God will give us extra grace to handle it with patience and strength so that we can transition quickly to focus not on our own needs, but the needs of our teammates and the workers over there.

Thanks for your questions about my trip to Turkey!  You never know how well something was explained until you allow others to ask questions.

Emma: “I want to know if you’re going by yourself? and if you have a planned agenda of things to do, places to go, etc.”

No, I’m not going alone.  There’s 9 people on my team: 4 men, 5 women.  We do have a planned agenda, but I only know part of it.  From Sunday-Tuesday, we will be giving a retreat for the workers there, and when we leave on Tuesday we’ll be going to Ephesus.

Veronica: “What do you want prayer on while you are away?”

Good question!  I’ll be scheduling posts each day I’m gone with specific prayer requests for each day (hopefully Saturday I’ll get more info so I’ll know how to give more detailed prayer requests later in the week).  General prayer requests would be that we would have the strength, perseverance, and flexibility for the tasks placed before us and that our eyes would open to opportunities to love others.

Ari: “Do you know Farsi?”

Actually, Turks speak Turkish (which I didn’t know until I was planning on going the first time).  From the total 7 weeks I’ve spent on the ground in Turkey, I’ve learned about 100 words, mostly food items.  That’s what happens when you eat out a lot…you learn quickly what things on the menu are!  At this very moment, I only remember a couple of words, but what little I know seems to come back to me when I see it/hear it.  Turkish language is one of the more difficult languages for English-speakers to learn (not as difficult as Arabic or Chinese, though), but fortunately they use Latin-based alphabet (like ours) and it’s completely phonetic.  Basically, I can READ Turkish, but I haven’t a clue what it means most of the time.

Jen: “Do you have room in your bag for a stow away? I’m sure I could fit…”

I can’t imagine how uncomfortable/cold it would be to be under the plan, but I’m fine with it if you are!

Feel free to ask more questions if they  come to mind.  I’ll be leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow!